266 
other day that the first bite of a young fish was very like the 
first sip of the flowing bowl. If the young fry escaped his 
fate when he swallowed his first hook, the chances were as 
one thousand to one-thousandth that an unquenchable appe- 
tite for swallowing hooks would be contracted, which would 
finally land him in a confirmed biter's grave. Our own ex- 
perience gives some plausibility to the theory, and doubtless 
the piscatorial experience of our readers will confirm this 
view Here is a bit of testimony from the Hartford Times : 
“Frederick A Chase and a friend, George Wilson, of New 
York, were fi lling on galtonstall lake last Friday, and hooked 
a very large fish, but it got away because the line broke Mr. 
J 1> Studlcy, of New Haven, and a fncud were fishing there 
some days afterward, and they caught this same fish Itwu 
a six-pound black, bass, and m the upper jaw was Mr. Chases 
hook, wiih the siuker and four feet of line attached. 
Tim Home of Tn e Dobson— Albany, May J el1 Til 
of Oriskauy, if he will overturn the large stones on the banks 
of the Mohawk soon as the spring freshets subside he will find 
all the Dobsons he wants. Then let him get " ‘ ®jHnkU ne a 
nlaee a large sod in it. By changing the sod and sprinkling a 
Utile water on occasionally, he 
as they will burrow in the sod and thus keep m^st Bo sure 
£ Dl.ce your cover on the box, and bo.e ^smdUolcs 
in ft. 
FOREST r AND r STREAM. 
SILK WORMS. 
SEW SOURCES FROM WHENCE OUT CAN HE HAD. 
In my last communication I gave a brief account of the 
history 1 and the habits of one of our native silk worms, the 
1 dUamis cccropia. 1 now give you a short description of 
lie mri, aid ailk gut 
of the best quality, and even silk, can be manufactured from 
these silk worms, without difficulty, where suitable food can 
be obmiued for them. The larva, or worm, of the AUaeu* 
vrometheus feeds on the leaves of the sassafras and spice hush, 
both or which are too well known to need a description ; and 
it nrobablv feeds on the leaves of other trees or shrubs. The 
silk of this worm is of the finest and strongest quality— white 
aU Th 8 e IO worni 9 invariably spin their cocoons on or in the 
leaves of the tree on which it feeds by folding edges 
of the leaf, forming a suitable place for the cocoon , but 
before spinning its cocoon, it fastens the stem of the leaf to 
thVtwic on which the leaf grows. So securely do they do 
this that 1 have seen near a hundred cocoons on one Sassafras 
tree! the most of which had hung on the tree for many years 
after the moths had left them. , 
These cocoons can he collected in great numbers where the 
Sassafras and Spice Bush are abundant, as it is : in this region 
Silk can be drawn from this worm, Iroin three to four leet 
lonit and strong enough for salmon fishing, of the very best 
quality • the Italian worm does not produce a stronger or a 
finer silk. Like the Attar us cccropia, the cocoons should he 
collected in the fall of the year, or it would be equally well, 
to collect them early in the spring, before the foliage of the 
^The Mime rules should he observed iu the msisgcment of 
this worm, as with the Attacus cccropia, with die siugle ex- 
ception of the kind of food it requires. 
Bedford, 0., April 25, 1878. T. Garlick. 
Spring Balance for Anglers. —Competitors for biggest 
fish will be delighted with the compact Tittle spring balance 
which Brother Holbcrton sells at his Sportsman’s Emporium, 
117 Fulton street. It is made of German silver, is only three 
inches in length, and indicates the weight of a fish of twelve 
pounds or less. It is not registered for speckled trout which 
weigh over twelve pounds. Price 75 cents. 
