888 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. S, 1904. 
usually the gut from worms which were diseased or had 
become bruised and damaged in handling. Then _ the 
various grades as detailed below are sorted out. This is 
a process requiring considerable care and skill, as every- 
thing is left to the judgment of the operator, no gauge or 
other mechanical appliance being used. The stock, now 
separated into lengths and grades, is passed on to the 
packers, who, taking the various lengths of each grade, 
first tie it in bunches of one hundred strands and then 
into bundles of ten bunches or one thousand strands. 
This is the form in which it reaches the hands of the 
manufacturers of fishing tackle. 
Of course it is understood that the worms, being of 
various sizes, naturally produce gut of different lengths 
and thicknesses, which for commercial purposes are class- 
ified as follows: 
1. Retina, which is the finest texture, and which is used 
generally for small brook trout fishing. 
2. Fina is a trifle heavier in texture than Retina. 
3. Regular, heavier still than Fina, and suitable for 
ordinary trout or similar fishing. 
4. Padron 2 ) Grades heavier in texture to No. 3, and 
5. Padron 1 ) used in tackle for bass fishing. 
/- Mm . „„ _ ) Heavier strands yet than the Padron 
0. Marana 2 f dasses; su j taWe f or small salmon and 
7. Marana I J for sa £ water fishing . 
And finally Imperial and Royal grades, of which the 
production is very limited. These grades are almost ex- 
clusively made into single leaders for the heavy salmon 
fishing in Ireland and Scotland. 
The lengths of gut strands vary from eight to sixteen 
inches, running longer in the finer grades, the most gen- 
eral length, however, is about eleven inches. 
Although silkworm gut is generally associated with 
angling, it has other uses, and during the last few years 
it has almost superseded silk thread and silver wire used 
in surgical operations, as, being absorbed by the sutures, 
the annoying operation of withdrawing stitches is 
obviated. 
The annual output of the Murcia factories is about 
120,000,000 strands, of which some 30,000,000 in one form 
or another finds its way into this country. 
Thomas Perry. 
Visible Results of Salmon Culture 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your issue of October 22, Mr. Edward A. Samuels 
has given us another of his instructive "Fish Chats," for 
which his long experience as an angler in many waters, 
and his habits of painstaking and correct observation 
eminently qualify him. The Old Angler is only too will- 
ing to sit at his brother's feet and learn from him much 
that, despite his own long and varied experience, is both 
new and interesting But when he discourses on the 
practical results of salmon culture in the United States 
and Canada, his aged friend regrets that he must chal- 
lenge almost every statement made. In his last paper he 
quotes largely from the "experts" of several hatching- 
houses to show the correctness of his opinions and the 
fallacy of my inferences. 
Alexander Mowat, the expert of the Restigouche house, 
tells him that "all travelers up and down the river with 
whom I have been talking say they have never seen sal- 
mon more plentiful than they were this year, and the 
guardians are unanimous in corroborating this." 
Your readers will take note that Mr. Mowat speaks 
entirely from hearsay. Now, let us see what the Reports 
of the Commissioner of Fisheries say as to the catch of 
this district, made up from the sworn returns of 
guardians and overseers. In the report for 1886 the catch 
of the Restigouche district is given as 314,926 pounds. 
The Report for 1902 gives the catch in the same district 
as 304,000 pounds. In the interim between these years 
there was planted in the rivers of the district over 
27,500,000 fry, and yet the fishermen and anglers all agree 
in saying that the fishing this season was the worst ever 
known, as the official report will show when published. 
L. N. Catellier, the expert of the Tadousac hatching 
house, tells Mr. Samuels that Simon Dufour told him 
that he never saw so many salmon on the spawning 
grounds for the last twelve years, and that the member of 
Parliament for Charleroix told him that the planting of 
salmon fry in the River Murray was a success. Before 
the hatching house at Tadousac was built the catch of 
salmon in Quebec Province was carefully estimated from 
the partial returns of fishery officers at 1,500,000 pounds. 
