368 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
tMAV 13. rSgo. 
sand years, and it is found in the coal seams of the 
Waikato and the Bay of Islands fields, that are considered 
by geologists to be of the Jurassic period. It is not 
impossible that gum may be found in even older deposits 
than the coal measures, but older measures have not yet 
been explored. Reckoning, however, from present data, 
it must have existed over a period of 44,000 3rears. It is 
at least 300 years since the forests disappeared from much 
of the gum country. It must have taken the forests at 
least 3,000 years to grow and produce the quantities of 
gum found. It would take a long period after the marine 
clays rose above the surface of the water before soil could 
be formed capable of carrying forest trees. Then how 
long did it take to form the clays on which the forests 
grew, to say nothing of the older deposits of gum which 
lie in the ancient swamps beneath the clays ? How many 
thousand years ago is it since the forests which prodticed 
that gum were destroyed and sunk beneath the sea? How 
long is it since those forests waved over a soil that is now 
in places below sea-level, and how nuich furtlier back 
in the world's history since tlie kauris flourished that 
produced the gum found imbedded in the coal seams?" 
The gum hunter of New Zealand would seem to be 
lured on in his calling by something of the sporting in- 
stinct which governs the trapper or the prospector. He 
has good days and bad days, and he always expects to find 
it better a little further on. He practices his art in dif- 
ferent ways, sometimes ditching and draining swamps, 
underneath which the precious treasure lies. Sometimes 
he gets his gum by surface digging in the barren clay 
lands. Again he digs in the mounds which are thought to 
mark the resting place of some fallen giant of the for- 
gotten forest. Yet again, he may dig deep, 40 or 60ft., 
crossing different strata of gum, deposited in some mys- 
terious fashion by agencies ancient and unknown. He 
works with spear and spade, and he works hard at times. 
Sometimes he goes out exploring for his gum in the 
forests of live kauri trees Avhich still are standing in 
portions of New Zealand, working as thus described in 
the paper mentioned. 
. "The methods of obtaining gum are varied and even 
romantic. The more i-ecently-formed gum is obtained 
by cnmbing the kauris as they stand in the forests at the 
present time. This is done by means of a long rope passed 
over one of the main branches of the tree. First, a strong 
cord like a fishing line, with a weight at the end, is flung 
over the branch. With this line the rope is hauled over 
and then a bowline is made in one end of the rope, in 
which the ciunber .sits, and partly through his own exer- 
tions, and partly through his mates' lusty pulHng, is 
hauled up to the branch. If the branch is a large one, it 
is very ticklish work getting on to it from the bowline, 
as anyone may know who likes to try. When once the 
climber reaches the head of the tree, it is comparatively 
easy for him to explore for gum, that is, if he is active and 
cool-headed. The "'un is found generally in the forks of 
large branches, or where the branches join the main stem. 
Sometimes pieces weighing over a hundredweight are 
obtained, and either thrown or lowered to the ground. 
One good tree may give the climber several pounds worth 
of gtmi in an hour or two, and again he may climb many 
trees withoitt netting more than a few pounds weight of 
gum. So persistent has been the search of the tree- 
climber that only in the wildest and deepest recesses of 
the forest do there exist trees that have not been robbed of 
their gum. As it takes hundreds of years to form the 
first large accumulations, a tree once robbed is not worth 
climbing for many years. But underneath all gum-bear- 
ing trees are to be found lumps of gum that have fallen in 
b^--gone times. These lie hidden in the spongy soil." 
Lonesome like the trapper, the himter for the kauri 
gum none the less has seasons when he is gregarious, 
just as the early trappers of the Rockies held a yearly 
rendezvous. The trader comes to the kauri camps, just 
as he used to wander all over the Rocky Mountains in 
the early days to find the trappers at their rendezvous. 
Then there is hilarity and trading, and perhaps a few 
drinks on the side. Still more close is the parallel be- 
tween the trapper and the kauri hunter. Even to-day in 
our Western pine woods the trapper who first locates a 
stream holds it as hi.s own territory. If an intruder 
comes in, the fiir.st comer who finds his traps will content 
himself with springing them and leaving them alone, if 
on the next day he finds a trap set by the intruder, he 
takes up the trap, and springs it face down on top of the 
chain stake, which is a warning to the interloper that lie 
would better pull out. This is the ancient law of the 
trappers, and we find a very similar one among the kauri 
diggers. 
