A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1904, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms, |4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, |S. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1904. 
( VOL. LXII.— No. 7. 
I No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
WILLIAM D. BISHOP. 
Wm. D. Bishop died at his home in Bridgeport, Conn., 
on Thursday, Feb. 4, aged 76 years. He was a success- 
ful business man, an able lawyer, a shrewd and honor- 
able politician, a great railroad man, a keen sportsman. 
Mr. Bishop was one of the earlier railroad builders in 
Connecticut, taking up unexpired contracts begun by his 
father, and building certain railroad lines which are now 
part of the system of the New York, New Haven, and 
Hartford Railroad. He was active in politics, having 
represented his district in Congress, and at various times 
been State Senator at Hartford. For several years he 
was the president of the New Haven Railroad, and for 
very many years a member of its board of directors. 
; He was thus successful in many fields; constantly occu- 
pied by affairs of great moment and affecting a great 
number of people. Yet his chief delight was to be abroad 
in the field with gun and dog, or at the proper season to 
follow the stream with the fishing rod^ Up to a late 
period of his life he tramped the Connecticut woods and 
swamps for partridges, qiiail, and woodcock, and it' was 
only a year ago last fall that he went rail shooting on the 
Housatonic River. Nearly forty years ago he was one 
of a party who journeyed far up the then hardly known 
Nipigon River for trout, and only last autumn he went 
fishing in Canada. 
Mr. Bishop had a very wide acquaintance among busi- 
ness men, and sportsmen, and was everywhere beloved 
for his kind heart, his genial nature, and his quaint and 
delightful humor. In far greater measure than most men, 
he possessed those qualities of mind and of heart and of 
manner which tend especially to endear a man to his fel- 
lows, and the sense of personal grief felt at his death by 
a wide circle of friends and associates is very keen. 
WILD FLOWER PRESERVATION. 
Civilized man and nature do not go- well together. The 
preparing of the ground for cultivation, and then making 
it produce a crop, puts an end to- many of the plants 
which originally grew from the soil. The destruction of the 
forests for timber or for purposes of agriculture, destroy- 
the plants which once delighted in its shade, while the 
draining of the swamp kills those moisture-loving species 
V, hich flourish there in nature. AH this is inevitable. 
When the problem of supporting a dense population — 
making money — is in question, nature must be destroyed 
or move on. Civilization drives out or kills the animals 
first, but a little later she none the less surely drives Out 
and in a large measure kills the plants. 
In unfrequented places— those not .adapted to the growth 
cf crops— the wild plants flourish a little longer, but if 
especially attractive by their beauty or their fragrance, 
they are gathered and carried away by those who fancy 
them with the same lack of thought for the future and 
c6nsideration of others as is shown by the boy who 
crushes the butterfly under his hat. 
In many places in New England the May flower, or 
trailing arbutus, is now entirely extirpated. In others 
the few plants that remain are carefully watched by per- 
sons who long for them, and as soon as the buds open 
the flowers are gathered and carried away. Many com- 
moner flowers are eradicated by those who thoughtlessly 
tear them away; thus for an hour's pleasure destroying 
the plant for the whole locality. The rarer flowers suffer 
still more, and are more readily exterminated. 
The harm done by such destruction is coming to be 
generally recognized, and there are a number of societies 
in the United States which have for their object the pro- 
tection of the wild flowers. So also there is a society to 
protect the beautiful edelweiss growing on the Alps of 
Switzerland, which is now in danger of extermination, 
while in England the Selborne Society is urging the 
protection of ferns, primroses, and other rarer plants. 
In Boston and in New York, and in other cities in 
America, there are wild flower societies the sole object of 
which is the protection from extermination of such 
flowers. These efforts should appeal to all lovers of 
nature, but the botanists are especially interested. 
