March 17, igoo.]] 
FOREST AND STREAM„ 
^11 
weeks before the fishing was indifferent, or worse. This 
is illustrated by the contents of a clipping I have had on 
my desk since last summer. An English gentleman had 
noticed that a question had been raised as to whether 
trout would go up through or over a fishway or fish 
ladder, and having "seen trout in many parts of the 
world passing up natural and artificial passes," he set 
about proving to his friends that trout would avail them- 
selves of such a pass w'hen they could . He had two ponds 
containing 20,000 6-inch trout, and the dam separating the 
two ponds was 5 feet in height. "To amuse my visitors 
I made a light, portable ladder — in fact, like a real lad- 
der, but with a back to it and the rungs onlj- half way 
across, and this I used to put down from pond to pond 
and turn the water from the intake on to it, when the 
trout would immediately commence to crowd up it. On 
another occasion, I had a receiving pond full of six- 
months'-old trout, which was supplied with water by a 
stream from a river, which entered the pond through an 
8-inch iron pipe that projected about 2 feet over the water 
and about 4 feet above it when the outlet screen was 
clear; but one night a gale of wind covered the pond with 
dead leaves, and in the morning the water was within a 
foot of the pipe. I arrived just in time to see the last of 
the trout jumping through, and later in the day, when we 
made attempts to recapture some of thcra, they were 
found quite a mile from the hatchery ground. I imy say 
that, although I have seen very many brown trout suc- 
cessfully negotiate passes found difficult by salmon, un- 
like that fish, I have never seen one return." 
Mr. Lanier will note that the trout referred to in the 
extract are hatchery fish, and all were young fish, and he 
may conclude without further evidence that it will be ex- 
tremely risky for him to -plant yearlings and expect to 
keep them in his lake without a screen at the inlet. I have 
planted a good many thousands of young trout and sal- 
mon, and always, when turned in to a stream, they go 
up, and never, so far as I can now recall, down. The 
. breeder of whom he buys the yearlings would probably 
1\eep them until the screen could be erected, or a rearing 
box could be built at little expense in which to confine 
and feed the trout until the lake was in readiness for 
them. 
Shrimp and Trout Eggs. 
Since I quoted the experiment oi the German fish 
breeder of keeping fresh water shrimps in his hatchery 
troughs to feed upon dead oA^a, I have read many refer- 
ences to it in foreign papers.. In the article from which 
I <|uoted considerable was said about the favorable in- 
fluence shrimps might exercise over trout eggs nat- 
urally deposited in wdd waters; but there are reasons why 
1 considered the suggestion of little value, and therefore 
I simply referred to it without comment; but an English 
fish breeder, Wilson H. Armistead, read the article at a 
time Avhen he was engaged in hunting trout ova in natural 
spawning beds, and he says: 
"The spawning beds examined were in a stream where 
is only very little gravel on the top of a bed of solid rock 
• — not more than 6 inches at most. A net was placed be- 
hind the redd" (that is, the net was placed on the down- 
stream side of the spawning bed), "and then the gravel 
was gently stirred with a stick. The current carries the 
eggs down to the net when they are stirred out of the 
gravel, and an examination of the contents shows con- 
clusively the nature of the other occupants of the redd 
besides the eggs. In one redd I found over 300 fresh 
Avater shrimps, a few caddis worms and a good many 
caterpillar-like grubs, which are evidently larvse of some 
kind. In each redd I found a large number of bad 
eggs — rather more than 50 per cent., and besides these a 
quantitA'- of empty shells. The other eggs looked strong 
and healthy and were Avell eyed. They were spawned be- 
tween NoA^ 16 and Nov. 20. None of the bad eggs had 
any growth of byssus on them, and seemed quite recently 
dead. As such a large number, however, were found in 
the redd (200 or 300), it would seem that the shrimp, 
although there in large numbers, were not feeding on 
these, and yet the presence of the empty shells shows 
something had, but I am inclined to think it was the cad- 
dis worms, as I know they eat eggs. I have placed some 
shrimp in a tank with some dead eggs and some live eggs, 
and so I shall be able to note whether shrimps are partial 
to dead eggs only, or whether they will eat live eggs, too. 
