192 
FOREST 9 AIN D STREAM. 
[Makch 7, 1903. 
The other contestants and their scores : J. G. Foote, 
98 per cent; A. B. Douglass, 97.9 per cent.; G. H. 
Gerard, 97.5 per cent. 
Monday Night, March 2. 
Class O was open to all who had never cast further 
than 80 feet in any similar club or tournament contest, 
without restrictions on length of leader, but rods were 
limited to four ounces, those having solid reel seats being 
allowed three-fourths of an ounce. Distance only 
counted, and light fly rods alone were permitted. Three 
prize medals, gold, silver and bronze. The judges were 
V. R. Grimwood and W. D. Cloyes, and J. H. Cruik- 
shank was referee. The scores of die wimiers, in feet 
and inches : 
E. J. Mills 75.6 
J. D. Foote 61.6 
Dr. J. G. Knowlton 58.6 
H. J. Henderson, Sr., cast 58 feet. 
Massachusetts Fish Stocking:. 
From the Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries and Game. 
Output of Fish, 
The most important incident in the distribution of 
fish, considered from the standpoint of numbers as well 
as an innovation in the fish-cultural work of the com- 
mission, was the plantmg of 6,000,000 shad fry in the 
head waters of rivers of this State. The first lot of 
3,000,000 was put into Assawompsett Pond, the source 
of Taunton Great River, on May 24, 1902, and four 
days later 3,000,000 more were planted in Furnace 
Pond, the head waters of North River. 
These consignments were received from the United 
States Fish Commission, by one of its cars, and the 
fry were in excellent condition .when planted. 
The trout fry put out in the spring numbered 1,010,- 
000. This is a record on trout fry, and exceeds the out- 
put of last year by nearly 16 per cent. In addition to 
these plants 4,000 yearling and 65,000 fingerling brook 
trout, and 1,000 brown trout fingerlings have been put 
into the streams, while 6,500 rainbow trout fingerlings, 
1,000 landlocked salmon fingerlings, 125 adult brook 
trout and 2,750 white perch have been used to stock 
ponds, while 8,500 brook trout fingerlings have been 
reserved to increase the brood stock. 
This brings the total output to 7,091,375, and the fact 
that so many of the salmonidas species were either 
fingerlings or yearlings whe'n put into State waters 
gives a larger importance to this work than the figures 
would seem to indicate. 
When considering the output of fish mention may 
properly be made of the distribution of large quantities 
of landlocked smelt eggs in various ponds and lakes. 
Thus other thousands of fish have been added to the 
interior waters. 
Several ponds have been stocked with landlocked 
smelt. The object of stocking these ponds with smelt 
was, primarily, to provide a natural food for land- 
locked salmon. It is altogether probable, however, 
that the smelt may prove a desirable food for other 
species, notably bass, perch and trout. It is also a 
fine food fish, and, although it is diminutive in size, 
it can furnish some sport, if very fine tackle is used. 
The method of stocking was simply to transfer eggs 
from the streams that empty into Lake Quinsigamond 
to the ponds mentioned. Nothing more is required. 
Pond and Brook Fishing. 
The notes extracted from the reports of deputies in 
various parts of the State indicate unmistakably the 
influence of artificial stocking with fish, and the regu- 
lations imposed by the commission under special acts. 
An increa.se of fish is noted in a large majority of 
cases, and since the restoration of life in our inland 
waters is almost wholly dependent upon fish-culture 
and the enforcement of protective laws, the impor- 
tance of those phases of the commission's work will 
be apparent. If, instead of being more or less barren 
and unattractive, our ponds and streams can be 
brought to a condition which will cause them to yield 
large quantities of food, in addition to furnishing much 
healthful recreation, it is difficult to over-estimate the 
public benefit to be derived from the change. 
