Oct. 6, 1893.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



293 



NEW YORK STATE ASSOCIATION. 



Thk meeting of the Executive Committee of the New 

 York State Association for the Protpction of Fish and 

 G itnewill be adjourned from Oct. 13 to Nov. 17, to be 

 heJd on the latter'date jn Syracuse. No business will be 

 done on Oct. 13, 



Small Loads and Quick Primers. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Nearly two years ago I wrote a shoTt article which was 

 printed in your journal, advocating the U5e of small 

 charges of SchuIiz-> and E. C. powders for quail and 

 other small gamp, as well as trap Bhooting, I stated then 

 that in my opinion 2|.irs. of powder was a sufficient 

 charge for the purposes named, used ia a 12 gauge gun. 

 TMr 8tat:ement call t d much criticism and some ridicule, 

 but the present condition of things would indicate that I 

 was only a little ahead of the times, and not in error 

 after all. Several of the large cartridge-loading compa- 

 nies are furnii-hing loads rf 2idrs. Schulize or E, C. pow- 

 der and 1^"'Z. shot, loaded, too, in shells having the old 

 style No. 2 primer. That the load is sufficient is evidenced 

 by their continued popularity and rapidly increasing 

 sales. For my use, however, I prefer the same load used 

 in the new "smokeless" shell with the No. 3 primer, now 

 generally on sile throughout the country, and at a reason- 

 able price. This shell hand-loaded by myself with 2 Jdrs. 

 SchuUz^, a cardboard, thi-ee black edge and another 

 cardboard wad on powder, l^oz. Tatham's chilled shot 

 N'o. 8, a Squires shot wad on top, well turned down with 

 a Spangler crimper, gives me better satisfaction at trap 

 than any combination I ever tried, and I have bepn ex- 

 perimenting for several years, in fact ever since the nitro 

 powders were introduced into this country. It is quick, 

 has no unp]ea=;ant recoil, is cheap, and in every way sat^- 

 isfactory. The sti'ongest poiat in favor of the new No, 3 

 primer ia that it gives quick ignition and thorough com- 

 bustion of the powder, with such a high velocity to the 

 shot that it is unnecessary to hold ahead of cross- flying 

 targets. Poor shooting with a slow powder is mainly 

 caused by errors of judgment in holding, and to be 

 enabled to "hold on" will improve the average shooter's 

 score twenty per cent, Jasone, 



Prairie Chickens and Ducks. 



St. Pato, Sept. 28.— The chicken season is about over 

 as far as the general public is concerned; still, good 

 shooting can ba had. Tj say they have been plenty 

 does not express it. Albert Fischer, president of the St, 

 Paul Rubber Company, and W. Wilder, of Grand Forks, 

 N. D. , were in a, party of four that shot near the boundary 

 line in North Dikota. They report over 300 birds in a 

 three dajt,' shoot. 



Judge Cory of the Municipal Court, William Hanim, 

 Harry Odbtirn and F A. Kennard with four others went 

 West on the ''Soo" Line, and killed 539 chickens in a 

 seven days' shoot. Tbey could have shot double by hard 

 work early and la'p, but had no use for more. 



Dr. Richeson and John Phister, the well-known Seventh 

 street jeweler, have jast returned from a hunt near Blue 

 Earth City, in southern Minnesota, and report chickens 

 Tery scarce in that locality, and no wonder, for if re- 

 ports are true the natives have been shooting them since 

 Aug. 1. 



Have heard of some good bags of ducks shot near Wil- 

 mar on the Great Northern R dlway. They are also re- 

 ported very plenty west of Tintah on the same road. But 

 what few I have seen were very poor, in fact some of 

 tbem can't fly yet. My dog in retrieving a winged 

 chicken near a slough brought back a young duck, and 

 on being sent out again repeated the performance, and on 

 looking in the grai=s we saw a dozen or more running 

 around. They were of all kinds, mallards, bluewing 

 teal, spoonbills, I saw a few nice teal that came from 

 Like Jenney near Dassell, Minn., shot Sept. 18. This 

 fine paPS has been leased for fifteen years by some St. 

 Paul and Minneapolis parties and a club house erected, 



F. A. K. 



A Connecticut "Clioker" Fined. 



