FOREST AMD STREAM. 
lAtjd. 14. 1897v 
DAMASCUS GUN BARRELS. 
Fi-dwi thk Consular Reports for Augiist. 
The trade in the renowned damascus gun barrals {canon 
(?e Ivfce), of whicli the valley of the Vesdre, B°.]gium, enjoys 
the exclusive monopoly of production, has for some years 
suffered severely from several causes, principally from the 
placing on the market of steel barrels in imitation of damas- 
cus. The difference between the genuine and false damas- 
bus is that the real handmade barrels are composed of iron 
and steel manipulated by the most expert artisans, who are 
sppbialists in this art, wnereas the imitation barrels are made 
of iron or steel, and by an ingenious process of transferring 
the design of damascus from paper to the barrel are made to 
appear in finish equal to the real. 
The workers ot true damascus barrels are paid 3 50 to 4 
francs (67-i to 77 cents) a day (piecework); those engaged on 
false barrels, principally women and children, receive from 
1 to 1.50 francs (19.8 to "29 cents) per day. The paper design 
transferred to the barrel costs about 13 cents. 
The imitation of damascus barrels is largely done in Liege 
hy the most important gun makers, and it is calculated to 
deceive the inexperienced purchaser. It is estimated that 90 
per cent, of the guns produced in Liege for exportation to 
the United States have false damascus barrels. The manu- 
facturers of genuine damascus barrels, realizing the situation 
occasioned by the large output of this artificial work, 
which has caused a great decrease in the demand for their 
product, have petitioned the Belgian Government for the 
enactment of a law regulating the sale of false barrels in 
Belgium. They demand that all imitations of damascus, 
shall be conspicuously marked "faux damas" or "imitation 
de demas," which, at sight, will distinguish the real from 
the false. Up to the present time, however, the government 
has not granted the demand of the damascus makers. 
A commission of Liege arms manufacturers was appointed 
by the Belgian Government to inquire into the extent of the 
imitation of damascus barrels in loreign arms centers. The 
report of the commissioners shows that the making of false 
damascus barrds for exportation to the United States exists 
only in the province of Liege, Belgium. The life of steel 
barrels damascened, which are all officially tested, is as great 
as the real damascus, and will probably resist as many shocks. 
The advantage, however, of the handmade damascus barrel 
over the steel is that, in case of explosion, the charge escapes 
through some of the many welds and the barrel does not fly 
into pieces, as is the case usually when steel barrels hurst, 
frequently causing serious injury to the person. 
It woiild seem that if the sportsman purchases an imitation 
damascus gun from the retail gun dealer at much less than 
the price demanded for a polishtd steel arm, he obtains a 
w^eapon, with an artistic appearance, at a small price, in- 
stead of the large outlay required for a real damascus. 
Henrv W. Gilbert, Consul, 
Liege, May 6. 
Adirondack Deer Killing. 
Raqijbtte Lake, N. Y , Aug. 5 —Editor Forest and 
Stremn: There is very little prospect ot the laws for the pre- 
servation of deer being of any effect here. Many of the 
guides residing on the lake still have their hounds, and deer 
are being killed almost daily. 
We have been camping for several days on a lake seven 
miles from here, fishing, and at about 5 :30 this morning we 
heard a hound coming over the mountain. Shortly after- 
ward a fine four-prong buck took tp the water only a short 
distance from where we were. We headed him off from 
the shore and rowed around him, getting within 3 or 4ft of 
him, thus showing that he could have been killed even with- 
out a rifle. By guiding the boat, we kept him there fifteen 
or twenty minutes before we allowed him to go ashore again, 
and so saved his skin for that tiip at least. But for us he 
"would now have been numbered among the missing. 
The game warden arrives and puts up at the best hotel, 
BO that every man, woman and chdd knows the moment he 
comes and goes; and if the Commissioners really wish to 
carry out the laws, they certainly must take very different 
measures from those now in force. A Sportsman. • 
The Maine Guide Law. 
pRESiDEKT James Mathikson, of the Eangeley Guides' 
Association, having been refused a guide's license by the 
Commissioners, on the ground tliat he had declared that 
as a registered guide he would not conform to the require- 
ments of the law, has proclaimed his intention of guiding 
without a license, thus to make test of the constitutionality 
of the law. There is much discussion by the parties inter- 
ested as to what Mr. Mathieson said or meant relative to 
observing the law if licensed, and as to the grounds upon 
which his license was withheld. These matters are beside 
the real issue, which is the constitutionality of the law. 