An examination of a spawning bed Avill show any one 
conclusively, I think, tliat, though a few eggs may be 
taken by shrimps, by far the largest numbers are too well 
covered for even a shrimp to find.'' The experiments of 
the German fish breeder are more conclusive that shrimps 
do feed on dead eggs than mere speculation on the part 
of the English breeder that the shrimps did not feed on 
them because there was such a large number of dead eggs 
that had not been eaten. The point that strikes one forci- 
bly in the above statement is that in order to determine 
just what shrimps may do with eggs in a wild state, the 
spawning bed must "be watched from the time the eggs 
are deposited by the fish, and not judge from a single 
examination two months later. If I was to enter the 
field of speculation, judging only from the statement I 
haA-e quoted, I would say that shrimps had eaten a great 
many eggs, ^yhere salmon eggs have been counted in a 
natural spawning bed, only 2 per cent, were found im- 
pregnated, and, of course, there were 98 per cent, of dead 
eggs, and probably trout eggs fare no better in this mat- 
of impregnation. "Rather more than 50 per cent." of 
dead eggs were found, and also a quantity of shells. 
More than likely there was a considerable percentage of 
dead eggs that were unaccounted for, as the current 
would carry off the shells, or a portion of the shell of such 
dead eggs as had been eaten, and therefore no trace of 
them left. What must be known to come to a better 
understanding of this problem is how many dead eggs 
were there at the time the slirimps (or something) began 
to feed on them. Because there Avere a lai-ge number of 
shrimps and a quantity of unconsumed dead eggs, it does 
not follow that the ?hrimps had not been industriously at 
work eating what had entirely disappeared. If the Ger- 
man fish breeder knows 'from personal knowledge and 
observation that shrimps in his hatcherj^ troughs con- 
sumed the dead trout eggs and kept^the ViYe ones in a 
healthy condition,, one must accept that fact as far as it 
goes, and not freight it Avith speculative conjecture of 
what might haA^e been, or at least, as the eggs had none 
cf the filaments known as byssus, give the shrimps credit 
for something until it is laiown that the credit belongs 
elsewhere. 
The concluding sentence of fche quotation gives suffi- 
cient reason Avhy shrimps cannot be depended upon to 
serve as scavengers in a natural spawning bed, and it was 
for this reason that I did not refer more in detail to the 
suggestion in the first note. 
Tafpon FiEhiog, 
This is the season for tarpon fishing, when one is for- 
tunate enough to be where tarpon are found; and during 
my fish talk with Mr. Oliver W. Bird, as we sat together 
in a country house, with snow coA^ering the ground out- 
side and ice over 15 inches deep on a lake to be seen 
from the windows where we were seated, he spoke of 
tarpon as well as of salmon fishing. I made no notes at 
the time, but I will trust my memory in regard to a fish- 
ing story Avhen I would not trust it in other matters. Mr. 
Bird was with Mr. xA-Ugust Belmont on his yacht in Flor- 
ida waters, or, to be more particular, on the Avest coast 
of Florida. The season was late and the weather was 
warm, but the fishermen employed as guides said that 
tarpon might be taken at a certain point, and to this point 
the yacht was steered, and the sportsmen and their wives 
put oft' in fishing boats for the lair of the tarpon. Mr. 
Bird said that in a cove a school of tarpon was pointed 
out — immense fellows, plainh^ to be seen, and motionless, 
except for an occasional restless movement. The boat- 
men baited the hooks of the sportsmen and the sports- 
women and made casts into the school of big herrings 
something after the manner of casting for striped bass. 
Four hooks \yere' almost instantly seized by four tarpon,^ 
which made the" Avater boil, and three of the fish were 
brought to the boat? and gaffed, while the iqurth was lost 
after a splendid fight by one of the ladies as the boatman 
was gaffing the fisb at the boat's side. 
A. N. Cheney. 
Excessive Penalties Defeat the Law. 
■Editor Forest and Stream: 
There has been afiQther "miscarriage of justice" in 
this county in an action for a violation of the fish and 
game law. which calls for some comment. 
The facts are briefly as follows: It Avas charged that 
one Charles Stark and three others on Sept. 12, 1898, 
drew off the water of what is known as the James F. 
BaldAvin Mill Pond in the town of Pawling, which 
abounds in trout and other fish, and took fish therefrom 
with a net, and judgment was demanded for $200, being 
the fixed penalty of $100 imder Section toi of the fish 
and game law and the fixed penalty of $100 under Section 
150. There was no doubt that the defendants were all 
guilty and that the jury should have so fomid from the 
evidence, but the verdict was the tisual one of "no cause 
of action." 
