July 6, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
15 
give a knowledge of the quality of the light, the 
point of aim and the wind that will serve to 
improve the scores in the York. Moreover, the 
short range archers will have something to in¬ 
terest them from the first, and for the spectators 
always more interested in the number of hits 
than in the distance at which they are made, the 
opening will be, more lively. 
To those archers for whom attendance at the 
tournament is necessarily a part of their annual 
vacation trip, no city offers greater inducements 
than Boston. In addition to its objects of his¬ 
toric, literary and artistic interest, it has mag¬ 
nificent beaches within half an hour’s ride or 
an hour’s sail; a park system that embraces 
thousands of acres and includes every variety 
of landscape from densely wooded highlands to 
long stretches of seashore, and a group of out¬ 
lying cities of such peculiar and varied interest 
as Cambridge, Concord, Lexington, Salem, Mar¬ 
blehead and Gloucester. 
Soldiers’ Field, the magnificent Athletic 
ground of Harvard University, is as fine a place 
for a national archery tournament as could. be 
imagined. The space is more than ample for 
even the flight shooting. The surface of the 
field is as level as a billiard table and as green. 
The annual dues are $2, payable not. later 
than Aug. 1. As long as the money remains in 
your pocket, it is doing nothing for the promo¬ 
tion of the success of the coming tournament. 
The moment we receive it we shall put it at 
work in that excellent cause. Send it as soon 
as you can, please; the sooner the better. Those 
who are not members, but desire to join the 
association, will please remit the membership fee 
of $3, together with the dues of $2; $5 in all. 
From most points in the Middle West, spe¬ 
cial vacation rates to Boston are granted during 
the summer months. 
Henry B. Richardson, Pres. 
• Burton Payne Gray, Sec'y-Treas. 
For the Executive Committee. 
Tremont Bldg., Boston, Mass. 
Raising Venison for Market. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
It is a matter of satisfaction to me that a 
law permitting the raising and sale of any 
member of the deer family has been passed by 
the Maryland Legislature and signed by the 
Governor. The business of marketing venison 
may be tried out in this State, where one-third 
of our lands are in forest and scrub. Land can 
be purchased from $3.00 an acre up. 
The Agricultural Department is much in¬ 
terested in having the experiment made with 
elk and other varieties, and I hope that the 
Maryland Agricultural Station will be instructed 
to undertake some experiments in this line. 
The owners of overstocked preserves in 
Pennsylvania and New York might well look 
into the conditions here and transport some of 
their herds to Maryland, where our markets will 
be open to their product. 
W. M. Ellicott. 
Roy Wilson, of Sterling, Ill., shot and 
killed a large gray eagle which he surprised in 
the act of devouring a calf which it had killed 
in a field near his home. The eagle measured 
seven feet three inches from tip to tip of its 
wings. 
Hunting Wild Flowers at Tenafly, N. J. 
By W. G. 
N otwithstanding the lowering skies 
and the frequent light rains on the cold¬ 
est June 15 we have had in sixteen years, 
there was an enthusiastic band of wild flower 
hunters journeyed to Tenafly, N. J., under the 
leadership of Charles Ericson. 
The geology of Tenafly is very different 
from that of Queens, L. I., and is the result of 
an ingenious outbreak .from which we also have 
the famous Palisades. Queens, on the other 
hand, belongs to the ice age and the glacial 
period. It is a terminal morain,- while Tenafly 
owes a debt to volcanic action. 
The first flower observed was the iris in 
full flower. Some persons call it blue flag, while 
others speak of it as fleur-de-lis. It is cross 
fertilized by bees and other insects. Some 
angelica that was found belongs to the plants 
that once had certain domestic vogue as reme¬ 
dies. Angelica in large doses is emetic. Its 
very name is a tribute, to its supposed angelic 
medicinal virtue. At one time angelica was in 
much request for confectionery. The old her- 
bals give it as a wine ingredient. In Lapland, 
where it is also found, it is used to crown poets 
who fancy themselves inspired by its agreeable 
odor. In the language of flowers it signifies in¬ 
spiration. It has been eaten after the fashion 
of celery. 
