Jan. 12, igoi.j 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Si 
combine for this purpose when this should have been re- 
garded by our Fish Commissioners as their first and 
highest duty? 
The question naturally arises, why have our Fish Com- 
missioners been so diligent in the past in stocking the 
waters of this State which are essentially private and in 
many, if not indeed most cases, to their permanent in- 
jury, while so little has been done for Lake Ontario that 
it is as barren of whitefish to-day as it Avas tv^'enty or 
more years ago? 
Let me give a few figures which I happen to have at 
hand. In tlie year 1895 there were planted in all the waters 
of this State, including Lake Ontario, by our Commis- 
sioners, 24,080,000 whitefish. 
In the year 1896 there were planted by them in all the 
waters of this State 11,250,000 whitefish, of which 6,500,- 
000 were placed in Lake Ontario, hardly enough to bear up 
against the attack of their natural enemies, while in that 
year our Commissioners had an appropriation of $157,- 
524-59. 
I do not happen to have the returns for 1897-8 and 1899 
but the whitefish planted this year in all the waters of this 
State amount to 40,175,000. 
Mr. Clark informs us that during the five years, 
1895 to 1899, inclusive, the United States Commission 
placed in the waters of Lake Erie alone 443,677,000 white- 
fish fry, an average of neai-ly 89,000,000 a year, and that 
the commercial value of the whitefish industry is greater 
than that of any of the lakes. Lake Michigan being next, 
and yet in Lake Michigan there were 4,000,000 pounds 
taken in 1897, which at 10 cenls a pound would yield 
$400 000, 
What has been done in the other great lakes could and 
should have been done in Lake Ontario. 
If our former Commissioners had done their duty by 
this lake the whitefish would have been taken for many 
years past by the ton, as they have been in all the other 
great lakes, as the - result of restocking, and the com- 
mercial value of these fish would have amounted an- 
nually to several hundred thousand dollars, a very hand- 
some offset to the yearly appropriations made by our 
State. J. S. Van Cleef. 
PouGHKKEpsiE, N, Y., Dec, SI. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Mr. Harmswofth. 
Mr. Alfreu C. Harmsworth, of London, proprietor of 
the Daily Mail and about thirty other newspapers and 
periodicals in Great Britain, is on a visit to this coun- 
try, and one of the great dealy newspapers in New York 
city was turned over to him to be issued for one day in 
the manner and style that would exemplify his idea of 
what the modern dailj^ newspaper should be. A Troy, 
N. Y., newspaper, the Budget, in speaking editorially of 
Mr. Harmsworth's efforts to improve the make-up of 
the daily newspaper, said that the American people should 
appreciate what he had done for journalism, even if they 
did not adopt his suggestions, and proposed that he be 
invited to go fishing as the best relaxation that could be 
offered to a busy man on a vacation, and intimated that we 
had in this country some superior fishing. 
Apparently this was a shot- in the dark, and the writer 
did not know that Mr. Harmsworth was an enthusiastic 
angler. He had scarcely landed from the Teutonic when 
he wrote to Forest and Stream to ask about the fishing, 
and on a previous visit to this country he visited Florida for 
tarpon fishing, and later wrote of his experience in the 
columns of this paper, praising the fishing as something 
superior to the fishing of any other country. Since that 
time Mr. Harmsworth has visited India and Siberia for 
the fishing, and speaks in glowing terms of the fishing in 
India, strange as it may seem, saying it would be a fine 
fishing country except for the discomfort from the heat. 
Mr. Harmsworth will visit Florida for tarpon fishing on 
this visit — in fact, that was one of the objects of his visit 
at this time. 
The Leaping Ooananiche. 
Mr. Louis Rhead announces an exhibition of his pic- 
tures of the fighting ouananiche at the gallery of 
Frederick Keppel & Co., 20 East Sixteenth street. New 
York cit3', from Jan. 10 to 29, inclusive. The piclures are 
in oil, water color and pen, including a number of life 
studies of the fish on birch bark, and I would advise 
those who can do so to accept the invitation to view the 
pictures. The artist has prepared a imique catalogue, 
numbered and signed, from which one learns that there 
are in the exhibition three pictures on birch bark, nine in 
oil, eight in water color and two pen drawings. I presume 
that there will also be- on exhibiton Mr. Rhead's etching 
of Izaak Walton, which he did from the Houseman por- 
trait in the National Portrait Gallery, South Kensing- 
ton. The artist says ' a few words" in his catalogue 
which are very pleasant reading about 'the fishing and 
guides and canoes at Lake St. John. His tribute to his 
Canadian guides I believe to be well deserved from my 
experience on the same waters: "While not so picturesque 
as the Indian, he is less gloomy and glinn, and he knows 
his business well, and, what is more agreeable, he is more 
respectful and less 'knowing' than some other guides of 
different places. His movements are easy and quiet, and 
he is always at hand when required." 
