Sept. 25, 1875. 
398 
placing the finer rifles at longer distances. In this there 
is some logic, but to take ofl points is neither founded 
on common sense nor on precedence. 
A Consolation Match is thoughtfully provided, and 
here we think the free entrance should have been ar 
ranged, in place of insulting the Press by giving it to 
them. 
A long-range match will afford trials at 800 and 1,000 
yards for the team and their associates, the whole end- 
ing with the first contest for the champions badges, or 
the grand medals of the Association — anew idea, and 
one which is promising, as indicating a desire by the 
Board to have the element of fi.xity introduced in'o the 
meetings. A need is felt of regularly recurring matches, 
with conditions not likely to change from year to year. 
This result the grand medal promises to attain In part. 
It will be seen from the detailed list elsewhere pub- 
lished that the Board adhere to the contradictory and 
absurd system of giving individual prizes in team- 
shooting competition. Beyond medals of equal value 
given to each member of the winning team, all prizes 
should be general to the regiment represented by the 
team. 
A matter to which the statistical oflicer should give a 
little attention is that of having the record made com- 
plete by recording the names of the rifle used. The 
open compeiition of different makes of arms, such as 
takes places at Creedmoor, must lead to improvements 
and the substitution of the better for that more inferior, 
and the Association can help toward that by making its 
report a faithlul record of the weapons as well as the 
score, and moreover, the full list should be published; 
no docking ofl ot poor records of favorites or otherwise, 
but the complete record of every shot fired in every 
competition; until that near approaching day when the 
increase ot' entries shall compel an adoption of the Eng- 
lish system of printing winners names and scores only. 
Odr friends — Eaton, Spencer, Beekwith and others — 
have just returned from a merry gathering at Good 
Ground, Shinnecock Bay, Long Island. The veteran 
Bill Lane, who purveys for sportsmen’s wants at this 
point, is one of the best shots in the country, a keen 
practitioner with gun and rod. The game of the season 
in the vicinity consists of curlew, jack and robin snipe, 
with winter yellow legs, etc. It is a good place to go to, 
and if Lane can’t call up the right kind of birds for a 
square shot, no one else need waste their breath in try- 
ing to whistle curlew or snipe notes. 
Connecticut Game and^Eish Laws. 
The Game and FIshLaws of Connecticut, as amended 
in the last Session, provide that 
No person shall take or kill any woodcock, ruffed 
grouse, commonly called partridge, nor pinnated grouse, 
commonly called prairie chicken, excepting in October, 
November and December, nor any quail, except from 
and after October 20 to and including November and 
December. 
No transportation or possession in close sea.son al- 
lowed. 
No person shall keep any bird or fowl of any kind, 
for the sake of having said bird or fowl shot at for 
sport, gain, the trial of skill of marksmen, or other 
purpose, or to be shot or shot at, at any shooting 
match. No person shall let loose any bird or fowl of 
any kind for the purpose of having such bird or fowl 
shot at for sport. 
No person shall shoot or shoot at any bird or fowl of 
any kind exposed to be shot or shot at. 
Any person violating any provision of this act shall 
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. 
Fish. — Pound and weir or fixed contrivance for catch- 
ing fish to be notified to State Fish Commissioners. 
Smelt, grilse or salmon, caught in pound, etc., under 
nine pounds weight to be returned to water, and notice 
thereof to be sent to Commissioners. 
Owner of pound, etc., or of any seine, etc., used in 
State waters to notify to Commissioners number of shad 
or other edible fish caught between April 15 and 
June 25. 
Size of meshes regulated by Commissioners. 
Setting of nets regulated between April 1 and June 25 
for the protection of shad. 
Nets not to be drawn from Saturday evening to Sun- 
day evening between April 15 and June 25. 
Also, that 
No person shall catch brook trout except with hook 
and line, nor have any trout in possession except from 
April 16 to July 1. 
A SPORTSMEN club was started in Jersey City Heights, 
N. J., under the name of Palisade Sportsmen Club, for 
the protection and propagation of game, and the im- 
proving of sporting dogs. Mr. Richard V. Schmiede- 
berg was elected president, C. F. Tompkins, vice-presi- 
dent, and Justus 'Von Lengerke, secretary. The club 
has adopted the by-laws of the Philadelphia Sportsmen 
Club, with a few alterations. The above club cordially 
Invites all gentlemen sportsmen of Jersey City, Hoboken 
and Bergen, to attend a meeting, which will be held at 
Pohlman’s Hotel, Jersey City Heigths, near the Eleva- 
tor, on October 6, for the purpose of increasing the 
number of members; and as a powerful club is the only 
means to prevent the killing of woodcook in spring in 
that immediate vicinity, it is hoped that other leading 
sportsmen will join and lend a helping hand to this 
club. 
