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FOREST AND STREAM, 
[Dec. 31. ^898. 
hands were lounging in the idle wind, I said to Bob, who 
was at the tiller: "Bob, the Doctor tells me that you 
couldn't get Captain within five miles of Fire Island Inlet 
if you offered him two acres of land in New York city 
with Trinity Church in the middle of it, I've been down 
there, and have fished outside, but never saw anything 
more formidable than a bluefish or a harbor shark, nothing 
to be afraid of." 
"You wasn't there when I was,",said the Captain. 
"Cap, you shut up," said Bob, and here I once more 
admired the discipline on this ship, "the Major asked me 
to tell the story, and you just keep still until I get 
through, and then you may add anything which I may 
have left out, 
"It was this way: about twenty-five years ago we were 
in this same catboat, which has never had a name until you 
called her the 'Sleepy Ann,' and we went outside Fire 
Island for bluefish. I noticed that the Captain was a 
bit nervous when we could only see land on one side, and 
he showed his nervousness by the way in which he eat 
tobacco and the streams of juice which poured down his 
chin and decorated his shirt, front. 
"We were doing well ; the bluefish were taking hold of 
our trolling squids of lead and ivory, and the Captain 
seemed to forget that we were some 3,000 miles from land 
on one side, as he saw the fish come over the rail, and as 
another craft neared us as we came about to follow the. 
school of fish, he saw that it was his old friend, Daniel 
Bedell, and he hailed him with: 'Dan, we've got more 
bluefish than you can count in a month of Sundays.' 
"There was no reply. A whale 'rose under Bedell's 
boat, tossed- it in the air, and every man was drowned. 
That was enough for Captain Smith, the bay is sufficient 
for him, he ain't no hog to want the whole Atlantic and 
its whales. Ain't that so, Cap?" 
The Captain merely reolied : "You've got it right 
enough. Bob. but you're off about five years. This boat 
was built thirty years ago, and the whale business hap- 
pened the first year that she was built, but again you're 
right. I don't want to go out where them whales swim 
around, I've had enough of that." 
Here the Doctor sided with the Captain by saying: 
"I can't blame any man for not wanting to go_ where 
whales may come up under his boat and pitch him out. 
How big was the whale, Captain?" 
" 'Bout a mile long, I reckon, but I didn't see the whole 
on him." 
A Haul in Upper Mash-Rack. 
The Captain decided that a haul in the "upper mash- 
rack" would be the best, "for," he continued, "we want 
some weakfish to take in to-morrow, an' that's the place 
to get 'em, if they's any in the bay. How's that, Bob?" 
"All right, we've got small fish enough, and we might 
get some over there. Better break some more ice to put 
on the fish in the two boxes, and leave enough for the 
other box if we fill it." 
I was curious to know how they marketed their fish and 
asked the question, and learned that they had regular days 
to go to Freeport, and that peddlers took the -large fish 
such as striped bass, weakfish, bluefish, etc., while all fish 
under 2lbs. weight, that were marketable, went to New 
York, where they found a better sale than in the coun- 
try. Then I knew where the peddlers got their fish that 
they brought me when I lived on Long Island. I had 
once a theory that their fish were a lot of unsalable truck 
from the city, but the bright eyes did not support the 
theory, and I bought, but never believed the story that 
the fish were fresh from the nets, as the peddlers de- 
clared. 
In approaching the upper mash-rack, I saw and counted 
twenty-seven blue herons in the water at one time, feed- 
ing, while others were in the air. The sight did not seem 
to impress any one else as uncommon, but never before 
had I seen a flock of these birds which contained more 
than one individual. Evidently they were on their way 
south, and had found a good feeding ground, They had 
seen a boat before, and moved off as we came within rifle 
shot. I wanted a photo of them, but they were too dis- 
tant to show up, and were scattered over a great extent 
of shoal. 
This time we anchored far from shore and started the 
haul from the boat. The Captain had jumped overboard 
on the flats, and before we anchored the net was all out, 
he pulling to the boat against three men, as usual. The 
men all wore oilskin trousers that came to their armpits, 
and as they were open at the bottom, I marveled thereat. 
The more I thought about it the greater the puzzle be- 
came *, why did thy wear 'em? At last, after considering it 
in different lights : It was a sort of professional uni- 
form ; it was heredity, their grandfathers wore 'em ; they 
might keep mud and slime from their trousers, and other 
guesses, then I gave it up and asked Bob. 