Wednesday of this week will be a day long remem- 

 bered by Thomas H. Austin, of Suffield, On Monday 

 Detective Irving D. T >wnsend, bf ing in the employ of 

 the Connecticut Association of Farmers and Sportsmen 

 for the Protection of Game and Fish, of this city, visited 

 Suffidd in their interest. He caught "Homer" Austin in 

 the act of set'ing snares, and found one partridge snared 

 by him in his possession, Mr. Townsend reported the 

 facts to President A. C, Collins, of the association. On 

 Wednesday Mr, Collins went to Suffield and arrested 

 Austin, and brought him before Justice of the Peace 

 Horace K, Ford, of that town. Justice Ford found Aus- 

 tin guilty on four counts and fined him i|5 on each count 

 and costs of prosecution. The coats amounted to about 

 the same sum as tha fines, and $40 will give him some 

 respect for the game law. The soaring of partridges is 

 very expensive and bad business. Lawyer L, W. Austin, 

 of Suffi Id, defended Austin, and Game Warden A. C, 

 Collins appeared for the association. — Hartford Gourant, 

 Sept. SO. 



Pennsylvania Wild Turkeys. 



Sqtjirkels and wild turkeys are reported to be abun- 

 dant in Che vicinity of Dauphin, Pa. Our informant 

 states that he saw recently a flock of 31 turkeys, and that 

 hunters have frequently "brought in from 18 to 20 Equir- 

 rels after a day's ntint. Six squirnl'i were shot out of a 

 hickory tree near the town. Mr. Hcfl'mau, the proprietor 

 of the hotel at Dauphin, is an enthusiastic sportsman, 

 and has been very successful in his hunting. 



The Fish Laws of the United States and Canada, in the 

 ''Game Lam in Brief, ^' So cents. In the ''Book of the 

 Qam&Laws" {full text:), 50 cents. 



ANGLING NOTES. 



Salmon Pond in Canada, 



I HAVE lately received the report of the Department of 

 Fisheries of the Dominion of Canada for 1891, which in- 

 cludes the report of Mr. Samuel Wilmot, superintendent 

 of fishculture. From this and the reports of the officers 

 in charge of the hatching stations I learn of the initia- 

 tion of an experiment in salmon culture which might 

 with profit be put in practice on the Hudson River, This 

 was the impounding of parent salmon, from which to 

 take eggs for artificial hatching, and it was completely 

 successful. The Carleton Pond is a reservoir for confin- < 

 ing salmon in the harbor at the city of St. John, New ( 

 Brunswick, through which the tide ebbs and flows, with 

 movable gates at the entrance to hold the fish. At high 

 tide the water covers 6 to 8 acres of surface and at low 

 water a large hole or basin is left 15ft, deep, with a quar- 

 ter of an acre of surface. Last year about 300 adult sal- 

 mon were caught in the nets in the harbor during June 

 and July and placed in this pond, where they were kept 

 until Oct. 28. when the stripping began, and was con- 

 tinued until Nov. 10. During that time 234 femals and 

 85 males were manipulated, furnishing abotit 1,600,000 

 eggs. All the eggs were placed on the trays in the 

 hatchery house in first-class condition after packing and 

 shipping. 



Mr. Chas. McClusky, the officer in charge says: "The 

 salmon in the pond were in excellent condition, healthy 

 and smart, and free from disease of any kind that could 

 be discovered , and they were all liberated apparently in 

 as good condition as when first taken from the water, 

 and not a fish was lost during the whole operation," The 

 eggs were of a higher color than those taken from sal- 

 mon in fresh water; otherwise there was no observable 

 differerce, Mr. Wilmot says that doubts were enter- 

 tained about the healthfulness of the pool for retaining 

 salmon, because of sewage and other matter running 

 into it from the surrounding buildings, but happily they 

 were unfounded. If my memory serves me, Mr, Atkins, 

 at Bucksport, Me,, has in difl'erent years lost from 25 per 

 cent, to all of the salmon in his fresh water retaining 

 ponds from fungus. 



Up to this time all the salmon eggs and salmon year- 

 lings for stocking the Hudson River have come from the 

 U. S. hatching stations in Maine, and the greatest number 

 of fry planted in the Hudson in one year was 588,188, in 

 1889, These fish will be returning from the sea next 

 year, and with the fish from previous plantings there 

 should be a larger run of salmon in the Hudson than ever 

 before. We know that 300 adult fish were captured in 

 nets (illegally) in the Hudson in 1888, but how many more 

 no one can tell, or rather no one will tell, and that was 

 the third year that salmon had returned to the stream as 

 the result of plantings in the headwater brooks. Only 

 three plantings could have been heard from at that time, 

 and they amounted to 890,000 fry. The law against net- 

 ting salmon makes it impossible to get any returns con- 

 cerning the salmon from the lower Hudson (Matthew 

 Kennedy wrote me last summer that he took ten salmon 

 in his net, at Hudson, and returned them to the water), 

 but we know that there are plenty of salmon in the river, 

 although nothing has been done by the State to make the 

 Hudson a self-sustaining salmon stream. There has been 

 talk of making a breeding pen some wherebelow Troy, 

 and taking the eggs from the fish that may be caught in 

 nets, but thus far it has ended in talk. With every in- 

 ducement which the Hudson offers to become a first-class 

 salmon river and a source of wealth and pleasure, the 

 State after building three flshways is satisfied to do 

 nothing at all to bring this much desired state of affairs 

 about. How much longer the U. S. Fish Commission will 

 continue to furnish salmon eggs to a State that does not 

 appreciate them I do not know. It is evident from the 

 experiment in Canada that a salmon pond may be erected 

 easily, and it ia equally certain that the spawning fish 

 may be obtained, but will the State take the matter in 

 hand? 



