Veb. 25, 1899.] 
FORli.ST AND STREAM-. 
r 161 
other words, he may rest with the pleasant consciousness 
of irresponsibility. 
In the environment of nati]rc'.s beauties man feels that 
there is some one beside himself to build his roof for him ; 
some one, if it be only the grasses, to lay his walks and 
paths; and where the destructive human instinct has not 
reveled too long there is wild game upon which he may 
feed. There are purer waters in the streams, free for the 
mere dipping of them, than the best of mechanical means 
will enable him to pipe to his cities. There is oxygen and 
ozone to build up his system, instead of the drug. And 
there is indifference to dress, and variety and spontaneity 
of exercise. 
But fill the parks with sheep, or hew the timbers away 
for profit, and the problems of our city life or the prob- 
lems of our country homes will but be transferred to the 
scenes whither we go for rest. For sanitation's sake we 
shall find it necessary to sweep away the tracks of the 
sheep, to box up and pipe the springs; instead of taking 
water from the streams. For shade's sake and for art's 
sake we shall find it necessary to supplant the hewn 
timber with the trees and the shrubbery of artificial choice, 
and to apply the human mind to the fashioning of land- 
scape and gardening where it had been so much better 
done by nature. 
Against this the impulse to sequestration and rest makes 
a most natural outcry. We feel as if we wanted our 
parks as nature made them, unmarred by hoofs and untorn 
by the saw or the axe. We feel as if wc wanted them in 
ail their rough weirdness, shaped in that incomprehensible 
disorder in which earth maintains its beauty and baiBes 
human imitation. 
Something more than "Lower Gardens of Eden," as they 
have been called, are those mountain parks. They are 
places of beauty and of pleasure which never pass away. 
They are gardens where man may perpetually retreat and 
learn to value at its least the tree of knowledge at which 
he has so long feasted, and to value at its greatest the in- 
finite fruits which j^et remain untouched. 
If we pasture our flocks upon them, what shall we gain ? 
A few years' food, a few years of money from clean wool, 
and then — a barren field. Shall we sacrifice so mitch? — ■ 
Seatt'e (Oregon) Post-Intelligencer. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
All about Hunting Knives. 
Chicago, 111., Feb, 11. — I am in receipt of considera- 
ble correspondence this week, which makes my desk look 
a good deal like the workshop of a trade paper. Much 
of this matter is of necessity of a trade nature, yet I con- 
sider it to be so interesting that readers of Forest and 
Stream will be glad to see it. The hint to all manu- 
facturers, whether of footwear, hunting knives, or any- 
thing else which sportsmen use, is so obvious that I 
should think they would need nothing further than Vj 
express their thanks and send their orders. 
For instance, here is the matter of a hunting knife. 
Everybody has seen these long-bladed, sharp-pointed 
hunting knives which fill the cases in the sporting goods 
stores. This is something like the old Bowie knife model. 
I do not know who first conceived the thought that it 
would make a good sort of hunting knife. My experi- 
ence is that you cannot skin anything with these knives, 
and that they break when you try to open a tin can with 
them. The chief fault with most hunting knives is that 
the blade is too long. The closer the point is to the 
handle of the knife, the better you can skin with it. All 
trappers know this. Their skinning knives are short- 
bladed. With a short blade and a curved point you can 
skin, and also cut about all you want to with a hunting 
knife. I bought a knife a while ago with a 5in. blade 
and a round rubber handle, which is about the best 
thing in knives I have got hold of yet. It has no guard 
and the handle wedges tight in the sheath. It is so 
short that I can wear it horseback safely, and can sit 
down when I am at dinner with a friend without muss- 
ing my dress coat. It is not heavy, but is strong. 
The following letter I have received from a firm at 
East Wilton, Me., and I take this means of answering it 
in the hope that other readers also will come forward 
with their ideas as to what a good hunting knife should 
be. There is a great variety of taste on these matters, 
and I think the firm will get some valuable information 
from suggestions which readers of Forest and Stream 
are very apt to make. The communication is as below: 
. "In your article in Forest and Stream, Jan. 21, 
pages 52-3, we note your reference to a knife presented 
you at Christmas time. We have, for a long time, had 
the manufacture of a strictly first class, up-to-date hunt- 
ing knife in view, but we have been holding back be- 
cause we could not seem to find a pattern which would 
give general satisfaction. We manufacture machetes, 
and our No. 15, i8in. blade, is a dandy for all kinds of 
rugged work, but we hardly think it is an all-round arti- 
cle such as is demanded by sportsmen, and we are writing 
to ask if it will be encroaching too much upon your val- 
uable time if we ask you to kindly give us a sketch, 
rough, on paper, of your ideal hunting knife, what its 
length, form and weight should be, and what style and 
quality of handle." 
