/Iarch 29, 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
put on to the sand plains, let him take his .30-40; but in 
fhe timber, his small ordnance— his .577- 
A twig the size of a lead pencil will mushroom a soft- 
hosed .30-40, and perhaps deflect its course, rendering it 
Erratic and practically useless. If one must use a .30-40 
|ii the timber, he should carry along a few full-jacketed 
pullets— then he will stand some chance of penetrating a 
brush heap in a direct line, and reaching his game. The 
peer may be in full view— every part of his anatomy visible 
U-nothing intervening but a lacework of fine twigs — so 
pne that you do not notice them as you look along your 
Wghts — but, with a soft-nosed bullet, you can't get 
Ithrough that tracery except by merest chance and "bull- 
head luck." In a situation like this, the full jacket is 
better, but the big bore is best. 
I saw a companion shoot three deer in a bunch — crack, 
track, crack, just like that— with a .303 soft-nose Savage. 
PThey were hit in the lungs; they dropped without hesita- 
tion, and did not get up again. When opened, their lungs 
appeared to be macerated. They looked as if a buzz saw 
[had struck them, broad side on. I have seen a deer shot 
tt 207 long paces with a Winchester .30-40, soft-nose. The 
bullet struck the head in the back, between the horns. 
[The havoc created was a revelation to me, The skull 
[was cracked into eight small pieces ; the right eye knocked 
but on to the cheek; the brain pan swept of its contents, 
[and the right half of the upper jaw carried away. These 
fchots were made in open places. 
f On the other hand. I have known the soft-nose bullet 
[from a .30-40. aimed at a deer not sixty yards away, to 
[graze a small frozen sapling and break into a thousand 
[minute particles, splattering the adjacent branches as if 
h spoonful of hot lead had been splashed against the 
Y The man who killed the three deer with the Savage- 
land that was several years ago — has never been out since, 
but he is still singing to all his friends the praises of that 
wonderful gun. He who shot the frozen sapling, and 
Who, on another occasion, failed to do business with a 
deer on the other si9e of a few berry bushes, says the 
30-40 is "no good." 
A couple of years ago a thirteen-year-old schoolboy 
killed a moose in Brevoort Lake, near here, with a single 
.25 rim-fire cartridge fired from a Favorite rifle, but that 
hardlv makes the Favorite a moose gun. 
E. H. Hotchkiss. 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
A Cup for Mr* Dressel* 
The Sportsmen's show was conducted so ably and so 
successfully that the exhibitors and many other personal 
friends of Capt. J. A. H, Dressel, general manager of 
the show, and a tireless worker in all that pertained to 
its success, resolved to express their appreciation in 
respect to his efforts as well as their personal esteem. 
They conspired together, and agreed that a cup, solid in 
worth and artistic in design, would be the proper thing. 
A massive silver cup, whose capacity was equal to a 
milk bucket, with handles which made it of the kind 
known as loving cup, was selected. 
The whole matter was kept a profound secret from the 
Captain. On the last evening of the show, about 9 
o'clock, he was invited into the room in which was a 
table, surrounded by beautiful flowers, arranged by Mr. 
Harry Stevens. The cup, the center of adornment, was 
covered from view, while Mr. David T. Abercrombie, 
the Captain's lieutenant in connection with the Sports- 
men's Show, presented the cup with the following 
1*C 1X13. J*lc9 " 
"Captain Dressel, in response to a petition circulated 
by many leading exhibitors at the eighth annual Sports- 
men's Show, and heartily concurred in by not a few of 
your personal friends, I have been asked to tender yoii 
their hearty congratulations and sincere appreciation of 
your personal efforts and able management of the ex- 
hibit now drawing to a close. 
"Of eight annual events of the kind held at the Gar- 
den, the present show, in point of attendance and public 
approval, has far surpassed any former effort of the 
Association, and so far as I have been able to learn 
from personal inquiry, has been productive of most sat- 
isfactory results to the big list' of exhibitors who have co- 
operated with the management in so generous a manner 
for the success of the show. 
