Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1890, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co, 
Terms, $4 a Ybar. 10 Cts. a Copy. I 
Six Months, $-2. f 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1899. 
J vol,. I II. -No. Ifl 
} No. 848 Bboauwav, N«w York. 
Have yott ever seen a dog with a tsone? If 
you have^ yo« may have noted with what devo- 
tion he seeks it, with what care he guards it, with 
what fervor he holds it, with what prudence he 
begins on it, with what affection he breaks it, 
with what diligence he smells it. What induces 
him to do this? What is his hope? What good 
is he to get from it ? Only a little marrow. 
Rabelais. 
PEMMICAN FOR THE ARMY. 
The aftermath of the late war with Spain is not al- 
together pleasing to the patriotic American. There are 
squabbles in the army, jealousies and backbitings by the 
friends of eminent naval officers, and above all scandals 
in connection with the army commissariat, which are not 
pleasant reading. 
Very different was the course of the British invasion of 
the Soudan from that by the United States as to Cuba, 
and for very good reasons. The British occupied two 
years in their preparations for General Kitchener's suc- 
cessful campaign which recently ended, and their experi- 
ence in India had taught them all that was needful in 
the way of preparation for handling and feeding troops 
under the conditions prevailing in the tropical desert. 
The United States went into the war with Spain on little 
more than thirty days' notice. It had not had an army in 
the field for more than thirty years, and it had never had 
an army in the field in the tropics. Nevertheless, with 
blundering boldness, and with a faith in itself which is 
wholly characteristic of us Americans, it sent its troops 
with a rush to hot and rainy Cuba, and later it paid the 
penalty. 
The suggestion made in oui- columns by Capt. L. S. 
Kelly, scout, Indian fighter, explorer and soldier for more 
than thirty years, is the outcome of his long experience, 
and well deserves careful consideration by the heads of 
the army. It is well understood how compact, nutritious 
and portable a food is pemmican, and if made without 
grease and protected from dampness, there is no reason 
why it should not form a most useful army ration, 
whether in temperate or tropical climes. It would not 
do to make it with grease in the old-fashioned way if it 
were to be used in the tropics, and even if dry, it would 
have to be enveloped in an air-tight covering if it 
were to be carried in a moist climate, since in wet 
weather both pemmican and dried meat soon mould and 
spoil. 
Although, in old times, pemmican was usually made 
from the flesh of the buffalo, any sort of meat will an- 
swer for this purpose if it be properly selected and pre- 
pared. Moreover, pemmican is extremely palatable, and 
is a food of which one does not easily tire. 
It is altogether likely that the experiences of the war 
with Spain will bring about important changes in the 
Quartermaster and Commissary Departments of the 
United States Army, and we do not doubt that Capt. 
Kelly's suggestion will receive due consideration. 
THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN IN ARKANSAS. 
Arkansas, in the variety and abundance of its game 
birds, animals, and waterfowl, possesses a natural wealth 
unsurpassed in kind by any other State in the Union; 
indeed, it is probable that, considered all in all, none can 
equal it. A large area of the State is mountainous, other 
large areas are prairie, and there is an immensity of forest 
and cleared land, river bottom and water courses, afford- 
ing habitat for deer, bear, quail and other game. Had the 
State been specially designed for a great game preserve, 
it could not have been by nature more favorably prepared. 
So much more alluring are the quality and amount of sport 
which it affords that hunters from Tennessee, Mississippi, 
Missouri, Texas and other States, which are themselves 
great game sections, journey to within its borders and 
hunt its bear, deer, ducks, quail and prairie chickens. An 
abundant food supply everywhere the year round, com- 
bined with a mild climate, insures an easy existence for 
the game. 
