t)Ec. 2}', igd2.] 
good anglers have estimated it at not less than 46 pounds. 
Others have fancifiilly thought a pound of strain for 
every pound of its own weight would be a near approxi- 
mation, while others have contended that no sahnon ever 
hooked could move a ten-pound weight lying on the 
ground. TIic note-book in wliich is recorded the number 
of pounds indicated by the balance, is now before the 
writer, and he would like to have his angling readers 
guess the number.* The old man soon recovered after 
clearing his stomach of the water taken in his tumbles. 
He was quite crestfallen, and revised his opinions about 
reds, lines and salmon. Mr. Norris suggested that the 
fun and information derived at his expense was well 
worth a dollar to each, with which we all agreed, and the 
old man said "devil so giaod a day's work did 1 ever do in 
my life." 
Mr. Norris did his" work thoroughly this time. After 
leaving the river he proceeded down the coast to interview 
fishermen whose fathers were among the first settlers, 
and who had fished all their lives. As the writer's offi- 
cial duties required his presence at Chatham, whither he 
intended proceeding by rail, he changed his mind and 
decided to accompany Mr. Norris down the coast, and 
with him visit the Tabusintac which debouches into the 
esluary of the Miramichi. This is a very considerable 
stream, which in its upper waters divides into two 
. branches, each of which has several smaller tributaries. 
It has, since the settlement of the countr^^ been celebrated 
for the number and size of its trout, and as the post 
road to Chatham crosses it not far from its best pools, a 
fine opportunity was offered, with little trouble or expense, 
for Mr. N. to sec on this visit the true habitat of the 
sea trout, and to correct his former opinion that their 
habitat wa.s the sea. As this river offered every facility 
for testing the statements made by fishermen and arriving 
at a sound conclusion, we made but one stop in the jour- 
ney, at Caraquet, in order that he might taste the oysters 
which more nearly resemble the English "natives" than 
any others in the Maritime Provinces. 
Here Ave met Overseer Hickson, one of the most intelli- 
gent and energetic fishing officers that ever gave good 
service to his country. He had gone down the coast on 
one of his periodical visits to inspect nets and settle some 
of the numerous and interminable disputes that constantly 
arise among fishermen, especially when the disputants are 
French. VVe put up at a comfortable farm-house where 
Hickson was to hold his court. He sent the local warden 
to rake a basket of oysters, which added much to the 
enjoyment of a substantial dinner for which our ride in 
the ozone-laden breeze from the salt water had given us 
a sharp appetite. After dinner Hickson, who knew the 
disputants and their several dispositions, prepared the 
wide hall for his court-room, and covered a large table 
with al! the books in the house. The neighbors, mostly 
b'rench, from far and near, had made a fete-day, aiy.l 
were waiting outside in quite a crowd, and of course did 
not fail to sing En roulant ma boule. Arrangirig his 
papers, and taking his seat in a large arm chair, Hickson 
summoned the disputants, announced the court open, 
and made a speech in substance as follows : "Gentlemen, 
before I hear this case, I wish to say that these disputes 
are growing more frequent and more annoying to the 
neighborhood, to yourselves and to me, every season. I 
have made up my mind that these quarrels about nothing- 
must end. Hitherto I have refrained from applying the 
law, which fully provides for all these cases, soleb^ for the 
purpose of saving you expense and large legal costs. In- 
stead of appreciating my leniency, you have redoubled 
my labor, and caused me great annoj-ance, to which I will 
•jno longer submit. I am here to-day to uphold the majesty 
tof the law. Do you see these books? They are all full 
lof law, and I will enforce the whole of it if you make it 
■nccess-:'ry. There are many knotty points of law in these 
books and every knot will cost you each five dollars 
ibefore it is satisfactorily decided. I advise you to settle 
;yottr disputes without any law proceedings, and to give 
^ .you every chance to do this, I now adjourn the court 
for one week, when it will re-open at my house in 
IBalhurst at ten o'clock in the forenoon. Vive la Reine!" 
The result showed that Hickson fully understood his men. 
"Me heard no more of the case and his little ruse saved 
the fishermen and himself from much trouble. Hickson 
has now reached the allotted span of life, and has retired 
from the arduous duties his office imposed. In his early 
nuinhcod and middle age few could compete with him 
in feats of strength and agility. He was, until j^ears im- 
paired his strength, a good hunter, an able canoe-man, a 
fine shot with rifle and pistol, a neat fly-dresser, a good 
iT.d-makcr and a thorough angler. Like the water, he 
ran now only live oVer again in memory, the pleasant 
(U'.ys spent in pursuit of fin, fur and feather, and these 
tTieniories recall to each of us manj^ happy hours in forest 
:u;d on stream. All old-time anglers on the Nepissiguit 
will reciill Over.seer Hickson's uniform kindness and as- 
sistance in their search for sport. He is the last of the 
( )]d Guard left on the North Shore. 