A large dock that grew nearby was sur¬ 
mounted with tall seed stalks that were far ad¬ 
vanced and almost ready for seed dispersal. The 
seed stalk was red in color instead of the usual 
green. 
A touch of sentiment lurked in the next 
flowers to be found which were forget-me-nots. 
The flowers themselves were exceedingly small, 
but quite blue and carried much of the symbolic 
with them as they went into the botany boxes. 
There are some melancholy myths connected 
with this flower. 
The elderberry bushes were reporting pro¬ 
gress as well as they could. 
A small unobtrusive insect observed on 
one of the wayside plants turned out to be a 
fire-fly. The wonderful phosphorescence of the 
insect, at once the wonder and the despair of 
scientists, with its 100 per cent, of efficiency, of 
course made no manifestation in the sunlight. 
Some flowering dogwood was among the 
botanical spoil. Medicinally dogwood is tonic, 
astringent and slightly aromatic. 
Several ferns were found including the 
royal fern, the marsh fern, the lady fern, and 
the interrupted fern. The interrupted fern gets 
its name from the fact that its leaves seem to 
be interrupted by the spores which come in be¬ 
tween them on the stems. It was an old legend 
that if a person should eat or swallow fern seed, 
this process would induce invisibility. 
The yarrow was in bloom. Its botanical 
name is Achillea millefolium after Achilles, who 
is said to have discovered its healing qualities. 
Yarrow tea has had a reputation in many coun- 
BOWDOIN 
tries among certain people for medicinal virtues. 
The flowers are small and white. 
A rare milkweed was found with curious curly 
leaves. It was not identified by any of the ex¬ 
perts on the trip. Then came a regular forest 
of the Solomon’s Seal in magnificent bloom. 
Solomon’s Seal has been repeatedly found on 
these trips, but never in such masses nor in such 
wild luxuriance. 
Sheep laurel in fine bloom was found. The 
blossoms are in pink with the flower stamens 
half hidden in little pockets. When an insect 
alights upon one of these flowers, one or more 
of these sex instruments are released and minute 
clouds of pollen are thrown about, some of 
which accomplishes the fertilization it is intended 
to accomplish. If the stamens are touched with 
a pin, the pollination process takes place immedi¬ 
ately under the eye of the pin holder. 
Wild roses, frail, but beautiful, were in bud. 
Much of' the district penetrated at Tenafly 
was more or less marshy. Many of the scour¬ 
ing rushes grew profusely. These plants secret 
silex abundantly, and it was from this fact that 
the old-time housewives used them as the ante¬ 
cedents of the more modern scouring powders 
that are now in favor. The garden Deutzia also 
secretes silex that is formed into the most beau¬ 
tiful of crystals, particularly upon the under side 
of the leaves. These show with surprising 
beauty under the microscope. 
A toxic flower that was met with is vari¬ 
ously named water hemlock, spotted cowbane, 
musquash root or beaver poison. The portion 
drunk by Socrates and other philosophers and 
criminals at Athens is thought to have been a 
decoction made from the roots of this plant. 
Another toxic plant found was bitter sweet. 
Some of the plant galls observed in passing, 
according to Dr. Erwin Smith, of the Bureau of 
Plant Pathology, Department of Agriculture, at 
Washington, are analogous to cancer in the 
human family. Dr. Smith has made a long study 
of the galls and has just announced this discovery. 
A single example of the ox-eye daisy or 
farmer’s curse was found. This flower is a 
favorite with children and with artists in spite 
of its name. Some cat-tails were in the grow¬ 
ing by moist places. Only the reedy parts are 
yet observable. Some pepper grass, such as 
Lincoln used to subdue the bully with whom he 
wrestled, grew nearby. Its taste is by no means 
pleasing. Its smart is still less so. 
Some bindweeds were met with, resembling 
morning glories, like which they open with sun¬ 
light and close with dark. Other plants have 
similar habits, but open at varying hours, and 
it is thus possible to construct a flower clock 
by means of which the approximate time of day 
is indicated by the opening of the flower masses 
of which such a clock must be composed. The 
return home began with the flower hunters laden 
with wild azalia, tulip blooms, sundry ferns and 
a ladybug. 