After planting 105,889,000 young fry, the catch for 1902 
is given in the commissioner's last report as 985,883 
pounds. The season just passed was reported in your 
columns as the worst ever known. This is also the state- 
ment of the veteran angler, Walter M. Brackett, of Bos- 
ton, who has fished the Ste. Marguerite for the last 
twenty-five years. In a letter now before me, written 
last month, he says: "Like many others, my season's 
sport has been a sad failure— only 9 fish, against 73 last 
year. I was once an advocate for artificial culture, but 
I have been forced to change my mind by the total ab- 
sence of any results. For the last fifteen years from 
50,000 to 400,000 young salmon from the Tadousac hatch- 
ing house have been annually put into my river without 
any visible results. In fact, there are less fish in the river 
now than there were ten years ago." 
Alfred Ogden, the expert of the Bedford house, m 
Nova Scotia, reported that "Bedford Basin and Sackville 
River are each year showing a large increase in salmon; 
that some had been caught with the fly in the river, and 
quite a number have been taken in nets in the basin." 
The father of the present writer served his apprentice- 
ship in Halifax. In his day Bedford Basin and Sackville 
River were the principal sources of the salmon that sup- 
plied the city and garrison. But let us see what this 
"large increase" is from the planted fry. In the year the 
hatching house was built, the catch of salmon m Nova 
Scotia is given in the official report as 1,758,818 pounds. 
After planting 81,882,500 young salmon, the catch m 1902 
was 556,386 pounds. So much for the evidence furnished 
by expert Alfred Ogden, which is of the same character 
as that given by expert L. S. Ford, who could distin- 
guish the progeny of the fry from four different rivers ! 
Mr Samuels quotes Isaac Sheasgreen, the expert of 
the Miramichi house as follows: "While considerable 
evidence could be given to demonstrate the benefits re- 
sulting to the waters of Miramichi from the operations 
of this hatchery, I feel that, as the work of keeping up 
the supply of salmon has been so thoroughly proved suc^ 
cessful, it is needless to adduce any other evidence than 
that the statements made from all reliable sources show 
that the salmon fishing and angling during the past year 
have been well up to the average, and show no signs of 
decrease." William Sheasgreen, of the same house, in- 
forms Mr. Samuels that "it is conceded by nearly all the 
fishermen of the Miramichi that salmon culture, as car- 
ried on here, has been a great factor in supplying the de- 
mand that is annually made upon this fishing in these 
waters." This much for hearsay. Now let us see what 
the Commissioner's Reports say. That for 1874, before 
the hatching house was in operation, gives the catch of 
salmon in New Brunswick as 3,214, 182 pounds. After 
29,300,000 fry had been planted from the three hatching- 
houses, the catch in 1902 was 1,120,150 pounds. I am 
quite at a loss to see how experts Sheasgreen have 
helped the contention of Mr. Samuels. 
Mr. H. K. Thomas, the proprietor of a hatching house 
in Vermont, sends Mr. S. the following: "I am con- 
vinced that the planting of salmon fry has been success- 
ful. Only a few years ago there were no salmon in Ver- 
mont waters. Lake Caspian, Willoughby Lake, and 
several ponds have been stocked with salmon fry, which 
have seemed to thrive and are vigorous and healthy 
stock, and this year many good catches have been made." 
No data are given as to the number planted in order to 
furnish the "many good catches" that were made this 
year, and I can only accept Mr. Thomas's statements 
with as small grains of salt as my own knowledge of 
salmon hatching and planting will allow. But I must be 
permitted to express my great surprise that the fry of 
Salmo salar not only thrived in lakes and ponds along 
with maskinonge, but, in "a few years gave many good 
catches" ! 
Had Mr. Samuels not assured us in previous letters 
on this subject that nothing could be said to change his 
convictions, I should hope he would see some difference 
between the hearsay of interested "experts" and the De- 
partment Reports of a Government. To this writer it is 
passing strange that the mere expression of opinion on 
matters quite beyond their knowledge is taken by Mr. S. 
as proof of absurdities. That they are so taken would 
appear from the following Io triumphe with which he 
concludes his paper : "The above statements show con- 
clusively that The Old Angler is not without a degree of 
error, * * * and that my claim is correct — that the 
time and money which have been expended on salmon 
culture have not been wasted." 
No one knows better than Mr. Samuels how seldom 
salmon fry of six weeks old are seen on the ridds, which 
in the months of April and May are deep under water. 
