Feb. I, 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
139 
North Carolina Notes. 
Hendersonville, N. C, Jan. 26.— Editor 
Forest and Stream: The deer shooting season 
closed on Dec. 15. Few deer were killed this 
season, as far as 1 have heard. The chief rea¬ 
son being that black tongue killed so many the 
past summer and early fall that many sports¬ 
men did not hunt them, and the owners of large 
preserves allowed no hunting, wishing to give 
the deer some rest to recover from this dread 
disease. In this I think they were wise. 
The hres in our mountains in November did 
some damage, but to what extent I do not know; 
doubtless the damage was great. We have had 
v'ery little rain, and the woods were very dry. 
In November I went to Murphy, the capital 
of Cherokee county, and thence on the mail 
wagon over the mountains to Hayesville, Clay 
county. The smoke from the fires was every¬ 
where, and so much so that it appeared like 
a dense fog. I saw the fires even to the banks 
of the Tuckassegee River in the dark from 
the train windows as we sped along. The deepest 
snow I ever saw fall in our mountain country 
in the month of November came and checked 
the fires. No doubt fires were started at many 
points purposely, and it was said that detectives 
were sent to trace, if possible, the sources from 
which they were started, but I have heard noth¬ 
ing more as to this. It was reported that in 
the Pisgah forest estate fires were set to run 
the deer out to outlying territory that they might 
be shot. As a check against fires in the valley 
of the pink beds, “ways” were cut across through 
the dense thickets of kalmia some thirty to fifty 
feet wide quite straight and at intervals of sev¬ 
eral hundred feet, so that men could stop fires 
in the cleared-out “ways” or spaces. All the 
undergrowth had been removed, so that there 
would be little for fire to feed on. This I noticed 
when on a very enjoyable camping trip several 
years ago. These dense thickets of kalmia are 
called by the mountain folk “laurel thickets” and 
also “ivy thickets.” 
The kalmia is a mass of pink in the late 
spring and early summer, hence the name “pink 
beds.” Later on the rhododendron comes out 
in large clusters of pure white. This whole 
mountain country is in pink dress in the early 
warm season. But we have a kalmia, as you 
drive down the Reedy Patch Gap, that I noticed 
is quite light in color, really white, and in the 
Green River valley a small variety of rhodo¬ 
dendron in small clusters perfectly white and 
quite a small, rather blunt-pointed, leaf of a 
much lighter green; and on Stone Mountain, 
west of Pisgah, apparently the same variety, but 
very low bushes. In mid-summer the giant kind 
is in full bloom—a perfectly white bloom in 
large clusters. Again in certain localities we 
have still another in large clusters of a very 
bright color. This, too, has a small blunt leaf 
of a much lighter green color. I have seen the 
same colored blooms in very small clusters also. 
These last two are not to be seen every¬ 
where, as is the kalmia. The mountains are a 
vast succession of pink groups when the kalmia 
is in full bloom. I have seen the giant variety 
of rhododendron fifteen or twenty feet high. 
The kalmia does not grow so high, but is in vast 
quantities. Unfortunately for me I am not a 
botanist, yet I haye been in the mountains of 
this section a great deal the past forty-five years 
and have seen many changes during this time. 
The acquiring of the Pisgah forest large boun¬ 
dary by Geo. W. Vanderbilt has been the means 
of conserving the deer at least. But for this 
very few deer would be in these woods at all. 
This is shown by other mountain sections not 
protected. For instance, on a trip to the Plott 
Balsam, near Waynesville, which I made several 
years ago, not even a track was seen anywhere, 
and the tops of those wild mountains reach up 
to over 6,200 feet. I saw one ruffed grouse on 
that trip; no other game. 
Our Legislature is in convention and once 
more we are going to try for a sane game 
law, with sportsman’s license, for the whole 
State, and shall put out of commission at least 
some of the foolish laws now in force. 
I shall in due time report what is accom¬ 
plished. Ernest L. Ewbank. 
California Sociely Formed to Preserve 
Game. 
BY GOLDEN GATE. 
At a meeting held in November at the head¬ 
quarters of the Sierra Club in the Mills Build¬ 
ing, San Francisco, the California Associated So¬ 
cieties for the Conservation of Wild Life was 
organized, the new organization being made up 
of the Sierra Club, the Tamalpais Conservation 
Club, the State Humane Association, the Cooper 
Ornithological Club, the Paleontological Society 
of the Pacific Coast, the San Francisco Society 
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the 
California Academy of Sciences and the Cali¬ 
fornia State Audubon Society, the combined 
membership of these being more than 9000. 
William F. Bade, of the Sierra Club, was elected 
President; W. P. Taylor, of the Cooper Orni¬ 
thological Club, was elected Secretary, and an 
executive committee chosen as follows: Prof. 
Joseph Grinnell, of the State University; Ernest 
Schaffle, Secretary of the Fish and Game Com¬ 
mission ; W. Leon Dawson, author of “Birds of 
California”; J. H. Cutter, L. L. Burlingame, 
Matthew McCurrie and Bruce Martin. 
The organization advocates: 
The abolition of county game laws, except 
where a county desires to extend restrictive 
measures and encouragement of a strong cen¬ 
tralized administration of game laws by the Fish 
and Game Commission. 
The shortening of the season on certain game 
birds and the placing of certain birds not con¬ 
sidered game birds on the protected list; also a 
reduction in the bag limit. 
A law providing for the protection of the 
bear, raccoon, mink, badger, marten, otter, red 
wolf, wolverine, skunk and ring-tailed cat dur¬ 
ing all seasons except during the winter months 
when the fur is prime or when private property 
is endangered. 
A law prohibiting the sale of any American- 
killed wild game in California, jack rabbits being 
excepted. 
The abolition of game districts as at present 
outlined within the State, and if necessary a re¬ 
districting according to life zones and faunal 
areas. 
A law for the establishment of State game 
refuges. 
A law for the breeding of game in captivity 
and the sale of such game under license. 
A law placing the assistants and game war¬ 
dens of the Fish and Game Commission on a 
civil service basis. 
California Game Notes. 
San Francisco, Cal., Dec. 28 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: In recent numbers of your es¬ 
teemed publication I have read of the methods 
used by State and local officials in informing 
the “public” as to fish and game laws, the rea¬ 
sons for their observance, etc., and have thought 
that the work of the California Fish and Game 
Commission along similar lines might be of some 
interest and value to your readers. 
Lhider separate cover I am mailing you a 
number of booklets, folders and notices which 
I have numbered for identification : 
No. I, which we call the “abstract,” is prob¬ 
ably the most effective thing of its kind used 
in our State. Three hundred and twenty-five 
thousand copies have been printed since the ad¬ 
journment of the last Legislature, and a copy 
given to each hunter and market fisherman in 
the State at the time his license for the year 
was purchased. In addition, thousands have 
been received by people who had already worn 
out “abstracts” previously obtained, and other 
thousands have been used in schools for the 
instruction of the pupils, have been tacked up 
in livery stables, hotels,' bar-rooms, garages, 
country saloons and otherwise given publicity. 
The California sportsman who goes into the 
field without one of these little folders is an 
exception. 
No. 2, of which 12,500 have been printed 
in the last two years, is intended for posting 
only. It is prominently displayed in the office 
of every county clerk (the hunting license 
sellers in this State) on every railroad station 
blackboard, in every one of the 1,500 stores of 
dealers in ammunition and fishing tackle, 5 n 
every country resort, in most postoffices, and 
in hundreds of other public and semi-public 
places. 
Because of the expense of compilation and 
publication, only 8,000 copies of the “law book¬ 
let” (No. 3) have been distributed. These have 
