Jan. 3, igo3.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
18 
and a cultivatin' roun' the country peers to me hav' been too bizzy 
at that to think much about the wind up. Mebby thay aint so 
verry anxyus to reap the har\-est, nuther: I shouldn't think they 
wood. I now refur to the doggoned Trusts and Combines. I'm 
mighty 'fraid that when folks kind er get impatient like and turn 
to fer a big harvest Dance it'll get to be so cussed hot fur them 
seed sewers that they won't half'enjoy it. Me and my wife looks 
four some orful lively goins on when people git too feelin' too 
tired of the monotiny. Yours for Reform, 
Melancthon Kraddock. 
Melancthon was congratulated on having his guess- 
ing machine in good running order, and invited to be- 
come a regular contributor. 
Jim Skinner sent a fox story that must not be lost 
to the worldj neither will it be. 
Bill Herkimer also departed from the strictly agri- 
cultural sphere to tell what he knew about the best 
way to domesticate the gray squirrel and make him a 
useful member of society. 
Then Perry Worden thought there was not enough 
attention paid to raising peanuts and guarding this 
delicate crop from early frosts. 
Lincoln Johnson Hayes' boy, who was home from 
business college on a vacation, wrote an able treatise 
on football and the best waj"- to avoid sudden death in 
connection with the game. 
'Lige Bennaway said he "had wrote for papers be- 
fore," and one of his stories being on the subject of 
fish, he sent in an excerpt from a back number of some 
paper, name not given. As a study from nature and 
Gidder's pond, it is valuable, and is given herewith 
entire: 
"There's been a heap o' talk around these parts," said Squire 
Miller one night while the crowd was sitting around the front 
porch of the hotel, "about eddicated animules. Some o' you 
fellers hev told some pretty tall stories about eels what become 
as gentle as dogs, an' rats that to all intents an' purposes was 
cats, an' a lot o' stuflf like that. Now, as ycr all through, I jes 
want to tell you a true story about a fish, a common, every day 
old gar pike, what become the scourge o' Gidder's Pond. 
"Yes, sir, that's jest what this old gar got ter be. A regular 
scourge. He became the best fisherman that ever went nosing 
around Gidder's Pond, and I want to say thet there's been a lot 
of right good fishermen around them parts. But tliis ole gar 
pike fish beat 'em all. 
"You all remember old Ike Puterbaugh thet used to do a little 
farmin' and a little blacksmithin' and a little huntin' and a little 
fishin' over at Gidder's Pond? Well, the ole man was a' indus- 
trious 'nough feller, but I guess he deversified too much. He 
wuz never able to git much money ahead fer his fambly, and they 
lived most of the time jest about from hand to mouth, and some- 
times they wuz purty near next to star\'ing. Tlien thet summer 
hotel started down at Waynesville, and there wuz a great de- 
mand for fish ter feed the hungry boarders with. The proprietor 
of the hotel allowed thet he would buy all the fish thet wuz 
brought to him, and a lot of fellers commenced fishing over at 
Gidder's Pond to supply the hotel. This wuz ole man Puter- 
baugh's chance, and he went fishing more'n ever, but he wuz a 
poor sort of fisherman some way er other. Seemed to have best 
sort of poles and good lines, and the best kind of bait, too, an' 
patience enough ter put on er monument. But somehow er other 
lie didn't have fisherman's luck, an' he didn't ketch any fish. 
"Well, one day th' ole man ketched a little baby gar fish. O' 
course, everj' fisherman- jest natclierally hates gar fishes. They 
hain't no earthly good but ter eat bait up, and break lines an' 
everything, an' generally when a man catches a gar fish he don't 
throw it back in the water, but tosses it out on the shore an' lets 
it die. Ole man Puterbaugh he was a-goin' ter let the little gar 
fish perish the same way, but somehow when he took a good look 
at it he didn't have the heart. 
