Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1903, bv Forest akd Stream Publkhikg Ca 
T.HMS, ^3Aj-.^^o-gs. A copv. J NEW YORK, S ATU RD A Y, MARC H 7 , 1 9 O 3 . { no. u7§tlil^';'°^i^ yokk 
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garded. While it is intended to give wide latitude in discussion 
of current topics, the editors are not responsible for the views of 
correspondents. 
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particulars respecting sub'icriptions. see prospectus on page iii. 
There is a certain bird which is called the phoenix. This is the 
only one of its kind, and it lives 500 years. When the time of its 
dissolution draws near that it must die, it builds itself a nest of 
frankincense and myrrh and other spices, into which, when the 
time is fulfilled, it enters and dies. But as the flesh decays a cer- 
tain kind of worm is produced, which, being nourished by the 
juices of the dead bird, brings forth feathers. Then, when it has 
acquired strength, it takes up the nest in which are the bones of 
its parent, and bearing these, it passes from the land of Arabia 
into Egypt, to the city called Heliopolis. And flying in open 
day in sight of all men, it places them on the altar of the sun, 
and having done this, it hastens back to its former abode. The 
priests then inspect the chronological registers, and find that it 
has returned exactly when the five hundredth year is completed. 
— St. Clement. 
SOME EARLY SIGNS. 
Though the calendar may tell us that spring has come, 
it sometimes strains our credulity a little to believe the 
statement. Too often the ground is white with snow, or 
if bare, rings like rock under the tread, while across 
streams and swamps and wet places run bars of ice which 
bind river and brook and marsh in an impenetrable armor. 
This last first of March was different. Though the 
gale roared with proverbial fury, the sun shone bright and 
warm, and under the shelter of a lee it was pleasant to 
rest in the sunshine and gaze over the dull brown land- 
scape, which a few weeks will transform to the loveliest 
green, dotted at first with the pale blossoms of bluets, 
sometimes standing so thick that it seems as though a 
piece of the cloudless sky had been transferred to the 
meadow, and for a moment one may actually imagine that 
he is looking at the sky's reflection in a little piece of 
v/ater. Now the view shows but a monotone; sodden 
fields are brown, stone walls and rail fences gray, and 
alders and willows along the brooks that traverse the 
landscape are brownish gray. Yet if one can see the wil- 
lows in mass, or can look over a wide extent of swamp 
where soft maples grow thick, the tips of the willows are 
seen to be turning green, while the maple twigs show a 
touch of red, which a few warm days will make almost 
brilliant. 
In the depth of the swamps along the brookside, and 
wherever the mud is deep, the conical cap of the skunk's 
cabbage now shows an inch or two above the ground. 
Often it points directly to the sky, yet often again it is 
turned and twisted, its peak directed toward any point of 
the compass and its purple or yellow streaked glossy 
sheath unbroken by any hint of expanding bud. The 
skunk's cabbage is an humble plant, held in contempt by 
those who know it best, yet there have been known to 
come from the cities in early spring women of wealth and 
position — those belonging to the class to which the daily 
papers apply the absurd title "society people" — who, look- 
ing at the skunk cabbage, believed it to be a rare and 
beautiful plant, and grubbed up its roots and carried them 
back to cultivate in their window gardens in town. 
To the sportsman the skunk cabbage is well known. 
He remembers how in the happy days gone by, when 
there were really birds, the timid woodcock was often 
routed out from his midday nap under its broad leaves; 
later in the season he has started the roaring partridge 
from covers where it abounded; and later still has killed 
Bob White, whose little crop was distended with its round 
berries. For some people the skunk cabbage has many 
associations. 
On this first of March, 1903, that humble plant seemed 
the only sign of spring discoverable. The birds were few 
and only those of winter; an occasional group ©f half a 
dozen crows flew sadly across the dull brown fields and 
over the gray woods, with hardly spirit enough to call to 
one another at intervals. Along the brush-grown country 
kme a few scattering tree sparrows and blue snowbirds 
made themselves CAddent, flitting silently and furtively 
along in advance of the pedestrian. In the depths of the 
wood a downy woodpecker swung from tree to tree, 
cl?irRb?rin§ swiftly upward alpng ?a,ch t^wk shopped op. 
and apparently finding nothing to arrest his attention. 