Notwithstanding the lesson of destruction and conse- 
quent loss taught by the apathy or neglect of different 
States in the matter of game preservation, no State is 
more prodigally reckless in squandering its game wealth 
than is Arkansas, and no State leaves its game interests 
more unprotected. Its game laws are all largely a dead 
letter, for they are seldom enforced, and there is no ade- 
quate legal provision for their enforcement. There are 
no game wardens, and we are informed on good authority 
that, under the present constitution of Arkansas, which 
prohibits the creation of any new offices, it would be im- 
possible to appoint a game warden without the necessary 
amendment to the constitution. Much is therefore left 
to the zeal of the individual, and however great that may 
be, it must always prove far less efficient than organized 
legal action. 
No instance of the utter lack of real energetic purpose 
in the preservation of its game will serve better to illus- 
trate the point than the manner in which Arkansas has 
permitted the gradual destruction of its prairie chickens. 
There are three counties, Lonoke, Prairie and Arkansas, 
which are largely prairie country, and which afford a 
natural habitat for the prairie chickens which abound 
therein. In 1893 a law was passed protecting the species 
closely for five years. The mere passage of the law con- 
stituted the sole measure of protection. Its enforcement 
by any officers was but little if at all attempted. Still, as 
a law, it had a beneficent effect; for while men might 
shoot the chickens and did shoot them, they did not dare 
offer them for sale in the open market. Thus the destruc- 
tion was checked in so far as the open commercial features 
of it were concerned. 
However, the purpose of the law, the protection of a de- 
pleted stock through a period of time which would per- 
mit of its desired multiplication, was in a large measure 
defeated, and thus at the expiration of the five years of 
close season the attempt resulted in little if any gain. 
There were many who insisted, after the five-year law 
had expired, that there was no close season whatever on 
chickens within the State's limits, but the Attorney-Gen- 
eral decided that the old law was then in force, and that 
the open season, according to the statute, was from Sept. 
I to Feb. I — five full months. 
With such inadequate protection, supplemented by pub- 
lic apathy in respect to the preservation of the prairie 
chicken, it is but a question of a longer or shorter time 
before it will cease to exist in Arkansas. It is deplor- 
able that so valuable a game bird is to be lost for the 
want of a preventive measure of adequate protection. It 
is not yet too late, but if we may judge the future pro- 
tection of the chicken in Arkansas by that of the past, its 
fate in that State is extinction at a date not remote. 
A WARNING. 
However much may have been written on the destruc- 
tion caused by the great cold wave of Feb. 13 and 14, 
1899, we may feel sure that the half has not been 
told. The destruction to animal and vegetable life was 
beyond belief, and extended over almost the whole United 
States. Naturally, this destruction was greatest in the 
South. In the northern States, where animal and vege- 
table life is accustomed to the ordinary winter tempera- 
ture of its own latitude, there is no great suffering if this 
temperature falls for a while many degrees below the 
average mean, but when a touch of the Northern winter 
visits the sub-tropical South, it means death. Al! through 
the Southern States as far as southern Florida, the bitter 
frost extended, destroying orange groves, banana planta- 
tions and pineapple fields, which to-day look sere and 
yellow, as though a fire had passed over them. Snow 
lay in the streets of New Orleans, and Louisiana streams 
were frozen. 
The deep snows which prevailed through a large part 
of the Soitth caused many birds to perish from starva- 
tion, while the terrible and unaccustomed cold destroyed 
still more. It is said that for 200 years no weather 
so severe has been recorded on the south Atlantic 
coast. Mr. Arthur T. Wayne, writing in the Auk, paints 
a pitiful picture of the sufferings and destruction of the 
birds. He tells us that to say that fox sparrows and snow- 
birds were frozen to death by the millions is not an 
exaggerated statement, but a conservative one. During 
the first day of this cold wave, there appeared a tremen- 
dous migration of fox sparrows, which seemed to come 
from the northeast, migrating in the southwesterly direc- 
tion. Thousands stopped all day long in Mr. Wayne's 
yard, and swarmed on the piazzas, about the outbuildings 
and in every place that would afford protection. They 
were busy scratching away the snow to find bare ground, 
the stronger birds singing, while the weaker ones were 
freezing to death. Black birds of two sorts killed and 
ate these birds, while they were so benumbed by the cold 
that they could not get away, and even the stronger among 
the fox sparrows fed upon the bodies of their dead kin- 
dred. Mr. Wayne captured great numbers of little finches 
of different sorts and put them in a large cage, which he 
brought into the house, so that they might keep warm. 