"Perhaps no one. aside from those associated with you 
in the affairs of the Sportsmen's Association, can form 
an adequate idea of the personal effort, the per- 
sonal sacrifices, and the responsibilities attached 
to the successful holding of a national sportsmen's 
show. All of us gathered here to-night, however, 
realize that you have met all of these requirements, not 
only this year, but for the seven years that have gone 
before and with our best wishes for the continued suc- 
cess of the Sportsmen's Association and of the Sports- 
men's Show, which, we trust, will be held here for many 
years to come, we ask you to accept this modest testi- 
monial of our regard and good feeling. May it be so 
long as you live, emblematic of the flowing bowl of 
good fellowship, of true sportsmanship and of honest, 
clean-handed friendship of which you are the embodi- 
ment, j • . 
"Capt. Dressel, in this cup we pledge you our hearty 
co-operation and best wishes." . 
Capt. Dressel was truly surprised, yet made his ac- 
knowledgment of the honor gracefully and pertinently. 
The cup was then filled several times with the vintage' ot 
France. 
Flesh Affected by Foods, 
Editor Forest and Stream: . 
The most striking case of the above I ever heard ol 
was the story in the papers some five or more years 
since, of a number of persons, dining in a Baltimore 
cafe, being violently, but not fatally, poisoned, and search 
developing that the flesh of some game birds was very 
high in prussic acid, coming from the laurel berries the 
birds had eaten. That an animal can consume sufficient 
poisonous food to bring its flesh to a poisonous condi- 
tion, without being poisoned itself, is certainly a remark- 
able proposition. Do vou know of the yarn, and whether 
I is more than a yarn? W, Wade. 
0***9*1, March ?/> 
Maine Woods and Waters. 
Boston, March 24.— For several winters the Maine 
game wardens, under the direction of the Commissioners, 
have beeen trying to catch Peter La Fontaine, a French- 
Canadian who has given them a good deal of trouble. He 
has persisted in coming across the border into Maine and 
killing moose and deer at all seasons, and getting bacK 
across the border with his booty. Friday Chairman 
Carleton received the following telegram from Warden 
H, O. Templeton, dated at Northeast Carry; "I went 
tp arrest Peter La Fontaine. He pulled a gun. I shot 
him. He may live. Houston took him to a doctor in 
Canada." . . . 
It is believed that the shooting was purely in self- 
defense since Templeton is a cool and careful man. With , 
Wardens Houston and Forrest, he has been trying to 
arrest La Fontaine for some time. La Fontaine has long 
had the reputation of being the famous outlaw of the 
northern forest, operating along the border line between 
Maine and Canada from Baker Lake in northern Somer- 
set of St. John Pond in the Moosehead region. No 
further news than the telegram had been received up to 
this writing. Commissioner Stanley remarked, when in 
Boston the other day, that they had some of the best 
wardens in the world at work along the border this 
winter. , 
Warden Pollard comes down from a trip across Moose- 
head Lake with the story that at Nathan Emery's lumber 
camps, at Magee Brook, four miles north of Northwest 
Carry,' they have had a tame moose, which has stayed 
in a hovel with the horses, and shared their food. The 
crew has not attempted to molest him, letting him have 
his own way. This is a pretty good story, and if Warden 
Pollard told it, it is true. Will he speak up, through the 
Forest and Stream? . 
The Kennebec River, in Maine, has cleared of ice up 
as far as the tide goes; said to be the earliest clearing 
since 1S71, when the ice went out March 12. Flocks of 
ducks and geese begun to come up river as soon as the 
ice was out, and all the gunners from Richmond down 
to Merrymeeting Bay are after, them. The spring 
shooters are also making gunning trips off the Massa- 
chusetts coast, and a few brant have appeared m the 
markets. t 
Fishermen are getting ready for an early departure 
of the ice from Maine waters. The weather continues 
very warm, and fishing at Bangor salmon pool will soon 
begin. Salmon are already in Boston from Nova Scotia 
waters, the first one selling last week at $1.25 per pound. 
Portland fishermen are looking for a very early clearing 
of Sebago Lake, and suggest that the ice is getting thin. 
Commissioner Stanley says that the fishing cannot help 
being good this year in Moosehead, Grand Lake. Green 
Lake, Cobbosseecontee, Sebago, Lake Auburn and others. 
