FOREST AND STREAM 
208 
well-directed jokes— such therapeutics would in fact be a little 
ghastly iu the premises— but in the hundred ills which are 
included under the names of dyspepsia— the out-of-sorts, the 
the chronic don’t-feel-wells — and even many organic troubles, 
which so harass the patient and puzzle the practitioner, yield 
oftentimes like a charm when once the mind is diverted from 
their continual contemplation. We are in the habit of pre- 
scribing travel for these affairs ; but travel is an expensive 
thing which few can indulge in, and does not always amuse, 
but rather substitutes one labor for another. When Newport 
and Niagara have failed, and your alteratives get no results, 
uud you are puzzling yourself sometimes what you will do 
next, try the prescription of R., Goa-flshing; or, Sig., A 
hunt daily for a week or two, and see if you know your man 
when he gets back. . They are the most rational medicines 
that one can take. In them psychological and physiological 
forces combine to lift the life-machine from the ruts into 
which it may have fallen. You say that malaria lurks in the 
fields ?— corduroy is a better protective than quinine ; that wet 
feet bring on colds ? — never, when dried by a camp-fire. You say 
that your patient has no fancy for this sort of thing ? We have 
yet to meet one who does not like it when he has tried it. It 
is a part of our original nature to love it. In every one there 
rises at times a desire to break away from the trammels of 
civilization and go wild. The baby, just able to toddle, 
pitches its tent in the nursery, with a chair for the ridge- 
pole, and mother's shawl for the canvas. The older urchin 
cooks his dirty dough by the fire built in the back yard, and 
dreams of aa venture. The desire is just as instinctive as 
love, or hope, or any other passion in the human breast ; and 
he is the wisest doctor who recognizes the voice of nature, 
not only when disease is at hand, but in the Warnings it gives 
of its approach. Talk about prophylactics and hygiene— a 
man may live longer and better with a week's camping on the 
Kankakee or Green River twice a year, than by following all 
other directions that the sanitary wisdom of the State can de- 
vise. It is not the time only which is actually spent in these 
delightful wilds which renovates him, but the memory of that 
which is gone by and the contemplation of that which is to 
come renew his life day by day. Nor is it the number of fish 
on his string or the birds in his bag that measures the restora- 
tion of his wasted energies. A glorious nibble may stir the 
nerve currents to the brachial plexus for months to come, and 
a winged partridge excite hopes that may never die. The 
fact is— as the man of elegant diction said when he put the 
pepper and salt and vinegar on the oysters he was eating— it 
is the “ condign ments " which make up the pleasure of the 
affair. It is the invigorating atmosphere of the country, the 
rustle of the trees, the waving of the green fields, the babble 
of the waters. It is the fiz of the frying-pan, the aroma of 
■ the middling. These are some of the factors of delight ; but 
above all is the sense of security against the world, the con- 
sciousness of the merchant that the mails cannot reach him 
with the intelligence of bills payable, and to the doctor that 
the work of life and death is for a while in other hands — and 
the therapy of this placid feeling has no equal in the phar- 
macy of the world. 
“ Try it, brother, not only on your patient, but on yourself. 
Take the holiday in the glorious spring-time, which is now 
on us, that you have so well earned ; go a-fishing or a-shoot- 
iug ; stay as long as you please, anil be assured that not a 
moment is lost by your doing so. You will come back twice 
as strong and contented as when you went, and far abler to 
give health to those who look to you for it. 
“ And, if perchance, you know of slashes where the zig-zag 
snipe do preternaturally congregate, or streams where the 
gamey bass or the solemn goggle-eye longingly waits for the 
lively steel-back, send word to your friends in the Neics. 
Our fields are shot to death ; the fish of our creeks swim only 
in story ; and we have at least convinced ourselves that April 
must find us by flood or in field.” 
A Delightful Summer Resort for Anglers and Vaca- 
tion Touiust8. — We call especial attention for the first time 
to one of the most delightful regions in the world, and whose 
varied attractions have formed material for lavish embellish- 
ment in “ Appleton's Picturesque America. ” We refer to 
the Blue Ridge country of Virginia. By the recent opening 
of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, easy access is had to a 
panorama of romantic .scenery, extending over 800 miles of 
railroad, and including the Natural Bridge, Weyer’s Cave, 
Peaks of Otter and the Springs of Virginia, thirty years ago 
the most fashionable resorts in the country. There is every 
convenience and luxury for the invalid and tourist, either in 
cottage or hotel, some of the establishments having cost over 
a million of dollars each. There are plenty of speckled trout, 
bass, pike and pickerel in the mountain streams and Jakes, 
besides bears, deer, turkeys, ducks, grouse, quail, snipe, 
woodcock, etc. , in season. See advertisements of the Chesa- 
peake and Ohio railroad in another column. 