Hook ExTRAoxoR.-When your fish swallows a hook which 
you cannot detach, Dr. E. Sterling, of Cleveland, Ohio, has 
case), proceed to remove the skin from the hack and si 
with a sharp penknife, and take away 
can lie easily taken away in small pieces. Th t0 
be cut off as close to the skin as posab e, tak mg c*™ 
cut tlie sxm or displace the scales The^ffil must 
thoroughly cleaned and the gills taken ° ■ ‘ ne b „ 
cess is to preserve the skin from rotting, w . UDCt j on 
washing the inside of tho skin wll b pre More than 
which may be purchased at any naturalist a shop. jon be _ 
half an hour must not elapse after iising JLb p P stiffen 
fore the fish is placed in i proper form, or the sk n might^suuen 
and crack when handled. Next pface you tbe 
?e D ma t ?n 1 .!u SSlfTpeS? dry, when they may bo re- 
ssrSih S2 Sa-w 
leuing each coat dr* before applying the next coat ; wben the 
size is properly dry. thin coats of crystal varnish mustje ap 
plied in the same manner. When your varnish is qui d y 
you must take out the sand and proceed to fill the body witn 
cotton wool taking care to disturb the skin as little as 
possible during the process, then neatly sew up ^ opening m 
the side and give the finishing touch to your specimen, which 
wUHie ready^to put in the cale. Stuffed fish are mostly put 
in a swimming position, but the bestplau, I think, is to rejire 
sent lying on a mossy hank with rushes ami sedges Showing 
Snd The Bioping b«uk can be made with stiff card 1 bent 
to the required shape and moss glued on. The rushes i can i be 
painted on the bnck of the case. It is almost impossible to 
get a perfect specimen unless operations are eoirmieneed wi 
in three hours after capture, but the fish wiU keep twel 
hours if wrapped in wet rushes or grass. AJterJthis time i the 
fish become difficult of arrangement and the ^cales loostu. 
The flints or eyes can he procured at the uaturalist s and are 
fixed with putty. 
J. B. Crook & Co.— For over forty years the name of 
Crook has been associated with sportsmen. Season after sea- 
son the fathers, and after the fathers the sons, have bought 
their rods their line., their hooks and lures, their guns ian 1 
their ammunition tt the old stand iu Fulton street. la the 
very self same place, year after year, lias the bumaess been 
carried on. But all things must change and M often 
for the better. In token of this, the old stand, No 60 Fulton 
street, has been enlarged by absorbing a store right alongside 
of it. The handsome display Messrs. J. B. Crook & Co. 
make wanted an ampler display. Now the 'ft™"™™*™* 
from a full stock everything be may want in thefishmg or shoot 
ing way. The new catalogue issued by this house we would 
call especial attention to. It tells of rods, reels, flies, hooks, 
nets, spoon baits, guns, double, single, muzzle or breech- 
loaders. pistols, rifles, air-guns, game hags, dog collars fencing 
goods, fishing suits, hammocks, and most everthmg else. As 
to their rods, they are all hand made, and manufactured at 
their factory at Rutherford, N. J. 
Leonard’s Rod for the Sportsman’s Convention.— Mr. 
Leonard has taxed bis ingenuity and his best efforts to pro- 
duce an inimitable rod to be presented as a prize for the fly- 
casters at the coming Sportsman’s Convention at Buffalo. 
It. is an eight-strip bamboo rod of selected material, heavily 
mounted with German silver, and is capable of eight combina- 
tions. It can be made long or short, and slender or stumpy ; 
the hut is reversible, so that the reel can he used either above 
or below the hand ; and, iu fact, it is one of those comprehen- 
sive rods so much desired by the universal angler, which will 
do all kinds of work— the heaviest and most delicate— equally 
well. We think Mr. Leonard has succeeded admirably in 
making a kind of rod for others to use which he does not use 
himself. It is a rare faculty to be able to do this. Should 
Brother Reuben Wood, Seth Green, or Hon. Robt. B. Roose- 
velt be so fortunate as to win this prize, we are certain they 
will lay it by and preserve it with greatest care as a memento. 
The cost i9 §75. 
The Buckingham Fly Rods.— Mr. Buckingham, of Utica, 
seems to have entered as a competitor in the manufacture of 
fly rods. He is now making a really superior article of eight- 
strip rods, German silver mounted, which lie sells at $20, 
825 and $30. There are so many manufacturers of first-class 
rods now at work that every sportsman who is competent to 
use one can suit himself. We do not recommend fine rods 
for amateurs. 