"So he put it in a bucket and took it home an' put it in the 
horse trough, an' two or three times a day he ust ter go an' 
tlvrow it some crumbs er some fish worms. The gar fish grew 
like the mischief, an' he got so he would wait fer the old man's 
comin' an' bob rite up out of the water as soon as the ole man 
would begin to whistle when comin' down the hill toward the 
tank. The gar would swim rite up to Puterbaugh, an' the ole 
man would pat him on the head an' talk to him, an' the gar would 
wag his tail jest like a dog, 
"One spring a turrible freshet come on an' made a reg'lar lake 
all around the horse trough, which was down in a holler. The 
tank overflowed an' the gar fish he got out an' swam in the flood 
to the creek an' disappeared. 
"When the gar pike hed made his escape the . ole nian wuz 
dreadful lonely, so he took to fishin' ag'in, with about the same 
kind o' luck. 
"One day while he was sittin' down by the pond a-fishin' in a 
sore o' disconsolate way an' a-wonderin' why he didn't get a bite, 
he suddenly saw a big gar pike stick its long nose up out of tlie 
water an' kinder wink at him. 
" 'By jing,' ole man Puterbaugh said, 'if tliet hain't my ole gar 
pike, I don't want er cent!' 
"Sure enough, tliets jest who it was. The fish swijm right Up 
to ole man Puterbaugh, an'- the ole man rubbed his head and 
fed him a handful of worms. After the gar pike hed eat a lot 
o' worms he turned aroun' an' swum awaj", an' ole man Puter- 
baugh begin ter weep, an' he says ter himself, 'Even a' ole gar 
pike likes me fer jest what he can git out o' me. After he's done 
been fed he hain't got no fxirther use for me until he's hungry 
again.' 
"But just then the ole man see a lot of ripples on the water, 
an' the old man says, 'Gee whiz, here's a lot of black bass a-liead- 
in' this way!' Sure enough, pretty soon the ole man lookin' down 
saw the water wuz full o' bass. They wuz all swimmin' as hard 
as they could, an' seemed to be tryin' to get away from some- 
thin'. 
" 'They're scart half to death,' says the ole man; 'somethin's 
a-chasin' 'em'. The bass all swum fust one way an' then another, 
as though tryin' to escape back to the middle of the lake, but 
try as hard as they could, they wuz made to keep right ahead, an' 
swum into a little creek, which got slialler awful quick. 
"When they got in there ole man Puterbaugh jest jumped in 
behind 'em and pulled some brushwood in, so they couldn't git 
out, an' then he jest natcherally got inter tlie shaller part of the 
creek an' pulled black bass out by the tail fer ten minutes, an, 
by jing, if he didn't get twenty-five of 'em, every one of 'em weigh- 
in' over five pounds, and four of 'em- weighin' ten or 'leven 
pounds apiece. 
"When the ole man hed got through he looked back at the 
pond, and see the ole gar pike a-winkin' at him, an' he realized 
thet thet thar ole gar pike hed been a-roundin' up the black bass, 
an' hed driv' 'em on purpose into ther shaller creek, whar the ole 
man jest hed to pull 'em out by the tail. 
"Inside o' two weeks thet gar pike hed jest natcherally rounded 
up every eatin' fish in Gidder's Pond, an' the ole man wuz makin' 
money hand over fist. Then th' ole man took the gar out an' 
went up to Red Bear Lake an' made a killin' there, an' the 
ole man cleaned thet lake out, an' then he went to Injiui Lake, 
and cleaned thet out; an" all this time he wur jest natcherally 
coinin' money, an' finally he hed enough tew pay off the morgidge 
on the house an' put a thousan' er so in tlie bank. He'd be 
fishin' with thet ole gar pike yet, but the gar pike got tew 
ambitious, er made a mistake er something. 
"Ole Tom Lewis, the guide, wuz swimmin' in Injun Lake one 
day, an' the gar thought Tom wuz a new kind o' black bass er 
somethin', an' he jest went for him an' tried to drive him in 
shore, an' Tom out with his knife, him having his clothes an' his 
belt on' an' he jest natchally slew the ole gar pike. Ole man 
Puterbaugh wuz awful sorry, an' he brought the body of the 
deceased gar pike home an' planted it with honors in the peach 
orchard, an' erected a nice tombstone to his memory. 
