Aug. 19, 1893.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



141 



sought after by the Japanese and Chinese for the same 

 purpose. The former take only the very smallest fish , 

 and eat them when freshly caught, with cayenne pepper 

 and vinegar, while the Chinese seek out the largest and 

 eat them only after they have been dried. 



The trade in this dried meat is considerable. In 1866 

 there were exported from San Francisco by steamer 1,697 

 sacks, valued at $14,440, and in 1867 the exports had risen 

 to 3,713 sacks, valued at .$83,090. At present there are ex- 

 ported upward of 200 tons a year, which at §175 a ton 

 would amount to $35,000. At San Diego, Cal., the dried 

 meat is quoted at $110 a ton. The shells vary from almost 

 microscopic size to 8 or lOin. in diameter. Before they 

 were found to have marketable value they were thrown 

 away. One heap a little south of San Diego, containing 

 over a hundred tons of shells, from exposure to the rain 

 and the sun was converted into lime on the outside; but 

 this was broken into and many fine shells were found. 

 The Pueblo, Zuni and Navajo Indians and aU the Indians 

 of the Pacific Coast as far north as Alaska, have made the 

 abalone shell into charms and have used it for ornamen- 

 tation with remarkable taste for ages. It was used with 

 great success by Messrs. Tiffany & Co. as an apphed decor- 

 ation on silver objects, and was exhibited at;;|the World's 

 Fair held in Paris during 1889. 



The Collector of Customs at San Francisco furnishes the 

 information that for the fiscal year 1887-1888 the export of 

 abalone shell amounted to $185,414, which, together with 

 $35,0000, the value of the dried meat annually exported, 

 makes this quite an imj)ortant industry. These shells 

 secrete very curious pearly masses, sometimes of fine 

 lustre and choice enough to deserve a place among pearls. 

 A pearl measuring 2in. in length and from J to iin. in 

 width has been found. A necklace made in California, 

 from the finest specimens was valued at $2,000. A pearl 

 over half an inch long and of good color cost $80, and was 

 used as the body of a jeweled fly. The abalone pearls 

 from the coasts of Korea and Japan are often very beau- 

 tiful. In a lot of about one hundred shells only five were 

 found bearing pearls, two with three pearls each, two 

 with two pearls each, and one with a single pearl. 



Capt. J. W. Collins — I have been very much interested 

 in the valuable paper read by Mr. Kunz. It is timely and 

 important, and is worthy of careful consideration by those 

 of om- citizens living in the interior, who are interested in 

 the collection of fresh-water pearls. As most of you 

 know, many pearls have been gathered in the Central 

 States, and especially in some of the States bordering the 

 Great Lakes. I fear, however, that lack of information 

 on the part of those who have been engaged in this effort 

 has resulted in the practical extermination of peai-l-bear- 

 ing shells in certain regions, since I believe it to be true 

 that, practically in all cases, the animals have been killed 

 in order to ascertain whether they contained pearls or 

 not. If the people who sought the pearls had known 

 that it was perfectly feasible to obtain them without in- 

 juring the animals, by the use of a simple tool, such as 

 has been mentioned by Mr. Kunz, and had they realized 

 the importance to them in future years of conserving the 

 supply of these wealth-producing bivalves, there is reason 

 to believe that quite a large collection of pearls could 

 have been made at intervals of every few years. Now, 

 however, because of a lack of this knowledge the pearl- 

 producing shells in the sections referred to are practically 

 annihilated and it will probably be many years before it 

 is possible to reap another harvest. I know of nothing 

 which bears upon the fisheries of interior States which 

 could be of more service to those interested in the indus- 

 try, than the widespread publication of the paper that 

 Mr. Kunz has favored us with. Whatever tends to im- 

 prove the knowledge of our fishermen, and enables them 

 to conserve the supply of those animals which constitute 

 objects of fishery, while seeking aquatic wealth, adds 

 materially to the welfare and prosperity of our country 

 and the comfort of our people. 



Among the fishery subjects that demand the intelligent 

 consideration of State legislators, none, perhaps, should 

 receive more prompt attention than thLs matter of gather- 

 ing pearls. No State can afford to neglect legislation on 

 a subject so important, imless there is legislative restric- 

 tion, we may look for a repetition of what has been done 

 in. the States referred to by Mr. Kunz. 



A Pet Hummingbird. 



St. Augustine, Fla.— Editor Forest and Stream: I in- 

 close you a photograph of my wife's pet hummingbird — 

 probably the first live one ever photographed. 



A little patience is required to tame them," for they are 

 startled at the slightest movement, but when once 

 brought under management they are utterly fearless. 



I tame them nearly every summer for my wife's enter- 

 tainment, though I confess to as great a weakness for the 

 Uttle pets as she has. 