— Holberton’s fly books are in great request now. They 
keep the gut lengths straight and ready for use. You can 
buy them at 117 Fulton street, price $8. 
recommended us to use one of these. You can buy them of 
the surgical instrument dealers. For bluefltfh, pike, muscal- 
longe and sharks and the like, loDg bandies will be needed. 
To Dislodge Foul Hooks. -The pleasure and profit of bait 
Ashing are frequently interfered with by the hook catching 
into rocks, limbs or rubbish on the bottom. When thus en 
tangled, the usual method of relieving the hook is to move 
Hie line back and forth, pull upon it gently, or let out several 
feet of line and then pull upward gently, and, if that is not 
successful, to pull until it is torn from the fastening, or the 
hook <>i line is broken, causing a loss of time and patience os 
well as loss of bait, and it may be hook and line. When fish- 
ing from a boat and the hook becomes thus fouled, it can he 
almost immediately loosened by slipping a short leaden tube 
over the loose end of the line and letting it slide down the 
line When it strikes the hook it will, by its weight, loosen 
it some. A three or four-inch section of a half-inch (inside 
diameter) lead pipe ia best, for should it strike the point of 
the hook it will not dull it like iron or other metal. 
Baringlon, Total County, N. Y. ©nook. 
[This is a good method. It is similar in its operation to the 
iron ring long in use by English anglers. — E d.] 
How to Prepare Fish. — From the Fishing Gazette we take 
the following, which may help some hngler who may be de- 
sirous of putting under a glass case the next big Moose-Head 
Lake trout he may catch -. 
“ The nmst difficult operation in fish stuffing is the skinning. 
Lay your fish on a damp cloth, best side down, then, with a 
sharp knife, open the side from the head to the tail (this en- 
ables you to place the seam out of sight when set up in the 
COMFORT FOR THE MUCH-ABUSED. 
Editob! ; Forest and Stream : New Yoke, May 4, 1879. 
I am displeased at jour printing, In tlie May 2 Issue, that extract from 
the letter of “ Bass," of Cincinnati. I think that an anonymous letter, 
and one so unnecessarily unkind, la out of pli.ee in Forest and Stream. 
Who is <• Bass," that he should criticize so sharply? You rightly say, 
<• No pleasing everybody." Certainly the very lively, agreeable articles 
on baas Ashing (the writer of them is unknown to me) have pleased 
some of your readers. For myself, I ask you to urge their author to 
give us the additional article hinted at in the second letter, published 
April '.5 and 1 believe many readers will Join me In this request. But 
even If the articles did not suit atall.lt seems to me that "Bass’s” 
letter is cruel : worthless as the opinion of an anonymous writer Is, this 
must have mortified, and very unnecessarily, the author of those arti- 
cles. Permit me to hope that be will not, however, be deterred by this 
rude and unjust critic from glvlDg us more of his pleasant arilcles 
You have my name and address. If “ Bass” makes his known, you can 
give him mine, Yours, G. W. V. S. 
atnre ” Of Action there is the Installment of W. H. Bishop’s "Dlt 
mold " and “The Dancin’ Party at Harrison’s Cove,” by Charles Egbert 
Craddock. Horatio C. Burchard discusses the question, “Who Pays 
Protective Duties," and N. S. Shaler contributes " The Silver Question 
Geologically Considered." Of poetry there Is “Evolution, by Boyeseu 
The Captain’s Drum.” an Incident of the Revolution by BenJ. P. Tay- 
lor- ■•Daffodils," by LaoraN. Fenllng ; “ The Rank and Fde, by H. 
H.,’and a nature study, “ Monotony Lake," by J. T. Trowbridge. 