"There are laws and customs among diggers tniwritten 
but immutable. If a man strikes a patch, no other digger, 
except on invitation, must come near him. If men drain a 
swamp, none others maj' dig without contributing. If a 
man clears a gully by fire, it is his to dig. If he sinks a 
hole none other may work in it until he deserts it. The 
spear stuck in the ground is a sign that gum has been 
struck there ; and that gum is sacred to the owmer of the 
spear. To keep these laws, and to break nearly every 
other law% save that of loyalty to a comrade and good- 
fellowship, forms much of the religion of tlie average 
digger." ... 
As to Alaska Big Game. 
Mr, Ezra E. Howard, of Edgar, Neb., writes me as 
below regarding the big game hunting described in Mr. 
Harry E. Lee'.s exciting story of his Alaskan experiences: 
"I have been reading Mr. Harry Lee's account of his 
trip to Alaska and the hard work and the famous hunting 
he had until I feel — well, you know how it is yourself 
to be chained to business and not be able to go. I have 
had some experiences in hunting along the Northwest 
Coast and know that the hardships cannot be described, 
but would like to try Alaska, and mean to, some time in 
the future, if possible. I would like to know Mr. Lee's 
estimate of the cost of a trip there, not to put on too 
many trimmings, but just a plain hunting trip. What did 
he have to pay his men or guides? Can you tell me? 
I cannot tell Mr. Lee's whereabouts just at this time, 
for he travels much, but no doubt this will fall under 
his eye, and he will answer Mr. Howard on the points 
required. E. Hough. 
4S0 Caxtow BtritDiNG, Chicago, 111= 
The FoEEST AND Stream is put to i>ress each wee^^^n Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication rfiouH reach m« at th« 
For Temperance in Shooting. 
Stillwater, N. Y., May 3. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Though I may stand with the minority in coinciding, 
to a degree, with Mr. Schenck; I do not think so. 
I fail to see any ground for offense at a person who 
argues in favor of quitting when you have enough. 
When a man bags a reasonable amout of game he 
knows it, that's sure. And when he takes more it looks 
to me like wanton slaughter, which it really is. The idea 
of a man killing a hundred ducks in one day, even though 
he hunts but once a year, is outrageous. His "enthu- 
siasm" should be no excuse for such work. 
Mr. Childress seems to maintain that it is no worse for 
a man to kill one hundred ducks in one day than it is 
for another to kill one hundred ducks in ten days. 
Now, I cannot agree with him, for a very similar com- 
parison may be applied to other things as well as to 
ducks. Suppose one's family physician was in the habit 
of taking two large ''horns" of brandy each day in the 
week; he would then be termed a moderate drinker. 
Then, suppose he changed his habit, concluding to take 
fourteen drinks e^^ery Saturday instead of two a day 
through the w^eek. Would he then be considered a tem- 
perate druiker or an occasional "lusher"? 
I never killed a deer in my life. Suppose, then, that 
I should go out next fall and kill as mzny as I would 
liave been allowed to kill, according to law, for, say, 
ten years past, what would sportsmen recommend as 
being good for me? Small game heeds to be protected 
from "enthusiasm" (Mr. Childress, apology) as well 
as the large. When their little hearts are stilled, no 
earthly power can set them performing their function 
again. That little dynamo of tlieirs lights all creation 
to them. I would say to all: Don't kill game birds 
just for practice. Get a trap and shoot "saucers" or 
balls. 
I think the common laws of decency should be recog- 
nized even in private parks. 
Mr. Childress says: "Game is the property of the 
people, and as such is not valued and preserved with 
a view to the delectation of some man or men who own 
guns. It has food significance of greater public value 
than a sport significance." 
If Mr. Childress thinks game is worth more for food 
than for sport I should think, even then that he would 
be a more ardent advocate of its maintenance and propa- 
gation, and not applaud those hundred-a-day sports- 
men. 
Domestic fowl are excellent for food, as we are aware. 