She suggested having this one photographed, and though 

 he was a very uncertain customer to make an engagement, 

 I sent for the photographer to come at a certain time of 

 day; by refusing to feed the bird aU he wanted, we kejjt 

 him hovering around us on the lawn for hours. My wife 

 has a very small bottle with a bow fastened to the neck 

 80 he can sit and sip his sugar and water comfortably, 

 though I make him sit on my finger. The photograph 

 shows the bird perched on the bow of the bottle. 



The great trouble is that after we have become much 

 attached to the pets a stronger bird is hable to come along 

 and drive them away, and oftentimes they never return. 



DiDTMUS. 



St. Augubtinb, Fla. 



Northwestern Iowa Game Notes. 



Matlock;, la., August.— The present indications point 

 toward good shooting tins fall. Quail are more plentiful 

 than ever known here before. Have not seen any young 

 ones yet, but old ones are "Boh Whiting" everywhere. 

 Have seen several coveys of young chickens of from ten 

 to fifteen in a covey, some nearly full-gi-own. Rabbits, 

 both cottontails and jacks, are very abundant. Whistling 

 snipe or plover are not as plentiful as during past years. 

 A few ducks have bred on tlie Otter Creek near here. 

 Season opens on ducks Aug. 15, chickens Sept. 1, and 

 quail Oct. 1. Some illegal hunting is ah-eady being done, 

 tliough not as much as in former years. Longfellow. 



Forest and Stream in the World's Fair. 



Seen by Our Staff Correspondents, ^ 



Th e FOEEST AOT) Stkeam is p ut to press each week on Tues- 

 day. Correspondence intended for publication should reach 

 MS cft thp. If^t^tby Monday, and as tmich earlier as xiracUeabU 



The Gas Engine and Power Co. 



The exhibit of this well known company, the Gas 

 Engine and Power Co., of Morris Heights on the Harlem, 

 New York city, is situated in Section D, Block 5, near 

 columns 22 and 23, in the Transportation Building. The 

 company has a large and important display of its boats, 

 six in aU, and from one-horse to ten-horse power. They 

 were not specially prepared for exhibition, but were 

 taken out of the stock which the company makes for the 

 trade regularly. Besides the exhibit in the Transporta- 

 tion Building (which, by the way, is on the main floor) 

 the company has two boats on the lake, one the Geo. R. 

 Davis, a 30-footer, and the Chicago, a 35-footer. The 

 company would have taken the whole of Block 5, could it 

 have been secured, for a still larger display of its boats. 

 As it is, the company has utilized its space to the utmost. 

 The boats shown were nicely finished, each one having in 

 place a naphtha engine appropriate to the size of the boat 

 and the motor power required. For their naphtha launches 

 the company makes special claims of moderate cost with 

 a maximum of utility, safety, ease, comfort and pleasure. 

 Also that its boats have special good features in maneuver- 

 ing, in that they can be gotten under headway in five min- 

 utes and stopped in less than oyds. Economy in space is 

 also claimed for the naphtha engine, and that all the com- 

 bined useful qualities have won the adoption of the 

 company's productions for commercial work, and by 

 oystermen, by the U. S. Government for the work of the 

 hospital, quarantine, and coast survey department and 

 by transportation companies. Close by the exhibit is a 

 section of a steamship showing the inside arrangements 

 for the comfort and transportation of passengers, etc., by 

 the American Line of steamships, and from this high 

 point of vantage spectators often gaze many minutes at 

 the beautiful laimches of the Gas Engine and Power Co. 

 The exhibit is in charge of a most affable and intelligent 

 gentleman, Mr. P. S. Townsend, who takes pleasure in 

 giving all necessary information. 



The American Net and Twine Co. 



Any one in search of knowledge appertaining to nets 

 and their uses, have unlimited opportunities at the ex- 

 hibit of the American Net and Twine Co., in the Fisheries 

 Building. To attempt anything like a description would 

 fill columns of FOREST and Stream. A mere list of the 

 articles exhibited would would fill a catalogue. The 

 company has about 5,000 square feet of space, the larger 

 part of which is on the main floor. There are nets and 

 seines, from a small hand n(5t to a large mackerel purse 

 seine 1,200ft. long and lOOft. deep, barked and fitted for 

 use. Numerous models of different pounds are set up to 

 illustrate the manner of using nets in inland lakes, in the 

 deep sea, in rivers and in different sections of the coun- 

 try to conform to the local peculiarities affecting the use 

 of nets. The intention of the company was to show 

 every variety of nets used in aU kinds of fishing from 

 Labrador along the coast into the Gulf of Mexico and in 

 the waters of the Pacific Coast, and in inland watei-s. 