Said he: "We'don't need 'em in the water, in fact they 
are stiff and awkward, but when we come out they keep 
the wind from rapidly evaporating the dampness from 
our trousers, and chilling us to the bone, when the air is 
not cold. Under these oilskins we warm the water about 
our legs, and it stays warm, that's all." 
How simple a thing is when you know it! 
Sand Worms for Striped Bass. 
Baltimore. Dec. 18. — Editor Forest and Stream: Sev- 
eral members of this club have used "blood worms" 
this fall for striped bass with great success. We have 
to send on to New York for them, and they are ex- 
pensive. Can you tell us where they are propagated — 
or found? Wc may be able to get them, in that event, 
nearer home. They are a "new bait" to our fisher- 
men, but surpass peelers, soft crabs and all else for 
striped bass: but we know nothing about them, except 
that they "do the work." Athbnaeum Club. 
[There are several species of these worms, which are 
commonly found in the sand or mud about low water 
mark. Others live in pools, hiding themselves among 
the vegetation that grows there. All of them are greed- 
ily devoured by most sorts of marine fishes, and make 
excellent bait. Collecting these worms is a regular 
trade about New York city, where they are sold by many 
dealers. 
We have no doubt that they could be collected near 
Baltimore if it were made worth any one's while to do 
so. If these worms cannot be found on sale in Balti- 
more they might readily be shipped in some quantities 
from New York packed in sea lettuce. As, however, 
some of them are carnivorous, feeding on other worms, 
there might be some risk about this. 
In Forest and Stream. April 3, 1890, Vol. IV., page 
212, under the name Nereis pelagica, is figured one of 
the common forms found on the coast. 
We suggest your sending some one to search for these 
worms in the sheltered, sandy and muddy coves about 
Baltimore. They may be looked for about low water 
mark, buried in the sand or mud, in much the same 
places where clams (Mya arenaria) are found. We shall 
be glad to learn the results of your investigations.] 
Black Bass Breeding. 
In response to our inquiry concerning the Richmond 
Club's bass breeding, Mr. George F. Peabody, president 
of the American Fisheries Societ}', writes .' 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Referring to your request for information regarding 
the club as successfully propagating black bass, to which 
I alluded at the meeting of the American Fisheries So- 
ciety, held in Omaha July last, I take pleasure in giving 
you a careful account of work done and its results by the 
Richmond (Indiana) Fishing Club, from a letter, re- 
cently received, written by one of its pioneer members. 
Perhaps the figures will not reach into the millions, as 
is customary in the reports of public trout hatcheries, 
based upon the loose methods of estimating in vogue; but 
as the count is of definite fish, that came to maturity (i. e. 
fingerlings), I should say the residts were very satisfac- 
tory, and the information should prove of value to fish- 
culturists. Geo. F. Peabody. 
Geo. F. Peabody, President American Fisheries So- 
ciety. — Dear sir: In answer to your letter, I would say 
that three years ago last spring I secured from the Union 
Ice Company a fifteen-year lease on their spring water 
pond. It covers about eight acres, and is i8ft deep at the 
deepest point, and from 80 to 175 ft. wide. It is in the 
shape of a horseshoe, with the ice houses located on the 
peninsula. For the past thirty years small-mouth bass 
have been caught from this pond ; but. never in great num- 
bers, as the water is very clear and they never seemed 
very abundant. The officers of the ice company agreed 
to make the lease with the understanding that, as pro- 
posed, a club should be organized, to protect their prop- 
erty and have full privileges as to the use of the water for 
propagating fish, angling, etc. 
Our first move was the construction of a nursery pond, 
or, as our State Fish Commissioner says, a broodery 
pond. This is located in a deep valley next to our main 
pond; it is in the shape of a bowl, varying in depth from 
6in. at its upper end to 5ft. at the lower end, where the 
pen stock and gates were located. This pond is fed from 
the upper main pond with pure spring water. It is about 
ooft. wide by 170ft. long. After its completion that fall 
aquatic plants were placed in the shallow end, such as 
dock, lilies and others, their purpose being to attract 
water bugs, flies, etc., that lay their eggs on these leaves, 
and these supply the first food to the young bass fry. 
The following spring we gathered our first crop of bass 
fry from the nests in the main pond# taking them in 
soft cheese cloth nets, and washing them off into buckets 
of pure spring water, and transferring them at once to 
the nursery. This was kept up as long as we could find 
the little bass coming off the nests. When the little fel- 
lows were two weeks old, we caught creek minnows, ran 
them through *a sausage mill and fed the small pieces 
to the young bass. When two months old they would 
take live minnows iin. to ij/^in. long. From this period 
until fall we fed them live minnows once a week. 