Suppose some golf enthusiast owned a nice flock of one 
hundred chickens, and concluding that he wanted some 
broiled chicken, he goes into the j-^ard. golf stick in 
hand, and "brains" about ninety-nine of them. Folks 
would think he had an awful appetite, if he was sane. 
I wish to say of neighbor Schenck. as our American 
pork bears a fair reputation, he ought to be more par- 
ticular in what class he puts the hog. Why not say 
game steer? That's the boy! Cil\s. H. Smodtlll. 
Pennsylvania Fut and Feather. 
Gettysburg, Pa., May 5. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
A number of sportsmen of York distributed fifty-eight 
dozen of partridges throughout York county, Pa., the last 
week in April. They were purchased in Wichita, Kan., 
and are a fine lot of large and strong birds. 
A Hickorytown, Franklin county, man has started a 
rabbit farm and is meeting with much success. He ships 
the animals to New York market, where they find a 
ready sale at better prices than poultry. 
About 20,000 small trout were sent to McConnellsburg 
by the State Fish Commission a few days ago and placed 
in Fulton county's streams. 
There has been shipped to Philadelphia this season a 
A ast number of hides of small animals collected in Schuyl- 
kill, Lebanon, Lancaster, Adams, Berks and Chester 
counties. One dealer in furs collected the skins of 8,000 
muskrats, 250 mink, 140 red and gray fox, 250 coon, 1,250 
opossum and other skins to the aggregate of 12,690. The 
average price paid for muskrat was 11 cents; mink, 75 
cents; fox, 70 cents; opossum, 10 cents, and coon, 32 
cents. 
Senator William Scott liberated five German hare in 
the Gettysburg National Park, and as there is no shoot- 
ing allowed on the ground they are sure to thrive very 
well. Two of them were put on Gulp's Hill and three on 
Big Round Top. F. M. Bream. 
Maine Caribou. 
M.\1NE protects its caribou at all seasons, the close 
time running for six years from 1899. A correspondent, 
commenting on this, says: 
The alleged reason is that the caribou are leaving on 
account of the supply of moss being exhausted. Now 
this law will not make them stay, if there is no food. I 
never knew a caribou to care for laws; they are a law 
unto themselves, and as the wind, "go where they list." 
We have in the eastern part of this State many hundreds 
of bogs and barren on which caribou used to feed, and 
which they have never revisited since their return, and 
which if they chose they could visit more easily than to 
go to New Brunswick. But the food was not exhausted 
nor a tenth part exhausted. The caribou in Maine could 
have lived here just as they live in Newfoundland. Moss 
grows just as grass grows, and the supply is inexhausti- 
ble; at least so far as needs of caribou are concerned. The 
only good the law will do will be to save some caribou 
for New Brunswick. They may come back, but the 
chances are ten to one that they will keep going and 
hunters will lose the chance to kill the few they might 
before they all leave. 
It is tlie deer which are getting short of feed in some 
places; but there is plenty of room to spread. Ten years 
ago I traveled over many miles of country which the 
deer had deserted, though there was everything a deer 
could wish for, and since my recollection there had al- 
ways been plenty there. They had not been killed, as I 
knew for sure; but sim.ply had migrated, I notice that 
Ssitch things" tisTjally take care of themselYSi if kt alosie. 
Bob White in California. 
In reading over a copy of the Cahfornia game laws I 
notice that Bob White is protected, with other game 
birds. But I have been informed by the best authority 
that Bob White cannot live in California. Why, the 
writer failed to state, but he says that he liberated eight 
dozen Chinese quail on the Chino Ranch some years ago, 
but they soon all disappeared. The Bob White quail has 
been introdu'ced into the eastern portion of Washington 
and around Moscow, Idaho, and I learn they are doing 
well. I truly wish they could be successfully planted in 
California. I would like to hear from readers of Forest 
y\ND Stream regarding the project. The question is, 
Has the Virginia quail ever been introduced in Califor- 
nia? , Did it thrive? If not, why not? 
I learn that there are thousands of turkeys in the pine 
woods of Arizona, and I hope to soon see them on this 
side of the Great American Desert. I am somewhat of 
an enthusiast on the subject of game propagation, and 
hope that the shooting public rnay soon be persuaded to 
view the matter as I do, that the time may come when 
one can vary his sport as much as he desires, and that 
without spending a fortune in railroad fare. 
