312 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company 
Chas. A. Hazen, President Charles L. Wise, Treasurer 
Howard Palmer, Vice-President W. a. Beecroft, Secretary 
22 Thames Street, New York. 
CORRESPONDENCEForest and Stream is the re¬ 
cognized medium of entertainment, instruction and in¬ 
formation between American sportsmen. The editors 
invite communications on the subjects to which its pages 
are devoted, but, of course, are not responsible for the 
views of correspondents. Anonymous communications 
cannot be regarded. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS: $3 a year; $1.50 for six months; 
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This paper may be obtained of newsdealers throughout 
the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Foreign 
Subscriptions and Sales Agents—London: Davies & Co., 
1 Finch Lane; Sampson, Low & Co. Paris: Brentano’s. 
Entered in New York Post Office as Second class matter. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful interest 
in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate a refined 
taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873 
BEST TIME OF DAY IN CAMP. 
What is the best time of day in camp? The 
answer depends perhaps on temperament and en¬ 
vironment. To many, the early morning brings 
the keenest enjoyment. He who is ever fortu¬ 
nate enough to push aside the flap of the tent 
and gaze on the growing splendor of the dawn— 
to witness the first coming of the sun over the 
nearby hill, and the reflection of his rays on the 
mirror-like lake, with the added magic touch that 
turns every dewdrop into a diamond fairer than 
ever came from the earth—has seen something 
that will hang long on memory’s wall. To de¬ 
scribe a mountain sunrise, or endeavor to paint 
the picture of a new day over an island-gemmed 
lake is futile. Shakespeare knew how to do it. 
We can well imagine that the gorgeous passages 
touching on the dawn that stand out like the 
swell of music in his plays were but reminiscences, 
and the impressions that thrilled the soul of a 
Warwick country lad. 
In a more material sense, morning in camp is 
part of the day one does not forget. The feeling 
of exhilaration following the sound rest, the blue 
smoke from the fire curling upward against the 
green pines, the smell of the frying bacon and 
the odors of the breakfast anxiously awaited, are 
worth while. The tang of the morning air, the 
cleanness of the crystaline atmosphere, the sud¬ 
den shock following the plunge in the lake — all 
these make mere existence a joy. How good tlm 
fire feels, too, as one extends his hands over it 01 
presents the surface of a flannel-covered back 
to its kindly warmth. 
Noon is good in camp, but slightly somnolent. 
The sun is shimmering over the water, the birds 
have hushed their morning ecstasy, and one 
feels at peace with himself and the world. Noon 
is reflective; the morning is mspirative. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
But what of the evening, when the day’s work 
is done and the sun has disappeared over the 
brow of the pine clad mountain, leaving a riot of 
color in the sky, and painting on the surface of 
the water strange harmonies in tints that never 
will be conveyed to canvas? The homely little 
preparations around the camp for evening, the 
gathering together of kindred spirits, the discus¬ 
sion of the day's doings, the passing of the inno¬ 
cent joke and even the harmless horseplay of the 
more exuberant spirits—these also are worth while. 
To not a few, nevertheless, the best part of the 
day, to use a Hibernicism, is the middle of the 
nig-ht. Aroused by some strange noise, caused by 
the movements of the various “small deer” that 
have their habitation near and out of curiosity 
come to see what strange manner of mortals 
have invaded their territory, one throws aside his 
warm blanket and steps out to look upon the 
lovely golden glow of the moon in full splendor. 
The scene is softer than sunlight, but almost as 
distinct, and incomparably more beautiful. If 
the moon be lacking, her beauty is surpassed by 
the diamond studded heavens. The sweep of the 
constellations and the far flung banner of the 
Milky Way give one with startling distinctness an 
impression of the majesty and the mystery of 
nature that will never depart. 
Still, if we were asked to decide which is the 
best time of the day in camp, we would answer 
simply and truthfully, all time and any time, from 
the coming up of the sun to the going down 
thereof, and the long velvety night between. 
GAME LAWS “IN HIS HEART." 
A valued correspondent of Forest and Stream, 
writing of conditions in his locality, puts the 
whole question of game conservation in a nut 
shell when he says, “After all, the game laws 
are only in a man’s heart.” The real sportsman 
is not restrained from hunting or fishing before 
or after certain dates by fear of arrest or fine. 