Have he and his kind destroyed during the winter the 
eggs and larvae of all the noxious insects in this bit of 
forest? , 
Could one have sf)ent a day in the swamp with net and 
collecting can, no doubt an aquarium might have been 
stocked from the mud and water now just freed from its 
bondage of ice and snow. The turning over of stones 
would have revealed multitudes of frogs and newts and 
salamanders and all the marvelous brood of things — unseen 
by the average man — which during the long nights and 
cold days of winter sleep safely buried out of harm's way. 
If on that day there was little of spring to be seen, at 
least one felt that nature was on the verge of a great 
change. In the protruding cap of the humble skunk cab- 
bage could be read prophecies of the future : Warm winds, 
bright sun and gentle showers ; green fields, opening flow- 
ers, the arrival of a horde of birds, brilliant in plumage 
and melodious in song. All these things the skunk cab- 
bage foretells, and we may rejoice at its first appearance. 
THE PLANK IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
We invite special attention to the extracts elsewhere 
printed from the report of the Massachusetts Com- 
mission, not alone because the showing there rnade 
demonstrates what was said in these columns last week 
respecting the condition of the fish and game interests 
of the Commonwealth, but because as well the discussion 
of the game supply atfords such an instructive commen- 
tary upon the anti-sale of game system so long advocated 
by this journal. ■ ' _ 
When' in 1894 the Forest and Stream first submitted 
to the sportsmen of America its now famous Platform 
Plank — "The sale of game should be forbidden at all sea- 
sons" — Massachusetts waS accounted one of the last 
States in which the system would receive support; for 
the Boston market was then, as it had long been, denomi- 
nated the dumping ground of game which the laws of 
other States made unsalable in the close season. Boston ' 
was a depository for the game of the whole country, and 
in particular for the garne of Massachusetts. The open 
sale meant, in hard, cold fact, the snaring of Massachu-' 
setts grouse for market in season and out. And so firmly 
were the market interests intrenched that the probability 
of a changed situation appeared extremely remote. 
But three years ago the change came. Sportsmen and 
game dealers united in the indorsement of a measure 
which forbade absolutely, the year around, the sale of 
woodcock and ruffed grouse, or, as it is familiarly termed, 
"the old partridge." For the three seasons during whieh 
the law has been in operation, it has been well observed; 
and the results have been all that were expected. The 
partridge has been restored to sections where, under 
the open market regime, it had been snared practically out 
of existence. The general statement which the Com- 
mission's report makes of the improved grouse supply 
is substantiated by a mass of testimony from individuals, 
adducing experience and observation to show the restock- 
ing of Massachusetts' partridge covers; and the chief 
factor which is recognized as having contributed to this 
result is the enforcement of the rule that the bird shall 
not be made merchandise of. 
The law will expire by limitation in July, but everyone 
is convinced of the wisdom and necessity of extending 
the system, and a bill is now before the Legislature to 
that effect. A hearing on the measure was held on 
Thursday of last week. It was remarkable for the large 
attendance from all parts of the Commonwealth, for the 
lively interest manifested, and for the unanimity of in- 
dorsement of the present law, and the determination that 
the system must be continued. 
That which rendered the hearing most noteworthy and 
sigriificartt lay in the character of the attendance. If 
any need were to give the lie to the charge sometimes 
heard that the anti-sale law is class legislation, material 
to refute the assertion would have been found in abund- 
ance here. It was a remarkable hearing, writes one who 
was present, and distinctly emphasized the change in 
public sentiment that has taken place in the past three 
years. Not only did numbers of Representatives in the 
Legislature from various sections of the State speak for 
their constituencies in favor of. the bill, but ex-Senators 
and ex-Representatives were numerously in evidence, as 
well as citizens interested as spqrtsmen or otherwise in 
the preservai;iotx of game birds, Tte^' V%5 ^ slight. 
difference of opinion as to the time the close season 
should cover, but this was only an incident, for the con- 
trolling desire for the main object of the bill— the pro- 
hibition of the sale of partridge and woodcock — ^was so 
strong that it was not difficult to bring all into line for 
the support of the bill introduced by the central commit- 
tee of the sportsmen's clubs. 
