April. 21, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



839 



them drop in the foam, for there the trout are always to 

 he found, if anywhere. The most laughable sight, how- 

 ever, was that of the angling of the Indian guide. He used 

 a pole that was almost as thick at one end as at the other 

 and as crooked as a worm fence. To this was attached a 

 common piece of wrapping twine with a good sized eyed 

 hook. This he baited with some salt pork, and then tak- 

 ing position on a decli dtous rock, where he could drop his 

 line over a small spring that was bubbling up from the bed 

 of the pool, quietly let his bait sink within an inch or 

 two of the bottom ; but he never put it in until he saw some 

 trout that had come to sport in the cold flowing water, 

 "When there was a bite there was a sudden jerk, and if 

 he missed the trout his hook would invariably catch in the 

 branches of the tree above him. He as often hooked them 

 foul as fair, and succeeded in catching as many as either 

 of us. His crude angling was really farcical, and frequently 

 I stopped my fishing and sat down and watched him till 

 the tears rolled down my cheekB from excessive laughter. 

 'Look out for the tree,' I would cry aloud, when I saw 

 his lips close and his fingers tighten, ready for the culmi- 

 nation of the bite. "When he missed, and caught the tree 

 from his violent jerk, I would yell; he would Bmile and 

 Kenosh chatter a little Chippewa. It was a circus, I assure 

 you, and would have made a donkey smile, if such a thing 

 were possible." 



Just before supper, a Mackinac, with two half-breeds 

 and the angler from "Old Kentucky," one whom we had 

 met on the North Shore last year, rounded into the mouth 

 of the Aguawa and landed on the bank opposite to us, 

 where they made camp. We paid him an immediate 

 visit, and learned that he was en route for Michipicoton 

 River and was after big trout, which he expected to ob- 

 tain there. He stated that he had caught three large 

 Mackinac trout on a spoon hook as he came along, and 

 was kind enough to offer us one; but having more fish in 

 camp than we could well dispose of or care for, gratefully 

 declined accepting, and in turn proffered him some of our 

 rose-colored beauties. 



After Ned had given him an interesting account of his 

 trip to the big pool, he concluded to remain over one day 

 and give it a trial, if the weather was at all favorable in 

 the morning; if not, he would simply try the small pools 

 near the mouth. I was satisfied that his trip to the Michi- 

 picoton River would not result favorably, for the Indians 

 located there are quite numerous, and had doubtless, ere 

 this, cleaned the stream of nearly all fish that could be 

 taken by net or otherwise. His boatman, however, had 

 fully impressed him with the idea of monster trout to be 

 caught there, and he was not to be deterred from his en- 

 terprise by our adverse talk. It was a long trip and along 

 a very dangerous coast, and with contrary winds would 

 prove anything but a pleasant voyage. 



A signal for our recall to supper being made by our 

 chef, we left for the feast with undue haste, as our appe- 

 tites were as keen as if we had been chopping wood all 

 day on half rations. 



The evening closed in etherial beauty, the sky being a 

 poem in clouds, the lake in gentle ripples and the sun one 

 burning blaze of golden light with lovely fleeces enriching 

 the western horizen with the soft colors of rosy blush and 

 crimson tint. This gorgeous spectacle continued till the 

 stars came out, crowding the sky with silver points. 

 "Oh Night, most beautiful and rare I 



Thou giv'st the heavens their holiest line; 

 And through the azure fields of air 

 Bring'st down the gentle dew." 



The morning, much to our surprise, opened rainy and 

 foggy* seriously interfering with our trip to Jackson's 

 Cove. We very sensibly concluded to wait for more pro- 

 pitious weather before breaking camp, as a day or two's 

 delay mattered little to us, as we were not on the trip 

 with a limited railroad schedule. 



Time hanging heavily on our hands, we paid our neigh- 

 boring angler across the river another visit and were de- 

 lightfully entertained while there in listening to his ac- 

 count of his travels last winter in Japan. He gave us a 

 more impressive and intelligent account of the condition 

 of the country, its people and their habits, than could be 

 garnered from the many books on that subject. Being a 

 professional man, an attorney, he handled the subject 

 •with a complete understanding, illustrating it in a 

 very elaborate and earnest manner. As Japan is not my 

 subject proper, I wfll bid good-bye to the traveler and re- 

 turn to America and the painted beauty of the lake. 



Toward the closing hours of the day there was a decided 

 change in the weather. The dense banks of fog that had 

 wrapped the mountains and the coast in a misty veil, 

 began to fade away under the bright rays of a golden 

 sun. The west was soon aglow with radiance — the most 

 beautiful colors momentarily changing in the sky — and 

 the reflection gilding the great lake at our feet, which the 

 wind was gently tossing into little billows of silvery seas. 