Yaohting.— Hereafter our yachting columns will be edited 
by Mr. Ohas. P. Kunhardt, late of the U. S. Navy and a 
graduate of the Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. Having 
made a specialty of naval architecture and yachting iu all its 
branches, the yachting department of this paper will be main- 
tained at a professional standard. 
“Passion," not “Profession.” — In the leading sketch of 
our last issue (April 11th), the types made the author state 
that “angling was feis profession," whereas he intended to 
say, and did so write, that it was his “passion.” Being a 
most modest gentleman, he repudiates any self-assumption 
whatever, and looks with evil eye upon the typo who put 
false words into his mouth. 
—Commissioner Raum would do well to study the fine ar- 
ticle by Chas. Hallock, recently published in the New York 
Herald, entitled “Still Hunting in the Blue Ridge." It is a 
fine expose of the operations of the illicit distillers, with 
valuable suggestions upon the manner of suppressing that 
element of outlaws. The writer went through the whole dis- 
trict with the United States revenue officers, and is practi- 
cally posted on his subject. For the rest, as the editor of the 
Forest and Stream, he needs no recommendation as an au- 
thority on whatever he professes to know anything about.— 
Don Piatt's Washington Sunday Capitol. 
GAME PROTECTION. 
MEETINGS OF STATE ASSOCIATIONS 
FOR 1878. 
New Hampshire State Sportsmen's League, Manchester, April. 
New York State Association for the Protection of Fish and Game, 
Buffalo, May— ; Seoly., John B. Sage, Buffalo. 
Connecticut State Sportsmen's Association, Hartford, May 15. 
Iowa State Sportsmen's Association, Dos Moines, May 2S. 
Nebraska State Sportsmen's Association, Fromont, May 21st and 
22 ( 1 . 
National Sportsmen's Association, Wilkesbarre, Pa., Juno 11 
Illinois State Sportsmen's Association, Quinoy, Juno 11 ; Secty,, 
Goo. E. Wheelor. 
The Pennsylvania Stato Association for the Prolection of Game 
and Fish. Wilkesbarre, June 11 ; Secty., BenJ. F. Dowanee. 
Ohio State Sportsmen’s Association, Cincinnati, Juno 15; Sooty., 
Wiltbank, Toledo. 
Tennessee State Sportsmen's Association, Nashville, Deo. 2 ; 
Seot'y., Clark Pritchett, Nashvillo, Tonu. 
Wisconsin Stato Sportsmen’s Association. 
Massachusetts St ate Sportsmou'e Association, at oall of Proaid ont 
Missouri State Sportsmen's Association. 
The New Maine Law. — The game of this State, as well as 
the insectivorous birds, have in tlie past been wantonly and 
mercilessly destroyed by men and boys— our own citizens — 
and predatory bands from other localities and States, until the 
former are really nearly extinct, and the latter so decimated that 
our fruit trees and vegetation generally are being nearly 
ruined by the swarms of grubs, worms, caterpillars, etc. The 
attention of our Legislature has been called to this matter of 
late, and u law passed which we hope will put a sal utary 
check to the business, and we are glad also to know that a 
lively interest is being awakened among tlie better class of our 
citizens to see that the laws are enforced. Deer and cariboo 
must not be killed in Maine between the first day of January 
and the first day of October, under a penalty of $40. 
Bath, Me., April 9, 1878. G. E. N. 
New Hampshire Game and Fish Leaouk. — The annual 
meeting of this League was held at Manchester, April 2, with 
President John B. Clarke in the chair. A large attofidance of 
delegates from the different parts of the State attested the 
growing interest in game and fish protection. The address of 
the occasion was an elaborately prepared paper by the Hon. 
J. W. Patterson, reviewing the progress of fish culture and 
the importance and magnitude of that industry. The officers 
of the League for the ensuing year are ; Johu B. Clarke, 
Pres.; Charles L. Richardson, Sec.; Frederick Smyth, Treas.; 
Gillmen II. Tucker, Raymond ; Daniel Burleigh, Wakefield ; 
Levi W. Perkins, Wilton ; George A. Hatch, Milton; W. W. 
Fletcher, Concord ; Frank II. Pierce, Hillsborough .- William 
Jarvis, Claremont; E. A. Crawford, Jefferson; John Clement, 
Troy; G. V. Pickering, Laconia ; E. B. Hodge, Plymouth, 
Vice-Presidents. 