At a later time I may perhaps be able to evolve a 
knife, with the assistance of my friends. At present I 
should say the most useful knife for all-round purposes 
in hunting is a sheath knife, with a handle which offers 
a good grip, with a strong, straight blade, with a curved 
point which will serve for skinning. T should not think 
the blade ought to be over 5 or 6in. in length, and the 
handle not over 4^in. There should certainly be no 
guard on the handle. In the canebrakes of the South 
even to-day a bear is sometimes killed with a hunting 
knife, but this rarely happens and need not be figured on. 
It should be borne in mind that the hunting knife is not 
a fighting knife, but mostly an eating ana whittling 
knife, and once in a while a skinning knife. It is not 
nowadays used very much in cutting up such large 
game as buffalo. You can skin and cut up an elk with a 
5in. blade if you know how, and you can cut up a deer 
with a pocket knife. Some of the best hunters use noth- 
ing larger than a pocket knife. It should be remembered 
that the perfect skinning knife is one with a curved 
Made, and th^ 5traieht-Wfld'=- h'jntin^ Imiff- it a - nmprn 
mise. When I go out for bear I usually have two little 
knives, a short skinning knife and a short hunting knife, 
and also a steel. This is only when I have on my v/ar 
paint, When I want to travel a long wky, and go light, 
I carry my little hunting knife and my little axe, which 
weighs a pound and will cut anything. Then I do not 
care where I am when night comes, and I can very well 
take care of anything I kill during the daytime. 
The heavy Hudson Bay knife of which I have been 
writing lately is a cross between the axe and the little 
hunting knife. It is good for cutting wood, or cutting 
bones, or tin cans. You could skin a large animal with 
it if you had to, and you could whack off its ribs or its 
backbone. The main trouble about this knife is its great 
weight. Yet it weighs little more than my knife and 
axe together. Here is what Mr, D. H. Macgowan, of 
St. Paul, Minn., writes about the old Hudson Bay knife: 
"I will tender no apology for addressing you on the 
Hudson Bay knife question. When I read your descrip- 
tion of the pretty toy. and the manifold duties to which 
it might be applied, I hankered for one. Not that it was 
likely to be of any service to me, but my wife could util- 
ize it for cutting button-holes, and the baby could play 
with it. The Land Conmiissioner of the H. B. C. ("Here 
before Christ," the old-timers say the initials stand for) 
is an old friend of mine, and I wrote him in reference to 
the knife, describing it as a pup out of a Texan Bowie 
knife by a Cuban machete, and asking if they could still 
be obtained. He replied promptly, enclosing a sketch 
of the knife, which sketch I forward you herewith, that 
you may compare it with your weapon, and ascertain if 
they are similar. The price of the "tickler" is only $1, 
a great drop from the day when it brought twenty 
beaver skins. I enclosed my dollar, with shipping direc- 
tions, and received the toothpick yesterday. 
"Seeing in to-day's Forest and Stream thataMr. Scud- 
def is after you for information about your cutlery, and 
that you have switched him off upon poor Mr. McChes- 
ney, who had trouble enough of his own without your 
bringing down on his devoted head an avalanche of let- 
ters from the Forest and Stream family, from Dawson 
City to the Gulf of Mexico, 1 will, to lighten Mr. 
McC.'s burden, request you to inform all sportsmen 
with a taste for accumulating bric-a-brac of that descrip- 
tion can now do so," 
Mr. Macgowan's sketch shows this old knife to be iden- 
tical with mine, I4in. in length, with blade gin. in length. 
The blade is 2in. wide, and thick on the back. The 
handle is sin. long, and has a heavy band of brass lin. 
in width, reinforcing the handle next to the blade. The 
knife has no guard. The handle is flat, but with a 
widening on the end which gives the hand a good grip, 
the under surface of the handle being slightly curved. 
The great beauty of this knife is its excellence of steel 
and its great strength and durability. I should say that 
it was better adapted to the past than to the present con- 
ditions of the country, though a most excellent implement 
for certain conditions of sport. 
