298 
July, 1921 
FOREST AND STREAM 
DR. HENSHALL AND FISH CULTURE 
HIS FAITHFUL DEVOTION TO THE WORK OF FISH PROPAGATION HAS 
EARNED FOR HIM THE LASTING GRATITUDE OF AMERICAN ANGLERS 
TWENTY-SEVENTH PAPER 
T HERE had never been a celebra- 
tion of Independence Day in Tam- 
pa, Florida, and I was requested 
by the Mayor of the city to plan and 
arrange the features for such an event 
on July Fourth, 1895. Accordingly I 
appointed several committees to take 
charge of the details of the alfair, and 
owing to their executive ability and 
great interest in the matter it proved 
to be an unqualified success. 
A revenue cutter in the harbor fired 
salutes at sunrise, noon and sunset. 
During the morning there was a very 
creditable parade, consisting of several 
organizations, American, Cuban and 
Spanish, and a number of patriotic 
and business floats. At the courthouse 
square, beginning at noon, there was 
a c oncert by the 
American and Cuban 
brass bands, with the 
reading of the Decla- 
ration of Independ- 
ence and Washington’s 
Farwell Address dur- 
ing the intermissions, 
which were listened to 
with general interest 
by the assemblage, and 
was followed by cheers 
and by cries of Cuba 
Libre from the Cubans, 
and at the conclusion 
of the exercises both 
bands played “Dixie” 
in unison. 
During the after- 
noon there were regat- 
tas on the bay, and 
horse races and bi- 
cycle races at the race course. 
DeSoto Park thousands of Cubans cel- 
ebrated the afternoon with national 
games and dancing. The Spanish con- 
tingent went to Ballast Point Park 
and celebrated in a characteristic man- 
ner. All went merry as a marriage 
bell, without a hitch, and without an 
untoward incident. At night there was 
a very creditable display of fireworks 
from a raft on the river in front of 
the Tampa Bay Hotel, the effect being 
duplicated and heightened by the re- 
flections on the water. The celebra- 
tion closed with a grand ball at the 
hotel Casino, and a fancy dress ball 
at the Spanish Casino. In view of the 
success of the function I was presented 
by the citizens with a gold headed cane, 
suitably inscribed, and with the date, 
July 4th, 1895, and a vote of thanks 
from the officials. 
A T the end of December, 1895, and 
the beginning of January, 1896, 
there occurred the most disas- 
trous cold waves ever known in Florida. 
At Tampa the thermometer registered 
19 dgrees F. with a slight flurry of 
snow. Not only was the entire crop 
of oranges frozen solid, but all the 
young orange groves north and east of 
Tampa were killed root, bole and 
branch, while old groves were killed 
to the ground. However, it was a bless- 
ing in disguise, inasmuch as it proved 
the futility of orange culture in cen- 
tral Florida ; and since that time quick- 
er returns and greater profits have 
been realized from small fruits and 
truck farming. 
A friend who had lost a promising- 
young grove of twenty acres was la- 
menting his misfortune to me, saying 
that his fine trees were only fit for fire 
wood. I said : 
“Some day you will be glad that the 
catastrophe occurred; and in the mean- 
time there is more prospective profit 
in your dead trees than there would 
have been in an abundant crop of 
oranges. Have a machine constructed 
in Connecticut for making wooden 
toothpicks, and then with a small cir- 
cular saw and an electric motor con- 
vert your dead trees and those of your 
neighbors into toothpicks. The first 
wooden toothpicks were made of orange 
wood, which is eminently suitable for 
the purpose, being white, tough, close- 
grained, and as flexible as a quill. Try 
it; it will at least give you something 
to think about and occupy your time, 
instead of crying over spilt milk.” But 
he was a horticulturist and not a man- 
ufacturer, and he proceeded to pile up 
his dead trees which he burnt to ashes 
to fertilize his land for a crop of to- 
matoes, celery and lettuce. 
I N the year 1896 Marshall McDonald 
the U. S. Fish Commissioneer died, 
and there were several applicants, 
myself among them, for the position. 
My advocate was U. S. Senator Cal- 
vin Brice, of Ohio, who wrote me one 
day that President Cleveland had 
agreed to appoint me. It was the im- 
pression in the Fish Commission, as I 
learned, that I would be the next Fish 
Commissioner. But there is many a 
slip ’twixt the cup and lip, and soon 
afterward I learned that Mr. Cleveland 
had appointed Captain John Brice, a 
cousin of Senator Brice, somewhat to 
the surprise of everyone. I simply saifi 
Sic transit gloria , and wrote a letter of 
congratulations to my friend Captain 
Brice. 
It was not until several years later, 
when I was living at Bozeman, Mon- 
tana, that I learned why Mr. Cleveland 
changed his mind. After the death of 
Senator Brice, Which occurred soon af- 
terward, his secretary, Mr. G., became 
the secretary of U. S. Senator Clark, 
of Montana. One day 
Mr. G., when on his 
way to Butte, Montana, 
to confer with Senator 
Clark, stopped off at 
Bozeman to call on me. 
While at luncheon, he 
said to me: 
“Were your docu- 
ments concerning the 
Commissionership re- 
turned to you from 
Washington? You had 
backing enough for a 
member of the Cabinet.” 
“Yes,” I replied, “I 
have them yet. Among 
them were recommend- 
ations from two or 
three members of the 
Cabinet, heads of sev- 
eral of the depart- 
ments at Washington, a good many sen- 
ators and members of the House, beside 
the governors of five states, many men 
of affairs and scientific men, but they 
seemed to be of no avail when Captain 
Brice appeared on the scene, inasmuch 
as blood is thicker than water.” 
“Why, Doctor,” he protested, “you 
do Senator Brice an injustice; he was 
loyal to you to the end. Have you 
never heard why Mr. Cleveland ap- 
pointed Captain Brice.” 
“No,” I replied, “I never gave the 
matter a second thought.” 
“Well,” he went on, “it was this way. 
Your appointment had been decided 
upon, but just before it was announced 
an advocate of Captain Brice arrived 
in Washington from California, and 
informed Senator Brice that his cousin 
desired the position, and expected his 
influence. The Senator told the party 
that he could do nothing for him as the 
place was already promised to another 
man at his request, and moreover that 
his cousin was not qualified for the 
position under the law. He added that 
unless he could find some one with more 
(continued on page 320) 