"■Thet wuz certainly a most remarkable gar pike." 
And so the merry time went on. It was the busiest 
three weeks in all my eventful caree"r. But nothing 
startled me so much as a letter received one morning 
from my Florida uncle, announcing that he would be 
in my vicinity in the course of the week. The letter 
was quite forcible and explicit, and the language un- 
mistakable, not necessarily for publication, but as an 
evidence of good faith on his part that he would 
straighten tWngs out whe^ he got home. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST, 
Species of Muscallunge. 
Chicago, 111., Dec. 19. — An angler of somewhat ex- 
tended experience among northern waters writes as be- 
low in regard to the different species of the muscallunge : 
'Tn the Forest and Stream of May 21, 1S98, under the 
heading of 'Pickerel, Pike and iVlascalonge,' Mr. Fred 
Mather wrote as follows: 'I have seen this fish (the 
mascalonge) among the Indians about Crow Wing and 
Mille I-acs, Minn., in the '50s, but never saw one that 
w^ould weigh over 10 pounds with them. These were 
black spotted.' In the same article he writes that 'the 
Wisconsin fish (mascalonge) are spotted.' Jordan and 
Evermann in their recent book, 'American Food and 
Game Fishes,' say regarding what they term the Eso.v 
imiiiaculatxis, 'This muskallunge is known only from 
Eagle Lake and other small lakes in Wisconsin and Min- 
nesota. From the Great Lakes muskallunge it differs in 
having the body entirely unspotted.' Querj% Are. both 
varieties found in Wisconsin and Minnesota? 
"I once saw a muskallunge from the Ohio River that 
was black spotted like those of the St. Lawrence River. 
This is not in accordance with the description given by 
Jordan and EA^ermann in their book named above (pub- 
lished in 1902), under head of Chautauqua Muskallunge, 
wherein they describe the muskallunge of the Ohio River. 
The same book quoting Genio Scott says, 'The pompano 
is not a game fish and never takes a hook except by mis- 
take.' Now, I want to say that the pompano is decidedly 
a very game fish and does take a baited hook, as many 
anglers well know." 
In the study of these species of fish, just as in the 
studjf of a great many other species of animals, I im- 
agine we shall find that the scientists haA^e not yet reached 
the end of the road, nor have they been able as yet to 
establish definite fences which shall separate one species 
from another nearly akin. In regard to the two varieties, 
spotted and unspotted muscallunge. I would say that 
the}' are both found in Wisconsin and are both recognized 
hy the guides of that State. I remember to have heard 
one of the best oarsmen of Manitowish state that the 
unspotted muscallunge was found only in the region of 
the Shak}' Lakes. I do not believe this statement to have 
been wholly correct, but there is at least rumor and be- 
lief of the existence in Wisconsin of the unspotted mus- 
callunge. 
I do not doubt that Mr. Mather was correct in his 
statement as to the Minnesota muscallunge, which is 
usually about the same in general characteristics as the 
Wisconsin muscallunge. My own experience does not 
show the spots of these muscallunge to be so round and 
detached as those I have seen on some specimens of the 
St. Lawrence muscallunge. The Wisconsin and Minnesota 
tnuscallunge are usually not so much distinctly spotted 
as marked with dark and irregular zig-zag blotches. In 
smaller Wisconsin muscallunge I have sometimes seen 
these dark markings to extend up and down across the 
fish, not parallel to the longitudinal axis. These zig-zag 
or rail fence dark markings showed upon a green back- 
ground, lighter in color than that of the adult muscal- 
lunge. These specimens weighed three or four pounds, 
and I think marked the young form of the fish rather 
than the adult specimen. 
Mr. Mather does not apparently state that 10 pounds 
is the extreme weight of the Minnesota muscallunge. 
Indeed IMinnesota produces some of the heaviest speci- 
mens of that fish caught in the West. Forty-one and 
three-quarter pounds I have known reached and I think 
heavier weights have been captured in the State in the 
last two years. Of course the average weight of the 
fish taken in Minnesota and Wisconsin grows less from 
year to year. 