Provtdexce, Sept. 20. 
The good work done by the Rhode Island Fish Commis- 
sioners in stocking our ponds and reservoirs with black 
bass is now beginning to be realized. Last Friday after- 
noon three members of the Game and Fish Protective 
Association, Messrs. Henry T. Root, W. H. McCormick, 
and F. H. Hemperley, started for one of these stocked 
ponds. Taking the train on the Springfield Railroad, 
they spent the night with a very hospitable host, Mr. 
Bellows, of Pascoag, and early on Saturday morning set 
out for the scene of operations. 
The day was very cold and windy, and the bass were 
exceedingly sharp and lively. At four o’clock it was 
time to return, when it was found that the total catch 
of the party was 120 black bass and two striped perch. 
After a hearty supper, supplied by Mrs. Bellows, our 
delighted fishermen returned to the city, with light 
hearts and heavy baskets, and, what was still better, 
they were enabled to furnish the Sunday morning break- 
fast table of upward of a dozen families with nice fried 
bass. 
Let the Fish Commissioners receive their share of the 
credit. H. 
The Vermont Association for the Protection of Fish 
and Game was incorporated at the last session of the 
legislature. At the close of the session a meeting of the 
corporators was held in Montpelier, and Dr. M. Gold- 
smith, of Rutland, was chosen president, and H. N. 
Newell, of Shelburne, secretary, and a committee was 
chosen to draft a constitution and by-laws. This com 
mittee reported at a meeting held in Burlington last 
June, and their report was laid on the table, and the 
meeting was adjourned subject to the call of the presi- 
dent. A meeting for the completion of the organiza- 
tion was called at the ofl[ice of the president, in Rut- 
land, last week, but as there was not a full attendance 
of the corporators, the meeting was adjourned to meet 
at tne Van Ness House, in Burlington, on the 28th of 
October, at 7 o’clock p. m. The president directed the 
members to invite gentlemen who are interested in the 
objects of the association to be present at this meeting. 
Dr. Goldsmith will read a paper, and a very interesting 
meeting is anticipated. It is hoped that there will be a 
full attendance. 
Hartford, Conn., Sept. 20.— The United Saenger, 
Turner and Schutzen Societies had a festival including 
string target shooting with rifles and military guns. 
The Cincinnati Zoological Garden w-as opened 
on Saturday last, with all the ceremoniaes. The Garden 
includes sixty-six acres handsomely laid out, and the 
collection is said to be the best owned by any institu- 
tion in the country. 
Gen. W. E. Strong, of Chicago, and Mr. Wm. T. 
Casgrain, of the Milwaukee, Wis. , Rifle Club, were in 
the city this week looking up matters pertaining to long- 
range rifle practice. Our esteemed friend, Beseler, of 
Owego, not Oswego, was in the office this week looking 
blithe and hearty. We were also honored by personal 
enquiries from Prof. Rice, of Annapolis. Professor 
Baird took a brief respite from duty at Woods Hole, 
and was in New York for a few hours. 
Mr. Charles Scott, of Lexington, Ky., is said to 
have invented a gun which surpasses anything yet 
thought of in the way of destructive power. We omit 
particulars. 
A PARTY started from Denver on a protracted shoot 
in Southern Idaho. Among the number were S. N. 
Wood, Dr. W. A. Williams, Dr. Leman, Wr H. Todd, 
Mr. King, and Mr. Newman. They are equipped with 
rifle and shot gun, rod and line. 
WESTiRW ITEMS. 
Chicago, 1875. 
The Second Regiment Infantry has been lately organ 
ized and made up from independent companies, some 
of which date their organization before the war. It is 
composed of older persons, as a class, than the First, 
most of whom have seen actual service, and could there- 
fore be relied upon in case of an emergency. They 
have just leased an armory, corner Canal and Jackson 
son streets, 75x320 feet, and commenced fitting it up ; 
when finished, not to be excelled by any in the West. 
