48 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 20, 1894. 



AS TO BEARS. 



There has been a good deal written of bears of late, 

 and I will add something to the literature upon that 

 question, with the editor of Forest and Stream's per- 

 mission. Are there three varieties of the bear family in 

 the South? I think there are, and will tell you why, 

 because I have seen them. 



First is the great black bear of Louisiana and Missis- 

 sippi. I saw one killed three weeks ago in the big Atchaf a- 

 laya Swamp of Louisiana. It weighed 672lbs. on a pair 

 of cotton scales. The big bear is perfectly black. It has 

 a white horseshoe-shaped mark on the breast. It is a 

 fighter from 'way-back, and will decimate a pack of bear 

 dogs in short notice if not killed soon. 



Then there is a long, thin bear almost as slender as a 

 panther. It is an incomparable runner, and will tire out 

 the best pack that ever took a trail, if allowed to. It is 

 only found in the Yazoo, Miss., country. In color it is 

 like a dark-red calf. It weighs about 2501bs. 



The third kind is the common brown-red bear that 

 ranges mostly in hilly or mountainous country. Its hab- 

 itat is from the White Mountains of New England to the 

 Alleghanies, and the great Southern mountain ranges of 

 Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and the hilly regions 

 of the further South. 



Now, are these three kinds of bear, only natural varia- 

 tions, caused by locality and climate, or are they veritable 

 different varieties of the ursine family? Our closet 

 naturalists have not noted them. I should like to hear 

 from some one who has knowledge whether I am right or 

 wrong in the theory that they are really of different fam- 

 ilies of the bear kind. Closet naturalists have much yet 

 to learn. Every Southern man who has hunted much 

 knows that in the great Southern swamps there is a great 

 owl, bigger than the B. virginianus, standing almost 2ft. 

 high, with monstrous power. I have seen one of these 

 great owls dash into a flock of mallards of an evening, 

 and carry off one a* easily as it would carry a quail. Its 

 markings are not like those of the great horned owl of 

 our natural histories, yet naturalists seem not to have 

 noticed it. So of these varieties — or new kinds — of bear. 

 Tell us something about them. W. H. R. 



Washington, D. C, Jan. 13. 



The Wilson Ornithological Chapter of the A. A. 



The December election of officers resulted as follows: 

 President, Willard N. Ciute, Binghamton, N. Y. Vice- 

 Pres., Reuben M. Strong, Oberlin, O. Secretary, William 

 B. Caulk, Terre Haute, Ind. Treasurer, Lynds Jones, 

 Oberlin, O. The Chapter is in a very flourishing con- 

 dition, with seventy-three active, four honorary, and 

 thirty-one associate members. The past year has been 

 devoted to a special study of the warblers, and the forth- 

 coming report promises to make a very interesting paper. 

 Any information regarding the Chapter will be cheerfully 

 furnished by the secretary. • 



'#wf* B%$ m & 0 m i< 



ARE LONG CLOSE SEASONS DESIRABLE? 



A late issue of Forest and Stream contained a call 

 for experience as to the value of long close seasons. Those 

 of us who lived before, and again after, the great war in 

 the counties of Piedmont, Virginia, contiguous to Wash- 

 ington, remember as the effect of the close season estab- 

 lished by military occupation of that country during four 

 years, a prodigious increase of game. It was not at any 

 time during those four years a safe thing for anybody 

 suspected of being a Yankee to be found abroad m the 

 field with a gun. Johnnie Reb on the other hand durst 

 not bring out from its hiding place his old gun, for per- 

 adventure a raiding party might catch him out, and Carry 

 him a prisoner to Washington, in which case he would 

 never see the old gun any more. No close season, it may 

 be believed, was ever so carefully observed. Accordingly 

 in the autumn of 1865, we found great abundance of 

 partridges, ruffed grouse, woodcock, and other game. 

 The old camp grounds, on which the boys tented no 

 more, were literally alive with partridges. The fame of 

 this thing went abroad, and an extraordinary concourse 

 of market-shooters from Washington, Baltimore, Wil- 

 mington and Philadelphia, descended upon us. Virginia 

 was at that time District No. 1, Gen. Canby in command. 