There was no opposition, and really not time enough to 
hear the indorsement of half of those who had traveled 
long distances in some cases to add the weight of their, 
influence. 
The gathering was notable for the large number of 
sportsmen present who were evidently not men of large 
means. This seemed to indicate that they appreciate 
what it means to them to have good hunting at their 
very doors, so that they can enjoy a day's outing with 
dog and gun as well as if they were millionaires. 
THE ADIRONDACKS. 
A ROUGH, mountainous country, unfitted for settlement, 
destined to be given over for all time to the wolf and the 
bear, and without value or benefit to mankind, save for 
the peltry and venison and lumber to be got oitt of it. 
This might well have been an early day estimate of the 
Adirondack region. That it would ever become the 
wealth-producing district of to-day could not then have 
been dreamed by the shrewdest and most prescient. 
The privilege of breathing fresh air was not then at a 
premium. The inhalation of balsam was not then some- 
thing men would pay for. To kill a deer, to catch a 
trout, was not then a privilege for which the devotee was 
willing to travel hundreds of miles and pay hundreds 
of dollars in fares, board and boat and guide hire. The 
great heg.lth-seeking, sport-loving, pleasure-making army 
.was unknown in American society. We may regret the 
shortsightedness which failed to foresee the new condi- 
tions ; we may hardly censure our forebears and impute it 
to them as blameworthy that in their day and generation 
and according to their lights they were not more .provi- 
dent and conservative of the woods and the waters.; and 
did not more intelligently serve in their turn as trustees 
for those who should come after. 
The Adirondacks of to-day, in one phase of their com- 
mercial aspect, are admirably described in the statistical 
exhibit prepared by the Superintendent of Forests, Wm. 
F. Fox, and extracted in another column from the 
report of the New York Commission. There are here 
impressive figures. The volume of summer and autumn 
tourist business in the North Woods is measured in 
money by the millions of dollars. The hotels, with their 
accommodations for 27,500 guests, and the private /camps 
and cottages represent an investment exceeding $10,000,- 
000. The 13,000 persons employed in various capacities 
in caring for the 193,000 hotel guests, boarders, cottagers 
and campers earn more than $993,000 in wages ; the sums 
received for railroad and steamboat transporta.tion are 
put at $875,000, and the revenue for board, carriages, 
iboats, etc., is more than $5,000,000. 
Largely through the efforts of the Hon. John F. Lacey, 
of Iowa, the Committee on Public Lands of the House of 
Representatives recently made favorable reports on two 
■or three bills affecting the forest reserves. The most 
important of these measures is that authorizing the' Presi- 
dent, in his discretion, to designate certain a,reas of the 
forest reserves, which shall thereafter be game refuges, 
within which the destruction of mammals, birds and fish 
■shall be governed wholly by regulations to be established 
Tjy the Secretary of the Interior. The session is so far 
advanced and there are so many legislative matters which 
for one cause and another are hanging fire, that at 
present there seems no prospect that this most irhportant 
measure will become a law. It is bitterly opposed by at 
least one Congressman, who is the advocate of the sheep 
men, and who appears to hold the present prosperity of 
these people — many of whom are not even his ' constitu- 
ents — superior to other people who are, even though the 
region over which the sheep feed shall become by their 
devastation a desert. To him the horseman, the cattleman, 
the rancher and the forester are all as. nothing, provided 
only the sheep men are protected- These sheep men, by 
the way, are having a pretty hard time in these days in 
some parts of Wyoming, and it will he interesting to 
watch the progress of the contest that is going on between 
these destructive nomads and the hard working people 
yvho have ^staibli!?hed periuap^Qit homes ip, that' State, 
