Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1894. 
j VOL. XT.TTT.— No. 14* 
1 No. 318 Broadway, New York. 
For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page iii. 
I Forest and Stream Water Colors I 
We have prepared as premiums a series of four artistic || 
and beautiful reproductions of original water colors, % 
painted expressly for the Forest and Stream. The || 
subjects are outdoor scenes: || 
Jacksnipe Coming- In. "He's Got Tliem" (Quail Shooting). % 
Vigilant and Valkyrie. Bass Fishing - at Block Island. M 
SEE REDUCED HALF— TONES IN OUR ADVT. COLUMNS. 2l 
' ♦ " " - - 4 aja 
The plates are for frames 14 x 1 9 in. They are done in H 
twelve colors, and are rich in effect. They are furnished || 
to old or new subscribers on the following terms: 4j 
Forest and Stream one year and the set of four pictures, $5. tji 
Forest and Stream 6" mon ths and any two of the pictures, $3. % 
Price of the pictures alone, $1.50 each } $5 for the set. ^ 
Remit by express money order 01 postal money order % 
^ Make orders payable to 
1 
FOREST AND STREAM PUB. CO., New York. 
PENNSYLVANIA GAME LEGISLATION. 
The Pennsylvania State Sportsmen's Association has an 
important work on hand. At the annual meeting of the As- 
sociation, on Aug. 21, held at Wopsononock, near Al- 
toona, the president, Mr. N. A. Hughes* of "Williamsport, 
Pa., was authorized to appoint a committee, whose duty it 
shall be to carefully consider the matter of a reorganizaj 
tion of the Association. As in the State of New York, 
so also in the State of Pennsylvania, members of the 
State associations have come to realize that it is impossible 
to adequately discuss the problem of game protection and 
propagation during the progress of a trap-shooting tourna- 
ment. 
The New York State Association now baa two meetings 
annually; one beld in the summer for tbe purpose of 
bringing together the trap-shooters and lovers of the gun; 
the other, a convention in the winter at which game pro^ 
tection and kindred topics are discussed. Pennsylvania 
sportsmen can hardly do better than reorganize on the 
lines of the sister organization in New York State, re- 
membering that the senior organization, after years of 
trial, bas found it necessary to separate trap-shooting 
and the discussion of game questions in order to carry 
out successfully the objects of the Association as set forth 
in the constitution. 
In regard to tbe adoption of a uniform law for the State 
of Pennsylvania, the Association also has work before it. 
The State itself is so large, and tbe interests of the differ- 
ent sections so diverse, that opposition is sure to be en- 
countered on all hands when the subject of a uniform 
law is discussed. Success can only be obtained by mutual 
concessions on tbe part of botb the eastern and western 
portions of the State. Sectional laws are now forbidden 
under the constitution of Pennsylvania, hence the open 
season for the extreme east must be the same as those for 
the wildest and coldest portions of the northwestern 
counties. There is a very general feeling throughout the 
State that barring the summer woodcock shooting, the 
present seasons are as nearly right as possible, if only 
the laws themselves were everywhere stringently enforced. 
The appointment of a State game warden with power to 
appoint his deputies, is what most sportsmen in Pennsyl- 
vania ask for. It is urged in this behalf that the odium, 
if any, of conducting prosecutions against violators of the 
game "laws would then devolve, not upon game and fisb 
protective associations, but upon officials properly so con- 
stituted by the State authorities, who could act upon in- 
formation conveyed to them either by private individuals 
or by the aforesaid associations. 
The Fish Commission has done much for the anglers of 
the Keystone State, and the shooters of Pennsylvania 
claim that they are entitled to at least as much consider- 
ation as their brethren of the rod. 
It would seem wise then for the State Sportsmen's As- 
sociation of Pennsylvania, instead of going in for a whole- 
sale revision of the present game laws, to work for the 
appointment of a game official, whether through a regular 
game commission or in connection with the present 
Forestry Commission; and also to see to it that the propa- 
gators of foreign game birds and animals, such as Mongo- 
lian and English pheasants, English and Belgian hares, and 
English partridges are duly protected in tbeir efforts for a 
period of at least two years. 