 I wrote to Gen. Canby protesting against the butchery of 

 all our game in District No. 1 by hired pot-shooters from 

 city restaurants. My friends laughed at me for a fool, to 

 be writing to Canby, but he issued an order embodying 

 some of my suggestions. As soon as we got a Legislature 

 I drafted a game law and sent it to the delegate from my 

 county. He introduced it, and it passed the House by a 

 unanimous, or nearly unanimous, vote, but the Senate 

 threw it out nem. con. The next session practically the 

 same bill passed both branches by large majorities and 

 became a law. This law caused the market- shooters to 

 decamp. The previous year a party of men hired to 

 shoot for a Philadelphia restaurant shipped during two 

 months a thousand partridges a week from the vicinity of 

 Rapidan station. For some years subsequent to this we 

 had grand shooting in that part of Virginia. I myself 

 frequently bagged in those days forty or fifty birds in a 

 part of a day. 



Guided by the experience narrated above, I should say 

 a long close season would again be followed by a great 

 increase of game, provided we had favorable seasons for 

 wintering, and hatching and rearing broods. On the 

 other hand, if we had four years close season and the 

 winter preceding the open season should be such as last 

 winter we should be back again where we started. Dur- 

 ing forty-five years' experience as a shooter I have never 

 seen as few birds as the present season, and it is the first 

 season in that time I have not fired a gun. I have two 

 coveys on my farm which have not been shot at and I 

 hope they may get safe through the winter; if so, and 

 they have favorable seasons for hatching and rearing, the 

 supply in this immediate vicinitj r will be fairly estab- 

 lished. My judgment is in favor of an open season each 

 year from Oct. 20 to Dec. 20, the shooting restricted to 

 fhree days a week, as we have it here now in the case 



of ducks. This would prevent visiting shooters on vaca- 

 tion following the birds every day from daylight to dark. 

 It would also prevent the ruin of all our dogs by not 

 being shot over for several years. In any case land 

 owners can post against shooting when bird's need fur- 

 ther protection. Shooting three days a week would also 

 discourage making a business of shooting for market. 

 Other shooters and land owners would not tolerate shoot- 

 ing by any one on close, days, and the law would be well en- 

 forced. The Berghites ought to favor this law, for it 

 would prevent what often amounts to atrocious cruelty 

 in shooting over used-up dogs every day. It seems to 

 me that three open days a week would be desirable from 

 many points of view, and I am not able to see any valid 

 objections to the plan. I believe a very important feature 

 in game protection would be to encourage land owners to 

 intervene by posting when birds are usually scarce. In 

 similar cases by common consent sportsmen ought to 

 forego their shooting for the time in whole or in part. 

 My best wishes always for Forest and Stream and a 

 Happy New Year to all its readers. 



M. G. Ellzey, M.D. 



CuMBERSTONE, M d. 



THE POWDER TESTS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Your readers are certainly indebted to Mr. Armin Ten- 

 ner for his letters on ballistics and his report of experi- 

 ments conducted at Chicago and Carney's Point, N. J. 

 His articles are instructive to those who have not made 

 the theory of shotgun ballistic a study and interesting to 

 all of us. 



The fact only that Mr. Tenner has not left it to his 

 readers and the public to judge and form their own con- 

 clusions, but has himself sat in judgment of the various 

 powders used according to his own individual, possibly 

 prejudiced, ideas, by comparing and summarizing the 

 alleged results into total figures of merits, induces me to 

 draw the attention of your readers to a. few irregularities 

 and the impropriety — yes, impossibility — of making any- 

 thing like fair comparisons of the general practical merits 

 of the powders used from the results chronicled. 



On the other hand, much information may be gained as 

 regards the comparative adaptability and effectiveness of 

 various shells and primers. The results obtained by Mr. 

 Tenner closely agree with the many continuous experi- 

 ments made by me during the last few years, the results of 

 some of which were published in your paper. 



Although knowing that Mr. Tenner has been interested 

 in Germany in Walsrode powder and is to-day on very 

 friendly terms with Messrs. Wolf & Co., the manufac- 

 turers of Walsrode powder, I am far from impugning any 

 wrong motives on his part. I believe that Mr. Tenner's 

 intentions are perfectly honorable, but at the same time 

 he was prejudiced in f aver of Walsrode powder. My criti- 

 cism will, therefore, be entirely friendly, and I think that 

 Mr. Tenner must agree with me in the justness of my ob- 

 jections and criticism. 



The first thing which is bound to attract the attention of 

 all versed in ballistics is the apparent lack of uniformity 

 in Mr. Tenner's results, both as regards "bursting strain," 

 or as it is generally called, "initial pressure," as well as 

 velocities. 



Mr. Tenner says in his introductory article that an 

 "increase of bursting strain up to l,0001bs. may still be 

 considered natural and permissible, and an increase of 

 velocity of 50ft may be regarded as of no importance." 