The publishers of Sorirner’s tell us that Maurice Thomp- 
son's paper on archery In that magazme last year brought to him near- 
ly five hundred letters of inquiry. The present number omtalua fresh 
subject for the questioners in Mr. Thompsons paper, “Merry Days 
with Bow and Quiver.” The new material Is Interesting aud Instructive 
and the contest between the rifle aud archery teams In which the for- 
mer were defeated, will spur our rlQeraeu to look to their laurels. Mr. 
Wm L. Tlleston has u Onely Illustrated piper on non-sportlug dogs In 
which we recognize some of the favorites of the show bench. Dr 
Brewer begins this month a series or papers on “ Bird Architecture, 
describing Bower-birds and the wonderful garden and cabin-, 
building bird discovered by Dr. Beccarl, this belug the Aral full 
account of the bird In English. Two camplng-out papers are Camps 
aud Tramps about ICtaadn, and a humorous sketch by Vm* R.i Stock- 
ton entitled. “ Camping Out at Rudder Grauge.’ Edward Eggleston 
describes in a Anely illustrated paper, "The New York Post office. 
Another Illustrated paper Is by Margaret B. Wright, "ho writes of artist 
•• Bohemian Days" near Farls. The serials, Mr. Egglestou s Roxy, 
aud Miss Trafton’s " His Inheritance,” are continued. Of the null us- 
Sed material, there is “An Impose, ble Story," by Bayard TjJJ ; 
“ Llssy,” u short story by Margaret H. Eckerson ; “little .Rose and 1 the 
House of the Snowy Range.” a Colorado bit of travel, by H .II. ; and an 
essay, “ Concerning the Use of Fagots at Geneva,” by Leonard W - 
Bacon. 
The paper in Appleton’s, which we may denominate the 
naDerof progress, is that devoted to an illustrated review of the alow 
Mr. Wm. H. Rldelng writing on this topic in his usual happy ve n. Dr 
A II Guernsey gives a description of Stanley s convert, the Aft lean 
king Mtcsa, presenting the explorer In a character little accorded to 
him The English biographer of Poe, Mr. J. H. Ingram, contributes a 
series of hitherto unpublished letters by the poet, which may serve to 
throw some light upon his career. Lucy Hooper writes of French. 
Pictures for the Paris Exposition; ” and In “Real aud Ideal Houses, 
o B Bruce puts In some clever hits at the bric-a-brac mania of the day. 
The serial story. “Jet ; Her Face or Her Fortune,” Is oontlnned, os is 
also “By Celia’s Arbor." Other pieces of Action are : • Mrs Gainsbor- 
ough’s Diamonds," by Julian Hawthorn; and “ For Love of Her, by 
Nora Perry. The poems are: -The Heavenly Harmony, Cornelius 
Matthews; “Not Wholly Dead," John Moraa ; and “ Wind from the 
East,” Paul H. Ilayne. 
The Naturalist.— While several of the papers in the May 
number of the XcUvralUt are rather technical, aud others of Interest 
only to special readers, there are not lacking a number of articles 
which will prove attractive to all. Prof. W. J. -Beal contributes an in- 
teresting account of “ Hairs and Glandular Hairs of Plaits, their Forms 
and Uses,” aid Prof. C. V. Riley continues his valuable uarrative of the 
"Transformation aud Habits of the DUster Beetles." Mr. Arthur E. 
B:own, Superintendent of the Philadelphia Zoological Gardens, dis- 
cusses the Sirenia in a very agreeable style. This group Is but little 
known even to naturalists, and, perhaps, a majority of our readers do 
not even know that It Is the order which contains the manatee and du- 
cong. Since several manatees have been kept alive In the Falrmount 
Gardens for some time, Mr. Brown has enjoyed exceptional facilities 
for studying their habits, and much that he tells us Is new. Mr. Hays 
discussion of the ’ origin and Formation of Prairies Is an lntere ting 
contribution to the literature of a long-mooted point, and one which is 
not likely soon to be settled. The article on " Methods of Labeling 
Oologlcal Collections,” though brief, is practical and to the point, and 
suggests a way out of difficulties that have long been felt by collectors. 