Never but once has the present writer seen salmon 
alevins in their native streams, and then it was but a 
mere glimpse. To make a comparison as to "health and 
vigor" between them and the fry artificially hatched was 
quite beyond his power, and he can only envy those "ex- 
perts" who have succeeded where he failed. None 
should know better than Mr. S. that the persons to whom 
he sent his questions are those least able to answer them, 
and the least likely if they could to answer them truly. 
In expecting an expert fish-hatcher to tell him anything 
depreciating his "science," my friend has shown an 
amount of naivete that is very refreshing in these days. 
The Old Angler. 
Harrisburg, Pa., Oct. 31. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
I was very much interested by the note in your issue of 
October 22, entitled, "Is Salmon Culture Profitable?" 
I think I can strengthen the position taken by Mr. Ed- 
ward A. Samuels, the writer, by detailing certain results 
which followed the planting of Atlantic salmon in the 
Delaware River. 
In the early '70s, Thaddeus C. Norris and a number 
of other enthusiastic fishermen planted several thousand 
Atlantic salmon fry in the tributaries of the Delaware 
River near Easton, Pa. I think the total number planted 
in two years was 50,000. The eggs were hatched in 
New York State. Although it consequently transpired 
that the tributaries of the Delaware River in which these 
fish were placed were not the most favorable waters, a 
number of salmon lived and returned to the Delaware 
River. Probably thirty or forty were caught, but at the 
time the experiment was considered to be unsuccessful. 
About 1890, the late Henry C. Ford, then President of 
the Pennsylvania Fish Commission, planted several 
thousand fry in tributaries of the Delaware River in 
Pike and Wayne counties on the Pennsylvania side. In 
1895 more than $5,000 worth of Atlantic salmon were 
caught in the nets between the head of the Delaware Bay 
and Trenton. In 1896 and 1897 I planted several thous- 
and more fry. The result has been that since quite a 
number of salmon have been caught in the nets of the 
shad fishermen, and one year it was estimated that 
nearly $3,000 worth were captured. 
It should be stated that before the fry had been planted 
by Thaddeus C. Norris and his friends, salmon was abso- 
lutely unknown in the Delaware River. The experiments 
of Mr. Norris, Mr. Ford, and myself have demonstrated 
very clearly that by persistent stocking the Delaware 
River can be made a fine salmon stream. I myself saw 
several salmon in one day in a large pool near Dingman's 
Ferry, and a number of dead spent salmon have been 
found in tributaries of the Delaware along the Pike and 
Wayne county lines within the last six or seven years. 
With the results which have been achieved by Penn- 
sylvania and New York States and the United States 
through stocking with fish reared in hatcheries, it is 
astonishing that there can be any man living to-day to 
question the value of stocking. W. E. Meehan, 
Commissioner of Fisheries. 
Grilse and Other Fish* 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your last issue Mr. Brown comments on my little 
sketch of "Grilse on a Trout Rod" in such a kindly and 
sympathetic way as to take any sting out of his very 
courteously expressed suggestion that my reference to 
trout, bass, and other fish may be hasty and inaccurate in 
substance and unkind in form, and that further expe- 
rience would modify my opinion and lead me to express 
it more gently. Differences of opinion must arise on such 
matters, and they are too often stated without Mr. 
Brown's charm of manner and feeling. I am certain that 
the gentleman is a true fisherman, and a good one ; and, 
in the name of our sainted Izaak Walton, I tender him 
the right hand of fellowship. 
The true fisherman reverences and admires all the 
finny tribe, sees good in them all, and earnestly seeks the 
company of those he may find. He will revel with the 
salmon, rejoice with the trout, be delighted with bass, 
and pleased with pike, and, if denied the fairer and 
nobler of the race, can take comfort even in catfish. He 
will fish wherever and whenever possible, and be happy 
in doing so ; but he may and must have preferences, and 
take greater proportionate joy as his quarry displays 
more and more of the dashing qualities which the title 
"game" denotes. John Stuart Mill says that the price 
of any commodity is fixed by a combination of the two 
factors "value in use and difficulty of attainment," and 
in matters of sport the latter element greatly predomi- 
nates, for certainly the fact that fish and game are good 
on the table has but a very small part in creating the 
strong passion that all sportsmen feel for their pursuit. 