Among the statements made, those relating to the 
pike perch are peculiarly noteworthy. In introduc- 
ing this species into our ponds in 1900 and 1901 
there was of necessity an element of doubt concerning 
it. No one could say with certainty that it would live 
in the ponds, with their conditions of temperature, 
etc., while it was impossible to be free from apprehen- 
sion of the effect of predatory attacks by other spe- 
cies, notably the pickerel. If, then, the statements 
made concerning the pike perch can be fully credited 
(and we see no reason for doubting thein), there is 
reason for much encouragement, so far as its introduc- 
tion is concerned; for not only is it a good food and 
game species, that attains a considerable size, but it is 
prolific and can be bred in large numbers. When adult 
fish become reasonably abundant in our ponds it will 
be easy for the commission to collect all the pike 
perch eggs it needs, and then many millions of fry 
can be produced from Massachusetts fish for stocking 
the ponds. While this result may not be realized im- 
mediately, it is far from visionary to expect it in the 
not distant future. 
We had a call from Capt. Pellier Johnson the winner of the 
Grand Prix de Monte Carlo, on Tuesday. The gallant officer had 
just returned from the sunny South, with all his honors thick 
upon him, and he was in high spirits, and looking exceedingly fit 
after the excitement he had recently gone through. He told us 
that after he had killed 19 consecutive birds, and all depended 
upon his last shot, he never felt so cool and confident in his life. 
Some extraordinary yarns have appeared in .some of the papers 
concerning Capt. Pellier Johnson; so it may interest our readers 
to learn that he is a nephew of .Sir John Henry Johnson, of St. 
Osyth's Priory, Essex. He was formerly in the 9th Lancers, and 
served in India, where he distinguished himself at polo, pig-stick- 
ing and flat racing. He was at one time Master of a Scottish 
pack of foxhounds, was one of the international team of clay 
bird shooters in the Anglo-American contest at Hendon, and it 
need scarcely be said he is a first-rate hand 3t driven partridges 
and rocketing plaeasa»t§,— Shooting Times. 
Wh^ Mmmt 
Fixtures. 
March 4-7.— Pittsburg, Pa.— Show of Duquesne Kennel Club, of 
Western Pennsylvania. 
March 10-13.— Rochester, N. Y.— Show of Rochester Kennel Club. 
March 12-14.— Coshocton, O.— Show of Coshocton Kennel Club. 
March 17-20.— Uhrichsville, O.— Show of Twin City Kennel Club. 
March 25-28.— Chicago.— Show of Chicago Kennel Club. 
March 30-31.— St. Louis.— Show of St. Louis Collie Club. 
March 31-April 3.— Buffalo, N. Y.— Show of BufTalo Kennel Club. 
April 1-4.— New Orleans, La.— Show of Southwestern Kennel 
Club. 
April 1-4.— Victoria, B. C— Show of Victoria Kennel Club. 
April 8-11.— Atlantic City, N. T.— Show of Atlantic City Kennel 
Club. 
May 29-30.— Hempstead, L. I.— Open air show of Ladies' Kennel 
Association of America. 
Nov. 3-6.— New York.- Annual show of Ladies' Kennel Associa- 
tion of America. 
Risks to Retrievers. 
EvEfty humane sportsman, before sending a gallant 
retriever to fetch a duck that has fallen on thin ice, 
into a cold torrent in winter, or into the sea when a 
hurricane is blowing off the shore, should pause to 
consider the danger of so doing. The wildfowler's 
sport is rough work. He has to put up with much 
hardship, much exposure to the wet; long are his 
stalks, elaborate his schemes to get within range, many 
his disappointments, and when at last he succeeds in 
achieving a brilliant shot, perchance killing a much 
coveted wild duck, his anxiety to secure the prize 
on which he has expended so much energy of brain and 
body is but natural. Rather would he never shoot a 
ducic again than lose his dog, but it is during that 
moment of intense excitement, when the bird falls, that 
he may not realize the danger to his dog till too late, 
and then, unable to render any assistance, be con- 
strained to witness a struggle that can have but one 
termination. 