 Some of the nets are full size, others are illustrated by 

 working models faithfully reproduced. The nets are in 

 astonishing variety and in all sizes of mesh and twine. 

 Of the latter the company manufactures its own supply. 

 Some idea of the outpiit can be gained when it is men- 

 tioned that the company employs 700 hands in its manu- 

 factory; quite a pleasant contrast to fiifty years ago when 

 it only employed five or six hands. The exhibit is in 

 charge of Mr. A. A. Adams, who is most thoroughly in- 

 formed in all that appertains to fishing and who takes 

 pleasure in imparting information to others. B, Waters. 



All About the New Baker Gun. 



In response to a note of inquiry from Forest and 

 Stream Pub. Co., the Baker Gun and Forging Co., of 

 Batavia, N. Y., sent the following advice: 



"We have no regular exhibit, but at the request of the 

 Government we made a small model of our new hammer- 

 less gun, and this your correspondent wiU find in the 

 Patent Ofl3.ce exhibit. We think it is the smallest gun on 

 the grounds. It is in complete working order and weighs 

 something lite l^lbs." 



I went on a still-hunt after this gim, over in the Patent 

 Office section of the Government Building, and asked for 

 it of several attendants who were strenuously holding 

 down athletic armchairs and giving the corrugations in 

 their brain tissues a chance to cool out. 



"Is it a cannon?" asked one duke with whom I had 

 parley. 



"No, my dear sir," I said unto him, "It isn't a cannon, 

 but I reckon it's a corker." 



"Ah?" said he, meditatively. "In that case, you'd 

 better look on the side of the wall along that next aisle." 



[ looked, and actually got lost in a Avilderness of models, 

 showing all sorts of things in the past and present of 

 American firearms. This really is a most interesting 

 study, and well worth the time of any one in the least 

 concerned with guns. All sorts of ideas, some worthless, 

 some good, some forgotten and some of world-wide use, 

 are filed away here in the solid, respectable, formal and 

 musty Government fashion, and there was an embarrass- 

 ment of riches. At length, while engaged in watching 

 the development of the American revolver with one eye 

 and listening to the growth of the repeater with the other 

 ear, I fell upon the object of my search, duly cut, dried 

 and labeled, Government fashion, as follows: "Breech- 

 loading and magazine guns. W. H. Baker. U. S. Patent 

 No. 248,249, Oct. 11, 1881. Alever ontop of the stock, just 

 at rear of the breech, is rigidly attached to a vertical 

 shaft, which has bearings an the top and bottom of the 

 frame. This shaft is held in its normal position by a spring. 

 On the shaft, and inside the gun frame, is a lug to which 

 is pivotedalink which connects the shaft to a locking slide 

 passing through the lever part of the breech iron and en- 

 gaging a lug on the bottom of the barrels, when the gun 

 is closed. A push-pin on the top lever revolves the 

 shaft, withdrawing the slide and permitttng the gun to be 

 •broken do\vn,' or opened for loading. When the lever is 

 released it is returned by its spring to its normal position." 



The above will, I trust, make it perfectly plain to any 

 body just how a Baker gun works. I could not get the 

 model out of the case to examine it as I wished, but I 

 know the Baker gun is worth a much more thorough 

 exarnination by any gun lover than was possible for me 

 to give the original model, this young gun which had 

 not had time to grow yet. But with this number on its 

 first patent, how could the gun fail to succeed? No. 

 248, 249. Come seven, come 'leven! What a gig for Mr. 

 Johnsing! Now, I know why Billy Baker Crosby wins at 

 tournaments. He has an invincible combination up his 

 sleeve. No. 248, 249; 7—11; 4-11-44. The broad policy of 

 the Baker people is easily understood. 



Came from Maine. 



In the American gun group, just over the way from the 

 case of Lef ever ejectors over which Col. Courtney watches 

 with eagle eye, is the modest display of the C. C. Brooks 

 Arm & Tool Co., all the way from Portland, Maine. The 

 output of this firm includes single and double shotguns, 

 three-barreled guns, single-shot magazine rifles and tar- 

 get pistols. All the guns and rifles work by an under 

 lever action, which cocks the gun and locks the trigger 

 up on the scears. All have automatic ejector action, the 

 ejector returning flush home after the expulsion of the 

 shells. The locks of all these guns are certainly simple 

 and few of parts, though the guns shown are rough from 

 the file and not finished for the trade. The magazine 

 rifle carries its magazine in its stock, as all newsdealers 

 carry Forest ajs^d Stream. 



In this exhibit are to be seen what are probably the two 

 finest mountfd moose heads that ever came to Chicago, 

 one of them simply magnificent. They are all the way 

 from Maine. 