VVe arrived at Tabusintac that night and next morning 
f.f^cteded up stream to the famous Escadillac pools, 
MvJiiich. on his former visit, Mr. N. had reached by going 
■drnvrn siream from Harris's Inn on the Bathurst road. 
IJer«, as Mr. N. had done before, we caught trout at 
;.;li:i0':>t every cast weighing from one to two and a half 
ipound'S, and desisted only when surfeited with fishing. 
As the smelts had long left the river, these trout, if deni- 
'/xns of the sea, should have followed them ; but here 
llhey were, veritable fontinalis, identical with those which 
are found in every river in the Maritime Provinces, and 
Jiicre they would remain until they went down to salt 
water to meet the smelt again the following spring. The 
rejsult of this inquiry on the mind of Mr. Norris was 
that the North Shore of New Brunswick has no sea 
trout distinct from fontinalis. The lamented death of 
Mr.. Norris soon after prevented the publication of 
the conclusion arrived at and the grounds for correcting 
his former belief. We parted at Chatharn. Mr. N. took 
rail for St. John and his home in Philadelphia. Alas ! 
the next tidings of my friend announced his unexpected 
death, and as I grieved, so, I am sure, did every angler 
and every man who had enjoyed the intimacy of this 
genial gentleman and true sportsman — one of the best 
* Note. — So far as ive are informed, no authentic decision ha.s 
ever been given on this vexata qwestio. Any answers we may 
receive to the Old Angler's question will be given in our Angling 
•iJulunm.— Editor Forikst and Stream, 
FOHEST ANE) STREAM, 
known of the Old Guard. Mr. Norris was the pioneer 
\vriter on Fisli Culture, and though printed_ 35 years ago, 
his book contains all that so-called scientists, with half 
ihe alphabet attached lo Ihcir names, have since written. 
His "Anglers' Book," I hope, is ill tjie. hands of every 
American fi.sherman. 
In taking final leave of this subject^ the OiitOg^nariaii 
would like to expostulate with Messieurs les Savants, who 
have lately developed a genius for new classifications. 
There seem to be fashions in zoology as well as in dress. 
Some years ago the fashion was to generalize .structure 
and to reduce species; to-day the fashion is to differenti- 
ate very nn'nutely on structure aitd to multiply species; 
Init in neither fashion is there unanitnity among the 
savants. Since the days of Dame Beruers, Father fzaak 
and Brother Cotton, the anglers of England, Ireland and 
Scotland have been under no doubt or difficulty about the 
brook Lrout, On the continent of Europe all classes of 
the people are familiar with Salmo fontinalis of Hum- 
boldt and Cuvier. In America there was not, until re- 
cently, any confusion in the minds of the common people 
as to what was a brook trout. But Agassiz and Baird, 
who were content with the classification of their great 
predecessors in natural history, are dead, and Messieurs 
les Savants, dragging half the alphabet after their names, 
(as if the more letters they could flaunt the more the oi 
I'oUoi were bound to submit to their superior knowledge) 
arc, on the principle of lucus a non lucendo writing 
glibly about "vomers plane" and "vomers boat-shaped," 
"shafts elevated and shafts depressed," "teeth in rows 
or no teeth at all," "scales conspicuous or scales em- 
bedded," "black .spots, red spots or gray spots," until a 
poor devil is so confused with the learned trifling that 
he begins to doubt his own eyesight and his ability to 
tell a sea salmon from a brook trout, which, by the way 
Messieurs les Saianis now tell us is no trout at all, but 
only a miserable "char!" VVhat has science gained? 