Fishcultofe in New York. 
At the meeting of the Forest, Fish and Game Commis- 
sion in Albany on Jan. i, the State Fishculturist reported 
to the Commission in regard to the number of eggs taken 
this season up to the time of the meeting, as follows : 
"The season for taking brook and brown trout and 
whitefish and frost fish eggs was practically closed the 
first of the year, and from, the stock fish in the State 
ponds the Commission secured 4,010,800 brook trout eggs, 
3,328,000 brown trout eggs, an increase over last year of 
1,391,900. From whitefish in State waters and from eggs 
secured from the United States Fish Commission, a total 
of 42,538,000 whitefish eggs were laid down in the different 
hatcheries, an increase of 5.027,000 over last year. Frost 
fish secured from State waters furnished 8,560,750, an 
increase over last year of 1,758,750, or a total increase of 
sjpecies mentioiie4 OV?r !as^ year of 8.977,650 tg^^ 
There is no mention made of rainbow trout eggs, as the 
season for taking these eggs has just opened. 
"The Commission has also secured 4,176,000 lake trout 
eggs, and while the tomcod work is not nearly completed, 
34 525,000 eggs have already been secured. 
"The total number of eggs taken thus far this season 
amounts to 101,315,622. 
"During the past month there was distributed, from 
the different hatcheries, of fingerling and adult trout, 121,- 
982." 
The report recommended that one of the State hatcheries 
be abandoned, as it was so situated that it was not profit- 
able to maintain it, and that another hatchery should be 
moved to obtain a better water supply, for at present the 
hatchery in question cannot carry stock fish, nor can it 
rear fingerling fish, as the water gets too warm for any of 
the salmon family early in the summer, and all fish 
hatched must be planted as fry or carried elsewhere to be 
reared. It is not an easy matter to move a hatchery, but 
this One can be moved and placed on a new foundation 
where there is an abundance of spring water, and where 
rearing ponds can be constructed. During the month of 
December the Commission distributed 121.982 fingerling 
and adult trout from the difi'erent hatching stations. The 
adult trout, consisting of several hundreds of breeding 
fish, with which the hatcheries were overstocked, as new 
blood is brought in every year as the older fish make way 
for younger ones. A. N. Cheney. 
A Jofce of the Vintagfe of J 835* 
"T say, Jack, are there any fish in this pond?" 
"There may be; but I should think they were werry 
small, 'cause there was no water in this here pond afore 
that rain yesterday." 
— ^ — 
Fixttires. 
BENCH SHOWS. 
Jan. 14.— New Orleans, La. — Louisiana Kennel Club's annual 
show. A. E. Shaw, Sec'y. 
Jan. 14-19.— Pontiac, Mich.— Pontiac Poultry and Pet Stock Ex- 
hibition's dog show. Daniel Thomas, Sec'y. 
Jan. 23-26.^ — Chicago. — Chicago Pet Dog Club's annual show. 
Mrs. J. T. Buhrer, Sec'y. 
Feb. 19-22.— New York.— Westminster Kennel Club's twenty-fifth 
annual show. Tames Mortimer, Supt. 
March 6-9.— Pittsburg, Pa.— Duquesne Kennel Club's annual 
bench show. F. S. Stedman, Sec'y. 
March 13-16.— Chicago.— Mascoutah Kennel Cltlb's eleventh an- 
nual show. John L. Lincoln, Sec'y. 
FIELD TRIALS. 
Jan. 14.— Coronado, Cal.— Pacific Coast Field Trial Club's trials. 
Albert Beltz, Sec'y. 
Jan. 14. — Greenville, Ala. — Fifth annual field trials of the Alabama 
Field Trials Club. John B. Rosenstihl, Sec'y. 