 I certainly differ with Mr. Tenner. Should I receive such 

 variations under normal conditions with evenly and 

 properly loaded Schultze, E. C. or black powder ammu- 

 nition, I should be tempted to suspect some disorder or 

 imperfect arrangements of the instruments or their 

 manipulation. 



But these trials show allegedly much greater variations 

 with even standard black powders than what Mr. Tenner 

 calls permissible, which powders we all know cannot be 

 excelled for evenness in results. This, together with 

 other very contradictory results, will always leave a well 

 founded doubt as to the proper working or manipulation 

 of the instruments employed. 



Bla^k powders in general are less liable to be affected 

 by differences in primers, wads, pressures, etc., than nitro 

 powders. Yet we are told that 3Jdrs. of FFF (I believe 

 F-FF G was meant) DuPont's in a series of only five shots 

 gave a variation of 2,0441bs. in bursting pressure and 89ft. 

 in velocity. Again, 3Jdrs. Dead Shot FF (presumably 

 FF G), one of the most even and reliable of black pow- 

 ders made in the world, gave a variation of 136ft. veloc- 

 ity, nearly 300 per cent, more than Mr. Tenner calls per- 

 missible. 



These figures prove beyond peradventure that some- 

 thing was wrong, for such variations with these standard 

 and reliable black powders cannot be accounted for by 

 any possible or at least excusable difference in loading. 



On the contrary, the difference obtained in five series 

 of five shots each with Schultze powder, namely, 40, 30, 

 30, 20 and 23, as per table A, seem excusable. At the 

 same time, however, some of the variations in bursting 

 strain are entirely out of place. 



I am not acquainted with Mr. Tenner's spring device 

 for measuring initial pressures. There is hardly a week, 

 however, where I do not use the lead crusher gauge, such 

 as is in use by the London Field, Schultze, E. C. and other 

 concerns looked upon as authorities, and I have never 

 been able to make this gauge lie or record anything like 

 similar variations in pressures with perfectly prepared 

 ammunition of standard powders. I, however, retain the 

 character of each kind of ammunition, and if I test two 

 kinds of cartridges giving pressures varying 50 per cent,, 

 my instrument so corredly records them, whether I 

 alternate both kinds with each shot or use up one kind 

 before trying the others. 



I am also led to believe that it is not advisable to simul- 

 taneously try velocity aud pressure with one shot. Veloci- 

 ties must certainly be disturbed thereby. The barrel on 

 the force gauge used by Mr. Tenner for measuring veloci- 

 ties is, moreover, a cylinder bore, and in these days of 

 chokebores and high grade ammunition, a cylinder barrel 

 is out of place. 



It will not give nearly as even resulls as a choked gun. 

 Balling of shot is much more frequent in a cylinder than 

 in a choked gun, and as often very open patterns are 

 made with a cylinder bore, the results apparently obtained 

 may be misleading according to the adjustment and kind 

 of target plate in connection with the chronograph, and 

 Mr. Tenner did not use the most approved. Moreover, 

 the barrel on Mr, Tenner's force gauges not being a regu- 



lar gun, may be better adapted to one than another kinc 4 

 of powder. 



The phenomenon of even velocities and greatly varying] 

 bursting strain with one kind of ammunition, and Si 

 reversal, is noticed throughout Mr. Tenner's trials. I am; 

 well aware that bursting pressures and velocities are not 

 dependent upon each other, and that even a gun barrel! 

 may be burst at the breech by a detonating explosive with- 

 out giving sufficient accumulative energy to send the 

 shot out of the muzzle. At the same time none of out 

 standard powders, evenly loaded, will vary in bursting 

 pressures thousands of pounds and retain even velocities, 

 although these same velocities may be obtained with an 

 accompanying higher or lower initial pressure under dif- 

 ferent conditions of loading. 



I do not wish to convey the idea that Mr. Tenner is not 

 able to properly handle his instruments. He had, how- 

 ever, to rely for a great deal of the work done upon other 

 and some not experienced parties. Moreover, I believe 

 that the putting up of chronograph, etc., was too provi* 

 sional to be anything like as perfect as those in use at the 

 E. C. or Schultze powder works. The latter have their 

 shooting range some 150 or more feet from the recording 

 rooms with its instruments. The chronograph is resting' 

 on solid rock and concrete foundations reaching several 

 feet deep in the ground to prevent any and all possibility 

 of outside interfering influences. 



I have among my records a series of trials made at 

 the Schultze works, at which I assisted, consisting of some 

 300 shots with different kinds of shells, and about a 

 dczen different kinds and combinations of wadding. All 

 charges were 42 grains of Schultze and l^oz. of English* 

 6 shot, and various amounts of crimp, etc., were tried 

 also. The greatest variation in velocity recorded for any' 

 one style of loading was less than 30ft., and the greatest 

 range of all velocities was covered by 52ft. The initial 

 pressures recorded were also normally even. 