He appreciates the fact that statutory enactments 
regulating seasons are merely common sense ap¬ 
proximations, derived from experience, and 
based on an endeavor to preserve wild life, so 
that the people may continue to enjoy and use a 
property that is peculiarly their own. The idea 
that some stern mandate has been imposed to re¬ 
strict him from reasonable enjoyment never en¬ 
ters his mind. 
Game laws do not mean that trout are not fit 
for eating until after an arbitrarily fixed date, or 
that partridge or deer are equally valueless until 
the law says they are good. If either of these 
premises represented actual fact there would be 
no need for game laws, for nature already would 
have provided them. So those of us who believe 
in reasonable regulation, or who appreciate the 
necessity of restraint for the sake of conserva¬ 
tion, do not really need game laws, although it is 
well that none should start before a commonly 
agreed date has been fixed, and that all should 
stop at the same time. It is best that the law 
should fix these seasonal limitations. 
Aside from the need of legislation for the pur¬ 
poses named, it is unfortunately true that a cer¬ 
tain element of society looks upon fishing, the 
chase and the taking of wild life as an enjoyment 
to be partaken of selfishly, or as a means of live¬ 
lihood, regardless of the rights of others. To 
this class game laws apply in the literally inter¬ 
preted sense, with restraint enforced by penal 
possibilities. Under gradually increasing effi¬ 
ciency of the administration of these laws, we 
shall soon be able to write actualities where pos¬ 
sibilities is now the strongest word that can be 
employed. 
Hasten the date when this will be true—when 
every open or overt breaking of game laws will 
be followed by the same swift apprehension that 
befalls the individual who assaults the person of 
his neighbor or takes his property. A game law 
violator is really in the same class as a burglar, 
for the latter takes only the property of an indi¬ 
vidual, or a part of the community, whereas a 
game law violator takes property owned by the 
whole state. 
INVESTIGATING DUCK DISEASE. 
The disease which has killed many thousand 
ducks on Tulare and Buena Vista lakes, Califor¬ 
nia, is probably due to a mineral or organic con¬ 
stituent of the lake water, according to prelimi¬ 
nary report just issued by the California com¬ 
mission. The investigations are being carried on 
by Frank C. Clarke, of the University of Cali¬ 
fornia. 
As the symptoms indicated a slow poisoning 
of some kind, the report says, and as no disease- 
producing organs could be located in the blood 
nor grown on agar, it was decided to carry on 
some experiments to determine if the water of 
Tulare Lake possessed the ingredients which 
were responsible for the malady. The fish- 
carp, perch, bass and catfish—of which the lake 
had a great abundance at one time, all died prior 
to the summer just past, the water becoming too 
stagnant for their existence. 
At present analyses of the water and gases of 
the lake are being made and experiments are be¬ 
ing carried out to confirm or refute the conclu¬ 
sions regarding this duck disease. Some time 
will be required before all this data can be ob¬ 
tained. 
PAY $5,500 FOR WILD FOWL. 
Suits based on the complaint that black and 
mallard ducks trapped in Virginia and brought 
to Little Falls for breeding purposes were re¬ 
crated and shipped to Goshen, where they were 
reshipped to hotels and restaurants, elicited a 
fine of $5,500 from the Franco-American Poultry 
Company, which has farms at Little Falls, N. J., 
and Goshen, N. Y. The original suits, brought 
by the New Jersey commission, were to recover 
penalties aggregating $80,000, but a compromise 
was reached. The fine was paid by John V. Sny¬ 
der, one of the officials of the company. The 
complaint mentioned twenty-seven separate ship¬ 
ments of black and mallard ducks from Little 
Falls to Goshen between December 2, 1912, and 
January 9, 1913, with a total of about 4,000 birds. 
August Silz and other officials of the Franco- 
American Poultry Company were fined $20,000 
in New York state recently for importing the 
game birds from Little Falls to Goshen. 
It isn’t the advertising which appears in the 
most publications which pays the highest profit, 
but that which is given sufficient space in the 
publications whose contents are absorbed—whose 
advertising is assimilated by the greatest number 
of buying-believing people. 