Rangeley Trout. 



We do not now hear so much about the big speckled 

 trout of the Androscoggin Likes as we once did, and per- 

 hap=( certain jigging operations that were onc3 conducted 

 at Upper Dam, and upon which Forest and Sieeam 

 turned a search light that was hotter than the ordinary 

 electric light, has had something to do with it; but there 

 are still big trout there and they are caught legitimately, 

 even if the records do not find their way into the news- 

 papers, Mr. Wm, D. Cleveland, president of the Houston 

 (Texas) Cotton Exchange, and Col. A, H. Belo, proprietor 

 of the Galveston News and Dallas Neivs, have been at 

 Fred Barker's camp on Mooselucmeguntic Lake for a 

 month or more, and made excursions to the surrounding 

 waters for trout and to New Hampshire for deer, all of 

 which were successful. They have not taken any of the 

 very large fish, but Mr, Cleveland writes me under date 

 of Sept. 12, that at Upper Dam the week before some big 

 trout were taken with the fly. One of 91bs, 2oz,, one of 

 8-ilbs,, one of 61bs,, and several of 3 and 41b3. each, Col. 

 Belo and his son caught some tine trout in Richardson 

 Pond, all taken with the fly, Mr. Cleveland went oitt one 

 day with a young daughter, and the little lady beat her 

 dad by catching the biggest trout, one of 2ilbs. 



The Late Dr. von Behr. 



reminds us of some of your countrymen which we had 

 the pleasure ©f meeting in Schmoldow." 



Only two or three weeks before Dr, von Behr's death 

 he wrote me of his regret that his advanced age would 

 prevent his attending our World's Fair, and he looked for- 

 ward with pleasure to at least hearing of the grand 

 fishery exhibit at Chicago. A. N, Cheney. 



WESTERN PRAIRIE AND EASTERN 

 STREAMS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Every angler who has taken delight in wading our 

 trout streams for the past twenty-five or thirty years has 

 viewed with alarm the steady and uniform diminution of 

 the water flow. 



The sub j i^ct has arrested the attention of our Legisla- 

 ture, particularly as to those streams having their sources 

 in otir forests and mountains. Forest preserves have been 

 created and the destruction of forest trees prevented or 

 checked largely on the ground that the causes are local, 

 but are they local? Can the preservation of the trees at 

 the sources of otir streams do more than retard a result 

 which is inevitable from other and more far-reaching 

 causes? Is there and has there been any definite relation 

 between the running down of our streams and the destruc- 

 tion of the trees at their sources? 



Perhaps some facts in regard to the lower Water Shed 

 of the State of New York may throw some light upon this 

 subject,- 



In this region, commonly called the Catskill range of 

 mountains, which are from 3,500 to 4,000ft. high, are the 

 sources of many noted trout streams. These, mountains 

 which extend perhaps thirty miles from east to west and 

 twenty north and south, are practically in their primitive 

 condition, 



I have visited these streams for some thirty- five years 

 and have been a close observer as to their varying con- 

 dition. Seven noted trout streams, viz.. The Beaverkill, 

 Neversink, Rondout, Willewemoc, Esopua, Dry Brook 

 and Millbrook, have their sources in this range, several of 

 these sources being close together and near the mountain 

 tops. For miles from the sources of the largest of these 

 streams the axe has seldom if ever touched a tree, and 

 the clearings on the lower portions are substantially the 

 same as they were when I first visited them. 



Thirty years ago this region was usually visited in the 

 months of Miy and June with several northeast storms, 

 and in every year the lumbermen on the Beaverkill were 

 in the habit of taking advantage of what they called the 

 "June fresh," to run their lumber in rafts from Westfield 

 Flats to Philadelphia. 



When the streams were filled by one of these storms 

 they usually remained too high for fishing for several 

 days. 



About the year 1 859 I spent two weeks upon the Beaver- 

 kill, during which time I had but one day's fishing on 

 account of two northeast storms. Thirty years ago I had 

 the same experience on the Rondout, a northeast storm 

 raised the stream bank- full, and I had to wait several days 

 before I could venture to wade it. 