— The Middlesex County (Conn.) Game and Fish Associa- 
tion have secured their first conviction of a law breaker. 
Ma83Aohusktts Fish and Game Protective Association. 
— Officers for the coming year have been elected as follows : 
Pres , Dr. John P. Ordway ; Vice-Pres., Hon. Thomas Tal- 
bot, Hon. Charles Levi Woodbury, Hon. Daniel Needham, C. 
Warren Gordon, William Emerson Baker, Henry W. Fuller, 
Luther Adams; Treas., George B. Brown; Rec. and Cor. 
Sec., Henry II. Kimball; Librarian, James A. McGee; Ex- 
ecutive Com., Weston Lewis, D. T. Curtis, James Walker, 
J. W. Smith, Williams. Hills ; Committee on Membership, 
E. Delano, C. T. Jenkin9, L. Prouty. Capt. Charles Stan- 
wood and Charles E. Pierce were elected honorary members. 
Wisconsin.— A game protective club has been formed at 
Tomah, Wis., with the following officers : Pres. J. D. Con- 
dit ; 1st Vice-Pres., J. A. Wells ; 2d Vice-Pres., C. A. Hunt ; 
Sec., John A. Warren; Treas., Ira A. Hill; Cor. Sec., J. O. 
Warriner. A 9trict observance of the game laws is the ob- 
ject of the association. 
THE AUXILIARY RIFLE. 
On Thursday, two weeks ago, a representative of the 
Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun, paid a special 
visit to New Haven for the purpose of witnessing a series of 
experiments made with what is called the Auxiliary Rifle. 
Any one who may have read over our Questions and An- 
swers may have noticed the constant character of a number 
of queries which runs pretty much as follows : “ I am going 
into (a State is designated where both birds and auimals 
are found), shall I take a shot-gun or a rifle ?" In some cases 
we have recommended a shot gun and in others a rifle, but it 
is quite evident that it would be better if the sportsman could 
take with him both arms. The problem has been then to in- 
vent or devise some plan by which with one and the same 
arm a man could be prepared for all eventualities. We are 
quite certain that Shelton’s auxiliary rifle barrel will answer 
exactly this double purpose. Asiswell known, there are certain 
plans already in use which do convert a shot-gun into a rifle. 
Still the accomplishment of this is neither rapid nor con- 
venient. A rifle barrel the whole length of the fowling-piece 
has to be adjusted, which must be secured by means of nuts and 
screws. Between this method and a permanent arm made 
with one barrel as a shot-gun and the other as a rifle, there is 
^eally not much difference. The Shelton auxiliary rifle obvi- 
ates all this trouble. In three seconds time, or just as quickly 
os a metallic shell can be chambered in a breech-loading fowl- 
ng-piece, the auxiliary barrel can he brought into use. In 
fact just a 9 a loaded shell can be carried in the barrel so can 
the rifle be made instantly effective. Of course in an inven- 
tion of this character, its simplicity is its charm, and like the 
egg Columbus placed on end a good many wise people will 
say, “ Why did we not think of that before ?" 
The auxiliary rifle consists then of a barrel some twenty 
inches long, formed at the breech like a shell so as to fit 
snugly in the chamber of a fowling-piece. There is an adjusta- 
ble bearing at the muzzle of this barrel, so that it is in close 
contact with the barrel of the fowling-piece into which it is 
chambered. This barrel can he slipped in or token out. That 
is all thero is about it. Now as to its accuracy; 
At the Cove, East Haven, somo ten days ago the represen- 
tative of this paper had the pleasure of meeting His Honor 
Mayor Shelton, the chief magistrate of New Haven ; Judge 
Samuel Bronson, Oolohel Bacon, of tlio 3d Connecticut regi- 
ment ; Mr. J. F. Golvlu, one of the lcadiug shots of the New 
Haven Rifle Association ; Mr. W. A. Peck, late of the U. S. 
Engineer Corps; Alderman John Reynolds, Mr. W.W. Blunt, 
and the inventors of tho auxiliary rifle, Messrs. Clark R. Shel- 
ton and Arthur C. Shelton. 
