160 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 25, 1894 
The next day we went back and picked up our stuff; 
and after two days spent in repairing damages pro- 
ceeded. We left Gananoque on the 31st and reached 
Kingston Mills Locks at exactly the same moment as did 
Chief Constable Brick wood. He proved another hurri- 
cane and gave us the choice of paying $25 for a permit to 
shoot, or going home. We paid. Having camped on 
the shooting grounds on a spot between two immense 
marshes, we chose the northern one for our evening's 
shooting, and concealed ourselves therein. Not a duck 
did we see, but in the southern marsh about a hundred 
birds were killed. 
When we arrived at our camp at Sand Lake, Tony 
and I had good and at the same time pretty bad shooting, 
about forty ducks offering themselves to our aim, and all 
escaping but three. Although we were in a good spot, 
we went on eighteen miles further, in order to meet 
Charlie Coalhole. He was to have joined us at Newboro; 
and having left an excellent camp on Sand, with its good 
shooting, all on his account, we were met by a letter 
from him stating that he could not come. At Benson 
Lake, where we camped four days, Tony and I used to 
vanish in the morning searching thei bayous all day for 
game and returning about an hour after dark. We 
feared the game constables, as we had only one permit 
for four shooters, each of whom should have had one; 
and Abou and Crown Prince, who always remained at 
home, fixed a code of signal lights to hinder us blunder- 
ing into camp in the darkness, in the event of a game 
constable's presence there, and giving away the fact that 
we had both been shooting. Their code was as follows: 
No light at all— Come home. All well. 
White light— Stay away. Constable here. 
White and green — Be careful. Constable has been here. 
See the result. When they showed no light at all. the 
first night we could not find the camp, and wandered out 
of our way in the endless stumps, getting thoroughly 
lost. The second night, having cooked dinner, they sat 
down to eat it, and in order to see what they were doing, 
they put a white lantern on the table, which lantern 
Tony and I saw from the distance and kept off for an 
hour or more, thinking that the constable was waiting 
our return and that the light was the warning agreed 
upon. While we, hungry as hunters, paddled back and 
forth at a safe distance, Abou and his companion in 
crime ate a most comfortable supper, smoked their pipes, 
and read some old newspapers by the same light that was 
keeping us away from those joys. 
After a few days at Benson, we went back to Sand, 
where we had some more good shooting. To illustrate 
the difficulty of successful shooting on the Rideau Lakes, 
I will state that it took Tony "and myself a full hour to get 
a bird which fell about sixty yards from us, owing to the 
mass of stumps, logs, water and morass between. From 
Sand Lake we came back to Gananoque over land, boats 
and all, and then rowed home. We enjoyed our trip, in 
spite of the hard knocks fortune treated us to. 
Frank ,Latjrence Donohue. 
NITRO POWDERS PAST AND PRESENT. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Nitro-cellulose or gun-cotton constitutes the principal 
base of the great majority of the modern smokeless 
powders. It is only within the last decade that the treat- 
ment of nitro-cellulose has assumed a certain degree of 
technical perfection. Prior to that time much difficulty 
was experienced in the endeavor to impart to nitro powders 
sufficient stability and uniformity of action. The smoke- 
less powders as first introduced were particularly 
susceptible to atmospheric influences. This was partly 
due to the presence of a large percentage of saltpeter in 
some cases, but more so to the soft surface of the grain. 
Schultze and E. C- powders were the first in the 
market with this objectionable feature removed or at least 
greatly diminished. This change for the better was 
brought about with the aid and application of ethers, 
whereby the grains were given a sort of surface crust, 
and various kinds of ethers, among them acetic ether 
and aceton, are now generally employed for a similar 
purpose. Several attempts were made to accomplish the 
same end with paraffin, varnish, etc., but it was found 
that these substances did not serve the purpose. 
Later on it was discovered that the surface of gun- 
cotton powders can be given a greater degree of density 
and thereby rendered less susceptible to moisture, by 
simply steeping or dipping the compound into ethers. 
But this process again was coupled with an objectionable 
feature. It was found difficult, yes next to impossible, 
to extract the ethers from the compound after their 
presence was no longer desirable. The peculiar odor 
given out by some nitro powders after having been stored 
and subjected to changes of temperature may always be 
taken as a sure sign of the presence of ethers. 
Manufacturers of military powders have thus been 
prompted to adopt a different process for making these 
powders. The gun-cotton is now dissolved by them in 
hot nitro-glycerine, with and without camphor, and a 
sort of a dough is obtained by such a process which can 
be kneaded, rolled into sheets, cut in leaflets or formed 
into grains, ords or square pieces. But it is still an open 
question whether the powders made under this last 
named process will prove to possess superior keeping 
qualities. 