In October we opened the gates, letting the yearlings 
down into the box of our pen stock, and gathered them 
with a minnow net. They were from 3in. to 7m. long, 
though only a few were more than 6in We counted 
every one we took out, and the total was 1,508. Many, of 
course, we did not get, as they caught in the moss that 
had grown up in the bottom of our pond, and died there, 
as we found a great many after the pond had dried out. 
We placed the ones we had secured in our main pond. 
The second season we improved our nursery by lay- 
ing planks through the center, and our prospects were 
favorable for a much larger supply, but in August of 
that season a violent rainstorm washed out' one little 
pond, deluging it and running over the banks. We thought 
all the bass were gone, but on draining the pond in 
October we secured over 800, I have not the record of 
the exact number now, but it was between 800 and 900. 
We have now divided the nursery into two ponds, so we 
can sort the little bass, and expect next season, with 
favorable conditions, to increase our stock largely We 
ought to raise easily 3.000 to 5,000. For further informa- 
tion of this plan, I refer you to Mr. Carl G. Thompson, 
of Swayzee, Ind., who, I think, is the most successful 
bass culturist in the country. Will S. Iliff. 
Mr. Webb, in his "Manual of the Canvas Canoe " [published by 
the Forest and Stream Pub. Co.], offers to lovers of outdoor life 
a means of more comprehensive enjoyment than Mr. Hammond 
in these days of scarcity of game. Avoiding the use of involved 
technical terms, and explaining clearly the simple lines upon 
which the canvas canoe is constructed, Mr. Webb places it within 
the power of any one endowed with a minimum of mechanical 
skill to construct one of these boats. It involves nothing more 
than the ability to trace the details of the working drawings of the 
canoe, which are given on a single sheet contained in a pocket 
attached to the cover of the book. This sheet represents two de- 
signs of canvas canoes. Either one may be built at a cost of from 
$12 to $15, of the dimensions of 14ft. in length, 28in. beam, 16in, 
at bow. and 14in. at stern. _ The cockpit is 8ft. long" and 20in. 
wide, and affords ample sleeping and stowage room. Model No. 2 
in the working drawings has 30in. beam instead of 28in. For all 
the purposes to which a cedar canoe can be applied the canvas 
canoe can be used, except, perhaps, in water where sharp rocks 
are encountered, and even then the letter's easy repair counter- 
balances the superior solidity of the former. As regards the first 
cost of two boats, the advantage is greatly in favor of the canvas 
canoe. Mr. Webb's chapter on hints of cookery for canoeists 
contains the most admirable formulas for the preparation of a few 
simple aliments that have ever come under out notice. — The 
Nation, Dec. 22. 
The Forest and Stream Publishing Co. are the largest 
publishers and importers in America of Books on Out- 
door Sports. Their illustrated descriptive catalogue 
will be sent free 011 request 
he Mennet 
Fixtures. 
BENCH SHOWS. 
Jan. 16.— Bakersfield, Cal.— Field trials of the Pacific Coast Field 
Trials Club. J. Kilgarif, Sec'y. 
Jan. 18.— Logansport, I nd. — North Central Indiana Poultry As- 
sociation's bench show. Sol. D. Brandt, Sec'y. 
Jan. 19-21.— New Orleans^ La.— New Orleans Fox Terrier Club's 
show. VVm., Le Monnier, Sec'5'. 
Jan. 23.— West Point. Miss.— Champion Field Trials Association's 
fourth annual trials. 
Feb. 21-24. — New York.— Westminster Kennel Club's twenty- 
third annual show. Jas. Mortimer, Sec'y and Supt. 
March 7-10. — Grand Rapids, Mich. — Butterfly Association's bench 
show. Miss Grace H. Griswold, Sec'y. 
FIELD TRIALS. 
1899. 
Jan. 16.— West Point, Miss.— U. S. F. T. C. winter trials. W. B. 
Stafford, Sec'y. 
Feb. 6.— Madison, Ala.— Alabama Field Trial Club's third annual 
trials. T, H. Spencer, Sec'y. 
The Queer Behavior of a Foxhound. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
A few days since I went out with a young foxhound 
owned a few miles from here. This dog is about two 
years and a half old, and has had a few foxes killed be- 
fore him. I saw him run three times last winter, and he 
did well. The day I took out the dog the conditions were 
not very favorable, there being iin. or so of very dry snow 
on the old snow, and owing to. the extreme cold the snow 
would not hold much scent, and there were a great many 
fox tracks, both old and new, all mixed up, leading in all 
directions. 