Now, of these numerous gentlemen, somo were riflemen, 
but the majority of thorn wore not. A Crccdmoor target was 
placed at 200 yards, anil the shooting commenced with a 
light breech-loader No. 12, weighiug CJ pounds. Aux- 
iliary barrels, of both .44 and .88 calibre were used, loaded 
on the ground with the Evorlastiug shell or with the ordinary 
Winchester cartridge. Mr. Colvin had brought a now ham- 
mcrlcss Sharps. Some seventy -five shots were made with the 
auxiliary barrel, and with exceeding accuracy. There were 
even a larger proportion of bull's-eyes made than is usual, 
as a largo number of tho experimentalists were novices in 
rifle-shooting. It was quite evident that the familiarity peo- 
ple in general Boemed to have with the fowling-piece had helped 
them iu rifle-shooting. They were rifleshots without knowing 
it. His Honor, the Mayor, made a bull’s-eye at tlie first Are. 
Almost every one presont made bull’s-eyes. Of course, tho ac- 
tion of the auxiliary barrel ou tho fowling-plccc was noticed. 
The same gun, with tho same auxiliary rifle barrel, had been 
fired many thousand times, and no effects wore visible on the 
fowling-piece. After having fired quite a number of rounds, 
paper shells loaded with shot were usod in the gun (tho aux- 
iliary barrel having been withdrawn ), and excellent practice 
was made at flying objects, one discharge of the arm, with 
an ordinary shell charged with shot, removing entirely the 
slightest deposit of powder loft by tho firing of tho aux- 
iliary barrel at the muzzle of tho piece. I 11 fact, tho inter- 
change of rifle to shot-gun made no possible difference, the 
gun performing capitally both ways. 
It seem9 manifest to 119 that, equipped with ouu of the Shel- 
ton auxiliary rifles, tho sportsman can he fully armed. Tho 
length of tho auxiliary rifle is only some twenty inches, and 
its weight seventeen ounces, allowing it to be carried iu the 
pocket. It can be slipped conveniently into tho arm-holo of 
the waistcoat and the breech portion passed down to the pan- 
taloons pocket. An adjustable sight is made which con be 
placed on the gun, which sight cau be laid flat when not in 
use. The ordiuary bead 9ight at the muzzle of the fowling- 
piece is not changed. As has often been repented in our 
columns, shots at deer arc rarely made at 200 yards, tho dis- 
tances being mostly very much under 100 yard9. If, then, 
the accuracy of this fowling-piece with tho auxiliary rifle was 
excellent at 200 yards, holding its own with a Sharps, it must 
certainly bo very cffectivo at 100 yards. There is no reason 
why, with a sufficiently heavy gun at the breech, that tho Ex- 
press system of a heavy charge and light ball could not bo 
used. Somewhat chary of new things, and rather conserva- 
tive than otherwise, we must, however, thoroughly indorse 
Messrs. Shelton's invention, believing, for practical useful- 
ness, simplicity, accuracy and penetration, the Auxiliary Illfic 
must soon find its way into the hands of all sportsmen. We 
even think that, for range shooting at short distances, the 
Shelton Auxiliary Rifle may come into use. We should not 
be tho least surprised (if it iB within the Crccdmoor rules) 
that some prizes could be won with it in matches this year. 
There would be something quite amusing in a man going to 
the front with a light Scott, Greener, Tolly, Webloy or West- 
ly Richards, a Parker, a Fox, or a Nichols & Lefevre breech- 
loader, and making bull's-eyes at Crccdmoor. In the United 
States and in England, where almost every one has a breech- 
loader, it is by no means impossible to imoginc that a corps 
of men, suddenly culled upon to defend their country, armed 
with such auxiliary pieces, would make most cffectivo work 
with their shot-guns converted into rifles. 
POINT BLANK. 
V. M. Institute, Lexington, Va., March 25, 1878. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
I am under obligations to Major Merrill for his very com- 
plimentary mention of my letter to Mr. C. P. Stokes upon 
the fall of projectiles, which was published in your paper. 
Of coucse it was the English point blank I defined. The 
Major will find by reference to paragraph 1,200 of the “New 
Field Artillery Tactics for the U. 8. A.,” that tho English 
definition has been authoritatively adopted in this country, 
and I presume it was adopted from the very consideration 
which has always led me to prefer it, viz.; That it is simple, 
and gives a better idea of the power of a gun than the Ameri- 
can or French definition of point blank range. There is this 
difference, however, between tlie Major and myself, that he 
calls tho second intersection of the line of sight by tho tra- 
jectory the point blunk, rnuking no distinction between the 
point blank proper, the natural point blank, and an artificial 
point blank. I think this distinction essential to clearness. 
In discussing the subject in “Thiroux’s Artillery” (French), 
and iu “Roberts’ Hand-Book of Artillery” (American), tho 
natural point blank is defined to be the point of second in- 
tersection of the trajectory, with the natural line of sight 
prolonged, the line of metal, the intersection of the trajec- 