A retriever that has once become a really keen water 
dog will never give in till death overtakes him. In 
vain may his owner use both whistle and voice; but, 
with his bird in view, the dog only understands such 
sounds as notes of encouragement or direction, and 
cannot be blamed under the circumstances for believ- 
ing that he knows better than his master, and so 
onward he bravely struggles and, game to the last, 
meets his doom. I lost the best and most faithful re- 
triever I ever had over a wretched golden-eye — a story 
I never like to tell. Suffice it to say that, although a 
duck may fall on ice strong enough to carry a horse 
and cart, unless the bird drops quite dead, it may, as 
it flaps away from the dog. lead him to a spot that is 
a certain death trap. I had had a lesson, but, despite 
all subsequent care, both a daughter and granddaughter 
of my old favorite— the former twice, the latter once — 
had similar narrow escapes. Both inherited the reckless 
dash, determination, fidelity and love of water work for 
which the breed was famous. In her third season the 
daughter walked perfectly to heel in partridge shooting 
and under ordinary circumstances; but one winter's 
day I shot a cock pheasant that rose out of sonie scrub 
bv the river side and fell on the ice at the far side of a 
pool about fifty yards wide. Before the keeper or I 
had time to check her, the retriever cleared the scrub 
at a bound, and, with a drop of about eight feet, fell 
clean through the ice. Return she would not, despite 
all our exhortations, but struggle on toward the bird, 
breaking the ice as she went. Sometimes the ice gave 
way easily enough, sometimes she hung on it a long 
time before it broke; but she got her bird, and then, 
instead of returnmg hy the passage she had made, at- 
tempted to take a fresh and shorter route to the bank. 
All we could do now was to encourage her and break 
the ice in front of her with what stones we could find. 
At last she got ashore, much exhausted and without 
once having lost hold of her bird. All is well that ends 
well, but we had been very near witnessing her death. 
The second time she was in danger it was under dif- 
ferent circumstances. The river was in heavy flood, 
fragments of ice were coming down, and the bird was 
a mallard. It fell into a great' swirling eddy at the bend 
of a pool. I was not present, and the keeper sent the 
retriever for the bird. The mallard was only wiriged, 
and again and again, as she was on the point of seizing 
it, it dived. For twenty minutes this went on and then 
the keeper, seeing her danger, in the icy cold water, 
endeavored to get her out. But, as in the case of the 
pheasant, she refused to leave her game and nearly an 
hour passed before she came ashore with her bird, so 
exhausted that she could scarcely walk the half mile 
home. Rubbed thoroughly dry and placed in hot 
blankets before the fire, she recovered, but she had 
not been far from her end. These adventures had no 
effect on her spirits and she retained her courage and 
perseverance to the end of her days. 
The granddaughter's peril was of a different nature. 
It happened one Christmas eve on the Argyllshire 
coast, and a hurricane blew off the shore. Squalls 
hurtled down the glens — mere deep fissures between 
precipitous mountains — with fearful force. They 
smashed as they met it the surface of the sea, whirling 
high aloft dense, spiral, alabaster-like columns of spin- 
drift, which seemed as though they rose to greet the 
angry, low-flying scuds above. Such a storm as may 
not be seen twice in a lifetime, but it was the_ storm 
that induced me to tramp many miles to a certain part 
of the coast where wildfowl must, in such a gale, 
either seek shelter or be driven out to the broad At- 
lantic. In a cleft among wet seaweed at the extremity 
of the most projecting promontory in the vicinity the 
retriever and I crouched, the while my gillie paraded 
the coast with a gun and put the fowl on the wing. For 
a time the drive was most successful, and I bagged a 
number of birds of various kinds which fell within 
such easy reach that there was no risk in sending the 
retriever for them. But at last the danger and temp- 
tation came. With a long shot I winged a scoter, a 
duck of which I had for years striven to obtain a speci- 
men. Rapidly seaward amid the foam the bird drifted 
and swam away: but the retriever had seen it fall, and 
plunged. The danger was obvious, so by firing the 
other barrel in an opposite direction, and raising a 
sham hunt ashore, I managed to slip the lead on. Had 
the retriever followed the bird, never should I have 
seen her again. Seaward would she have swam with 
the scoter ever before her like a will o' the wisp, till, 
whether she gripped her game or not, return would 
have been impossible. 