But all of them died. Most of these birds were fat and in 
good condition. 
Another species which suffered terribly was the wood- 
cock. These arrived from the North in countless thou- 
sands, although previous to this but two birds had been 
seen during the winter. Woodcock were found every- 
where, and all were completely bewildered. Many thou- 
sands were killed by so-called sportsmen, and thousands 
more were frozen to death, Most of the birds were 
greatly emaciated. It is said that one man killed 200 
pairs in a few hours. On the second day of the 
freeze, Mr. Wayne easily caught on the snow several 
birds so thin and weak that they could scarcely fly. He 
put them into a thawed spot on the edge of a swift-run- 
ning stream, where they might move about and get- a little 
food, but on visiting the place the next day he found one 
frozen to death. It cannot be doubted that more birds 
perished in this freeze than were killed by gunners during 
the entire year. 
No class of men are likely to suffer more severely — ^in 
their pleasures — by this cold wave than do the sports- 
men, and unless great efforts are made toward protect- 
ing the game birds that have been most largely destroyed 
it may be questioned whether the stock will ever re- 
establish itself. Now more than ever there is call for 
stringent protection, and above all, for the exercise by 
each man of that measure of self-restraint in his killing, 
which, after all, ought to be the true test of the sportsman 
and the gentleman. 
DOGS IN CITIES. 
Henry Ward Beecher once said in a sermon : "There 
is many a horse that is more deserving of immortality 
than the man who rides it. There is many a dog that has 
more disinterested love than the man who owns it. Why 
shouldn't they have a chance hereafter? I don't know but 
they will. That is something I don't know anything 
about." As a matter of fact, we do not any of us know 
anything about it. But most of us are agreed that if a 
dog is in misery it should be put out of misery, and if 
homeless should be sent to its long home. Among the 
important and admirable activities of the American So- 
ciety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in this 
city, is the humane destruction of dogs and cats, vagrant 
or disabled beyond recovery. The undertaking of this 
task by the Society and the efficient way in which the 
work has been performed mark an actual advance in our 
civilization. 
Formerly, as is well known, the city was scourged with 
a horde of officially designated dog catchers, sometimes 
more degraded than the brutes they were set to capture; 
and the condemned dogs were drowned in the river. Un- 
der that system the public was subjected to frequent 
outrages, while the plague of stray and cur dogs was not 
sensibly diminished. Under the administration of the So- 
ciety, on the contrary, the work is done quietly, unosten- 
tatiously and practically, indeed, unobserved, and yet efFec- 
tually and above all humanely. The statistics given by 
President John P. Haines in his current report, are as- 
tonishing. These are the totals of animals destroyed by 
the Society's agents during the last twelve years : 1887 — 
1,202; 1888—1,281; 1889—705; 1890—1,347; 1891—2,212; 
1892—3,060 ; 1893—4,794 ; 1894—24,275 ; 1895—46,898 ; 1896 
—73,197; 1897—88,028; 1898—91,535. The tremendous in- 
crease shown in the figures for 1894 ^ind succeeding years 
is accounted for by the fact that in that year the Legisla- 
ture enacted the law which entrusts to the Society the 
entire work of disposing of unlicensed dogs and stray 
dogs and cats. Of this part of the Society's work, Presi- 
dent Haines says, and public sentiment will sustain him: 
"There can be no doubt of the public service to the com- 
munity which has been rendered by our shelter sys- 
tem, and the painless destruction of these homeless, help- 
less, neglected, and generally diseased animals, while de-r 
livering the human community from a pestilent nnisancf 
has conferred an unspeakable benefit of health and cor 
fort upon the animal population." 