I offer the above, as I have remarked,- chiefly in the 
hope that this may call out expressions of opinion from 
others of the Forest and Stream family. There would 
probably be a market for a good hunting knife of the 
practical, useful-in-camp sort. We do not skin buffalo 
nowadays, we do not fight bears, and we do not carve 
our brothers-in-law, as we used to do not so very long 
ago. Of course, every one has heard of the Arkansas 
man, and J don't know but I have earlier referred to 
him, who remarked that his own brother-in-law was the 
"sweetest-cutting man he ever saw in his life. He cuts 
just like a pumpkin." It seems to me that the builder 
of a hunting knife should have reference not so much to 
the brother-in-law factor as to the opening of a can of 
sardines, the whittling of a box-lid, or the taking off 
of the skin of some animal less than 3 or 4ft. long. I have 
found that my hunting knife makes an excellent paper 
knife also, and I ,suspect it of being used now and then 
in the paring of the domestic potato. Alas! such is life, 
and thus are changed the ways of the Wild West, into 
which erstwhile strode men with high boots and long, 
long knives. 
AH about Rubber Shoes. 
I shall really, as a matter of self-defense, be obliged to 
ask some boot and shoe man to advertise my leather- 
topped rubber shoes. I see no reason why I should 
favor tradesmen who do not avail themselves of the priv- 
ileges of Forest and Stream's advertising columns, but 
I just take this method of thanking them all for their 
responses to my request for information on rubber shoes 
for my friend McChesney. A gentleman at St. Anthony 
Park, Minn., says: "Noting your inquiry in Forest 
and Stream for rubbers, I can furnish them in I2in. 
leather tops for $3.25; Sin. leather tops, $2.75; i2in. can- 
vas tops, $2." This is straight trade, and in justice to 
other customers of Forest and Stream I must decline 
to give trade address. 
Mr. H. J. Morgan, of Cambridge, Vt., says under date 
of Feb. 6: "The rubbers with leather tops which you 
desire have been sold this winter in one of the villages of 
our town, and if you will write to the address I give you 
can no doubt get the address of the house where they 
can be bought, should you not wish this firm to send 
them direct." I thank Mr. Morgan very much and en- 
close his letter, with others, to Mr. McChesney. 
Mr. Macgowan, who was so good about the Hudson 
Bay knife, comes to me with the following information 
which he has dug up regarding my leather-topped rub- 
bers. I have taken the liberty of sending also to Mr. 
McChesney the card enclosed with Mr. Macgowan's let- 
ter, which follows: 
"I think I have found the rubbers you have been look- 
ing for so long. They are 'Gold Seal' lumberman's rub- 
bers, leather tops, moccasin heels, and both soles and 
heels have heaA'y roll to protect from crust cutting. They 
carry two st3des. One has 6in. leather top with six lac- 
ing places, the other has loin. leather top with eleven 
laces. Retail prices, $2.50 and $3.50. I enclose firm's 
card, so that if you wish you can order direct; but if I 
can be of any use in making a selection for you don't 
hesitate to call on me. Will be pleased if I can be of any 
service to you." 
CRespectfully referred to Mr. McChesney.) 
fust to zhoV; there is no coldness. T iv^tjfd 'like al?.^ t.'-i 
run the following letter from Mr. C. C. Jones, of Sand- 
wich, 111. Mr. Jones has discovered something of the 
same sort of thing that Mr, McChesney and myself have 
run across before now. He says: 
"I notice that you are looking for a place to buy the 
special lumbermen's rubbers with grain leather tops, and 
aril glad to inform you that in your town they are sold. 
I have cruised in all kinds of footwear, have run the 
gamut from buckskin moccasins to cavalry boots, but 
these rubbers, worn with good thick German socks, are 
the first and only shoes that I ever struck that I could 
call just right for still hunting in cool or cold weather. 
To almost every hunter of big game the problem of foot- 
wear is more difficult to solve than the rifle question, but 
these rubbers will cure insomnia for those who have been 
studying over what to wear for still-hunting work." 
I shall have to stop on this rubber business before long, 
but must add the note from City Treasurer B, S. Phil- 
lips, of Eau Claire, Wis., who says under date of .Feb. 8: 
"If you are still in the market for gold seal rubbers with 
leather tops, will say that if you will correspond with the 
local firm narhed you can get anything you desire in 
that line. I beg pardon for putting in my oar." 
Referred to Mr. McChesney. 