On Aug. 4 Mathieson was arrested, charged with guiding 
without a license, and made the defense that he was not 
guiding, but simply acting as cook. The case has not yet 
been decided. 
Vermont League. 
At the midsummer meet of the Vermont Fish and Game 
League last week, President McKinley and other dis- 
tinguished guests were in attendance; and the occasion was 
a most enjoyable reunion of the members. 
A gentleman who was fishing on Seventh Lake, Adiron- 
dacks, a few days ago, became tried and sleepy. So he an- 
chored his boat near the shore in a shady spot, and lay down 
in the bottom for a nap. After awhile he was awakened by 
something blowing upon his face, and when he opened his 
eyes he saw a big buck standing to his belly in the water 
beside the boat and with his nose close to the fiiherman's face. 
The gentleman lay quite still, rather enjoying the situation. 
About that time another boat came around the corner into 
the little cove, and the buck with a bound disappeared in 
thewcods. — JJiiea Ohaermr. 
The Marlin Company's New Catalogue. 
We have received from the Blartln Fire Arms Co., a new catalogue 
dated June, 18.7, showing ib& products of their factory. 
The catalogue is imeresting because of the great amount of iofor- 
mation not strictly pertaining to the company's goods, ■which it con- 
tains. The Martin Company says that it contains so much supplemen- 
tary information that they feel that it is really a sort of encyclopedia. 
It will be sent free on application.— jldi;. 
Proprietors of fishing resorts ivill find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Strkam. 
The "Game Laws in Brief." 
The current edition of the Game Laws in Brief (index page dated 
Aug. 1) contains the fish and game laws for 189T, with a few excep- 
tions, as they will continue in force during the year. As about forty 
States and Provinces hive amended their laws this year, the Brief 
has been practically done over new. Sent postpaid by the Forest 
and Stream Pub. Co. on receipt of price, 25 cents. All dealers sell it 
MAINE. 
DiXFiELD, Me., Aug, 3. — Editor Forest and Stream: The 
regulations of the special laws and the registration of guides 
have caused us a great deal of trouble and extra work. 
There are some kickers on the registration bill, mainly among 
the camps back in our forests, in fact, in the moose and deer 
country. As to why this is so, I will let the community draw 
its own conclusions The law puts up the bars to the killing 
of these animals in close time. The only reason for the ob- 
jections made to the law that I have ever heard given is that 
the penally is too severe. I did not start in to discuss the 
merits or demerits of the law. It is on our statute books and 
the duty of the Commissioners is to enforce it, as we are try- 
ing to do impaitially, whether for good or bad remains to be 
proved. The next two years will decide whether it ought to 
remain on our statutes. The fish and game laws in Maine 
are b'fe&g enforced as never before, and notwithstanding some 
of the Wports we read in the papers to the contrary, there is 
less illegal shooting and fishing than ever before. "We are 
getting quite a number of convictions, but mainly for last 
year's work. Our wardens are good, and are doing belter 
work than in the past. 
There is plenty of large game (especially of deer) in our 
forests, more than heretotore, and it is almost as common to 
see deer as partridges nearly all over Maine where there is 
any forest. I have seen quite a large number myself m the 
road, in the fields and woods, and on the shores and swim- 
ming the lakes, 
On my business trips. I have had an opportunity to put in 
a day's fishing at Rangeley, Sebago, Grand Lake, Sebec, 
Moc*ehead, and Square and Eagle lakes, in Aroostook, in- 
cluding many other smaller lakes and streams. In Aroostook 
1 caught only toyne and a few trout. We found fine land- 
locked salmon fishing, as to numbers, at Grand Lake and 
Sebec, but not large, -Slbs. the largest, the average at Grand 
Lake about 31bs., at Sebec somewhat smaller. At Sebago, 
in one afternoon, we hooked six fish and landed four (from 
4 to lOilbs.). At Rangeley and Moosehead we had fine fish- 
ing, also landing two or three salmon and a large number of 
trout at each place. The largest trout at Rangeley was 
61bs., salmon 6i]bs.; Moosehead trout 41bs., salmon 61bs. I 
also fished Swan Lake one day, taking a 71b. salmon and 
two trout of 'i and 3ilbs. According to my experience, the 
fishing this year has been as good as I ever had in earlier 
years. 