This verdict cannot be accounted for on account of 
personal acquaintance or sympathy 'Vith the defendants, 
for the jury was not from the toAvn, but the county, and 
did not knoAv them, nor was it from any doubt as to 
the guilt of the defendants, for that was, too, so clear 
that some, if not all, of .the jury must haA^e been con- 
vinced, and at most they should have disagreed. The 
reason for this outrageous verdict and like A-erdicts in 
almost all the actions brought under the fish law in this 
county must be accounted for in some other way than 
from a failure to prove the violation. The amount of 
proof has practically nothing to do with it, juries simply 
Avill not couA'ict. 
To those who, like the writer, have taken active inter- 
est in fish legislation, and in enforcing the law for over 
thirty years, the solution is very simple. Jurors will not 
lend themselves as Avilling instruments to enforce a laAv 
Avhich imposes penalties which in their judgment are 
out of all proportion to the offense, and Avhich compels 
ihem to find for the full amount of the penalty in every 
case of conviction. 
The sense of the community sustains them in vio- 
lating their official oath to sustain a law from which the 
element of intention is entirely eliminated, and under 
Avhich they are alloAved no discretion as to the amount 
of the penalty to be inflicted. It has become respectable 
to find "no cause for action," whatever the crime may be, 
and it will continue to be respectable so long as the law 
remains in its present shaps, as to many of the penalties. 
If a man is charged Avith stealing a horse he can waive 
examination, give bail and obtain his liberty. If in- 
dicted he can show that he came innocently in posses- 
■ sion of the horse, and if convicted, the court has the 
right to exercise its discretion in inflicting punishment. 
If, however, a person is charged Avith violating the 
fiSh laAV the jurj' must find the full penalty or none. If 
convicted he must be imprisoned one day for each dol- 
lar of penalty and costs not exceeding six months, and 
the imprisonment shall not be a satisfaction of the judg- 
ment, and in addition he may be indicted and punished 
for misdemeanor. 
Under the present law a person is not permitted to 
show that he Avas ignorant of or mistaken as to the law, 
and that he was innocent of intention to Adolate it, in 
order to avoid or j-educe the penaltAr; the jury alone can 
protect him, and it does, and will continue to do so 
until the law" is more humane, and Avhen it is it will 
convict. 
VVe have a law similar to this under Avhich no con- 
victions are or can be had in this county, and for the 
the same reason, and the result is largely the same 
throughout the State. 
The law relating to dairy products declares that milk 
containing less than 12 per cent, of solids is adulterated 
milk, and it imposses absolutely a penalty of $100 and 
costs upon every person Avho offers '"'adulterated milk" 
for sale. 
Some three or four years ago an action was brought 
in this county against a person who. had charge of a fai^m 
then in my care, to recover a penalty of $100 for selling 
adulterated milk. 
It was conceded on the trial tJiat tlie inilk -was about 
one-half of one per cent, below the standard, but I 
showed in defense that some three Aveeks before that the 
defendant had been stricken Avith typhoid fever and was 
at that time lying unconscious, apparently at death's 
, door. That as a result of a severe drought, the pasture 
had failed and that his hired man did not know enough to 
provide additional food for the coavs. 
The court held that the ignorance of the hired man 
Avas no excuse; that his act in offering the can of milk 
was the act of the principal, and that as the defendant 
alive and not actually dead the fact that he Avas u.i- 
conscious Avas no defense. 
That while the, milk was not impure in fact, and its 
condition arose from natural causes, yet in laAv it had 
been deliberately adulterated by the defendant, and that 
therefore he must be treated as a felon and pay the 
penalty and costs or go to jail. 
The jury would not lend itself to this manifest injustice 
and quickly brought in a verdict of "no cause of action." 
ScA^eral actions ttnder this law have since then been 
brought and tried in this country, but no conviction has 
been had, and the reason is plain. Juries will not con- 
vict under a law which they deem unjust or too severe in 
its fixed penalties. 
Tliis tendency is not confined to juries, but applies 
to persons AA'ho know of violations of the law, and who 
are unAvilling either to inform or testify as to the vio- 
lation of a law which they deem unjust or oppressive. 
