Sept. i 6, igoS-] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
237 
Bitten by a Shark. 
St. Augustine, Fla. — A correspondent of the Jackson- 
ville Times-Union says ; David Curry is a patient at the 
Railway Hospital here, suffering from a badly lacerated 
leg caused by a peculiar accident. He, with G. J. Hop- 
kins, was fishiag at Fort Pierce yesterday afternoon from 
a small boat near shore, when a large shark was hooked. 
After playing the monster for some time they towed it in 
toward shore. Upon reaching shallow water Mr. Curry 
stepped out of the boat and started to haul the prize in 
shore when with an effort it turned and seized him by 
the right leg, tearing the flesh badly. His companion im- 
mediately hurried the injured man away for medical at- 
tention, leaving the monster shark on the shore. Mr. 
Curry was placed aboard the north-bound train and 
brought to this city. He is now at the Railway Hospital 
and is reported as resting easy to-day. 
Camping Song. 
Has your dinner lost its savor? 
Has your greeting lost its cheer? 
Is your daily stunt a burden? 
Is your laughter half a sneer? 
There’s a medicine to cure you, 
There’s a way to lift your load, 
With a horse and a saddle and a mile of open road. 
Is your eyeball growing bilious? 
Is your temper getting short? 
Is this life a blind delusion. 
Or a grim, unlovely sport? 
There’s a world of health and beauty, 
There’s a help that cannot fail. 
In a day behind the burros 
On a dusty mountain trail. 
Come out, old man, we’re going 
To a land that’s free and large. 
Where the rainless skies are resting 
On a snowy mountain marge. 
When we camp in God’s own country. 
You will find yourself again. 
With a fire and a blanket and the stars upon the plain! 
— Bliss Carman in the Reader. 
Adirondack State Land Sales. 
From the Brooklyn Eagle. 
Albany, N. Y., Sept. 6. — In its issue of Saturday last 
the Eagle reviewed an article from Forest and Stream, 
calling attention to the fact that a tract of land belonging 
to the State Forest Preserve had been conveyed to a wood 
pulp company in violation of the provisions of the Consti- 
tution, which forbids the sale of any forest lands belong- 
ing to the State in the Adirondack or Catskill counties. 
Inquiries at the office of the State Land Board have 
elicited the following official defense to the charges: 
The tract in question consists of 170 acres, situated in 
Lot 79, Remsenburg Patent, in the Town of Ohio, Her- 
kimer county. The State obtained title to this land 
through the foreclosure of a mortgage by the United 
States Loan Commissioners. In each county of the State 
there are persons designated as Loan Commissioners who 
loan United States funds on landed property. On the 
foreclosure of any of these mortgages the Land Board at 
Albany has been in the habit of reselling the land to re- 
cover the amount of money thus loaned, and to keep this 
United States fund good and intact. In accordance with 
their custom the Land Board sold this tract of 170 acres 
at a meeting held Oct. 25, 1902, the conveyance being 
made to the Finch Chemical Company. 
The Board of Land Commissioners is composed of the 
Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, Controller, 
State Treasurer, Attorney-General, State Engineer and 
Surveyor, and the Speaker of ,the Assembly. The Gov- 
ernor of the State is not a member of this board. The 
law defining the Forest Preserve includes all lands owned 
by the State in the sixteen Adirondack and Catskill coun- 
ties, with the two following exceptions : 
1. Lands within the limits of any village or city, and 
2. Lands, not wild lands, acquired by the State on 
foreclosure of mortgages made to loan commissioners. 
In accordance with the latter exception, the Land 
Board would have the right to sell any lands acquired 
through the Loan Commission, provided they were cleared 
or farming lands; but they would not have the right or 
power to sell or convey any lands thus acquired which 
would answer the description of wild or forest lands. In 
nearly every case the properties thus sold consisted of 
farms which included not only cleared fields and pastures, 
but wood lots or areas of timber land. 
Col. William F. Fox, superintendent of State Forests, 
in his annual report to the Legislature, Jan. 30, 1903 
(eighth annual report, pages 65-67), called attention to 
this conflict of authority between the Land Board and the 
Forest Commission, and recommended an amendment to 
the forestry law. which would provide for the survey of 
all Loan Commission lands, in which the lines of the 
forest areas on them should be run out and such lands 
made a permanent part of the preserve. The Forest Com- 
mission, however, failed to obtain the necessary legisla- 
tion. 