These storms were almost invariably followed by 

 strong westerly winds which continued for two or three 

 days. 



All this has entirely changed, A northeast storm is 

 seldom know any more, and when it does come the 

 streams run down almost as rapidly as they rise. Last year 

 I was on the Rondout when it was filled bank-full by a 

 steady and heavy rain, which was followed the next 

 morning by the usual westerly wind. The stream ran 

 down so rapidly that in the afternoon it was possible to 

 wade it, and in the afternoon of the next day it was 

 almost too low for good fishing. The same is equally 

 true of the Beaverkill; on the second day after a storm it 

 is usually in good condition and on the third day too low 

 for good' fishing. 



For the purpose of ascertaining whether this running 

 down of these streams commenced at their sources or at 

 the poinL where the land on the banks had been cleared, 

 I went up the Beaverkill four or five years ago, within a 

 day or two after a heavy storm, for several miles above 

 the point where a tree had ever been cut, and found the 

 water down to the drought level, 



I have found also by actual comparison that these 

 mountain streams have of late years run down as rapidly 

 as the streams which in other places run through lands 

 which have been cleared and drained from source to 

 mouth, and if the experience of others coincides with my 

 own, and I believe that it will, then the destruction of 

 the trees at the headwaters of our streams is but one, and 

 a very limited one, of the causes of their gradual drying 

 up. 



I suggest the following theory as accounting in part at 

 least for the conditions above referred to. Years ago the 

 lands lying west of us were unbroken, the prairies were 

 covered with the natural grass, and the swamps and low 

 lands were undrained. Under those conditions the winds 

 which largely prevailed from the west were fairly sur- 

 charged with moisture by reason of the natural evapora- 

 tion from the soil low lands and swamps, and when these 

 winds were forced up to the altitude of from 3 000 to 

 4,000ft., the moisture was condensed into rain and the 

 mountain tops were saturated with moisture which, 

 slowly and steadily, through springs and rivulets, kept 

 up the water supply of the streams. 



Now the prairies are no longer covered with grass. 

 Where trees abounded they have been cut with an un- 

 sparing hand in the great process of reducing the 

 land to cultivation, the low lands and swamps have 

 been drained, and the rain which falls sinks deep 

 into the cleared land, or is carried oft" immediately 

 by surface drainage. The air as it blows over is 

 no longer supplied with moisture from the soil 

 through natural evaporation, but rather yields what it 

 can of moisture to the soil to produce an equilibrium, and 

 when this air blows over the mountains it does not con- 

 tain sufficient moisture to be condensed into rain, but 

 rather like a dry sponge sucks up moistture from the soil 

 to restore it to its normal condition. 



If there is any force in the above theory, then it follows 

 that our trout streams are largely doomed. The preserv-r 

 ation of the trees at or near their sources will but par- 

 tially save them. 



D:ies not the cutting down of every tree wherever sit- 

 uated, by which the earth is exposed to the direct rays of 

 the sun, constitute a unit in the process of the destruc- 

 tion of the water supply of our streams ? And if go, 



Clipped from Letters. 



Thompson's panther, in your last, is great, it all hut 

 moves, and is a worthy study. In action it seems to me 

 that he outranks Bewrd, who. although he does beau- 

 tiful work, is not in it with Thompson, who feels what 

 his pen interprets. This, at all events, is the way in 

 which his work impresses me, W. TowNSEiSD, 



"O, O. S.'e" panthor story is a mighty good one. My 

 boy teases me to tt 11 it Fis^ain every night, and thinks it 

 qtiite ••kncciiSthe siuffiog" out of ray oldstock of panthers 

 Chat I have been in the habit of trotting out for his 

 amusement till the sawdixst was begiuuing to sift through 

 the seams, Awahsoosb, 



At the General Assembly of the Deutscher Fischerei 

 Yerein in Berlin to take action upon the death of the 

 late president, Dr, Friedrich Felix von Behr, the princi- 

 pal speakers w^tre Prof, Virchow and Dr. Darn burg. At 

 another time I shall give brief extracts from these ad- 

 dresses, for they refer most feelingly to Dr, von Bshr'a in- 

 terest in American fishes, and his attschment to friends 

 in the United States. I know personally of bis interest 

 in all that pertains to the welfare of this country, Iq a 

 recent letter from one of Dr. von Behr's family accom- 

 panying a photograph of the von Behr mansion at 

 Schmoldow, the writer saya; "I regret that the picture 

 does not also show the garden so dear to my father. He 

 ^ had many trees planted in it by his friends so to keep a 

 i living Yemembrance of them ; thus an American group 