PORTRAITS IN INK. 
VILt, — A PROFESSOR OF FISHING. 
Whenever you may chance to visit bis haunts, in 
almost all weathers and seasons, you are likely to meet 
the old fisherman, wearing dilapidated clotbes and bear- 
ing unconventional equipments. 
Robins are not yet mating, nor the plovers calling in 
the tawny grass lands, before be is stealing along the 
brimming trout brooks, or is discovered on tbe flood- 
invaded river bank, in sun and shower and flurry of 
sugar-snow, so silent and so seldom moving, that the un- 
interrupted purr of the frogs arises from the drift of dead 
water-weeds close beside him, and the turtles bask un- 
disturbed on the nearest log* the muskrat swims beneath 
the steadfast slant of his pole, and the wild duck whistles 
past him in unerring flight. 
He is alert for the first sharp-set trout and tempts the 
hungry perch and bullhead with the earliest worm. No 
flies are looped about his shapeless, battered hat, no fly- 
book in his pocket, for he scorns all such gimcf acks as he 
does reel and jointed rod. 
A pole that only nature has had a hand in making, 
save in trimming, is good enough for him, and so is an 
honest bait that in no wise deceives but in concealing a 
hook. 
Only when it comes to trolling has he departed from 
the ancient usage of pork rind and red flannel and become 
a late convert to modern metallic lures* 
All day long, with the stout line held in his teeth, he 
trails the fluttering spoon along marshy margins and 
rocky shores, impelling his craft with slow oars or dex- 
trous paddle, lazily laborious, always expectant, never 
excited by good luck, nor ever cast down by bad. 
He fishes solely for fish, never for sport. In spearing 
and netting suckers when they come up stream to spawn 
and in hauling his seine when the law allows it, he has as 
much sport as in angling. If the pickerel, perch and 
smelt bite well, he apparently enjoys ice-fishing, with its 
cold and desolate environment, quite as much as casting 
his bait in open waters under softer skies. 
He wastes no time on the fine arts of the craft, but 
brings each fast-hooked fish to boat or grass with short 
shrift, whether it be plebeian pickerel, eel and pout, or 
patrician trout and bass. 
Despise him not in the day of small things, for out of 
the abundance of his store many a light creel has become 
heavy, and blank scores been made reputable, to the credit 
of rods and flies quite innocent of piscine blood. Also, it is 
well to remember that if he is somewhat greedy, there 
are those no less so, who profess to be truer anglers than 
he. 
If he is touched by the fine and subtle influences of 
nature, if he rejoices in the gladness of the birds, the 
beauty of the flowers, the greenness of woods and fields, 
the babble of waters, the glory of dawn and sunset, he 
makes no sign. Yet he is a close observer of what con- 
cerns his business, wise in the manners and moods of 
fishes, and whoever studies nature in any of her ways 
must in some sort be her lover. 
He has -the quaintness and originality that flavor men 
who Live much by themselves and think their own 
thoughts, and if you approach him without assumption of 
superiority, youjwill find him an entertaining and profit- 
able companion. 
Two points brought up in Mr. Waters's interesting re- 
collection of old time chicken shooting in the Dakotas 
have an especial interest for sportsmen everywhere, and 
are paralleled by events that have taken place in the East 
within twenty-five years. The change of habits of the 
birds, due to changed surroundings and more constant 
pursuit, is just what has been seen in our native quail in 
the comparatively recent past. In many localities in New 
England and tbe Middle States where quail are few and 
are constantly pursued during the open season, it is be- 
lieved by many experienced sportsmen that the birds 
leave the cover to feed only for a short time in early 
morning and evening, and fly back to the swamp in the 
'middle of the day, instead of walking to nooning places 
as they used to in old times. The march westward of the 
posting idea is another striking fact and shows how 
rapidly — though perhaps unconsciously— the belief in the 
game preserve is extending. It is apparent that the 
sportsman of the near future must take his choice be- 
tween a universal game preserve on the one hand, or, on 
the other, game laws rigidly enforced, except for a short 
open season. 