In the case of this 170 acres. Lot 79 > Remsenburg Pat- 
ent, it is very doubtful whether the conveyance of the 
Land Board is a valid one, and it has been intimated by 
the superintendent of forests that an action will be com- 
menced to set aside this conveyance, through which the 
State will not only recover the land, but will also obtain 
the full value of the timber that was cut, together with 
such penalties as the court may adjudge. The superin- 
tendent stands now, as he always has done, for the rigid 
enforcement of the forestry clause in the State Constitu- 
tion in accordance with the strictest letter of its require- 
ments. Any person cutting even a single tree on State 
land will be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent 
of the law. Although not generally known, yet it is a 
fact, that for several years the care and custody of the 
preserves has been in the hands of the fish and game 
protectors instead of in the Forest Department; but at 
the last session of the Legislature a special act was 
passed putting the care and custody of the preserve back 
into the hands of the superintendent of forests. The 
news of this legislation was circulated quickly through- 
out the wmcds, and to-day there is not an ax in motion in 
the forests of the State preserve. 
Game Butchers. 
Earl De Grey, the heir to the Marquis of Ripon, has 
probably accounted for more .game than any other living 
sportsman, says the Yorkshire Post. 
Four years ago the German Emperor had in the course 
of nearly thirty years bagged about 40,000 head of game. 
But so far back as 1895 Lord De Grey had eclipsed this 
record eight times over, having in twenty-nine years 
bagged 316,699 head. Of this enormous total the chief 
items comprised 111,190. pheasants, 89,400 patridges, 45,50° 
grouse, 26,500 hares and about the same number of rab- 
bits. In Ireland a few years ago he brought down sixteen 
geese writh one gun (two. barrels). In 1893 alone he ac- 
counted for 19,135 head, including 8,732 pajtridges, 5,760 
pheasants, 2,611 grouse, 837 hares, 914 rabbits and 300 
beasts of the field. 
The record for grouse shooting is, however, held by 
Lord Walsingham. During one day’s shoot on the Blub- 
berhouse Moors, in Yorkshire, in August, 1872, with the 
expenditure of 1,100 cartridges, he brought down 421 
brace of grouse. On Aug. 30, 1888. he was shooting for 
fourteen hours eighteen minutes, and by firing an average 
of 108 shots an hour he succeeded in bringing down 1,058 
birds. 
THE MA\Y-USE OIL 
I'totects cold, frosty, wet Guns from Rust. — Adv. 
Deet Damages Awatded. 
Plainfield, Mass., Sept. il. — The open season on part- 
ridges begins on Oct. i in these parts, but there are liter- 
ally no birds. I have traversed the east and west forested 
ridges several times for miles, through field, swamp, 
meadow and woods without starting a feather. Yester- 
day I took a seven-mile walk to Cummington and back 
without seeing a jay or a chipmunk. I heard one red 
squirrel, but its voice was weak. The haunts of the small 
game are deserted, but deer are in evidence on all sides 
in Hampshire and Franklin counties, and the hounds are 
yelping to be turned loose. If the number of deer is not 
soon lessened farmers will have to give up horticulture. 
Some idea of the amount of damage done to crops may 
be gathered from the published statement that the Frank- 
lin county commissioners at their meeting Tuesday ap- 
proved the regular monthly bills, and in addition bills 
from various towns for losses caused by deer. Joseph 
Legate, of Charlemont, had 350 peach trees damaged and 
was paid $110. Other losses paid are: F. R. Ford, of 
Charlemont, $10; R. E. Lillie, C. F. Williams, $10 each, 
and A. G. Bugbee $5, all of Montague; Charles McGee, 
of Colerain, $10; Asahel Sawyer, $10, and F. B. Streeter, 
of Northfield. $6. 
In Hampshire count}' the depredations in Windsor, 
Cummington, Worthington and Hawley are serious. If 
farmers were permitted by law to kill deer during the rest 
of this year the price of meat would drop. Venison would 
be likely to take the place of beef and mutton. 
Chas. Hallock. 
In connection with the speed in the pigeon-flying con- 
test in France, an Antwerp financier tested the speed of 
the swallow, with a remarkable result. He captured one 
nesting under his roof and sent it to Campiegne. where it 
was placed among the pigeons. It flew off at 7.05 o’clock, 
and reached its nest at 8.22 o’clock, having traveled at the 
rate of 128J4 miles an hour. The best time made by the 
pigeons was 35 J2 miles an hour. 
^mml 
— «> — 
National Beagle Club of America. 
At a .meeting of the National Beagle Club of 
America, held in New York city on Aug. 31. 1905, it 
was ordered that the sixteenth annual field trials of this 
club be held at Stevenson, Baltimore county, _ Mary- 
land, and that the headquarters of the club during the 
trials be at Avalon Inn. 