How has knowledge been increased by the learned jargon 
of these fin de siecle professors and adepts who, with 
scalpels and microscopes are counting the number of 
bony rays in dorsal and caudal fins, especiallj^ since no 
three of them ever agree in their count? Will the ji 
poUoi know the brook trout any better because these 
savants have taken him out of the Salnio class and given 
him a brand new name? Will we kiaow him any better as 
a Sa-Velinus than we have hitherto known him as a ^'a/wof 
Will he give more sport or taste better as a char than he 
did as a trout ? Come, Messieurs les Savants, let up on 
us poor ignorami, for whom the old, universally known 
term, Salmo fontinnlis, is good enough. Some of us are 
too old to learn your loiag-sounding new names; it will 
require two or three generations to make sportsmen for- 
get the old familiar terms and to replace the familiar 
Salmo by the ^trang^e. Salvelinus. Let up. Messieurs! You 
are only confusing a very simple matter, by applying to it 
your "science" and long words ! What was good enough 
for Humboldt and Cuvier, Agassiz and Baird, Buckland 
and Huxley among naturalists, and "Kit North," Sir 
Humphrey Davy and Frank Francis among anglers, is 
good enough for us who have no time to split hairs and 
make distinctions without a difference. Were the Old 
Angler to try his hand at classification, his description of 
these New Savants would read something like this, and 
not an Angler in the world would have any doubt about 
the animile: Order, primates; genus, horno ; family, col- 
lege dons; species, Smithsonian; variety, fishmongers; 
individuals, fellows that "know it all." How Father 
Izaak would laugh at you and quietly pursue his angling 
for Salnio sa'.ar in the Tweed or for Salmo fonlina'is in 
the Wye! V. 
(to be continued.) 
The Rockefeller-Lairora Case* 
A newspaper despatch from Glens Falls, N. Y., an- 
nounces the decision by Judge Beman, of Malone, Essex 
Countj', N. Y,, of a nonsuit in the case of Rockefeller 
against Lamora in the action brought for the recovery of 
penalties for unlawfully fishing in Mr. Rockefeller's pri- 
vate park in the Adirondacks. The defense showed that 
the waters of the park had been stocked by fish fron the 
State hatcheries and at public expense, and Judge Beman 
declared ih"l this was a complete defense mader that 
c'ause in the i iw rela-ting to private parks, which pro- 
\idcs that waters stocked by the State shall not convj 
itl'.in the provisions of the act. This means, as v/e in'er- 
pret it, that when a private preserve has been stocked by 
the State, the owner cannot recover the special trespass 
IJcnaltics which the law prescribes. The v/ell-establisaed 
cnmtiion law principles governing: property and trespass 
are nevertheless in such cases still in force, and under 
these the land owner is siill secured exclusive ria;ht of 
occupation or entry for any purpose whatever, Iruiting 
or fishing included. 
Break the Chain* 
Tell your friend you mean to spend your life fighting 
for money and power, and he will, if he be an average 
man, applaud your decision ; tell hina you mean to dwell 
in the country, gaining a simple livelihood from your 
labor, and he will either not believe you mean it, or will 
ccnclnde you are a beaten competitor in the city's race. 
Most people do not know they are the slaves of their 
modern improvements, so-called. They build houses 
larger thaia they can occupy— for show; they pinch and 
scrape year after year to pay for them, and after that 
continue pinching to pay taxes, repairs and other main- 
tenance charges. A large house demands expensive furni- 
ture. Then fine dress. And the demands increase. The 
man keeps his nose on the grindstone, the woman wears 
herself out taking care of the fine feathers. No time to 
just live and enjoy it; got to make a show first — going to 
take a real rest, and cut off all the little vanities, next 
winter — next suiaimer — some other time, when matters are 
not qtiite so pressing. 1 am not exactli' a loafer, but I 
like Walt Whitman best of all our American writers, be- 
cause he had sense enough to "loafe and invite his soul" 
once in a while. I am tired of hearing the everlasting 
preachers of the "strenuous" life. Go slower, and you'll 
go farther and enjoy it better. Don't live to work; work 
to live. Bread and butter work, 1 mean. Leave a little 
lime for the sort of work you find your chief pleasure 
in. — Frank Putnam in the National Magazine. 
Canine Elegies and Epitaphs, 
XXXI —From the Greek. 
Ir/v rplpov Of TvapdysLQ oKvizuQ rdch C7//.ia voTjoa 
M>/, Atojiai, yt'J.aariQ, Ei kvv6q iiart Td^of. 
''E.KAavaOrjv. Xeipsi; k6viv avvWriKav avanTo^S 
'Oc (lov Kal crr^A^ t6v6' kxapa^e %&yov, 
"Only a dogl" Yes, liere a dog is laid; 
Yet laugh not, stranger; there was one to love me; 
He wept, dear Master! when I died, and made 
This verse to mark the stone that stands above me. 
Designing of Small Racing Yachts, 
Lecture Delivered by "W, Starlicg Burgets before ite Soci- 
ety of,!:Arts of the Maisachusen;, Infiitule ci 
Technology, on Mov. 28, 1902. 