THE LESSON OF THE SEASON. 
Nearly all of the members of the "Vigilant party have 
now returned and undergone the interviewing process-, 
and their stories, which are substantially identical, giv e 
very little support to the idea that the yacht and all con- 
nected with her received other than fair treatment at the 
hands of their opponents. In international contests of 
this kind there is inevitably a certain amount of feeling 
and friction on both sides during the excitement of the 
races, but in this case it will be found, we believe, when 
all the facts are fully known, that there has been quite as 
little as could be expected, and that throughout the entire 
series of races there has been no overt act of either party 
which will be remembered after the present season. 
So far as Americans are concerned, flhere is a great 
deal to be learned from a careful and serious study not 
only of the Vigilant-Britannia races; but of the whole 
system of yacht racing in England; a subject which, as 
has been proved by the many absurd criticisms of the 
past season, is very imperfectly understood on this side* 
While the superiorty in point of speed has remained 
largely on this side of the Atlantic since the days of the 
America, it must be admitted on the other band the sport 
of yacht racing is not only much more generally patron- 
ized, but much better understood on the other side* 
There are many well-informed American yachtsmen who 
have this year for the first time learned of the methods 
of racing in vogue in England; methods which they have 
not hesitated to condemn for no better reason than that 
the American champion has been defeated. 
A sober and impartial comparison of the various points* 
the "one gun" and "time" start, the sailing each race to 
a finish as compared with a time limit, the racing rules 
of the road, the general management of races and the 
common usage of yachtsmen in a race, will show that in 
point of fairness there is little to choose between the 
American and the British methods. 
The most important point for Americans to consider is 
that while yacht racing here is spasmodic, the larger 
classes having no continued existence from year to year, 
but disappearing for long intervals, and even the smaller 
classes seldom lasting for two successive seasons, in Brifc 
ish waters there are certain fixed and permanent classes, 
which race year after year, sailing not six or eight races 
in a season, but more, probably thirty or forty. The fact 
is not generally understood here that many of the details 
of racing which have been criticised this year as inferior 
to American methods are made necessary by the great 
number of races sailed and the distance covered in attend' 
ing a majority of them. 
No friend of American yaehting can wish for more 
than that yacht racing here may become as popular, as 
generally distributed, and as systematically managed as 
in Great Britain, and in order to attain such an end it is 
necessary that Americans should comprehend thoroughly 
how, after years of trial, it has been brought about; and 
should follow more or less the same methods. The op- 
portunities for building up a splendid system of yacht 
racing in half a dozen established classes are in many 
respects far better here than in England; and it only rests 
with the individual yachtsmen and the clubs to avail 
themselves of them. If no other good results shall follow 
the visit of Vigilant, it will at least be a material benefit 
if American yachtsmen are led to study both the strong 
and weak points of the greatest system of organized 
yacht racing that has ever existed. 
The Springfield Republican tells us that a very strong 
petition is to be presented to Governor Greenhalge advo- 
cating tbe appointment of Mr. E. H. Lathrop of Spring- 
field as Fish and Game Commissioner of the common- 
wealth of Massachusetts in place of one of the commis- 
sioners—Edward A. Brackett of Winchester and Isaiah 
C. Young of Wellfleet — whose terms expired Oct. 1. Mr. 
Lathrop has already served two terms as Fish Commis- 
sioner of Massachusetts with a brilliant record, having 
originally been appointed by ex-Governor Robinson ten 
years ago without any knowledge that the appointment 
was contemplated. Mr. Lathrop is not specially desirous 
of filling this office again, but Massachusetts sportsmen 
interested in game protection are exceedingly anxious 
that he should take it. Mr. Lathrop is well known out- 
side of his own State as a thorough sportsman and just 
such a man as is needed on the game commission of any 
State. He ought to be appointed and he ought to accept 
the appointment, 