 Ned suggested, at this auspicious change, to take boat and 

 ascend the river and toy with thetroutlings as a means of 

 diversion. I was in harmony with him, for I was tired of 

 the inactivity which had possessed us during the day, and 

 was therefore ready for any venture that had a scintilla 

 of change in it. The boys were accordingly called from 

 their cozy tent and the boat put in readiness. The half 

 mile was soon made and then the rapids and pools were 

 fished from the banks. Ned stuck to the first rapids, but 

 I limped along to more favorable waters where I knew 

 the dotted darlings were to be found in generous abund- 

 ance. I waded no more, I assure you, and when I had to 

 cross the stream it was on the back of my faithful half- 

 breed, Kenosh. When I came to a pool where wading 

 was required, I handed the rod to my man Friday and let 

 him have his share of the angle, for he not only delighted 

 in it with the zest of a professional, but cast a fly equally 

 as well. 



As we had but a couple of hours in which to fish, the 

 time soon came for us to retrace our steps and renew the 

 fording. The trout were not rising well at all, but we 

 managed to basket a few 8 and lOin. ones, which well re- 

 paid us for all the toil. Ned had three to his account, but 

 as usual I found him in the boat drinking in the bound- 

 less glories of the sapphired sky — which had so suddenly 

 grown into etherial splendor — and the wide-reaching 

 landscape, with its miles of towering mountains and 

 hazy valleys. 



We lost no time in going to our quarters, for the even- 

 ing shadows had spanned the lovely stream and were fast 

 creeping up the aspiring heights where the eagle had his 

 eyrie. Of course my crippled knee had suffered from the 

 brief outing, but as I was to have a day of rest in sailing 



on the morrow, if the wind were favorable, I felt that it 

 would then take a step or two toward recovery. Consol- 

 ing myself with this comfort in prospective, I gave the 

 demoralized old limb no further attention and went to 

 the call of supper as if the entire ailment were but a 

 trifle and would soon bid me an adieu. 



The bright sun having dried up the moisture from the 

 heavy fog, sank to its resting place as if pleased with its 

 kind mission, while a myriad of ephemera from their 

 cloistered retreats sprang into existence with their pallid 

 wing3, as if the night were theirs alone. Cloud upon cloud 

 of them assailed us as never before, until it seemed to take 

 double doses of the repellent to keep them at any distance 

 at all. Ned said it was a grand attack by the entire host, 

 and so direful was their revolutionary ferocity that we at 

 last were compelled to beat a retreat to our tent and take 

 refuge inside the mosquito bar. There, we held them 

 safely at bay and let them hum their indignation in 

 choruses pianissimo or fortissimo, as they might elect. 

 Slumber soon took us in her embrace, and then I went off 

 in one of those remarkable dreams where I saw the blood- 

 thirsty insects expand into such gigantic growth as to per- 

 fectly appall me. There they were, with ferocious heads 

 and big bulging eyes, and armed with such horrid imple- 

 ments of torture, that I awoke with a cold shiver to find 

 that I was without cover and nearly frozen. I was soon 

 in my blankets again, and then a gentle warmth possessed 

 me and once more I was in dreamland; but this time it 

 was of an idyllic land, in which were magnificent pools 

 with trout of unexampled beauty and of tarpon-like size, 

 that gracefully sported in the soft sunbeams that fell in 

 rosy flashes o'er the crystal waters. I awoke, just as I 

 was about to try the virtue of a mammoth fly, with a ray 

 of the bright sun streaming through the opening of the 

 tent. Ned, who had already risen, declared the wind in 

 the right quarter, and the morning one of perfect loveli- 

 ness. The camp at once assumed a busy air for the on- 

 ward move to the haunts of the iridescent and gameful 

 fish. Alex. Starbuok. 



[to be conttntjed.] 



ANGLING NOTES. 



Plants for Aquaria. 



A correspondent asks to be informed "what plants he 

 will need to make an aquarium self-sustaining, and how 

 often it will be necessary to change the water." 



I assume it to be a fresh-water aquarium, in which case 

 bladderwort, water-crowfoot and brook starwort (Calli- 

 triehe) will prove to be excellent plants for the purpose, as 

 they have been used successfully, if a moderate number 

 of animals, especially fishes, are included. If the plants 

 and fishes are properly proportioned to the water it will 

 not be necessary to change the water, except to add to it 

 as evaporation takes place, and this must be determined 

 by observation and experience. 