At the annual meeting of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, recently held in St. Louis, 
Professors C. E. Bessey and S. Coulter before the Botani- 
cal Section read papers which were strong pleas for the 
pr?serv^tjoii of otir wild towers. \^ substance they said; 
"Cultivated flowers are planted and cared for by man, 
but no one cares for the wild beauties of the woods and 
meadow. We must preserve them. It is our privilege, as 
lovers of plants, to care for them and to- see that they are 
not exterminated. The rarer the plant the greater the 
danger that it will be eradicated. Who are the offenders ? 
The tourists, who lay their vandal hands on everything 
pretty ; the amateurs, who desire to have samples of every- 
thing; and some botanists who think more of collecting 
specimens than of the beauties of nature in the field. At 
Colorado Springs the once beautiful Cheyenne Canon has 
been made barren by. the vandals, and there is scarcely a 
fern or a pretty flower now left in it. What shall we do 
about it? First of all, let us talk vigorously against this 
vandalism. Talk in season and out of season, and de- 
nounce the wholesale destruction of wild flowers in the 
strongest language possible. Then write against van- 
dalism. Do' not fail to say what you- think through the 
public press. The newspapers will help you every time 
if you call upon them. Then organize clubs, and guilds, 
and societies. Do this as you please. If you prefer to 
form a local chapter of the Wild Flower Preservation 
Society, well and good. We 'shall take great pleasure in 
helping- you. But if you prefer to form an independent 
club, do So by all means. It is not how you do it; it is 
only that you do something. Agitate the matter persist- 
ently and vigorously, and keep at it. In this way only 
may we hope to save our wild- flowers from extinction." 
These are strong words, and should be pondered by all 
to whom" they come. Such a work' is one in which every 
man and woman and child who lives in the country may 
take some part, with the result of adding much to the 
beauty and attractiveness of our fields and woods. 
CROCKETT, SCOTT, AND THE 'COON. 
Everyone has heard of "Davy Crockett's 'coon," the 
one which said, "Don't shoot, I will come down." To 
"come down like Davy Crockett's 'coon" is a colloquial 
expression in common use. Crockett and the 'coon that 
came down are so popularly associated that to attempt to 
disconnect them is well nigh to attempt the impossible. 
To explain a thousand tirries that it was not Davy 
Crockett toi whom the 'coon came down were without 
effect; the world has it "Davy. Crockett's 'coon," and the 
world will have it so, and there it stands. 
"The real hero of the 'coon story was Capt. Martin 
Scott;, the .story was a tribute to, his skill as a rifle shot. 
Scott was a brave man arid a good American soldier of 
the Mexican War period, and he deserved to be remem- 
bered; but even such credit as the 'coon story attributed 
to him has been filched from him and given to another, 
who did not need it. Davy Crockett fills a generous niche 
in the history of the Southwest; his tragic death in the 
Alamo gave him secure place among the heroic spirits of 
his time. Crockett's own favorite aphorism, "Be sure 
you are right, then go ahead," might well be enjoined 
upon those who cite the 'coon story to point a moral or 
adorn a tale. The 'coon that came down came down to 
Capt. Martin Scott. 
Scott was a native of Vermont. From his youth he 
was famous as a shot. An exploit of his twelfth year was 
the slaying, unaided and alone, with his father's purloined 
smooth-bore, of a marauding bear which had defied the 
entire posse comitatus of the grown-ups of the neighbor- 
hood. There were no laws in those days for the protec- 
tion of sheep stealing bears. A feat of Scott's mature 
years was the cure of a sick man by shooting him. This 
heroic treatment was administered in a duel. Scott shot 
his antagonist through the lungs. The man had been 
sick with consumption, but from that moment began to 
mend, and got well. If Scott did not actually effect the 
cure, he at least had the credit of it. 
The 'coon story was printed about the year 1840, five 
years after the death of Crockett. It was told of Capt. 
Scott, and ran like this: 
Capt. Martin Scott was out in the woods one day with a 
party of friends, hunting. They were scattered through 
the woods, each hunting separately. One of the party at 
length came upon a raccoon that was sitting in one of the 
highest branches of a very tall tree. He fired at him and 
missed. One by one the rest of the party came up and 
tried their hand, each missing the distant 'coon, who grew 
laugjer as they prggeeded- At length Capt. gcott arrived, 
and was in the act of pulling trigger, when the 'coon 
looked slyly around the limb and said : 
"Who are you?" 