Such has been my limited experience, but I am con- 
vinced that similar cases are not uncommon, and that, 
especially in hard weather, the sportsman does well 
who first carefully considers the safety of his dog be- 
fore attempting the recovery of his game. — ^Arthur 
Crawshay, in London Field. 
— « — — 
Prizes for Canoeists. 
In order to encourage canoeists and small boat sailors, 
who do their knocking about on inland waters, to keep 
a record of their trips and experiences, the ptiblishers of 
Forest and Stream offer cash prizes for the best ac- 
counts of cruises taken during the season of 1903. As 
few restrictions as possible will be imposed, and those 
given are made only with the view of securing some uni- 
formity among the competitors' stories, so that the 
judges will be able to make a fair award. 
The prizes will be as follows : 
First, $50.00. , 
Second, $25.00. 
Third, $15.00. 
Fourth and Fifth, $10.00 each. 
Sixth to Eighth, $5.00 each.. 
I. The cruise must be actually taken between May i 
and November i, 1903. 
II. The cruise must be made on the (fresh water) in- 
land streams and lakes of the United States or Canada. 
III. The canoe or boat in which the cruise is made 
must not be more than i8ft. long over all. 
IV. An accurate log of the trip must be kept and all 
incidents and information that would be of value to other 
canoeists covering the same route should be carefully 
recorded. 
V. A description of the boat in which the cruise is 
made should preface the story, and a list of outfit and 
supplies. 
VI. Photographs of the boat and of the country passed 
through, not smaller than 4x5, should, if possible, accom- 
pany each story, and they will be considered in making 
the awards. 
VII. Stories should contain not less than five thousand 
words, written on one side of the paper only. 
VIII. An outline chart of the trip drawn on white 
paper in black ink (no coloring pigment to be used) 
should also be sent in. 
IX. Competitors should avoid the use of slang or in- 
correct nautical expressions in their stories, as it will 
count against them in awarding the prizes. 
Each manuscript to which a prize is awarded shall be- 
come the property of the Forest and Stream Publishing 
Company. All manuscript should reach the office of 
the Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 346 Broad- 
way, New York, N. Y., on or before December i, 1903. 
A. C. A. and its Finances. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The time has arrived when the members of the 
American Canoe Association must consider the finan- 
cial condition of the organization and plan for the fu- 
ture. The Asociation has an island in the St. Law- 
rence River, a beautiful spot and one that should al- 
ways remain a mecca for the tired brain worker and 
the canoeist. Some other way, however, has to be 
devised by which funds are to be obtained to meet the 
expenses than is now used. During the last five years 
the amount turned in to the Board of Governors in 
each year has been: 
1898, C. V. Schuyler, Sec'y-Treas $110.00 
1899, C. P. Forbush, Sec'y-Treas 49-00 
1900, Herb. Begg, Sec'y-Treas ■ ■ 
1901, Herb. Begg, Sec'y-Treas 21.00 
1902, F. J. Burrage, Sec'y-Treas 
Total $180.90 
Or an average per year of S^ iS 
Now the fixed charges on Sugar Island are as fol- 
lows: Taxes, wages caretaker and safe deposit rent 
alone, $40.80, or more than the average, receipts for the 
year. 
Add to tlais expenditure expenses for underbrushing, 
register for island and the other little expenses that 
come up naturally and you add $15 or $20 more per 
year that must be met. 
It does not answer the qliestion for one or another 
administration to say if such' and such a thing had not 
happened we would have made a better return. The 
facts stare us in the face that our expenses are greater 
than our receipts. 
What are we to do about it? Does this mean the 
Association is bankrupt? It would look so. But it is 
not so, for the balances of the divisions last year as 
per 1902 Year Book aggregated $664.46. In other 
words, over $600 was carried over into 1903. Why 
should not a portion of this be available to meet the 
expense of preserving the real estate of the Associa- 
tion? Our members pay for dues every year about 