The addition of the landlocked salmon into the ponds and 
lakes of Maine has been of great benefit, and helps out the 
fishing very materially. We have hundreds of lakes and 
ponds in Maine well adapted to this fish. Many of them are 
now stocked, and from them salmon are caught in consider- 
able numbers. In my opinion the salmon is to be the coming 
fish in Maine, ami the one that will be the principal cause to 
attract the angler from abroad. There is one thing in favor 
of the salmon, which the trout has not — it cannot be caught 
in sufficient numbers, by legal fishing with hook and line, to 
decrease its numbers. It is not a free biter like the trout, which 
takes its meals regularly and often. The salmon when feed- 
ing, feeds voraciously, and then keeps a long fast, in which 
nothing will tempt it. For that reason, if not interfered 
with illegally, it is bound to multiply and keep up the supply 
in goodly numbers. Henry O. Stanley. 
Boston, Aug. 7. — The season for shooting shore birds in 
Massachusetts is on, the "law being off" July 15, but the 
gunners are showing very little interest yet. Slill there is 
time enough, and it is hardly probable that all the boys have 
lost their love for the summer decoy and the gan. Pdrhaps 
the unusual amount of stormy weather has dampened the 
ardor of the sportsmen, though such weather is usually ex- 
pected to make better shooting. It is time for summer 
lowlegs and several classes of snipe, with peep and beetleheads. 
The illegal moose shooters are likely to pet into trouble 
this year, if they attempt their old tricks in Maine. The 
daily p pers have the report that two Haverhill, Mass., 
sportsmen, who yearly go to Maine hunting and fishing, 
have never regardtd the game laws. In July they were ac- 
cused of killing a cow and a calf moose in the AUegash re- 
gion. The calf was only about four months old, but in their 
report to their friends they claimed that it was a year old. 
The guide is reported to have given the information, and the 
Commissioners have his sworn statement implicating the two 
men. Commissioner Carlelon left Augusta the other day to 
investigate the case of a man in Sherman, accused of killing 
a moose and using the meat to bait his bear traps. It is re- 
ported that the Commissioners have declined to license five 
Tobique Indians, of Andover, N. B. It is stated that the 
Indians had been engaged to guide a party, by Dr. T. Por- 
ter, of Boston. The reason given for refusing the licensej is 
that the Indians have been in the habit of kihing moose in 
the States in winter. 
James H. Jones is back from his annual fishing trip. He 
usually goes to Buckfield, his native town, and fishes with 
his father and a friend or two. This time they drove fifteen 
or twenty miles to some brooks near the headwaters of Con- 
cord River in Woodstock. They fished one day a little 
stream in the gorge under Speckled Mountain, In the short 
space of about half an hour they \f^& caught over forty hand- 
some trout. But then the floods came ; cnaracterislic of that 
part of the country, and especially this year. A thunder 
shower— almost a cloudburst— raised the brook up to full 
banks in a few moments. One could actuallf see the waters 
rise. They could but stand in the most sheltered spot they 
could find, and laugh at the howling of the storm. Their 
fishing in that stream was over; the water being full of roil. 
With their team at the roadside not far away, they concluded 
to start for home. Going down the Kotch Road, below 
Shag Pond, beside the stream, Mr, Jones concluded that 
some of the holes looked inviting; the water having already 
begun to fall. Sitting in the buggy he caught several trout, 
in fact the largest for the day was actually caught witboilt 
getting out of the carriage. Back to Boston, Mrr Jones tells 
this story about fishing from the buggy as they rode along, 
and taking handsome trout. The hoys all want to branq 
him as the "champion first-story liar," and put his name at 
the top of the list. But in this they only show their igno- 
rance of the mountains, the streams and the Notch Road 
from Woodstock to Buckfield, Me, SpecIaii, 
SUCKERS AS TROUT DESTROYERS. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
As I understand the fish law with its recent amendments, 
taking suckers with nets, especially in streams where trout 
abound, is absolutely prohibited, and the Cohimissioners are 
not authorized to grant licenses for that purpose, and if I am 
right, then we are confronted with a very serious question, 
which I have never seen raised. 
I have been a pretty close observer for very many years in 
regard to the habits of some fish, and have been surprised to 
find the extent to which trout spawn is destroyed at the 
present time as compared with many years ago, and to show 
the extent to which it can be destroyed I will mention 
a fact in regard to Lake Willewemoc, which contains 
about eighteen or twenty aeres^ and is situated in the Cats- 
kills. 