In regard to Ohio River muscallunge which is re- 
ported black spotted, I must say that this description 
is preciseh'- in accordance with the markings of the 
muscalhmge taken in Taggart Creek, Kentucky, by a 
gentleman of Ironton, Ohio, the head of which fish was 
sent to the Forest and Stream office. Even the backs of 
the gill covers showed distinct round spots, as round as 
the head of a lead pencil. The captors of this fish de- 
scribed it as marked with distinct round spots. This 
seems to be quite like the common markings or at least 
the occasional markings of the St. Lawrence muscallunge. 
In regard to the accuracy of Messrs. Jordan and Ever- 
mann in their elaborate book on fishes, I presume it will 
be considered impertinent on my part to take issue with 
some of their statements, hut the truth is that they are 
inaccurate not only in regard to muscallunge, but in re- 
gard to other fishes. I will not say that they are inaccu- 
rate in regard to their own observations, but the}' make 
some statements in general which assuredly are not uni- 
A'ersally correct. Their nomenclature of the muscallunge 
is entire!}' dilterent from that given by other scientific 
Avriters up to date, which latter have given the scientific 
names in common use by the anglers of the country. I 
may be irreverent, but I can see no use in the multiplica- 
tion of similar and indistiiict species, and in the continual 
changes and additions to the nomenclature of our game 
animals. More thari that, I claim the right as an Ameri- 
can citizen, to differ with the scientists when their ob- 
servations do not tally with my own. This is not to say 
that the unspotted muscallunge is not or camiot be found 
in the Ohio River. It is more specially to reiterate ni}' 
previous statement that Nature does not set up any dis- 
tinct fences between her creatures. I believe that our 
correspondent is just in his desire for further informa- 
tion. E. Hough. 
Haktford Building, Chicago, 111. 
AbotJt Disheartened Sharks. 
In your issue of Dec. i I note an article copied from 
the Mobile (Ala.) Register headed "Shark That Lost Its 
Lleart Swam Away." To confirm this statement let me 
say that some three years ago, when five hours out of 
San Juan, Porto Rico, in the month of May, on the Red 
D Line steamer Caracas, while drifting and repairing a 
broken shaft, I induced the captain to have a fishing out- 
fit fixed up to let me try and capture a shark. It was got 
ready and baited with * large piece of salt pork, §114 in 
a few minutes I had hooked a seven-foot shark. He did 
not fight very hard. He was escorted by a pilot fish on 
each side of him, and they accompanied him to the side 
of the ship, where he was hoisted on board, opened, and 
his heart taken out. He was then thrown overboard. 
The two pilot fish having remained in wait for him, the 
three swam away from the ship for some fifty feet, and 
then appeared to dive down into the water. The heart, 
when in the sun, pulsated plainly for fifty-five minutes. — 
E. G. Russell in New York Times. 
Incorporation of New York Fish and Game 
Albany, N. Y., Dec. 20. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
At the recent annual meeting of the New York State 
Fish, Game and Forest League at Syracuse, the question 
as to the desirability of incorporating fish and game pro- 
tective associations or clubs was somewhat discussed. It 
became evident that the reason why so many of the clubs 
do not incorporate is a well defined fear, prevalent among 
the members, that by the act of incorporation they indi- 
vidually become liable for any debts which ma}' be in- 
curred. 
The Forest, Fish and Game Commission, which is re- 
stricted by law to dealings with incorporated associa- 
tions, in the hope of removing this impression, has se- 
cured from the Attorney General of the State an opinion 
in the matter. This opinion shows A'ery clearly how 
erroneous the general impression relative to the results 
of incorporating a game protectiA'e association is. Attor- 
ney General Davies in his opinion, refers to Section 31 
of Article 2 of the membership corporations laAV, Avhicli 
in substance states that five or more persons may incor- 
porate by filing a certificate as provided. Section i r of 
Article i of the law, so far as fish and game protective 
associations are concerned, provides that the directors of 
such associations only are jointly and severally liable 
for debts contracted Avhile they are directors, and payable 
in a year or less from the date Avhen contracted, if an 
action for collection is brought within a year after the 
debt was due. 