Mr. Wm. P. Seal, one of the foremost aquarium experts 

 of the world, says the plants most commonly sold for 

 aquarium purposes areMyriophyllum, Ceratophyllum and 

 a species of Oabomba. That they do the best under all 

 circumstances, and have from choice the largest sale. The 

 correspondent does not say that he wishes to introduce 

 fish into his aquarium, but it is presumed that he does, in 

 which case the plants should be introduced first and the 

 fish a week later. Some aquatic plants root, some do not, 

 and the latter will grow freely, fastening down or float- 

 ing loose. Bladderwort and Ceratophyllum are of the 

 latter sort. Seal says: "The water should not be changed 

 unless the fish show signs of great distress by keeping 

 their mouths out of the water and sucking in air. This 

 denotes the exhaustion of the air or free oxygen in the 

 water. The water may be re-aerated by the use of a 

 syringe or by dipping it out and pouring it back." Seal 

 gives four points demanding consideration to insure suc- 

 cess in the management of aquaria. First, absolute 

 purity in the vessel used; second, an abundance of light; 

 third, to avoid overstocking with fish; fourth, great care 

 in introducing food into the aquarium. 



Modern Angling Literature. 



A very dear friend of the writer's affects to look upon 

 the information given in the pages of angling periodicals 

 as ephemeral, and to contend that in order to convey a 

 lasting impression upon any given subject one must 

 employ the vehicle of a printed book. There is some 

 force in this argument when applied to a specific object, 

 an atom, as it were, which with other atoms constitute a 

 combination of the entire matter under a general head, 

 as for instance, "A Treatise upon the Five-Spined Stickle- 

 back. Its History, Habits and Habitat. Illustrated," 

 might in book form contain more researches and informa- 

 tion concerning this valuable game fish than could be 

 found in any single issue of Forest and Stream, and 

 thus condensed, be more indelibly fixed upon the retina 

 of the mind, than if the same information were given in 

 fragments in this journal. But is it not true that the 

 modern technical periodical plays a most important part 

 in gathering together the fragments from every "corner 

 of the earth" (although I never could understand why a 

 round body should have coners), to make the treatise pos- 

 sible? Would the treatise ever see the light of day 

 between book covers if it were not for the modern tech- 

 nical periodical which does this collecting without expense 

 for railway and steamer fares and hotel bills? 



Modern angling literature is not confined to the printed 

 pages of books any more than the literature upon any 

 other subject, however much it may be assumed that 

 angling literature is book literature. Literature is not 

 bounded by or bound in books, for it is "the collective 

 body of literary productions, embracing the entire results 

 of knowledge and fancy preserved in writing; also the 

 whole body of literary productions or writings upon a 

 given subject." 



Now, I might ask what part does angling literature 

 play in the history of a people, but an unknown Scotch 

 writer has answered the question far better than I can: 

 "It is obvious that this varied, yet simple, kind of litera- 

 ture will last as long as the taste for angling endures; it 

 is part and parcel of the sport, and it is just as clear an 

 indication of a natural characteristic of the time as the 

 old legends of Tyrol which peopled the mountain, lake 

 and dark forest with supernatural beings. It reflects a 

 feature of the age just as much as the drama of the 

 Restoration shows us the coarseness and the de- 

 moralization of its social life. Thus, as it has to be 

 regarded as part of the body of modern literature for 



its own merits or faults, in days to come it will be 

 perused by the historian of the Society of the Nine- 

 teenth Century for indications of some of the notice- 

 able characteristics of the period with which he is occu- 

 pied. While, therefore, we may in serious mood look 

 upon a great deal of it as trivial, we must not forget its 

 relative character, we must not overlook the absolute 

 and uniform healthiness of the entire body of it, and we 

 must not shut our eyes to those parts which are full of 

 charming description, which touch on enduring human 

 interests, or which accurately portray and analyze the 

 operations of nature." 



All on Account of the Festive Sucker. 



"I wish to call attention to a law that outrages every 

 natural right, and tramples down every principle of jus- 

 tice. A law conceived in ignorance and born in selfish- 

 ness. There could be nothing more directly calculated to 

 induce disregard for, and a violation of all laws than one 

 that legalizes the seizing of honest, upright citizens and 

 hurrying them before a magistrate, away from their town, 

 there to be charged for the high crime of fishing for 

 suckers with a net, and subjected to fine and imprison- 

 ment. 



"But such is the law of our land, such is the law we 

 have had imposed upon us by those we have chosen as 

 our law makers. A law, a blot upon our statute book, 

 and a scourge to the people. Although its violation is a 

 legal crime, it is not that of a moral obligation. While 

 we may be bound to regard a bad law in the view of 

 men, it cannot be a sin to disregard it in the sight of 

 God." 