These lakes have been especially well stocked for several 
seasons past, and fishing should be good as soon as the 
season opens. At the Rangeleys there is still two feet of 
clear blue ice, and it will take many warm days to eat it 
away. Great preparations are being made for summer 
visitors in that region. Capt. F. C. Barker is building 
several cottages at Sandy Point, Lake Mooselucmaguntic. 
Amos Ellis is adding several new camps to his establish- 
ment at Bald Mountain Camps. L. E. Bowley has been 
making great changes at Mountain View. It will interest 
snortsrnen to know that the extension of the Portland & 
Rumford Falls Railway will reach Haines' Landing and 
Mountain View before the season is over. 
Special. 
Construction of Fish Ponds. 
From Fred Mather's "Modern Fishculture in Fresh and Salt 
Water." 
Ponds. 
The first thing to be considered is the intention of the 
owner and what he wishes to do with his pond or ponds. 
He may want as large a pond as possible in which trout 
will feed themselves and afford him fishing for him- 
self and friends, or to market sortie trout each spring. 
He mav wish to have a hatchery and rearing ponds to 
stock his main pond with, or to have a series of ponds 
in which to grow trout on artificial food. 
There are several ways in Which trout may be culti- 
vated, dependent upon the extent and character of the 
water and the inclination of the owner as to the amount 
of time he cares to devote to it, and the expense which 
he is willing to incur in beginning, which, as in most 
other affairs, bears some relation to the prospective re- 
sults. With proper facilities, intelligent fishculture will 
prove as remunerative as any of the minor industries of 
the farm, such as bee and poultry keeping, but it is only 
very rare and exceptional places where it can be made a 
separate and distinct business which would warrant a 
person in devoting his whole time to it. 
Where the spring rises upon a farm and flows some 
distance through it, with some fall and space to make 
ponds, the conditions are most favorable. It is very, 
difficult to give directions for making trout ponds which 
will be applicable to all places, but it is safe to say that 
the very worst location and form for them is in a ravine 
where they are made by a series of dams thrown across. 
Such an arrangement is sure to come to grief, sooner or 
later, and if the dams are so strongly made as to resist 
an unusual flood from suddenly melted snow, or heavy 
rains, then the leaves and other riffraff will clog the 
screens until the increased pressure carries them away 
and the fish have a chance to escape. The smaller the 
trout the more difficult it is to confine them, not only on 
account of their ability to escape through a small opening, 
but in consequence of their desire to continually seek that 
opening — a desire which is intense during their first year 
of life, but which decreases until it is so much diminished 
that large fish of say three-quarters of a pound, can hardly 
be driven from deep water. _ 
It only one pond, is contemplated m whtc.h t^e fish are 
to be placed to seek their own food and care for them- 
selves, then it may be made as large as the stream which 
supplies it will admit of— that is. it must not be so large 
that the water will get above 70 degrees Fahrenheit, in the 
bottom of the pond. Depth will give coolness, or if there 
are springs in the bottom the fish will congregate there at 
the hottest times, while the warmer water at the surface 
and shallow edge is favorable for the production of insect 
life for their food. The stream above can be covered 
with gravel as a spawning ground, and the young will 
have a chance to escane being devoured by the larger fish 
by keeping in the shallows. 
A pond of this kind was made at West Bloomfield, 
N. Y., on the farm of Mr. Stephen H. Ainsworth, a 
gentleman who was among the first to engage in trout 
culture ki New York, beginning about the year -1858. 
He had a marshy spot of ground, formed by many small 
springs, whose united currents in the dryest times made 
a stream scarcely larger than a lead pencil; and digging 
this out he made a pond 50 by ioo feet, which was 16 
feet deep, and covered over, where he raised many fish 
under great difficulties. In a dry season the sur-ply 
barely equaled the evaporation, and no water passed from 
the pond; and on several occasions he lost his largest fi c h 
from the heat, until, in the year 1871, he removed the. 
trout and substituted black bass. Yet he had accomplished 
enough to be an authority upon trout culture in that day. 
and is now quoted to show what can be done with little 
means, although I should never advise any one with only 
his facilities to make an attemot at trout ra'sing. = Arid 
the point to which attention should be directed is the 
ratio of depth to surface in his pond ; if he had exposed 
more surface to the weather, or made his pond (ess deep, 
he probably would never have kept a trout through the 
first summer. In cases of a rise in temperature the large 
fish are the first to suffer. 