In judging the properties of a propelling agent of this 
nature we must bear in mind that, for instance, frost 
affects both nitro-cellulose and nitro-glycerine very 
seriously. The probable effect of heat ought also to be con- 
sidered since gun-cotton, when subjected to a high tem- 
perature, loses considerably in weight. 
It is even worse with nitro-glycerine which has a 
tendency to evaporate at all temperatures, and which 
behaves very strangely, often very violently, in a frozen 
condition. 
In view of these last named facts, some manufacturers 
of nitro powders have dispensed with nitro-glycerine 
altogether, while others have gone so far as to reduce 
also the percentage of nitro-cellulose to the lowest possible 
limit. Instead of gun-cotton they employ invariable salts, 
especially nitrate of baryta, while the treacherous nitro- 
glycerine, on the other hand, is replaced by a series of 
nitrated aromatic carburetted hydrogen. It is claimed that 
particularly the solid fused dinitrotoluol is capable of dis- 
solving large quantities of gun-cotton, and produce a very 
hard mass. The keeping qualities of the powders made 
under this process are said to be very satisfactory, and we 
are further informed that their body is composed of 
seventy-five per cent, of crystallized products and only 
twenty-five per cent, of gun-cotton. 
But we now come to the most important claims ad- 
anced for these powders. It is asserted that they do not 
react to increased charges more violently than black 
powders, or in other words that they are even safer than 
fine grain black powder, that they never endanger the 
gun or the shooter in case the load is accidentally or inten- 
tionally increased to double the quantity of the service 
charge; that they do not corrode or pit the gun barrel 
even when the gun is not cleaned for weeks after use, and 
tha,t the same grade and grain can be used with equal 
good results in the sporting rifle, shotgun and revolver. 
For most of these claims we have so far no other proof 
than the assurance of the manufacturers, and such assur- 
ance is very often biased and unreliable. But the claim 
for safety is amply sustained by the result of official tests 
carried out under Government control. 
Should the other claims also prove to be warranted we 
would at last have reached a new departure in the fine of 
smokeless powders. The ideal smokeless propelling agent 
would be within our reach and the days of black powders 
counted, at least among the shooters, with whom the 
question of cost cuts no figure. 
Thousands of shooters who still hesitate to use a nitro 
powder, simply because the latter, as a rule, and up to 
the present, are less safe than black powder, would 
throw the old reliable but noisy propelling agent over- 
board and substitute for it smokeless powder combining 
all the good qualities of both the nitro and black powders. 
The news is almost too good to be true, and I am still 
somewhat skeptically inclined toward the remarkable 
claims set forth for this latest invention among propelling 
agents. 
I therefore prefer to withhold the name of this new 
powder and other data concerning it until I have had 
time and occasion to determine the question whether the 
powder referred to really is the ideal powder looked for so 
long and anxiously by every shooter the world over. I 
have ordered samples of the powder, and hope to be in 
possession of the same within a month. When they 
reach me they will be tested thoroughly and your readers 
may thus expect to hear from me again on the subject at 
some future day. Armin Tenner. 
A DISMAL CHICKEN OUTLOOK. 
Sioux City, Iowa, Aug. 17. — I have lately visited the 
towns on the Iowa side of the Missouri River from Coun- 
cil Bluffs, la., to Vermillion, S. D., and, of course, 
naturally inquired closely into the prospects for shooting 
this fall. The information I gained, however, was very 
discouraging and I will look elsewhere for my chicken 
shooting this season. The universal answer is, "There 
are hardly any chickens left; the farmers trap them all." 
That this is true I am thoroughly satisfied, for in every 
town one hears on all sides such statements. At some 
points I learned that there were a few quail, but the 
chickens were too scarce to hunt. At Vermillionj Elk 
Point and Jefferson, South Dakota, the chickens are 
reported as having been very numerous, more so than 
for several years, a fact seized upon by the trappers as 
an argument to prove that their work does not decimate 
the supply. They tell now, however, that the birds are 
getting scarce as shooting has been general for three 
weeks past; in fact, game laws are a dead letter. 
With very few exceptions, the merchants care nothing 
about the matter; if at all it is a disposition to shield the 
violators of the law, and they appear to be in full 
sympathy with the farmer who traps — and that means 
nearly t'ery farmer in the country. The trapping is 
done latei in the season, November and December, and 
the argument used is that the birds caught are not those 
bred in their section, but others that are migrating from 
the North. 