This is a protest from Mr. J. V. W. Doty, of Dutchess 

 county, New York, and it could not be more emphatic if 

 double-leaded, not more in earnest if the Constitution and 

 framework of the republic were in danger. It should be 

 read slowly that it may not be mistaken for a call to arms 

 to resist foreign invasion. The bulwark of our liberties 

 as a free people is safe, and incidentally the suckers of 

 Dutchess county are protected by law from the netter. 

 Therefore this wail which rises to the empyrian blue and 

 changes it to a terra cotta red. Mr. Doty should be calm; 

 he need not retire to the primeval forest to conceal his 

 emotions, for there is balm in Gilead. It is true, sadly 

 true, as Mr. Doty more than intimates, that it is illegal to 

 net suckers in Dutchess county, and this law was passed 

 not so much to prevent the extinction of the gamesome 

 sucker by the netter, as it was that the netter of our 

 ponds and streams is proverbially species-blind and when 

 he hauls his net he cannot distinguish suckers from trout, 

 black bass or other fish, and it became necessary in order 

 to protect any fish from capture by devices other than by 

 fair angling, to include the sucker under the mantle of 

 the law. 



Mr. Doty should not give way to grief when the hand 

 of the tyrant oppressor smites him and hedges the sucker 

 about with the meshes of the law to the exclusion of the 

 meshes of the netter, he should follow the example of the 

 Puritan and emigrate to a land where the sucker, like 

 necessity, knows no law, where it may be netted, speared 

 and shot at any and all seasons of the year. Come to 

 Warren county (and it is not far from Dutchess), the 

 blooming oasis of netter and spearer — "Little Warren," 

 the lair of the poacher, who is under the protection of the 

 same law which has coiled itself about the toothsome and 

 bony sucker in Dutchess county. It is one of the beauties 

 of a republican form of government that suckers are 

 protected in one county and poachers are protected in 

 another, so that a man has only to change his residence to 

 flock with one or herd with the other. 



Mr. Doty makes one statement which seems to me, to 

 say the least, misleading, to wit: "The tendency, and it 

 seems the purpose, of these laws (game and fish laws) is 

 not to protect the birds or the fish, but to confine the 

 taking of them to a privileged class." 



The foundation of all game laws is protection during 

 the breeding season, to enable fish and game to reproduce 

 and keep up the stock. Regulations as to size and selling 

 are natural sequences. What appeal's to the complainant 

 to be class legislation is that, while no harm may be done 

 (except to the suckers) if suckers are netted during the 

 season that they are spawning, no guarantee company 

 will give bonds for the sucker netter that he will not net 

 fish at the same time that are not on the free list. 



Perhaps with a higher state of civilization sucker nets, 

 and a permit to use them, will be given away with a 

 pound of baking powder. 



To Move a Fishway. 



A petition signed by residents of Fort Edward, N. Y., 

 has been sent to the Legislature asking that the location 

 of the fishway in the dam across the Hudson River at 

 Thomson's Mills or Fort Miller, as it is variously called, 

 be changed, because it is alleged, the fishway in its pres- 

 ent location is constantly filled with driftwood, so that 

 fish are unable to pass through it. 



A letter now before me from the member of Assembly 

 from Washington county informs me that he has for- 

 warded the petition to the Fish Commissioners of the 

 State, with the recommendation that it be promptly con- 

 sidered. 



The last letter that I received from the late W. H. 

 Rogers, who built the fishway, was in relation to that 

 structure. He said, in substance, that the fishway in 

 question was located in its present position by an exper 

 of thirty years' experience in such matters, and the loca- 

 tion was selected because it was considered the best in the 

 dam for the purposes for which the fishway was built. It 

 was located where it now is for many reasons, any one of 

 which is of vastly greater importance than the question 

 of driftwood, and it was located with a full knowledge of 

 the driftwood difficulty, which can be prevented in an 

 hour's time by any handy man. Furthermore, when the 

 builder left the fishway, the structure was provided with a 

 guard against the driftwood. 



At the time of writing me Mr. Rogers hoped to exam- 

 ine the fishways on the Hudson during the coming sum- 

 mer, but soon after I received a letter from Mr. Herber 

 Rogers, a son, announcing his father's death. 



It is more than likely that the fault complained of 

 not due to the location of the fishway. A year ago a pai 

 of Thomson & Dix's mill was carried away by the spring 

 freshet, and with it a part of the fishway. Mr. Dix told 

 me that he repaired the fishway when he repaired h 

 mill, and it is quite possible that the floodwood guard 

 were not replaced. A. N. Cheney^ 