Reelfoot. 
As it is in Texas, 
Beaumont, Tex., April 29. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Inclosed please find stamps 25 cents, for which please 
send me a copy of Game Laws and Woodcraft. While 
1 have met a number who pass as sportsmen in this State, 
I have failed to find a man who had a fair idea of the close 
or open season on any particular kind of game. They 
hunt when they feel like it, irrespective of law. Up to 
twenty days ago they were kiUing from 150 to 300 tip- 
land and golden plover to the team in a four hours* trip. 
The birds were very poor and out of condition, and 75 
per cent, of the females are full of eggs, from the size of 
a No. 9 shot up to No. 2 or i. The rule is to shoot 
everything, keep the best conditioned birds and throw 
the rest away. Now, as &t least 75 to 80 per cent, of these 
birds are shot on the ground, where does the sport come 
in? I can't see it. I saw woodcock brought in last win- 
ter that were really unfit to eat, they were so poor. There 
is a good variety and quantity of game tributary to thi? 
point, if it is given half a chance. BeaUMont. 
About our Spring Fishing. 
You see it is this way. 
This is the way it is. The snow is pretty much mostly 
all gone on the flat, open lands, but on the north sides 
of the hills and in the woods there is enough to last all 
.summer, unless the 4th of July comes round in time to 
"give it a sweat." 
So it's no use talking; we can't get there next M-eek any 
way. And if we could, what would be the use? There are 
a foot or two of ice and several inches of water on top 
of it all over the lake. If the weather should continue- 
nice and warm, the ice may possibly break up toward the 
end of next week, though I shouldn't be surprised if it 
didn't. I have known it to stay until almost the 20th. 
And after it goes we must wait a week or so before the 
trout will rise any. One year a young chap came up 
from Boston for the first open water. It was the 21st of 
May. He stayed- three days and went home with only 
two insignificant rises. The next week the Professor 
came up and we got all the trout we knew what to do 
with. 
Oh, yes. If we had fished with bait from off our 
landing stage, I don't doubt we could have got plenty. 
And good ones. 
But we never do. 
Only "the mis.sis" has that privilege. She goes up in 
time to see the logs go down the discharge whenever she 
can. And they are a sight worth going a long way for, too. 
One can almost step over the stream when in its normal 
state, but when 10,000 logs have to be sent down in a few 
hours, it is another aflFair altogether. It is a splendid 
sight. 
When the missis goes we try to have the Doctor go up 
too. He, being rheumatic and not caring much for fish 
ing, is just the one to wait on her. To see the Doctor and 
his rheumatism run to take off her fish or bait her hook 
is worth the whole price of admission any day. The ag- 
gravating part is that she gets, more trout and bigger 
ones than any of us. More than that, she claims that all 
those fish are hers, and she will send them to whoever she 
pleases. And she does. 
The rest of us go out fishing a little -while morning or 
evening, but she is a law unto herself, and steps down 
to the float and fishes whenever she takes it into her dear 
old head to do so. She is waiting now with as much im- 
patience as any of us, for the time when the ice will be 
gone and the logs ready to go down. 
The number of logs the lumbermen find to send out of 
that little lake year after year always surprises me. It 
was a tolerably well timbered country when they com-, 
menced cutting on it some thirty-five years ago, and logs 
have been made on it almost every j-^ear ever since. The 
continuous supply is largely due to the system of cutting 
adopted and always maintained, and is merely that of 
letting all trees below a certain size stand and grow. No 
trees under a prescribed diameter on the stump can be 
felled. The system is almost precisely that adopted by 
the Provincial Government on the immense extent of 
spruce timbered land owned by it, but more stringent and 
rigidly enforced. In my opinion the Government limit of 
size is decidedly too low. With the present enormous 
and increasing demand for pulp wood, as well as other, 
and with the present limit of size, this generation will see 
very large areas almost denuded of spruce. Two gen- 
erations following would not be long enough to bring the 
timber back to its present value. 
With this denudation the scientists tell us will come 
climatic and other changes. Game and fish — now so im- 
portant to the Province— will greatly diminish. 
These remarks refer mainly to spruce titttbered co^m* 
