Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Terms, 
H A Year. 10 Ots. a Copy. 
Six Months, $2. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1897. 
VOL. XLVIII.— No. 4. 
No. 346 Broadway, Nevt York. 
For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page iit. 
\ Forest and Stream Water Colors 
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 Them" (Qoail Shoottne:). 
Vigilant and Valkyrie. Bass Fishing at Block Island. 
The plates are for frames 14X 19 in. They are done in 
twelve colors, and are rich in effect. They are furnished 
to ola or new subscribers on the following terms: 
Forest and Stream ow year and the set of four pictures, $5. 
Forest and Stream 6 months and any two of the pictures, $3, 
Price of th» pioturea alone, $1.S0 each ; $a for the act. 
Remit by express money order or postal money order. 
Make orders payable to 
FOREST AND STREAM PUB. CO., New York. 
FOREST AND STREAM OFFICE 
346 Broadway 
NEW YORK LIFE BUILDING 
Present Entrance on Leonard Street 
Fishmg-^ if I, a iishetf may protest^ 
Of pleastjf es is the sweef st, of spot* ts the best ; 
Of exercises the most excellent ; 
Of recreations the most innocent. 
But now the sport is marde, and wott ye why : 
Fishes decrease^ and fishers multiply. 
Thomas Bastardy 1598. 
The club's plan, first adopted at its recent meeting, of 
having a formal paper read by some high authority on some 
one of the subjects in which it is specially interested, is 
highly to be commended. However agreeable it may be for 
a number of hunters to dine together, and to exchange ex- 
periences and swap hunting stories, it must be acknowl- 
edged that the profit of such a meeting, either to any cause 
or to the individuals themselves, is not great. It is much 
more in keeping with the serious purposes which should ani- 
mate a club such as the Boone and Crockett to devote a 
part ef this meeting to the acquiring of knowledge. Papers 
such as were read by Mr. Low at the club's last meeting 
greatly increase our knowledge of an unknown quarter of 
America, and this is a subject about which no American can 
have too much knowledge. 
While the Boone and Crockett Club was perhaps estab- 
lished as a hunting club, and while its members do a great 
deal of hunting and enjoy it, it aims at something higher 
than being a mere social organization. Among the objects 
named in the constitution of the club are the promotion of 
travel and exploration in wild portions of the country, the 
working for the preservation of large game in this country 
by furthering legislation for that purpose and by assisting 
in the enforcement of law, and inquiry into and recording 
observations of the habits and natural history of various 
wild animals. Objects such as these are surely worth striv- 
ing for by any man or any body of men, and the Boone and 
Crockett Club is to be congratulated upon the work it has 
done and the record it has made in the ten years of its life. 
THE BOONE AND CROCKETT CLUB. 
The tenth annual meeting of the Boone and Crockett 
Club, which was held on Saturday, Jan. 16, in New Tork, 
was an interesting occasion. The attendance was large, and 
among those who were present were many who are eminent 
in different walks of life. Not one of those present but 
seemed to be impressed with the fact that the club has a real 
work to perform and to be willing to do his part in perform- 
ing it. 
The work done by the Boone and Crockett all counts for a 
good deal, though some of it, appearing in the statutes of 
New York State and of the general Government, and not 
being' labeled with the club's name, is likely to be forgotten. 
A permanent work which the club has accomplished appears 
in two volumes of its publications printed in recent years, 
and these, it is understood, are soon to be followed by a 
third, the plan being to publish a volume every two years. 
The doctrine of game protection and of good, honest sports- 
manship inculcated by these volumes reaches a good deal 
further than the personal influence of the members of the 
club; yet this personal influence is strong. "With a member- 
ship which, though small, reaches from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, covering alike our largest cities and States, which 
are only just beginning to develop theii resources, the club 
covers a vast territory, and the precept and example of its 
members come to a great many people. 
In our report of the meeting, printed elsewhere, the resolu- 
tion introduced by Mr, Henry L. Stimson, of Wew York, 
gives expression to the sentiment which has always pervaded 
the club, but which up to the present time has been its un- 
written law. Mr. Stimson's resolution, unanimously passed, 
condemns the use of steel traps, the kilhng of game animals 
while helpless in the water or in the deep snow, and the kill- 
ing of the females of any horned game. 
Certainly it is a good thing for game protection and for 
sportsmanship when a club like the Boone and Crockett 
Club takes this ground. And on the other hand, it was high 
time that the club should express in its constitution what has 
always been the sentiment of its members. The killing of 
the females of several species of homed game is already pro- 
hibited in some States of the Union, and it should be forbid- 
den in all. 
KITES IN THE LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. 
In these days, when the use of kites for various purposes 
is receiving so much attention, there are a variety of practi- 
cal matters in which they may be employed which deserve 
the consideration of practical men. We are told that kites 
are being used to lift people above the earth; to carry 
cameras which shall photograph portions of the landscape 
beneath them; to transport explosives, which may be 
dropped on enemies at a distance, and to carry and lay tele- 
phone wires, over which conversation can be carried on. 
The number of lives saved each year ,by the life-saving 
service along our Atlantic coast is large, and of these rescues 
a very considerable proportion are made by means of the 
breeches buoy, the lines being cast over the ship from the 
shore -by means of mortars. Mauy vessels, however, go 
ashore where there are no life-saving stations, or perhaps 
two or three may be wrecked nearly at the same time near 
a single station, and may go to pieces before the Ijfe-saving 
crews have time to attend to all of them. 