A Bad Dispensation. 



Mr. Lewis, secretary of the Brooks Company, and Mr. 

 Winslow, his assistant in attendance, mourn the fact that 

 the authorities that be have placed them so far back under 

 the gallery that nobody can find them, and that nobody 

 can see them after they have found them. All this is 

 true in similar measure of the whole American shotgun 

 display, and it is a disgrace that the oflacials had no better 

 ideas of values than to place these grand ' displays of 

 American gun makers, such as the Parkers, the Marlins, 

 the Lefevers, and those above mentioned, in the secluded, 

 ill-lighted and niggardly-dispensed space allotted them. 

 But by all means, gentlemen, let us have room for the 

 man with the patent farm gate and the new lightning 

 protector. 



Some Callers. 



Mr. Thos. J. Storr, gathering material for Bancroft's 

 History of the World's Fair, stopped for information and 

 a chat at the Forest and Stream corner this week. 



Mr. E. S. Osgood, of the Eastern end of A. G. Spalding 

 & Bros,, was at the paviUon this week, and at command 

 stood and delivered the story of how he caught the big 

 Rangeley trout, which is shown in the Spalding case. 

 Mr. Osgood naturally thinks there is no place like the 

 Rangeleys. 



Mr. C. P. Hubbard, of Broken Bow, Nebraska, a Forest 

 AND Stream man,, missed me in his call, and I am sorry, 

 for I should have liked to talk about chickens and things. 



. E. Hough. 



In "Forest and Stream's" Corner. 



During my recent visit to the World's Fair, the first day of my 

 visit, before my legs had lost their elasticity and my feet become 

 tender through much tramping, I made my way toward the brown 

 tower of the Fisheries Building, and once inside, instead of wasting 

 time looking about, obtained a pointer from a Columbian guard and 

 soon stood before the rail of the Forest and Stream exhibit. A very 

 pleasant young lady was on duty at the deslr, and upon my intro- 

 ducing myself as an humble correspondent of the paper I was in- 

 vited in, introduced to the register and made to feel perfectly at 

 home. 



I don't think I enjoyed a more dehghtful half hour during my 

 week's sojourn at the Fair than the one vcithin the raU at the For- 

 est AKD Stream corner. The priceless files were placed at ray dis- 

 posal, and I confess that it was with great delight that I pointed 

 out to the young lady some of my own work away back in the 70s, 

 when Forest and Stream and I were both younger. 



The Sairy Gamp, with its accompanying "pudden stick," was ex- 

 ammed with great interest, as were also the other curiosities, and 

 we had quite a discussion touching the merits of "Nessmuk" as a 

 writer of prose and poetry, the young lady holding that it was as a 

 poet the old hunter shone conspicuously, while I argued that his 

 chief hterary merit lay in his delineation of camp life and sports- 

 man's hints. In defense of her opinion she tm'ned to a copy of 

 'Forest Runes" and bade me read an extract, and I was almost 

 persuaded, for the beauty of the poetry combined with the earnest J 

 ness of "Nessmuk's" fair advocate made a combination hard to re* 

 slst. It was a pathetic sight to me, that little, tenantless old boat" 

 lying there so far from its native waters, while the gi-eat, soulless, 

 sightseemg throng rushed madly by not a paddle's length away. 



The fisheries exhibit is a wonderful aggregation, and as a study iS 

 one of the most mteresting on the grounds. It is weU patronized, 

 too. I noticed that the visitors simply viewed it as a show, there 

 is a fascination about those glass tanks and their scaly occupants 

 sunilar to a cage of monkeys or the lion's den on the Slidway Plais- 

 ance. Somehow I could not help feeling for those little captives as 

 they clustered about the aerating pomts in the tanks as though try- 

 ing to get a breath of fresh air ; it positively made me gasp, and I 

 vowed that the sight of half a dozen trout m a pool in my own mill 

 creek was better than the whole poor scored-backed display. But I 

 did enjoy the technical exhibits of the capture of food fishes, and 

 the methods of propagation, the boats and apparatus and specimens; 

 but I couldn't help feeling sorry for the captives in the tanks. 



The young lady in charge also showed me Mr. Hough's medaJ, 

 honestly won as the champion teller of true fish stories. Unfortunr 

 ately the owner was absent, for being something of a liar myself I 

 should have been pleased to meet him. I noticed that the Fore's^ 

 AND Stream Register was UberaUy patronized, indicating that the 

 paper's large constituency is visiting the Fah- in goodly numbers, 

 i My advice to all is, first. Don't miss the Fair, and second, don't miss 

 the Forest ajtd Stream exhibit. You wiU not only be welcome, but 

 I jovL will find much to interest you. H. W. D. L. 