This little lake abounded some years ago in large trout, 
but a small one was rarely seen, and we found after a while 
that the spawn was practically destroyedljy the newts which 
abound so frequently in very pure waters, 
I constructed a spawn bed about 10ft. in width and 50ft. 
in length in one end of the lake, where the spring water 
came in, and this was filled with large trout during the 
spawning season, but it was also filled with newts, and the 
first day that our warden removed them with a hand net 
containing very small meshes he took out two barrels full. 
We could drive out the trout and screen thei spawn bed, 
but could not keep out tue newts. * 
A constant examination of the trout showed that they 
never eat their own young, and I nevpr knew them to take 
the little killies, which abounded to quite an extent in the 
lake during the summer season. 
A fi-h almost as destructive turns up in greater abundance 
than ever before in the fucker, which has been gradually 
creeping up the trout streams in the Citskill.9, attracted prob- 
ably by the increasing warmth of the water,cTor the water, 
as you are aware, has been getting warmer every year through ' 
the running down of the streams. 
I have stood practically as one of the guardians over the 
Rondout, where we have our Sun Down Lodge, for many 
years, and have fished it for over thirty-five years. 
Like all other streams, it has been running down in the 
summer season, and the suckers have been getting more and 
more abundant. - , 
Some years ago we constructed, a mile or two above our 
lodge, a spawn bed, in which there are no suckers, with the 
result that the trout have increased with wonderful rapidity, 
and this bed has yielded a large supply of trout to the main 
stream. 
A little binnekill, containing a spawn bed of ten times the 
extent of the other, and which is the finest spawn bed I have 
ever seen, is situated very close to the lodge. 
I visited this spawn bed in the latter part of November^ 
1879, with Mr, Peter N. Christie, then engag-d in flshcul- 
ture, for the purpose of making a critical examination, and 
almost every handful of gravel which 1 took up from this 
bed contained one or more eggs, and this bed at that time was 
the great feeder of the stream. 
S)me six or eight years ago a couple of dams were placed 
on this binnekill for the purpose of creating a couple ot small 
ponds, with the result that for two or three years the trout 
wei;e very abundant; but within the last three or four years 
the suckers have found their way into these ponds and seem 
to have remained there during the entire year, and are now 
very abundant, with the result that the small trout have al- 
most totally disappeared. 
This evil can be remedied by breaking down the dams and 
driving all the suckers into the main stream, thus leaving 
the spawn beds in theu- original condition, hut here we are 
confronted to a large extent with the samie trouble. 
Three or four years ago a new dam was placed on the 
stream just above the lodge to replace one which had 
been destroyed, and the pond thus created became immedi- 
ately a harbor for the trout, which were'very abundant for 
a year or two. 
The suckers have now invaded this pond, and are increas- 
ing very rapidly, with the result that this year this pond is 
almost entirely devoid of trout, with the exception of a few 
large ones. 
To open the dam for the purpose of getting rid of the 
suckers is not practicable on account of its peculiar con- 
struction, and the question now arises what remedy have 
we, or how can we get rid of the spawn eating suckers. 
This trouble arising from the sucker is equally noticeable 
further down the stream, where the trout are reappearing in 
quite large numbers, 
Mr. .John Shields, who for many years has had the hotel 
at Lackawack, situated about eight or ten miles above War- 
warsing, informed me a few weeks ago that while the trout 
had appeared in the stream in quite large numbers, the 
suckers had also increased very rapidly, and that there are 
no small trout in the stream, and he Miributes this to the de- 
struction of the spawn by the suckers, and in my judgment 
his views are correct on this point. 
The remedy which I would suggest is the following, which 
would probably require an amendment to the game law be- 
fore it can he apphed, and for this I am largely indebted to 
Mr. Shields. 
Let permission be granted to the riparian owners of 
streams or waters to take out the suckers with nets under a 
special permit, and in the presence and under the supervision 
of the fish protector, and also grant permits for the removal 
of the suckers to responsible persons or clubs who, if desired, 
should give a satisfactory bond to the effect that no other 
fish but suckers would be taken, or if taken out returned im- 
mediately alive. J. S. Van Cj-eef, 
POTJGHKEEPSJE, N. Y., Aug. 4. 
Carp as Spawn Eaters* 
In a letter accompanying his paper on suckers as trout 
destroyers, Mr. Van Cleef writes: 
"If I had had any personal knowledge on the subject I 
should have bad something to say about carp as being very 
destructive of spawn . A brother angler undertook some time 
ago to give me some facts in regard to the spawn-eating 
tendencies of carp, basing his belief upon an article which 