Jan. 21.— Benton County, Miss.— Tenth annual field trials of the 
United States Field Trials Club. W. B. Statlord, Sec'y, Trenton, 
Tenn. 
February (First Week).— Grand Junction, Tenn.— Championship 
Field Trial Association's annual trials. W. B. Stafford, Sec'y. 
Training the Hunting Dog. 
Bf B, Waters, Author of "Fetch and Carry: A Treatise 
on Retrieving." 
XI. — Backing. 
(Continued from Vol. LV,^ page 473.) 
Let us now consider the dog more specifically as a 
member of a pack and the intelligent team work which 
such m.embership imposes. He much prefers to work with 
one of his own kind. The joint efforts of a nutnber are 
far more certain to result in success than are the efforts 
of the lone individual. Whether wild or domestic, they 
much prefer to bunt with each other. Wolves take dis- 
tinct parts in the struggle to effect a capture. One or 
two may make a sham attack on a cow while others seize 
and kill her momentarily unguarded calf. Coyotes have 
been known to station themselves with excellent judg- 
ment in such manner and places that as one or more of 
their number pursued the fleeing antelope it passed by 
the others in turn, and each in turn took up the pursuit 
and relieved the pursuer, so that the antelope was pitted 
against a relay of wolves. 
The greyhound when pursuing animals as swift or 
swifted than itself, invariably learns to run cunning if he 
is permitted to have even a moderate continuous ex- 
perience. In running cunning, wlien two or more are 
pursuing together, one dashes forward at full speed to 
press the fleeing jack rabbit, antelope, etc., while his fel- 
low is running less swiftly behind. The purpose of the 
leading hound is to press the prey to a turn from its 
course. If he succeeds, instantly his fellow dashes for- 
ward at top speed across the angle thus formed, heading 
the prey off if possible, and in any event getting closer up 
to it. He then takes up the running, while his fellow 
behind watches alertly for the next turn, and when it 
comes he cuts across the corner. Sometimes the hind- 
most dog without losing speed will rear high up so that 
he may see over the leading dog, and thereby note what 
the prey is doing. 
Every time that a turn is made, the prey runs on two 
sides of a triangle, while the hindmost dog runs on 
but one. This is a sufficient advantage in favor of the 
dogs to insure their final success. After the hindmost 
dog can cut in ahead of their prey, there then is a dog 
in front and one in the rear of it, and it is in a perilous 
situation. The_ backing dog may be said to be backing 
cunning, for it is analogous in its purposes to the running 
cunnmg of the greyhound. Either act is but one of 
many similar ones. 
The country dog, be he cur or otherwise, has some 
neighbonng dog with which he is on friendly terms, and 
which he seeks as company on his prowling expeditions 
through the woods and. fields. In time the self-hunters 
learn all the strategy essential to success. If they ap- 
proach a brush pile which gives good promise of a 
rabbit, 4o they go up to it together? That is not their 
9roce4ure after ^h^y becotr^e edi^^ated- One advances |o 
the pile to start the rabbit while the other in manner 
similar to that of the barking dog takes a strategic posi- 
tion to seize it when it springs from cover, or tailing to 
do so, that he may turn it to his fellow with -a good chance 
of captmx. 
All the acts of dogs when hunting together have a 
direct bearing to the common purpose, at is refers directly 
to their own interests — that is to saj^, the capture. Their 
knowledge and skill come from intelligence and ex- 
perience. That the acts are sometimes learned very 
quickly proves none the less that they are the result of 
intelligence and experience. In no other manner could 
they be acquired. 
Backing has a direct reference to the capture of the 
prey, and is conclusively proven by the well-known fact 
that an intelligent dog, even when most thoroughly 
trained, will refuse to back a dog which within his obser- 
vation false points a few times. He observes that the 
false pointing dog is unreliable, and that as there is 
nothing to the point to be pursued or captured, so there is 
no u.se in preparing to seize or pursue. This denotes that 
the act refers to himself and not a man with a gun. 
In practical field work the only materia! advantage of 
backing is that it prevents interference with the point- 
ing dog, although it has the further value of being pleasing 
to the eye as a spectacular act. The backing dog is taught 
to suppress his inclination to interfere, and is forced to 
take a subordinate part. 
In such instances, as a man shoots alone and owns but 
one dog, it is not of the slightest importance whether 
hisi dog will point or not. But when dogs are hunted 
together, it is of importance that they be made steady to 
back, or if they will not back, then that they be taught to 
drop promptly to order. 