Large Single Ponds. 
It is difficult to give directions which will be suitable 
for all places, but I will repeat that a dam in a ravine is 
the worst form. In such a place it seems better to make 
a small dam, and lead the water from it into ponds at the 
side of the ravine, and let the floods go down the old 
channel. My own ponds, at Honenve Falls Monroe 
county N Y., were made in a piece of low. flat land, with 
a plow and road scraper, using the earth, gravel, etc., 
taken out to fill up around the ponds. Afterward they 
were finished with pick and shovel, and a dry stone wall 
la'd around them merely to hold the banks. b»it thev were 
small, only 60 by 15 feet and 5 feet deep. The first one 
built was laid in cement, but was no better than the 
others. In some places there is muck enough to nay for 
the digging in manure; but if the water can be kent off. 
such ponds are not expensive. Here is the cost of one of 
nr'ne of the dimensions above given: 
Two men and team two days $*° 0° 
One man with shovel two days i • 3 00 
Team and man hauling stone three days.. • 10 SO 
May laying wall three days . 4 5® 
Screen boxes > 3 00 
Man one day ditching . 1 5° 
Total $32 50 
The cost of stone was not added, as there was a quarry 
on the farm. 
Naturally sloped banks of soil, sodded to below the 
water's edge, are best for all ponds over 100 by 200 feet, 
but surface water must be kept out. All ponds of the 
size named I call "large," because when we come to 
consider the "small ponds" of the professional fishcultur- 
ist it will be found that they are so narrow that every 
fish in them may be seen at all times. 
The single large pond can only be worked to its 
greatest capacity by having a hatchery, taking and hatch- 
ing the eggs, rearing yearlings and turning them out in 
the following spring after the water has been drained 
- off and all trout of the previous year taken out, thus rais- 
ing and marketing two-year-old trout each year, and a 
trout above that age is worth no more than any other 
fish in market. All trout ponds should be drawn down 
once a year, or the trout will have a muddy flavor from 
decaying vegetation. 
The bottom of the pond should be fiat, if not level, and 
the fish should be removed with a net, instead of draining 
off the water to take them out. One of my mistakes will 
illustrate this : An original idea, one of those which so 
often come out of the little end of the horn, was to have a 
drain-pipe at the bottom of the pond stopped with a 
plug, and then make a deeper place in the center, so that 
when the water was drawn off the fish would be all there 
ready to be dipped out with a hand or scoop net. What 
could be more handy? An improvement! After being in 
use three years it became necessary to take out the large 
trout and transfer them to another pond, and the water 
was drawn off. When about a foot was left the fish began 
to get alarmed and rush around, stirring up the water, 
which had appeared like crystal, until the motion of the 
fish could be seen, and when drawn down as low as 
possible they naturally gathered in the pit, where they 
were dipped into tubs of clean water by a man in rubber 
boots. While in the pit they began to shown signs of 
distress by keeping their noses out of the water, and the 
man "who was dipping them said: "It smells like gun- 
powder." Then another idea, not original, dawned: the 
fish were being asphyxiated by the foul gas or sulphureted 
hydrogen! 
The sluice at the inlet was opened, but too late. Uur ot 
the 2,500 fine breeding fish, only 39 were saved; they 
died even after being placed in fresh water while still 
breathing, and an expensive lesson m the dear school 
of experience was learned. I had seen the Southern 
darkies muddy ponds when collecting specimens for me 
and knew that this gas, which lies at the bottom of all 
waters in which there is anytlvng to decay, was a deadly 
poison if stirred, but the. thought never occurred that the 
fish would do their own "muddying," as the darkies call it 
This experiment shows another fact: fish which feel 
«ecure in from three to four feet of water, and show 
no alarm at persons walking at the edge of the pond, and 
which will, come readily to the surface to feed in your 
presence, or even take it from your hand, will, in water 
of not oyer a foot in depth, be as timid as wild fish just 
taken from the brook. Their sense of security is gone; 
hence it is better to take them with a net. lar^e enough 