It is necessary that a life-saving force should be stationed 
on the land and that its operations should be conducted from 
the shore. Yet it is certain that often the work of establish- 
ing a communication between a wrecked vessel and the shore 
might be carried on with much better prospects of success 
from the vessel, provided there were practical means of 
carrymg the line ashore. This suggestion, however, in- 
volves a reversal of the customary plan of initiating com- 
munication between the wreck and the shore, and so may at 
first seem startling. We believe, however, that a little 
thought will make plain some of its advantages. 
It appears to us entirely practicable to use kites in life- 
saving, and we believe by this means many human lives may 
be saved. 
All vessels should be provided with large kites, which 
if the vessel went ashore, could be flown from the 
masthead, and would carry a fine line to land. By means 
of this fine line one larger could be hauled ashore, and by 
that a hawser, which would thus afford passage to ship- 
wrecked men to the shore. Under ordinary conditions, the 
ship provided with such a kite and with a half mile reel of 
stout cord or wire could send the line ashore, the kite being 
dropped as soon as it is over the land. Even if the hue 
should not fall into the hands of a member of the life-saving 
crew, the individual who received it would be certain to 
have intelligence enough to haul in the line, to bring the 
stout rope ashore and to make it fast. Communication once 
established between the wrecked vessel and the land, the rest 
would seem to be easy. 
What makes it certain that in ninety-nine cases out of 
one hundred a kite could be used from a vessel is the fact 
that ships which come ashore during storms are almost 
always wrecked on a lee shore — that is to say, they are 
wrecked because and at a time when the wind is blowing 
from the sea to the shore, either directly or at some angle 
which is not an acute angle. 
It is, of course, true that occasionally through carelessness 
or in thick weather vessels, particularly steamers, blunder 
ashore with an off-shore wind, and when this is the case a 
kite could not be flown from the ship; but in such case the 
life-saving crew could send over it a line with as much 
speed and certainty by a kite as could be done by the mortar. 
The method by which the kite could be dropped or the 
line freed from the kite and dropped alone are mere ques- 
tions of detail. There are many ways in which this could 
be accomplished, and it would require little ingenuity to 
devise a method, either for se. ting free the kite and dropping 
the line vertically and by means of a small weight attached 
near the bridle which holds the kite, or by tearing out the 
surface which holds the wind so that the kite itself should 
at once fall. 
The expense of providing a vessel with a couple of kites 
such as would be required, and with the necessary reels of 
line, would be very trifling, and yet such provision might 
result in the saving of the lives of a whole ship's company. 
Of course neither the owner who sends out a vessel, nor the 
master who commands her, ever believes that this particular 
ship will be lost. They believe that other vessels may be 
wrecked, but think that this one will escape. At the same 
time, the owner does not neglect any precaution of insuring 
his vessel and her cargo against loss. Would it not be worth 
while for him to pay the small sum required for kite equip- 
ment, and count it as an insurance premium paid on the 
lives of master and crew? 
There are laws in plenty protecting our commerce and 
governing the navigation of our vessels, yet after all the 
sailorman is looked after by our legislation as little as any 
man that works. To himself, and to those who depend on 
him for support, his life and his safety are as precious as the 
safety and the life of any other human being. Every means 
that human ingenuity can devise or human skill execute 
should be put in practice to protect him from the dangers to 
which he is peculiarly exposed. This project, simple and 
inexpensive as it is, is surely worth a trial, and if it should 
prove practicable our navigation laws should be so amended 
as to provide that no vessel shall clear from any port without 
being equipped with the necessary apparatus of kite and 
reels of line which shall enable the crew to send the kite 
across. 
SNAP SHOTS. 
The Florida green turtle lives in the sea, but comes to land 
to deposit its eggs in the sand of the beach. The Floridian 
hunts out the turtle nests and robs the eggs. The pursuit of 
the turtle at sea and the consumption of its eggs ashore have 
been going on long and unremmittingly. Now the fisher- 
men aiid the eggers are asking one another what has become 
of the green turtle supply. They appear to think it an in- 
soluble mystery. 
Joel T. Headley, who died on Jan. 16, wag one of the 
earliest writers on the Adirondacks. In 1846 Mr. He dley 
was associated with Henry J. Raymond on the New York 
T/'mes; and in the following years, for the benefit of his 
health, he used to make summer visits to the Northern Wil- 
derness, where he was among the first to make proof of the 
recuperative influences of the mountains, lakes and forests. 
In 1849 his newspaper sketches were collected into a volume 
entitled "The Adirondacks; or. Life in the Woods." The 
volume had a wide sale and did much to direct public atten- 
tion to the woods; although the time was not yet ripe for the 
popularity which was afterward awarded to "Adirondack-' 
Murray's book. 
The Mongolian pheasant stocking enterprise in Massachu- 
setts has not been a pronounced success outside of the State 
aviaries at Winchester. Of the birds sent out to different 
persons for breeding and liberating, only three lots sur- 
vived. 
The annual midwinter convention of the New York State 
Association for the Prote ction of Fish and Game, at Syra- 
cuse last week, was quite in keeping with the meetings of 
other recent years. The amendments which the Association 
will ask the Legislature to make in the law this winter are 
given in our game columns. They are in general in the line 
of more protection ; and everything which tends to that is in 
these days desirable. All good citizens of New York should 
support the recommendations of the Association. 
We have reprinted in leaflet form the Forest and Steeam 
Platform Plank, with the argument for its adoption, and we 
shall be glad to supply the leaflet in any desired quantities 
{or distribution. 