I had quite a conversation with one merchant at Jeffer- 
son, South Dakota, on the subject. He had been on a 
farm for fourteen years and made a regular business of 
it. He told me that he had used from 100 to 300 traps 
every year, and sometimes had gathered up a wagonload 
of birds a day. That was when chickens were more 
numerous than at present. He could not see, however, 
that the work of himself and his fellows was responsible 
for the decreased supply. He blames the city sportsman 
for that. This section of South Dakota seems to be in 
urgent need of a game warden, and one who will attend 
strictly to business. 
Further west, on the line of the C. M. &, St. P. road, 
chickens are reported as being very plentiful — unusually 
so. Scotland, Tripp, Armour and several other towns in 
that vicinity are very good points. Parties going along 
the Missouri River west of Yankton in Charles Mix 
county will also find plenty of birds. I would advise 
any one contemplating such a trip, however, to hurry up 
about it, as the statement from the State's attorney that 
the Aug. 15 law holds good is generally accepted and 
acted on. Whether this be true or not, or whether the 
attorney ever said so is a matter I know nothing about; 
but I do know every one is taking advantage of the fact. 
While in central Nebraska the first of this month, I 
found that illegal shooting was already quite general, and 
was done by a class of men who rank as the best sports- 
men of the State. Their excuse is of course, that as every 
one does bo they must either do it themselves or get no 
chickens. The delightful way in which game laws are 
calmly ignored in many of our Western States is anything 
but encouraging to those who would observe the laws. 
South Dakota and Nebraska have no game wardens I be- 
lieve; and those who, you would suppose, would make an 
effort to see the laws enforced, are among the first to 
break them. 
I left my gun at home this trip so as to be sure to keep 
out of mischief, but I very much fear that by the time 
Sept. 1 arrives 1 shall find nothing left to shoot. 
W. R. H. 
Mr. H. G. Nichols, of Mitchell, S. Dakota, writes me the 
following interesting information concerning the way 
chickens are preserved by legal enactment in S. Dakota. 
Under date of Aug. 15, be writes: The pot-hunters are as 
plentiful this fall as ever, regardless the law and gun clubs 
for protection. To-day, the fifteenth, and every man with a 
gun and dog is out. While exercising some greyhounds this 
morning I ran across six different outfits out shooting 
chickens. You know in several papers of this State they 
published articles stating that the Attorney-General had 
made or expressed an opinion that the law was open Aug. 
15. I have written him, and . also the State's attorney for a 
copy of this decision, but have failed to hear^rom either as 
jet," 13. WATERS. 
PROPOSED SPORTSMEN'S EXPOSITION. 
THIS prospectus has been sent out by the following 
firms: Hartley & Graham, Union Metallic Cartridge Co., 
Winchester Repeating Arms Co., Laflin & Rand Powder 
Co., E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., Schoverling, 
Daly & Gales, Marlin Fire Arms Co. , Von Lengerke & 
Detmold, Charles J. Godfrey, A. G. Spalding & Bros., 
United States Net and Twine Co., Tatham Bros., Fred 
Sauter, the W. Fred Quimby Co., Empire Target Co., 
Hunter Arms Co. A meeting will be held Aug. 27, at 2 
o'clock P. M. , in the rooms of the Hardware Club, Postal 
Telegraph Building, Broadway and Murray street, New 
York, and all houses in the 4 rade are earnestly requested 
to have a representative present. 
Preamble. 
It is generally admitted by manufacturers at home and 
abroad that there is no way of bringing their products 
before the World, equal to an international exhibition or 
fair. By such means the manufacturer is enabled to 
learn of the various products in his special line, compare 
notes and discover improvements. The distributor is 
made aware of the sources from which the goods he 
wishes to handle come, and the consumer learns of the 
various articles in use in the business or pleasure he is en- 
gaged in, while the public at large is interested and en- 
lightened. 
Exhibitions general in character, both on a large scale 
and small scale, have from time to time been given at 
home and abroad, but Europe long ago recognized the 
value of special exhibits, and these are admitted to be a 
great stimulant to trade. During the past few years sev- 
eral successful exhibitions of sportsmen's goods have been 
given abroad with pronounced success. Those who have 
visited these exhibitions have wondered why America has 
not followed the example set abroad. 
It is confidently felt by many interested in the articles 
used by sportsmen that the time has arrived when a suc- 
cessful exhibition of this nature can be given in America, 
and it is earnestly requested that this matter be given 
your careful attention. 
It is proposed, in the near future, to give an elaborate 
exhibition of all the utensils used by the sportsman, in 
the past as well as at the present time, and to this end it is 
proposed to extend invitations to all manufacturers, at 
home and abroad, of all lines of firearms, ammunition, 
light ordnance, camping equipments as related to field 
sports, taxidermy in all its branches-, fishing tackle and 
all appurtenances used by sportsmen. It is proposed to 
hold this exhibition in New York city, the same to extend 
over a suitable period, so as to give all interested an op- 
portunity of visiting it. 
