208 
AMEEICAI^ AGEIOULTUEIST. 
Seth Green and Robert B. Roosevelt Go 
A-fishing. 
KOBEUT BARNWELL ROOSEVELT. 
On the south side of Long Island stretches a 
long, narrow lagoon of salt water, fed from the 
land by innumerable trout brooks pouring their 
sparkling rivulets, scarcely more than a mile apart; 
it is connected with the sea bysevei’al inlets, cut by 
the waves through the narrow beach of low sand 
that separates the bay from tbe ocean. This lagoon, 
■called the Great South Bay, is in reality sixty miles 
long, although it passes under several local names, 
but a boat starting from Rockaway can sail sixty 
miles eastward without going through any but nat¬ 
ural water communications. 
The bay formerly abounded with iish. Here 
weak-tibh, king-fish, blue-tish, slieeps-head, sea bass 
and other species lived and bred, while Spanish 
mackerel, bonito and various migratory kinds vis¬ 
ited it in their season, if they did not deposit their 
•eggs there. They are still fairly numerous, although 
the fishing has been much reduced by the use of 
pound nets in and near the inlets, which not only 
■capture fish in immense numbers but of immature 
size. So Mr. Seth Green, the State Superintendent 
-of Fisheries, and one of the Commissioners, took a 
yacht and set out on an exploring expedition, deter¬ 
mined to investigate the possibilities of the bay. 
I went along to see that they made no mistakes. 
The “ Cinderbeds,” so called from a peculiar 
■coral formation w Inch grows on them, are the fa¬ 
vorite resort of porgies, sea bass and robins or gur¬ 
nards, while small blue-fish are taken in the channel 
by what is called “ chumming.” To the Cinderbeds 
the good yacht Au Revoir flew as fast as the wind 
and our impatience would carry her. We bought 
a hundred clams on the way from one of the work¬ 
ing boats, with which the bay is dotted every work¬ 
ing day in the year, and as soon as we reached our 
destination cast anchor and went to fishing. 
Up came the fish by ones, by twos, by threes, at 
every cast, of all kinds, large and small. The 
yacht’s deck was covered with fish. Fish flopped 
and sparkled in the sun ; fish bounded about the 
cockpit; fish got under your feet; fish hid away in 
the eabin. Baskets and boxes were filled with fish, 
and had it not been for an interruption, the Au Re¬ 
voir would have been loaded down with fish. 
While these two enthusiastic piscatorial artists 
were hard at it, with no signs of giving up, a styl¬ 
ish-looking craft sailed by. It had a signal on 
which was the suggestive figure of a fish, and be¬ 
neath that the word “ Bait,” and the Commissioner 
recognizing it at once as the “ chum-boat,” shouted 
out that he wanted a hundred moss-bunkers. Chum 
is bait, usually moss-bunker, bony-fish or men¬ 
haden, three names for the same creature, chopped 
up fine with a hatchet and thrown overboard from 
time to time, while the fisherman puts larger and 
more alluring pieces on bis hook. The chum gives 
out an oil which floats on the wate.r and attracts 
the blue-tish, white the bait catches them. As the 
menhaden is oily and nasty to handle it is not a 
pleasant or a clean style of fishing, but it is the 
only mode of taking blue-fish which is possible 
within the bay, where sea-w'eed usually runs so 
thickly as to cover a trolling squid faster than it 
could be got out the length of the line, and often 
to interfere greatly with the hook while chumming. 
There is a machine made especially, something on 
the principal of a patent sausage chopper, to grind 
up moss-bunkers into minute pieees, but it gets 
foul if not cleaned carefully, and is not much used 
except by the owners of boats, that make a busi¬ 
ness of taking parties out blue-fishing, so that it is 
called into employment daily. 
Probably no two more discordantly harmonious 
elements eould be brought together than the Super¬ 
intendent and the Commissioner. Each has the 
firm conviction that v/hat he does not know about 
fishing is not only not w'orth knowing but does not 
exist. They are both so calmly convinced of this 
fact, and securely set in their ways, that they ut¬ 
terly ignore not alone the suggestions of the out¬ 
side fishing world, but also of one another. Strange 
as it may seem, they are widely at variance, and 
even though they may be for the first time essaying 
a style of fishing that they have never tried before, 
as was the case with Mr. Green in this instance, 
they are firmly convinced that they know more 
about it than one who has followed it for a lifetime. 
So while the Commissioner was satisfied to put on a 
gut leader that the professionals would have as¬ 
sured him the blue-fish wmuld take off at the first 
bite, the Superintendent rigged a wonderful gang 
of small hooks, such as was never seen by the un¬ 
sophisticated inhabitants of the Great South Bay in 
their lives before. The chumming having gone on 
by the boatmen for a short time, the fishing began. 
