Oct. 13, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
573 
A Trip io the Berkshires. 
Your correspondent left Boston on Tuesday, 
Sept. 20, going via Fitchburg in order to see 
some friends in Greenfield, where he passed the 
night. The secretary of* the Greenfield Sports¬ 
man’s Club, Mr. O’Hara, favored me with a 
call and gave nte some interesting facts in refer¬ 
ence to the fish and game conditions, and to¬ 
gether we made a call on Mr. Obadiah Pierce, 
the president of the club, at his store. The next 
morning I had a pleasant interview with Col. 
Fred Pierce, an active member of the club, at 
the post office, over which he is the presiding 
genius. Two years ago, when I was a guest 
of the club at its annual game dinner, the 
colonel officiated as toastmaster in a very happy 
manner. Later I had a pleasant interview with 
Dr. L. A. Newton, who told me he felt just as 
much interest in the welfare of the club as when 
he was its president in 1905. 
I had hoped to see Mr. Charles C. Russell, 
who was president at the time of my first visit 
to the club in, 1903, but, unfortunately, he was 
out of town. I learned that several members 
of the club, unable to wait for the opening of 
the season on woodcock and ruffed grouse in 
Massachusetts, had made trips across the border 
into Vermont, where they found a fair number 
of birds. The club is putting aside a small sum 
each month with the intention of some day 
having a club house. The secretary expressed 
some disappointment over the failure of many 
members to turn out at recent meetings, but 
others with whom I conversed seemed to think 
the interest in meetings would revive with the 
advent of the hunting season and cooler weather. 
In years past the club has held an annual game 
supper in the early part of winter, on which 
occasions all the meat courses have consisted 
exclusively of game. It was on one of these 
occasions that the late Captain Collins de¬ 
clared that “if it were not for the existence of 
such organizations the work of the fish and 
game commission would amount to very little." 
The captain had learned by long and varied ex¬ 
perience the importance of correct public senti¬ 
ment, such as the protective clubs help to de¬ 
velop. He had observed the result of their 
combined efforts in securing salutary legisla¬ 
tion, and his whole heart and soul were in full 
sympathy with the purposes and aspirations of 
the true sportsmen of the commonwealth. 
On Wednesday I passed through the Hoosac 
Tunnel on my way to North Adams, arriving 
there in time to call on Mr. E. H. Pratt, the 
secretary of the gun club, before dinner. In the 
afternoon Mr. Pratt escorted me by electric to 
Adams, where we found Mr. Sayles, who in turn 
took 11s to the trout hatchery, a mile or so front 
the town and where we met Dr. Burton, who 
has charge of it. As there are no retaining 
ponds connected with the hatchery, no finger- 
lings can be reared there and at this season 
there are no fish in the tanks. The water used 
comes from a spring in the hillside in the rear 
of the hatchery. Mr. Sayles expressed the 
opinion that the hatchery might be developed 
into a rearing station for fingerling and adult 
trout. 
The ride from North Adams through the 
valley is one of the things to be remembered. 
North Adams is not as old a city as Pittsfield, 
hut its situation among the mountains is ex¬ 
tremely picturesque. Late in the afternoon I 
took a run to Pittsfield by rail, and in the even¬ 
ing had a pleasant call from Mr. Joseph H. 
Wood, whom your readers will remember as 
one of the members of the Massachusetts Cen¬ 
tral Committee for protection of fish and game. 
On Thursday forenoon Mr. Wood, in com¬ 
pany with Mr. J: M. Stevenson, a veteran of 
the Pittsfield club, who in years gone by has 
done much for fish and game interests in Massa¬ 
chusetts, took me for an automobile ride of 
several miles to and around Lakes Onota and 
Pontoosuc, two very beautiful sheets of watei 
within the limits of the mountainous plateau 
within the confines of which the city of Pittsfield 
is situated. About these lakes have been built 
many summer cottages, occupied by a substantial 
class of people front, Pittsfield and elsewhere. 
Passing through Lanesborough, my com¬ 
panions pointed out the farmhouse where Josh 
Billings was born and in which he passed the 
last days of his life. A country with greater 
diversity of scenery it would be difficult to find 
anywhere in New England. Of the numerous 
NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU. 