The elaborateness of this affair will be determined after 
the formation of aproper organization to conduct it, when 
officers will be chosen and the character and scope of the 
exhibition determined, the classes arranged, judges ap- 
pointed, and full and complete arrangements made for 
carrying the matter to a successful issue. 
No event of this kind has ever occurred in the United 
States, and it is confidently believed that the opportunity 
will be unequaled of bringing hefore the public the 
numerous inventions and various implements used by the 
great and rapidly increasing class of sportsmen through- 
out the world. The recent Columbian Exposition at Chi- 
cago proved most unsatisfactory to many, and to no little 
extent this dissatisfaction has prompted this movement. 
Those having exhibited at Chicago were forced to recognize 
that its vastress made inconspicuous the comparatively 
few exhibits there made. It is by specializing and con- 
centrating these industries that products and inventions 
can be brought most conspicuously before the world, and 
directly to the attention of the consumer. 
Suggestions for the Exhibit In Detail. 
Following the line of the above general plan, several gentlemen 
interested in the trade and the proposed exhibition, have discussed 
with the management of the Madison Square Garden, New York city, 
those points touching upon its financial and artistic success, and as a 
result, make the following suggestions for the consideration of those 
to whose share it will fall to take up the project and carry it to 
successful completion, 
Tn view of the central location of Madison Square Garden, at Twenty- 
sixth street and Madison avenue. New York, and of the desirable 
facilities it offers, it is thought that this great amphitheater would 
be the most suitable place in which to hold such an exhibit as that 
contemplated, 
The most desirable dates now unfilled, according to the schedule of 
the Madison Square Garden Co., are those of the first two weeks in 
January, 1895. It is believed that if the work of preparation is taken 
up at once, and vigorously prosecuted, the exhibit can be opened 
to the public on those dates. 
The Madison Square Garden Co. having had long experience in the 
handling of such enterprises, given under different auspices, is especi- 
ally equipped to conduct them successfully, and to the satisfaction of 
all interested. 
It is proposed, however, to conduct the exhibit under the auspices 
of a duly organized and representative association, composed of lead- 
ing houses engaged tn the manufacture and sale of the products it is 
proposed to exhibit, and it is to the end of effecting such organization, 
for the purpose of co-operating with the executive head of tbe Madison 
Square Garden Co,, that the above call has been made. 
The work of classifying the exhibits would, of course, rest with a 
committee to be subsequently appointed. In order, however, to give 
you some idea as to the character and scope of the exposition, the 
following classification is submitted: 
Class A.— Prepared ammunition— Metallic cartridges and paper shot 
stalls 
Class B.— An exhibit of rifles, revolvers, pistols and other small 
arms. 
Class C— An exhibit of sportsmen's arms. 
Class D. — An exhibit of all the products handled by wholesale 
dealers, manufacturers' agents and importers of firearms and sports- 
men's goods. 
Class E— An exhibit of gun implements. 
Class F— An exhibit of the different powders used for military and 
sportsmen's purposes. 
Class G.— Sporcsmen's wear— Shooting coats, leggings, gun ca«es and 
other leather and canvas goods used by sportsmen. 
Class H.— Lawn tennis, cricket, baseball, football and field sport 
supplies. . " - 
Class I.— Fishing tackle, rods, reels and anglers' supplies. 
Class K.— Eifle sights and accessories. 
Class L.— Boats, canoes and yachting supplies. 
Class M— Kennel supplies, such as prepared foods, remedies and 
leather goods. . , 
Class O.— Artificial targets, traps and electrical apparatus used by 
trap-shooters. 
Class P.— Machinery used in the manufacture of small arms. 
Class Q.— Examples in the art of taxidermy and taxidermists' sup- 
plies. , . 
Class R.— Hand cameras and photographic equipments as used by 
sportsmen. . 
Class S.— Camping equipments and supplies, such as tents, cooking 
utensils, canned goods, beverages and other requisites and luxuries 
for campers. ... _ 
The above classification has been hastily made, and can doubtless be 
greatly simplified and improved. It is offered, as above stated, simply 
to give some idea as to the scope of the exhibit. 
In addition to the exhibit of manufactured products, it is believed 
that with proper representation such magnificent collections of tro- 
phies, consisting of implements of war and of the chase, of costumes 
worn by native hunters, and of other trophies of interest to the sports- 
map, as those possessed by the King ot Saxony, the Duke of Saxe. 