Scienee was too mueh for the finny tribe and they 
simply gave up, resistance under the circumstances 
was a work of supererogation. The odds against 
them were too overwhelming, and they opened 
their mouths and swallowed their fate and the 
hooks together. It was impossible to tell which 
of the anglers caught the most fish where both 
were taking them all the time. Bright, shining, 
gleaming blue-fish came over the stern so fast 
that they seemed like a long streak of silvery sun¬ 
light rather than mere fish. If there were fish ga¬ 
lore before, they were more galore now, they were 
indeed too galore. They were becoming a nui¬ 
sance, and as there was no evidence that either of 
the contemplative anglers had the slightest intent 
of stopping, the only question remaining was how 
long it would be before the yacht sank under her 
augumenting load. Fortunately at this point of 
time dinner was announced, and the alaerity with 
which they laid down their lines, was only equalled 
by the enthusiasm with which they had used them, 
while the amount of dinner they consumed visibly 
lightened the vessel again. The meal was late, and 
before it was despatched the tide had turned, and 
the fish had left, for they rarely bite during more 
than one tide. So the party devoted themselves to 
salting down the prey which they had secured, and 
of which there was more than they could use. 
Tall Pea-Vines.—A Substitute for Brush. 
While there are very good peas with dwarf 
vines, all pea-lovers will agree that the perfection 
of peas is to be found in the Champion of Eng¬ 
land, and perhaps one or two equally tall growers. 
While they are so excellent upon the table, they 
cost a great deal of trouble to produce them, es¬ 
pecially in localities where brush is diffleult to pro¬ 
cure. After trying pea-hurdles and other devices 
of sticks and strings, we have found no substitute 
for brush equal to a wire trellis, suggested by one 
of our correspondents several years ago. This we 
have since had in use each season, and by proper 
care in storing it will last for many years to come. 
The peas are sown in double rows six inches apart. 
At each end of the double row is placed a stout 
post, six inches in diameter, which may be round 
or half-round. This should be placed three feet 
in the ground, with the soil well rammed around 
its foot, and be as tall as the variety requires, four 
to six feet. The wire used is galvanized iron. No. 
18, which runs about one hundred and fifty feet to 
the pound. The trellis is put up by stretching the 
wire in double strands, separated by the thickness 
of the end posts. The first or lowest wires are 
stretched about six inches from the ground, the 
successive strands at intervals of every eight or 
ten inches above. Instead of cutting the wire as 
each two strands are placed, it is well to take a few 
turns around the post to the place for the next 
strands, and thus keep the w’ire all in one piece. 
The wires, when loaded with vines, will sag, and 
should be supported every twelve or fifteen feet, 
by the use of laths or other strips, in which notches 
are sawed to hold the wires. If the row’s are over 
three hundred feet in length, it will be well to 
have another post midway, around which a turn is 
taken with the wire. By stretching the wires as the 
vines need them, and when the crop is oil care¬ 
fully coiling them and storing the wires with the 
posts securely under cover for another season, the 
culture of the tall kinds of peas is greatly simplified. 
[Mat, 
A Wagon Brake. 
The automatic brake illustrated herewith is 
much quicker made, more simple, just as good— 
and even better in some respects—than the one de- 
stribed in the February Agiricu/lwisi, p. 
49. It can be made by any one in fifteen minutes. 
Take a piece of hard plank an inch and a half or 
two inches thiek, of the required length; noteh 
one end to fit the axle, and sharpen the other end. 
Pass a stout leather strap around the axle, nailing ‘ 
each end to the edges of the plank. The end on 
the ground may be spiked if desired, but it answers 
very well without it. T. C. R. I 
Thinning in the Garden. 
The novice in gardening matters rarely gives liis 
plants, especially his roots, sufldcient room. He 
can not see why he should sow twenty or more 
seeds for every plant that comes to perfection. If 
we were to dibble in a single carrot seed every six 
inches in a row, it is probable that vei-y few of 
them w’ould appear as plants. A large number of 
seeds are sow'n in order that, by their united effort, 
in germination, they may break through the soil 
and allow enough plants to see the light to make 
a stand. After the plants are up, then comes the 
thinning, and we cut out with the hoe a large num¬ 
ber of beets, parsnips, etc., and finally leave one 
in a place at intervals of six inches to a foot, ac¬ 
cording to the variety. Onions seem to do well if 
left in little clusters to crowd one another, and 
Joseph Harris says that this is the best treatment 
for the short kinds of carrots. But these are ex¬ 
ceptions, and as a rule the more room roots have, 
the quicker they will grow and the more tender 
they will be. Take spinach, for example, though 
not a root, it needs judicious thinning. The first 
thinning may leave the plants two or three inches 
apart in the row ; a second time, the plants may be 
left six inches apart, then every other plant may 
be taken for use, and the final cutting of well de¬ 
veloped plants will be the best of all. Salsify, at 
best a small root, may be had much larger than 
we usually see it, and more convenient for the 
cook, by giving it room. As a rule, our garden 
crops are too much crowded for the best results. 
A Wheel Horse-Hitch. 
A method of fastening together the hind and 
forward wheels of a vehicle to restrain an attached 
horse, is shown in the accompanying engraving. 
It consists of a piece of hard-wood with an iron j 
hook in each end. One hook passes around the ! 
felloe of the hind wheel, and the other hooks upon j 
the front wheel. Both wheels are thus kept from j 
turning, and this will be an effective check upon a | 
horse inclined to start off when left standing. The 
device, as show’n above, is small and may be 
kept in the wagon-box close at hand when needed. 