Photo by Dr. S. T. Davis (Shongo). 
mountains stately Graylock, to be seen from 
many points, dominates all the others. 1 re¬ 
gretted to learn from Messrs. Wood and Stevens 
that the stocking of the lakes by the Massa¬ 
chusetts Commission had proved barren of re¬ 
sult. ' It was also noticeable that the streams 
were very low, and doubtless not a few of the 
trout in the upper reaches of the mountain 
brooks have perished for lack of water. This 
destruction of fish by drought, it seems to me, 
might be prevented in part at least by providing 
a few pools on each stream in which the trout 
would naturally find a retreat. 
The North Adams Meeting. 
On Friday evening, the 21st, a good number 
of sportsmen gathered in the parlor of the 
Wilson House for a conference on matters per¬ 
taining to fish and game interests. Mr. Pratt 
had sent out circulars to members of the gun 
club and others, and the gentlemen who re¬ 
sponded by their presence exhibited much en¬ 
thusiasm, entering earnestly into the discussion 
of various topics. Mr. J. M. Van Huyck ex¬ 
hibited his interest in the cause by making the 
trip from Lee. and urged all those present to 
co-operate with the state commissioners in their 
efforts to keep up the supply of fish in the 
streams and of the game birds and animals in 
the covers. 
Dr. Gadsby, of North Adams, who was made 
chairman of the meeting, exhibited much tact 
in getting nearly every one present to express 
his views on various topics. The writer was 
especially interested in the discussion relative 
to the legal limit of length of trout. Many of 
your readers know that some of our Berkshire 
friends have contended that in many streams 
anglers can get no six-inch trout, and there¬ 
fore the fixing of the limit at six inches is 
virtual prohibition of trout fishing. Anglers 
of some other western counties have considered 
it unfair that Berkshire should have a lower 
limit than prevailed in other counties. But 
there has not been a complete agreement among 
Berkshire anglers, some of them being in favor 
of the six-inch limit. This difference of opinion 
was apparent in the meeting. Dr. Rice argued 
that the large trout, being the breeding fish, 
should not be taken. In his opinion the streams 
would hold out better if the small fish only were 
allowed to be caught. Others thought from 
their experience on the brooks since the passage, 
of the six-inch law that there was a noticeable 
improvement in the fishing. In reply to an in¬ 
quiry as to what view the sportsmen of the 
eastern part of the state take on this question, I 
was compelled to say it had never been an issue 
among the anglers of the eastern portion of the 
state. I do not remember to have heard the 
subject seriously discussed at any meeting of 
the state association. I do believe, however, 
that when our sportsmen take very small trout 
they almost invariably return them to the water, 
unless they are so hooked that they would not 
live if put back. 
When the late Mr. Phinney, president of the 
Lynn Fish and Game Protective Association, 
was a member of the Fish and Game Com¬ 
mittee of the Legislature, as well as of the 
Legislative Committee of the Clubs, he took 
the ground that the western counties ought to 
be able to settle the matter among themselves. 
I am sure Captain Collins held the opinion that 
the six-inch limit was of some use as a pro¬ 
tection to the fish, and probably that opinion 
is held by our commissioners at the present 
time, although they realize that its enforcement 
is almost impossible without the right of search 
on the part of wardens. The sportsmen should 
not relax their efforts to secure the bestowment 
of such power on game wardens as will render 
their efforts effective. As one of the board re¬ 
cently said to the writer “With a right-of- 
search law the present force would accomplish 
twice as much at it does now.” 
Another subject upon which there is a com¬ 
mon agreement in all parts of the state is the 
necessity for the planting of fingerling (or 
yearling) trout instead of fry. 
One of the Pittsfield sportsmen who came 
over to attend the meeting was Mr. Graves, who 
said he was always pleased to compare his 
opinions with those of others, and ever glad of 
an opportunity to learn something new. 
An account of the meeting at Lenox on Fri¬ 
day evening must be deferred till next week. 
H. H. Kimball. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
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supply you regularly. 
WHERE QUALITY IS FIRST. 
Campers and sportsmen who demand the best should 
note that the equipment of every scientific and exploring 
expedition for the past fifty years has included a supply 
of Borden's Eagle Brand Condensed Milk. Keeps ’.n any 
climate and under all conditions. The original and lead¬ 
ing brand since 1S57.— Adv.. 