"I am Scott." 
"What Scott?" ■ 
"I am Capt. Scott." . ' 
"Are you Capt. Martin Scott?" 
"The same." . 
"Well," said the 'coon, unlimbering himself, "you need 
not shoot; I will come down." 
Capt. Scott fought in the Mexican War, and died be- 
fore Molino del Rey. Major H. W. Merrill, a veteran of 
the Mexican War, well known to older readers of Forest 
AND Stream as a contributor to its columns, was in 
Scott's troop, and witnessed his death. It was in a; posi- 
tion exposed to the enemy's fire ; the Americans sheltered 
themselves by lying on the ground in the rifle pits and 
trenches. Scott stood erect, and was warned to lie down. 
"Martin Scott never, lies down," was his answer. They 
were his last words. A Mexican bullet came singing, 
and Scott fell, mortally wounded. 
LOCOMOTIVE SPARKS AND FOREST FIRES. 
At a recent hearing before the Senate Forestry Com- 
mittee of the New York Legislature, testimony was taken 
to show that in a considerable proportion Adirondack 
forest fires may be charged to incendiararies who are in- 
spired by resentment and revenge because of the closing 
of large tracts of what were formerly free hunting 
grounds. The 40,000-acre fire on the Rockefeller preserve 
was ascribed to this cause. But 50 per cent, of the forest 
fires, experts estimate, must be charged to the railroads. 
They are caused by sparks from the locomotives or, by 
the dumping of ashes. This holds true not only in New 
York, but in other States as well. The railroads have 
destroyed many square miles of forest, and millions of 
dollars' worth of timber. They will continue the destruc- 
tion just so long as, through lack of law, or laxity of law 
enforcement, they shall enjoy immunity from punishment 
for their destructiveness. There is no necessity for a 
locomotive to fire the woods. Such fires are not inevitable ; 
they are avoidable. Whether or not railroad mariager.? 
adopt the practical preventives which will guard against 
woods and prairie fires, depends upon whether managers 
are granted immunity or are made to pay the damages. 
In the Adirondacks, for example, where the railroads are 
not compelled to pay for the ruin they inflict, spark 
arresters are not employed, and the firemen dump their 
ashes where they will start fires. In Wisconsin,: on the 
other hand, where the laws provide that property owners 
may bring suits for damages, the railroads not only obey 
the laws, but enforce special stringent rules of their own. 
These things are clear : 
The railroads are responsible for many forest fires. 
The fires are preventable by the use of spark arresters 
and the exercise of care as to the dumping of ashes. 
The railroads will not adopt such . preventive devices 
and regulations until they shall be impelled to do so by 
considerations of profit and loss. 
It is of the highest public importance that in every State 
where adequate laws are not already in force, legislation 
should be adopted to compel the railroads to conduct 
their business after approved modern methods as to the 
prevention of fires. 
America may well take a lesson from Germany. In that 
country, as told in a current report by Vice-Consul- 
General Dean B. Mason, forest fires are comparatively 
infrequent for thre reasons: First, that the country has a 
rainfall so uniform that droughts which render wood- 
lands easily inflammable are relatively rare; second, 
where railroads traverse tracts of pine forest they are 
ditched and dyked along both sides of the line, so as to 
confine a fire to a small and easily controlled area; and 
third, because every precaution which inventors can de- 
vise to arrest locomotive sparks and prevent them from 
escaping into the open air is practiced on the State rail- 
ways and enforced on all private corporate lines. . ; : 
If German railroads can prevent the escape of locomo- 
tive sparks, American railroads can do the same thing. 
American inventive genius can accomplish what that of 
Germany has secured; and will accomplish it just as soon 
as the American law follows the German law and puts 
m cxid to for?§t ?9nfla§rations kindled by the railfo^ds. 