Some years ago a person in this city was prosecuted 
for taking a black bass from Wappingers Creek with 
a net, and was acquitted on the ground that there were 
no black bass in the stream, and the judgment was 
affinned by the court of appeals. Several persons from 
the vicinity testified that they had never seen nor heard 
of a black bass in this creek, and yet it Avas notorious 
that it had been full of bass for years, and one or tAvo 
of the very persons who so testified had been in my office 
some tirne before complaining that the bass in this stream 
were being destroyed by the refuse from a neighboring 
factory. 
The above facts point their own moral. People will 
not inform, witnesses Avill not testify and juries will not 
convict when a law is generally regarded as oppressive 
and odious. 
The remedy is to make the laAv elastic. Provide es- 
pecially as to the present heavy fixed penalties, that a 
jury may find a minimum or maximum penalty, or be- 
tween the two, and where a person is prosecuted for 
several penalties permit the jury to find for a part, not 
less. hoAvever, than a single penalty. 
This Avould enable jurors to take into consideration 
in reaching a verdict Avhether the Anolafion had been Avill- 
tul and deliberate, or had been unintentional or through 
ignorance. 
Until this discretion is given to juries, it Avill be prac- 
tically useless to prosecute for further violations of the 
laAv in this county. 
The insertion of a single section in the present law 
AA-^ould be sufficient for this purpose. 
• J. S. YAp CLeef. 
PoiiGHKEEPSiE, N. Y. , March 5. 
The Pot-Hunter's Friend. 
But a short time since my "plea for the single hook" 
met Avith a most hearty response from sportsmen and 
from men who deal in fishing tackle. Before me to-night 
is a paper advertising the "Old Glory" sure-catch fish 
hook and animal trap, with patents held in the United 
States, Canada, England, Belgium and France. All 
sizes furnished for all kinds of fish and for all kinds of 
animals, from a mouse to a bear. As a device, it is cer- 
tainly clever enough. Animals or fish cannot escape. 
It is the most Avicked killer I have ever seen or heard of. 
It takes away every chance, and holds securely its victim. 
I Avill only deal with it from the standpoint of a fisher- 
man, leaving its efficacy as a trap to be treated by a lover 
of the gun. 
The charm of all fishing, either in fresh or salt Avater, 
as a true sport, consists alone in the skill of handling 
light tackle, trying in every way to give the fish good 
and strong chances of escaping. A deA-ice like this ranks 
Avith dynamite, nets and scores of hooks tied to a sunken 
lure. No skill is required. It Avould be a simple trial of 
the strength of the line, and as a fish caught in this man- 
ner could make no struggles or rushes Avorthy the name 
one cannot see Avhy a rod and reel are mentioned and 
less understand A\^hy a delicate fly should be attached to 
any such murderous appliance. It is a crying shame that 
the laAV does not protect fish and animals from such ab- 
solute murder as this device, if its use is to be allowed, 
would cause. 
Think of the army of pot-hunters and fishermen Avho 
Avould rejoice to march to the dear old lakes and streams 
that \ye love so well under this thing, called "Old Glory." 
Think of the torture inflicted upon the gamy life that 
give such intense pleasure by their keen cunning and 
strength in the battling. 
In the wars of men there is something like true honor, 
and surely the contending forces are not harshly cruel. 
. What is the use of any laAA^s protecting fish and desig- 
nating their method of capture, if such a trap 'as tliis 
can be bought? Dealers themselves Avill not keep them 
in stock if a hue and cry is raised against them by every 
tiue lover of honest sport in this country, and anyAvhere 
in. the world, Avhere; according to the adArertisement, this 
sure-torture, no-chance-given-killer of fish and game ma- 
■ chine can be obtained. Forest and Stream, ever faith- 
ful to:the AA-ants and Avishes of its readers, should become 
interested enough to call attention to such an utterly un- 
•sportsmanlike creation. 
May the time come soon when. jaAvs Avill be not only 
made, but carried out, abolishing any such iuA^ention as . 
the one spoken of. 
When fishing is folloAved by admirers only as a pastime 
then let it become a fact that the deHcate method of 
capture makes the skilled sportsman, and praise ought 
ncA'er to be giA-en to one killing by any other method a 
•large number of game fish. If this is '"'the most ingenious 
invention of the nineteenth century." then the sooner 
the tAventieth century holds SAvay aiid'blots out CA^en the 
remembrance of such an infringement of fair play the 
better it Avill be. F. M. Johnson. 
Boston. 
The FORE.ST .\KD Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended tor publication should reach us at the 
latest hy Moiiday and as inuch earlier as practicable. 