The Attorney General in explanation cites the case of 
McCabe vs. GoodfelloAv, 1,33 N. Y., S9, 95, to the effect 
that "the individual liability of members for contracts 
made by the association, or its officers or committees, 
depends upon the application of the principle of the law 
of agency, and authority to create such liability Avill not 
be presumed or implied from the existence of a general 
power to attend to or transact the business or protnote 
rhe object for Avhich the association was formed, except 
where the debt contracted is necessary for its preserva- 
tion." 
It Avould seem desirable that this information should be 
possessed by CA-ery association organized in the State for 
the protection of fish and game. 
John D. Whish, 
Secretary. 
The New York State League. 
Lyons, N. Y., Dec. 2.3. — The objects and purposes of the New 
York Fish, Game and Forest League have been brought to the 
attention of every thoughtful sportsman in this State. The League 
is doing al! in its power for better A.-^h and game legislation, the 
enforcement of the laws, and the building up of a public senti- 
ment favoring the preservation of our fish and game forests. 
It is the medium through which all sportsmen should work, and 
is dependent upon the influence of every such individual in the 
State. To the extent that it can obtain such influence will it be 
successful in its efl'orts. A representation should be had from 
every coimty in New York. 
All sportsmen throughout the State are particularly urged at 
this time to associate themselves with us. In localities where 
there is no organization, and it is not possible to effect such an 
organization, we hope the matter may be taken up by individuals, 
and that they will associate themselves with us as individual 
members. 
Application blanks for chihs and associations will be forwarded 
by the secretary upon request. Individuals may connect them- 
selves with the Leagvie upon the paj-ment of |1, and such appli- 
cations may be sent to the secretary, with full name and post- 
office address. 
A full attendance upon the meetings of the League is desired ; 
however, much good w'ork can be done at home, working with 
members of Legislature and assisting in the enforcement of the 
laws. Outline of the present legislative work of the League W'ill 
be furnished by Law Committee to members on request. 
Immediate action and co-operation is needed. Cannot you see 
that your locality is represented, either by an organized effort or 
by the personal interest of leading sportsmen. Yours truly, 
W. S. G.^VITT, 
Chairman Organization Committee. 
100 sportsmen's finds. 
Some of the Queer Discoveries Made fay Those Who Are 
Looking for Game or Fish. 
88 
Bayport, L. I,, Nov. 8. — The following story which is 
true in every detail. Avhich can be A'ouched for. and in 
which I Avas one of the principals, will no doubt interest 
some of your readers. I Avent out battery shooting on 
Tuesday, Dec. 2, on Guide Le Roy Still's handsomely 
fitted up sloop, the Li^lrica. We rigged out the stool about 
mid-day on what is known as The Porgie Bar, and had 
a fairly successful shoot. About 4 P. M. we prepared to 
start for home. They placed me on board the sloop Avhile 
Tim and his assistant in a skilT hauled up those 150 
wooden ducks. I had around my neck a heavy silk hand- 
kerchief fastened Avith an ordinary shaped scarf-pin. In 
adjusting it I dropped the pin overboard in about five 
feet of Avater. There Avas no one else on board, and by the 
time Tim and his assistant came on board some half- 
hour afterward, the incident of the pin had escaped me 
and I ncA-er mentioned my loss to anyone. 
The following Thursday evening I Avas sitting in the 
hotel bar Avhen in walked Tim just off the bay full of 
excitement and to tell me the Avay to find diamonds while 
duck himting. I told him I had often read of people find- 
ing pearls m oysters, hut diamonds in ducks, ncA'er. 
Judge of my surprise Avhen he took from his A'est pocket 
carefully Avrapped in a piece of newspaper and Avith the 
blood still on it, the very pin I had dropped overboard 
two davs previously. I exclaimed: "Why, Tim, that's my 
pin." I would never have convinced him it was had \ 
not produced one of the missing points of the star which 
had been broken off a short time before. He then pro- 
ceeded tp tell me how came by it, That day he tjacj 