Just before reaching the house where the dog is owned, 
I saw a fox jump out of the road, and I was driving 
along. I took the dog back there and when he caught the 
scent he became very much excited, and for some time 
acted like a fool, losing the track and trying to run the 
wrong way, I got him straightened out after a while, but 
in the meantime the fox had got quite a lead, and had 
been on stone walls, over bare .ledges and such places, and 
the dog had to work hard to follow the track. As it was 
a pretty open country with large, bare hills, I could watch 
the dog, although at some distance most of the time, and 
he worked well, getting mixed up now and then with 
some other tracks. I did not try to keep him out, as I 
wanted to see just what he could do. 
After a while he jumped the fox, and evidently was 
very close to him at the time. For a few moments after 
jumping Ftim the dog barked and yelped very fast, and I 
saw both fox and dog. They were in an open pasture 
about 50yds. apart, in plain sight of each other. Sud- 
denly the dog stopped barking and fox and dog cantered 
along slowly for about 50yds., when the fox stopped, 
turned around and looked at the dog, the latter also 
stopped, then the fox sat down, and so did the dog, and 
then they both sat some 50yd?. apart, looking at each other. 
This was not very entertaining to me. as I wanted to 
shoot the fox, but he was at least three gunshots away. 
After awhile the dog got up, put hi? tail between hi* 
legs and sneaked off. heading toward home. I then called 
the fox up and shot him. 4s I wits about to take off his 
pelt, the dog came to me, having followed my track from 
where I had left the road. He seemed very glad to see 
me, and when I showed him the dead fox, he bit and shook 
it a little, and did not seem at all afraid of it. 
Now I have been out with a great many foxhounds. I 
have known of first rate running dogs, which would fol- 
low a fox all day, but which would not touch one when 
coming to it, after it was killed, but I never knew one to 
sneak off, leaving a live fox sitting in plain sight. A 
puppy might do this had he never before seen a fox. I 
have also known of a number of instances where our very 
best fox dogs have refused to follow a vixen during the 
rutting season ; they would follow the track of such a fox 
very eagerly, but when the fox was started would at once 
turn around, and come back, and sometimes the fox 
would follow on after the dog. 
This dog I am speaking of has chafed a good many 
foxes, and is very keen on a track ; he will not follow any- 
thing except a fox, and takes no notice of rabbits. At 
first I thought the fox might be a' vixen which had got 
ahead of time as to the rutting season, but it proved to be 
an old dog fox, weighing n r A\bs. C. M. Stark, 
I |DuNBARTor, N. H., Dec. 20. 
Mars Won Third in the International. 
Petrolia. Ont., Dec. 14. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Will you kindly correct an error which appears in your 
report of the international trials held at Mitchells Bay 
last month. In it Brighton Bob is credited with having 
won third place in the All-Age Stake. The credit of this 
win should have been given to my doy, Mars, who ran his 
two heats without an error. 
As wins are not so frequent with the majority of us 
that we can afford to disregard them, I trust you will 
place the credit where it is due. J. B. Dale. 
Points and Flushes. 
The premium list of the first annual terrier show, to be 
held at Odd Fellows' Hall, New Orleans, La., under the 
auspices of the New Orleans Fox Terrier Club, Jan. 19- 
21, can be obtained on application to the secretary, Mr. 
William Le Monnier. 
As game and fish become less numerous, treatises on how to 
kill the one or take the other increase proportionately. Mr. Ham- 
mond's little book, "Hunting vs. Missing," however, comes not 
amiss, for what he has to tell is the outcome of fitty years' ex- 
perience. In that time he has seen the evolution of the shotgun 
from the mtizzleloader to the latest development of the multiple- 
fire. Mr. Hammond does not write from the standpoint of a maker 
of shotguns, but from that of the sportsman whose knowledge of 
them has come from persistent following of the sports of the field. 
His acquaintance with the subject js clearly defined in his chapter 
on the choosing of the gun. He there emphasizes the prime con- 
dition of accurate shooting — the fit of the shotgun to the physical 
peculiarities of the gunner. Where this requirement is neglected.no 
normal man can hope to become what is known as a "dead shot." 
Mr. Hammond exhibits equal common sense in his treatment of 
other topics connected with thf \m of tfoe shotgun,— The Nation, 
Dee, 5& 