At the same time, Mr. C. Staley Doub, of Frederick, 
Md., was made chairman of the committee on arrange- 
ments, the other members of this committee being 
Messrs. A. J. Purinton, Palmer, Mass. ; Henry Dickson 
Bruns. M.D., New Orleans, La.; Ernest Gill, Govans- 
town. Md. ; T. Dudley Riggs, Stevenson, Md., and Charles 
F. Brooks, of Sandy Springs, Md. 
A new class, to be known as Class G, pack stakes for 
dogs and bitches 15 inches and- under, to bona fide 
property of the party making entry at the time of en- 
tering and starting the class, eight dogs constituting 
a pack, was ordered to be added to the premium list. 
Fee to start, $10. First prize $40, second prize $25, and 
in case of five or more entries in this class a third prize 
of $15 to be given. 
In Classes E and F, open pack stakes, four dogs 
constituting a pack, the fe^ to start was changed' to $10, 
and the prizes were changed as follows: First prize 
$40. second prize $25, and in case of five or more 
entries, a third prize of $15. 
Charles R. Stevenson, Sec’y. 
Yachting Fixtwres for 1905. 
, Members of Race Committees and Secretaries will confer a favor 
by sending notice of errors or omissions in the following list, and 
also changes which may be made in the future: 
SEPTEMBER. 
16. Knickerbocker, power boat races. 
16. Royal Canadian, club. 
16. Chicago, cruise. 
16. San Francisco, cruise. 
17. Lakewood (Cleveland), club. 
24. Morrisania, open. 
24. San Francisco, cruise. 
THE RATING RULE— PROBABLE REDUCTION 
OF TIME ALLOWANCE. 
The new formula for obtaining racing measurement, 
which is now in force at all the prominent yacht clubs of 
the East, has of itself proven satisfactory. The tests made 
possible by a season of general use have demonstrated 
that the methods of taking length and sail area are far 
ahead of any heretofore adopted. The introduction of 
displacement as a divisor in the formula has proven a 
wise move and opened many a new channel of thought as 
to just ho-vi' far speed is affected by redqcing the under- 
body of a boat. Seme results of the year hint that de- 
signers have perhaps gone to unnecessary extremes under 
old conditions and that it is possible to build a boat of 
good model and draft which will perform fully as well 
k& one in which the ends have been abnormally lengthened 
P4id displacement reduced to a marked degree. These de- 
velopments, although not exactly in line with accepted 
theories, appear to be nevertheless true. The introduc- 
tion of the displacement factor when considered in con- 
nection with the other restrictive elements of the rule, 
appears also to have insured a certain degree of equality 
among class competitors of good model. 
There is a feature of the racing this year which had not 
been entirely satisfactory. That is the table of time allow- 
ances. The honors of the season in events decided on 
corrected time have generally gone to the smaller com- 
petitors. This would indicate that too much allowance 
is being given by one craft to another, Time allowance 
tables are based on the theory accepted by naval archi- 
tects that, within economic limits, opportunities for speed 
vary in different vessels as to the square roots of their 
respective lengths. It is conceded that as strong winds 
are required to give large vessels the full extent of their 
advantage in size, and that as such conditions do . not 
exist in ordinary summer racing, a certain percentage 
of the full table should be taken. Differences'of opinion 
have come about as to the amount of reduction nocefi' 
sary. Last year the New York and Eastern Y. C.’s, 
working under a rule practically the same as the one now 
in force, took 80 per cent, of what the full allowance 
would be. This 'v\'as found too great. The Atlantic and 
Larchmont Y. C.’s and those in the Long Island Sound 
Association proved that per pent, gave satisfactory 
results. 
When delegates from the different organizations had 
adopted the rating rule formula the question of time 
allowance rvas taken up. Those wdio had conducted their 
racing under the larger amount -were loath to make a re- 
duction great enough to bring it to the lower level. A 
compromise at 70 per cent, was finally effected, and 
on this basis the sport of this season has been conducted. 
In New York and Eastern Y. C. events 10 per cent, less 
time is now being conceded, while competitors in regattas 
at the other prominent clubs are allowing an increase of 
the ."^ame amount. A boat at the top of the 27ft. class 
this year under the 70 per cent, table has to allow a 22- 
footer 52.29 seconds to the mile. Under the New York 
and Eastern Y. C. tables of 1904 this would have been 
59.77 seconds, while at the Atlantic, Lachmont and other 
clubs it would have been 44.82 seconds. 
A reduction to the 60 per cent, basis is likely to be de- 
manded and made before another season. This will mean 
that a 27-footer will have to allow a craft in the 22ft. 
class 7.47 seconds less a mile than this year. Such a com- 
cession means a handicap of nearly a minute and a quar- 
ter in ten- miles of sailing, and the effect of the change 
would naturally be to give the larger craft a greater 
chance of winning than is possible under the present table, 
AGGording to availableTiata 60 per cent, of the full allow- 
ance will bring much closer results than have been the 
. I V 
rule this year under the 70 per cent, table. 