The designing of small racing yachts is probably the 
most fascinating Ijranch of naval architecture, and one 
that appeals mo.sf to the majority of younger men. Un- 
like what is apt to be the case in the production of larger 
craft, all the details of the small racing boat are usually 
thought out and provided for by one man, there is but 
little specializing of the different parts of the work in- 
volved. Sinall help can be gained from the data obtained 
in larger vessels, tlae entire problem of design is a unique 
one, aiad governed by laws of its own. A very wide range 
is afforded for experiment, in the design of each new 
boat its forerunner is but little adhered to. As a result, 
failures have been maiay, and sonae laiost grotesque. Un- 
like a steamer, it is almost iiaipossible to accurately pre- 
dict a racing yacht's perforiaiance. 
There are many subtle qualities which go to make up 
the elements of the successful .craft which are at the 
present time wholly unknown. For instance, the propoi- 
tions and various curves of the sails are an important 
factor, but we are in almost total ignorance of what these 
proportions and curves should be. To be sure, almost 
every sail maker and desigiaer will have his pet theories; 
and it is significant that these are often at total variance 
with one another. 
At the outset we must bear in mind that the sole object 
for which a racing yacht is constructed is to defeat every 
competitor that measures no larger under the rating rule 
to wdnch both conform. 
The most efficient steamer is that which for a given dis- 
placement gives the greatest speed for the least horse- 
power. Thus frona the standpoint of the etagiiaeer, the 
most efficient sailing boat would be that which on a 
fixed displacement showed the highest speed for the 
smallest sail spread. However, ratiiag rules in the past 
have almost never considered displacement and but sel- 
dom sail area. 
The one standard of racing measurement has been 
length. In the days of the yacht America length of hull 
seemed a fair measure of speed. The clipper bow with 
graceful figurehead, and the narrow raking stern, while 
lending beauty to many of the early yachts, were in no 
sense speed elements and were rightly left untaxed. 
From time to time attempts vicrc made to tax the sail 
area in addition to the leiagth of the iiaamersed hull, and 
other elements were incorporated in the racing formula; 
but in this country in most of the so-called open classes 
the length of the immersed hulled alone has beeia the 
standard of measuremeiat. Following the classical ex- 
periments of Froude — for many years the displacement 
was systematically iiacreased, it being found that the 
greater stability or sail-carryiiag power which it afforded, 
more than balanced the wave making resistance it gave 
rise to. Thus the later boats designed by my father had 
enormous sail .spreads, created great bow waves, and 
left heavy wakes behind them. If the displacement were 
left a constaiat it was found that three means remained, 
0:1; '^ide 01 lightness of con,struction, of increasing the 
slalnlity. These were, first, increasing the w.ater-linc 
length, which being directly taxed was Ihnited in each 
class ; second, increasing the beam, which soon led to an 
altogether impracticable excess of w?ve making and wild- 
ness of steering; and third, increasing the draft, which 
found its limit under the conditions of the many shallow 
harbors of our coast. 
Unlike the steamer, the sailing boat does not sail up- 
right, b'tt at a more or less great angle of heel. The 
length of the inaiaaersed hull was always-taken when the 
boat WPS at rest, with sails furled, aiad in a vertical posi- 
tion. About eleven years ago it came to be realized that 
the abo\-e-water portion of the hull could be so shaped 
fere and aft that the immersed hull when heeled would 
have a leiaglh far exceeding that of the vertical hull, and 
• hat such excess of lengtla would pa?s untaxed. This 
increased length was found to have three .great uses; 
First, from the increase of length alone it allowed fiitef 
lines of eiatraiace and run, and consequently less pro- 
r- unced wav-e-making tendencies; second, it also gave in- 
creased moment of inertia to the inclined water-line plane, 
that is, it aft'orded a greater base or platform, so to speak 
fcr the lofty sail spread to stand upon; and, finally, it 
caused the center of buoyancy to shift to a greater dis- 
tance to leeward of the centre of gravity when the boat 
heeled, and then a boat of the same weight or displace- 
ment had greater stability. 
It was at first urged that the prolonged above-the-water 
hull Avould prove faulty in a seaway; that the long over- 
hangs would pound in a dangerous manner, and that the 
extra weight of hull due to the long ends would offset 
the above-mentioned advaiatages. In well-designed craft 
of the smaller class this prediction was not fulfilled, and 
the overhanging hull found favor more and more. Ar 
first both the deck and water-lines closely resembled each 