They are certainly desirous of excelling in drill, disci- 
p'ine and appointments the First, and, judging from 
the attention being given to their meetings by officers 
and men, their success is certain. They have so far, 
asked but little aid from our citizens, waiting un- 
til they are more complete in their numbers and sur- 
roundings. The oflicers of the present organization are 
as follows : 
James Quirk, Acting Major ; J. J. Healy, Acting 
Adjutant ; E. Cuniff, Captain Co. “A.,” about 75 men; 
R. Higgins, Captain Co. “B,” about 90 men ; John 
Murphy, Captain Co. “C," about 100 men ; Co. “D,” 
about 60 men. “E,” “F” and“G” are now form- 
ing. and have about half the number requisite for mus- 
tering. Recruiting will be more rapid, now that their 
armory has been secured, and aid been promised, that 
will attract more attention to them. 
We have in addition to the First and Second Regi- 
ments, some independent companies — one French Com- 
pany, “Guardes Lafayette;” one Italian Company, 
“Alpine Hunters ;” one colored Company, “Hannibal 
Zouaves,” all of whom are well up in tactics. 
The reorganization of the United States Zouave Cadets 
into a club, to perpetuate the name and fame of the old 
Company, may mean more in regard to the future mili- 
tary status of our city than the name seems to imply. 
There are members enough now living that, with a lit- 
tle practice, could win another stand of colors, and keep 
them. Our Militia Laws, at the next session of the 
Legislature, will be improved upon, and many beneficial 
articles added. 
The project of establishing an arsenal in this city is 
being canvassed, and the prcspect looks very favorable. 
The Rifle Company has been thoroughly organized, and 
before another season rolls around will be one of the in- 
stitutions of the city. It numbers among its members 
some of the best shots, and gentlemen who delight in 
experimenting with gunpowder, shot and distance. 
More anon. 6. 
“The climate,” eaya Mr. Shaw, “necesaarily became affected. 
The rainfall came down less certainly, and oftencr in the form of 
thunder torrents. Sine by side with the attacks of the flocks, the 
more subtle and insidions agency of a changing climate came into 
power. The hardy plants of the Karoo commenced to travel north- 
ward, and added their energies to the extirpating of the indigenous 
and proper flora of the region, and being of a bitter and nauseous 
character, they enjoyed immunity, and were only eaten by sheep in 
circumstances of dire necessity. Sweet bush, such as Lyciums, 
vanished before them; and the veld has become what is called by 
the farmers, and indeed is now, a ‘ bitter veld,’ and is rapidly be- 
coming an extension of dreary, scrubby, half -desert Karoo.” Be- 
sides all this, the ground becomes harder, and the perennial springs 
weaker. 
A Bashkir Bee-Hive.— In Bashkir and some other countries west 
of the bouthem Ural, the inhabitants devote themselves almost ex- 
clusively to raising honey, which seems to be carried on with the 
greatest vigor in the governments of Kazan and Onta. There are 
innividuals among the Bashkirs who, besides their bee gardens, pos- 
sess handreds, and sometimes thousands, of wild hee hives in the 
forest. It is only necessary to describe the process in use among 
the Bashkirs, as it is the same which is followed by the other tribes 
that apply themselves to this useful pursuit. It is usnal to prepare 
in the forests a peculiar kind of hive, which the bees spontaneously 
enter, and there deposit their honey. The straightest, strongott 
tiees of the forest are selected, the hardest kind of timber being 
preferred. On these, at the height of 24 to 30 feet above the ground, 
they construct the bee-hive by hollowing out a large, smooth cavity 
in the trunk of the tree, with a tool resembling a chisel. When the 
work is completed the aperture is closed with a board, in which are 
several holes large enough to afford the bees free ingress and egresr. 
The branches below the hive are all cut away to render access by 
bears mure dif&cult. Some measures adopted to secure the hives 
against these, the greatest enemies to bee-keepers there, are very 
curious. The most common contrivance is to insert a number of 
knives, or iron spikes, bent upward, into the trunk of the tree. The 
bear can get up, but in attempting to slide down backward, as they 
do, he seldom escapes with bis life, or at least without being des- 
perately wounded. Some old bears, who have learned bow to use 
these knives and spikes, have been known to loosen or break them 
with their teeth and paws as they went up. Another method is also 
resorted to. A heavy block of wood is suspended before the aper- 
ture of the hive. This block the bear flings from him with increas- 
ing fury, but as oft-n as be does so the block returns and hits hiin 
violent blows on the head. Irritated, the bear Increases hia furious 
assaults, and this Is kept up tlh, exhausted by rage and partly 
stunued by blows, be fans on spikes planted in the ground to re- 
ceive him 