A dog which, refusing to back, either presses ahead to 
steal the point or flush the birds, will thoroughly spoil 
more sport than all other causes combined. Some dogs, 
otherwise very good, behave very badly when working 
with a dog which refuses to back. Under such condi- 
tions they misbehave generally; they will not submit to 
have their points stolen ; they then willfully go ahead and 
flu.sh to prcArent any points being made at all, or work 
so resentfully and jealously that the standard of the work 
is ragged and poor. Therefore, when a dog is pointing 
no other dog should be permitted to interfere with him. 
Backing well and staunchly, while not indispensable, is 
an accomplishment which puts a needed and useful finish 
to the work of dogs in company with their fellows, and 
besides being pleasing to the eye, it adds to the pleasure 
and ease of the shooter in handling them, and thus to the 
success of the gun. 
Until the dog has learned the purposes of pointing, he 
shows no inclination to back. Thus puppies which are 
raised alone have no knowledge of what the act of point- 
ing means, though they very quickly learn it on proper 
opportunity. In teaching the puppy staimchness to the 
back, it is best to have an old, reliable dog to do the 
pointing. The point being made, the puppy's attention is 
attracted to it, with a.s little noise and fuss as possible. 
With an exaggerated caution of movement and manner, 
the trainer endeavors to impress on him the gravity and 
importance of the event. After he observes that birds are 
to the point, he will acquire an enthusiastic interest in 
it on his own account. 
Commonly the puppy's first efforts will be spirited at- 
tempts to flush. They are the natural act;s of ignorant 
puppies. 
After several lessons, when the poin'.ing dog engages 
the interest of the puppy, and the latter is well in hand, 
the trainer walks forward to flush. If the puppy attempt < 
to follow, he is taken back to the spot whence he started 
and cautioned. The trainer acts slowly, patiently and 
quietly if he acts aright. The portentous manner will not 
fail to impress the puppy as he notes it in conjunction 
wi h the point. 
Dogs are exceedingly imitative. This the trainer may 
readily observe by assuming a crouchy, stealthy manner 
in an open field, as if he were stalking some prey. The 
dog will likely imitate his actions. However, it is not 
wise in this manner to deceive a dog, as it tends to im- 
pair his confidence in the deceiver. 
Whenever he attempts to press forward when on back 
he must be cautioned or be taken back to the point whcTice 
he started. This impresses on him that he is not to go 
forward when his fellow is pointing. The cord and peg 
may be applied usefully to keep him in place if he is 
difficult to manage. 
After the birds are flushed and a kill is made, the puppy 
will gain a comprehension of the purposes of the acts. 
Some puppies learn to back quickly; with others to teach 
the act it may be necessary to repeat the lessons through 
many days or weeks. 
Even after weeks of teaching, a puppy may seem to have 
no interest in backing, yet some day when he comes sud- 
denljr and unexpectedly on his bracemate pointing, he 
may astonish and gratify his trainer hy pointing in- 
stantaneously and well. The trainer may devise ways to 
run him on sight of the pointing dog when he does not 
suspect a point, arranging, however, to be in a position 
to in'erpose if he attempts to steal the point or flush. 
Pointers as a rule are mttch more easily taught to point 
and back than are setters. Some dogs are so deferential 
that they will play to take 'the backing position the mo- 
ment that they see their fellow making game, whi'e others 
will steal the point on opportunity, or back and draw 
alternately till the point is stolen or the birds are flushed. 
It is a branch of training in which the trainer mu t use 
infinite tact and patience. Nothing is gained by hurry.. 
Punishment will deter the pupil from running in on a' 
pointing dog, and to that extent it is of value, but it does 
not teach him how to back. It may, however, teach him 
to blink. 
By persistent attempts to enforce the act of backing 
there will be but few cases which will result in failure. On 
the other hand, half-hearted and fitful attempts will re- 
sult in many failures. Persistency, common sense, 
patience and tact in appljdng methods and aft'ording op- 
portunities are essential factors in this branch as they 
are in all others. 
The FdBEST and Stream 3s p«i to press each week on Tuesday, 
Correspondence iatended for publication should reach u§ at t\v* 
!a,te«t by Monday &s. iRUGb eairUe^ ' '"'^ 