I am very much obliged to Mr. Phillips and to alt the 
others above quoted. These things I submit as proofs 
of the extent and of the intelligence of the Forest and 
Stream family. I started out quite a while ago to get 
my friend this pair of shoes, and I think I have now 
gotten so far as to be able to assure him that he need 
not go unshod. 
Death of Colonel Sexton. 
Col. James A. Sexton, Commander-in-Chief of the 
G. A. R., and a member of the War Investigating Com- 
mission, whose death occurred at Washington last week, 
was formerly concerned to considerable extent in the 
sportsmanship of this section. He was a prominent 
member of the old Cumberland Club, and stood high in 
the Councils of the Illinois State Sportsmen's Association 
in the earlier days, flis death is mourned by very many 
warm friends in this city. 
Minnesota. 
Mr. H. P. Jewell, of Wabasha, Minn., writes me that 
Warden Fullerton is having lots of trouble with the ice 
fishermen. He was tried at Wabasha under a suit 
brought by fishermen on the charge of malicious destruc- 
tion of property. The suit came up last Friday and was 
postponed for two weeks after a hot session of several 
hours. Meantime all of Lake Pepin has blossomed out 
with spearing shanties, and the end is not yet in sight. 
Mr. Jewell offers some rather hard news about the quail 
crop, and I regret to say that it is likely this news may 
be duplicated from many sections of the West which 
have been visited by the late protracted spell of bitterly 
cold weather. It has been colder here in Chicago this 
week than at any time since 1872. It has frequently been 
mentioned in these columns that the quail are moving 
northward in the States of Wisconsin, Michigan and 
Minnesota. I have little doubt that they will eventually 
reach Lake Superior. Yet this change of habitat can 
never be permanent, for it must always be subject to se- 
vere winter weather, such as that we have lately been 
experiencing. About his birds Mr. Jewell remarks: 
"There were more quails about here last fall than for 
twenty years back, but I am afraid the cold weather will 
be too much for them, for it has been unusually severe. 
My thermometer registered an average of 25 below zero 
at 8 A. M. for five consecutive daj^s, and has not been 
above zero but a few hours for ten days. At the pres- 
ent writing it is 15 below. An acquaintance of mine 
picked up four dead quails, out of the snow a short time 
ago, apparently frozen to death. This is a mighty bad 
omen." 
Flight Coining North. 
Already the ducks and geese are coming up from tlie 
South, 'close on the heels of the worst cold this country 
has knovvn for twenty years. At Lake Senachwine anil 
other Illinois River points there was a good flight on 
yesterday, including many geese and swans. Some of 
the Chicago boys have left to-day to see what they can 
do. 
In Minnesota. 
The ways of the market hunter are peculiar. I have 
already mentioned some of the ways in which the Illinois 
shippers evade the law, such as marking quails as "but- 
ter," sewing birds up inside rabbits, etc. It would seem 
that the Illinois market man is not alone in his weird im- 
aginative powers, for out in Minnesota they also have 
ways that are vain. Mr. Fullerton, warden of that big 
and busy State, says in a recent personal letter: 
"We have seized game in all manner of ways, in cars of 
wood and cars of hay; in butter tubs and egg cases, and- 
as household furniture, and to-day we seized eight dozen 
partridges in a whisky barrel labeled whisky, and that, I 
think, was a new idea in the matter of shipments of game. 
They are giving me a lot of trouble down in Wabasha 
county in regard to the burning of some fish houses and 
nets. I burned forty pound nets and twenty fish houses, 
and they have sued me for arson, for malicious destruction 
of property and civilly for the value of the nets and 
houses. We would have been satisfied in just burning the 
stuff up if they had let us alone, but now we are going 
to prosecute each one of them so we will meet them half- 
way in the fight. Of course, I expect to defeat them in 
their suits against me, but it is rather disagreeable to have 
those suits pending. 
"I think our new bill that, we have called the 'cotifer- 
ence bill,' because it was agreed upon in Chicago, is going 
to pass our Legislature, and it will be a good thing." 
E. Hough. 
1200 BoYCE EuiiDiNG, Chicago, 111. 
Fox Squirrels. , 
A correspondent wishes to know where fox squirrels 
may be found in numbers sufficient to make it worth while 
to hunt for them. 
Tlie Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
'Jorrespondence intended for publication should reacb ns ihf 
latent bY M'CtjdgY Sfl'i 3= ps.rtUi' as ^rsicti^^l/^, ' " 