Hope, uncertainty, surprise, and the full exercise of all 
powers of mind and body in the struggle for success, are 
surely the main causes for never failing charm of 
angling; fish are esteemed in the relative proportion in 
which each variety brings these passions and these 
powers into keen and energetic action, and I know of no 
form of sport that does this so completely as fly-fishing 
for salmon. 
The value of any fisherman's opinion, as to the relative 
merit of the various forms of his cherished sport, must 
depend on the extent and variety of his experience, and 
I see no way of proving that my own has any worth ex- 
cept that of modestly stating what I have seen and done. 
I am a fisherman by inheritance and family tradition, 
with a personal experience of over forty years, during the 
last thirty of which I have been devoted to the artificial 
fly; not that I despise or feel myself in any way superior 
to brothers of the angle who are addicted to other forms 
of the lure, but that the fly suits me best. I have taken 
thousands of speckled trout, from fingerlings up to four 
pounds in New England, the Alleghanies, the Adiron- 
dacks, the Rockies, Ontario, Quebec, and elsewhere; 
have caught Purpuratus in Colorado, Irideus in the West, 
and in Michigan grayling in the Ausable and Manistee, 
and small-mouth bass in countless places, best and largest 
in the wild waters around the upper Ottawa. I have trolled 
for bluefish outside of Sandy Hook, and caught them, to- 
gether with Spanish mackerel and "sea trout," so-called, 
on light tackle in Florida ; and last, and best of all, I 
have taken grilse in Newfoundland. Large salmon are 
as yet unknown to my personal experience, but if all goes 
as planned, there will be a story to tell about them next 
summer. 
All this finny prey I esteem and delight in, and hope to 
meet again and again, and do not love the others less 
because I love the salmon more. Each has its merits and 
its peculiar charm, but the salmon has the merits and 
charms of all the rest and in a higher degree. He is 
bold and brave as a bass, and, like him, leaps and surges ; 
wary and wily as a trout, and, like him, dashes and runs ; 
graceful and gay as a grayling, fierce as a bluefish, and 
more beautiful than either. They are the nobles of 
Piscia, and he is its King. A. St. J. Newberry. 
Cleveland, Ohio, Oct 22. 
Jlttotber 100 Sportsmen's finds. 
Some of the Queer Discoveries Made by Those Who Are 
Looking for Game or Fish, 
105 
The Moundsville mound found by Joseph Tomlinson 
when deer hunting. See the description on another page. 
As It Is in Africa. 
United States Minister Lyon writes from Monrovia, 
Liberia, under date of June 8: 
I have just returned from a trip into the territory. 
The objective point was Dobblee's Island, but the an- 
nual rise of the creeks and rivers rendered travel diffi- 
cult, and we were compelled to end our journey at 
Kpondia Hill, the site of an important native town, 
the entrance to which lies hidden in a dense forest. 
The Gree-Gree and Devil Bushes are secret institu- 
tions for the moral, social and religious development 
of the youths of both sexes. The head of the Gree- 
Gree Bush is called a Zoah and the head of the Devil 
Bush a Country Devil. The term devil has not the 
same 'significance as in our language. The location of 
these bushes or lodges is in the thickest of the woods. 
The paths leading to them are labyrinthine. Every 
precaution is taken to keep the uninitiated away. The 
weird tales told by the natives themselves, and the air 
of mystery which is made to surround everything which 
relates to them, are sufficient to guard the curious 
from approach. Yet, lest some man should stray acci- 
dentally into the entrance, a white cloth is tied on the 
tip of a pole at the head of the path as a danger signal. 
This is always sufficient warning. These bushes are 
the most popular institutions in West Africa among 
the non-Christian natives. Their purpose in the main 
is an exalted one. The Gree-Gree Bush is pledged to 
the preparation of maidens for their life work. It in- 
structs them in the secrets of womanhood as well as 
the principles of their religion. So impressive are these 
lessons that Christianity itself is said to be powerless 
to remove the impressions in after life. The purity of 
those trained by them is vouched for. As a safeguard 
men are strictly forbidden not only to enter the lodge, 
but to be found anywhere in the vicinity of one. Diso- 
bedience is a grave offense. The penalty is death, and 
there is seldom any escape. Poison is administered by 
a relative if necessary to carry out the intention of the 
Zoah. ___ - 
All the game laws and fish lotus of the United States 
and Canada are given in the "Game Laws in Brief." 