So much of the modus operandi of the instruments; 

 an ! now a few words as to the comparative manner of 

 preparing the ammunition used. Even if we suppose 

 that the figures quoted were correct, it is an apparent in- 

 justice to make comparisons therewith under the circum- ' 

 stances. 



Equitable comparisons as far as the practical and real 

 va'ue of the powders are concerned including Walsrode 

 are impossible for the' following reasons: 



The Walsrode cartridges Used were furnished by itd 

 agents specially for these trials. Each charge of powder' 

 of course was weighed to a fraction of a grain. The wad- 

 dings used over Walsrode were not the same trade wadg 

 used over the other powders, but they were of a selected 

 kind most suitable for it. The shells tlsed also were only 

 of kinds found most suitable. In other words, Walsrode 

 ammunition was tested under best possible conditions, td 

 which I do not object. 



On the other hand, however, Schultze, E. C. and I sup- 

 pose other powders, did not fare so well. To this I object 

 if comparisons are to be made. 



Being under the impression that these trials should be 

 made exhaustive and practical to get at the real merits 

 and reliability of the various powders in the market, V. 

 L. & D. refused to furnish Schultze powder and requested 

 Mr. Tenner to procure his Schultze powder in Chicago, 

 San Francisco or wherever he pleased, thinking that dif- 

 ferent lots of all powders would be so procured in differ- 

 ent parts of the country. 



Some of the powder loads for cartridges to be tested 

 were weighed, but many were not, and simply measured, 

 and it is the easiest thing in the world to vary a 3-clram 

 measure from 1 to 5 grains in weight. No pretense was 

 and is madethat these cartridges were skillfully loaded 

 and to best advantage. Ordinary trade wads were used 

 exclusively, but Mr. Tenner does not give us particulars 

 in a single instance of what wadding was used, and every- 

 body knows that proper and suitable wadding is an all 

 important factor for best results with nitro powders. I 

 proved this to Mr. Tenner by firing loads up to 54 grains 

 of Schultze, retaining the same excellent and even results. 

 To base a comparative table of merit upon the results 

 of such one-sided test seems unfair to say the least. 



What kind of a showing would Walsrode powder make 

 under exactly reversed conditions? This powder is so 

 violent and so sensitive to the difference of a few grains 

 in weight, different kinds of wads, shells and primers, 

 that the agents dare not sell it in bulk, but only in shells, 

 and then put up only in "winter" and "summer loads." 



Before this powder as such can be made a marketable 

 article, we shall have to change our guns, shells, primers, 

 and educate everybody away from equal loads by meas- 

 ure, as those 6f black powders. 



If Walsrode had been loaded by dip measure in the same 

 variety of shells as Schultze with similar wadding and by 

 the same parties, some cartridges would have fired, others 

 half-fired and still others not fired at all in spite of. the 

 fact that the primer exploded. So little of this powder in 

 quantity is safe only to use, that if the loader had by mis- 

 take put in two loads into one shell, which is easily possi- 

 ble and not be detected, there would have been a bursted 

 gun and probably a broken head in the bargain. 



As for Schultze and E. C. ammunition loaded to best 

 advantage, I will say that there would not have been 

 variations of thousands of pound pressure and hundreds 

 of feet in velocity. World's records and scores of hundreds 

 of straight kills and the manufacturers' reputation and 

 financial successes would have guaranteed its effectiveness 

 and evenness in results. 



We will go a step f urther,|and for argument's sake over- 

 look the various irregularities and unequal features of 

 these tests and see how Mr. Tenner arrives at his total 

 points of merit of the different powders. Here again he 

 has certainly laid himself open to criticism. 



Entirely too much weight is laid upon theory, and some 

 absolute practical advantages are wholly lost sight of. 



At best it could be claimed that the total figures of 

 merits applied to the alleged actions of the particular kind 

 of loaded cartridges and not to the powders used, as such, 

 for instance: Schultze and E. C. do not receive a single 

 point of merit for always being absolutely of just one-half 

 of the accepted specific gravity of black powders, so that 

 they can be handled and loaded like black powders by 

 anybody. On the contrary, Walsrode receives no demerit 

 for the want of it, although its agents would want of it 

 not to have this demerit and its ever present dangers. 

 Again the sample hardened grain Schultze powder receives 

 no credit for showing throughout the highest velocity with 

 all varieties of shells and primers, while Walsrode can be 

 and was only used in special or specially prepared shells 