•• Notes on Indian Manners and Customs,” such as those presented In 
the present number by Dr. Palmer, should be diligently collected at the 
present day. If our Indians are not dying out, at least their customs 
are constantly changing under the tnAuenceof comact with the whites, 
and before long It will be Impossible to And any irlbe which retains the 
customs of Its forefathers. Recent Literature and General Notes con- 
tain many Items of Interest. 
Upland Game Birds and Water-fowl of the United 
States, by A. Porter, Jr. Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 
New York. 
As this work has additional numbers Issqed It Increases In excellence. 
In the fourih part now before us, we have the ruffed grouse and the 
blue-billed duck. The Btnuua umbellus in the cleverly executed plate, 
almost, If not quite, the size of life, has that peculiar pugnacious strut, 
which that bird assumes. He stands as cock of the walk on a fallen 
limb with possible Intentions of drumming, while ihe hen bird surveys 
the scene from a weed-covered patch. Both birds are full of spirt and 
life. The birds have Just thatffufflnessof feather which Is characteristic, 
and the russet color, with the little green iridescence of the neck ruff, is 
truthfully given. The work Is natural, aud Is no poor copy of a taxi- 
dermist’s stiff work. As to tho blue bill, or broad bill, or raft duck, as 
tho Marylanders call him, the print Is suggestive of blinds ana cold 
Ungers aud canvas-back ducks. There sit the duck and drake. Per- 
haps it is the most careful of all Mr. Poe’s pictures that we have seen 
reproduced so far. Your blue bill Is a dandy duck, and all bis feathers 
are close and snugly fitted to his body. The pretty, soft, curly mottle 
on his back, that ripple of plume, is quite exact. For a swift flyer 
when he wants to go, commend us to the black duck. The artist has 
brought In a capital bit of background. Your two ducks are well off 
from shore, and there stretches back whlto dunes, with a spectral light- 
house. Two comrade ducks are coming In under e^sy sail, and will 
probably flutter down near the two who are paddling nt their ease ; but 
away off there Is an uncertain flock, which may he going seaward to 
Hud a reach some twenty miles or more beyond. We have already ex- 
pressed the pleasure these prints have given us, as recalling to our mind 
the characteristics of birds, far more strongly than can be lmpresaed 
by the common ornithological works. 
«J $ew publication. 
THE MAY MONTHLIES. 
The Atlantic this month contains a paper devoted to the 
“May Days," exiracta from Thoreau’s note book. Thomas Bailey 
Aldrich lias a felicitous record of travel, entitled, ■* From Ponknpog to 
Peslh," and II. James, Jr., writes of “Recent Florence.” Warner 
continues hla series entitled, “ The Adirondack* Verified,’’ this month, 
giving us " A Character Study " of an Adirondack dweller, whom, Mr. 
Warner thinks, approaches the type of the primitive man of the Cham- 
plain period. Mark Twain, lu a cold-hearted sort of a way, explodes 
some of the fondly cherished illusions of “ Magnanimous-Incident Liter- 
B00K8 RECEIVED. 
“The Matoh Maker, a Society Novel,” by Beatrice Rey- 
nolds. Philadelphia, T. B. Peterson & Bros. Price $1. 
The Dog, with Simple Directions for his Treatment, and 
Notices of the Best Dogs of the Day and Their Breeders. By Idstone 
twelve full page engravings. Fourth edition. Cassell, Petter & Gal- 
pin, London and New York. With the coming dog we Bliould suppose 
that this book would be very acceptable. 
Zimmerman’s History of Germany.— W ith GOO, illustra- 
tions, by P. J. N. Calcar and others. Parts 19 and 20. New York : 
Johnson and Miles, 27 Beekman St. 
Birds of a Feather Floor Together; or, Talks with 
Sotukrn.— Edited by F. G . De Fontaine. New York : G. W . Carlton 
Co., 1879. 
The Man in Black.— A novel. By G. P. R. James, rfi 
adelphla : T. B. Peterson & Bros. Puper ; 75 cents. 
