176 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Aug. io, 1912 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
Charles Otis, President. 
\\. G. Beecroft, Secretary. S. J. Gibson, Treasurer. 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
CORRESPOXDENCE- Forest and Stream is the 
recognized 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; 
co P^' Canadian, $4 a year; foreign, $4.50 a year. 
, 1 “ IS . Paper may be obtained of newsdealers throughout 
the United States,^ Canada and Great Britain. Foreign 
oubseription and Sales Agents—London: Davies & Co., 
1 r inch Lane; Sampson, Low & Co. Paris: Brentano’s. 
ADA ERTISE3JE1VTS: Display and classified, 20 cts. 
per agate line ($2.80 per inch). There are 14 agate lines to 
tne inch. Covers and special positions extra. Five 
ten and twenty per cent, discount for 13, 26 and 52 inser¬ 
tions, respectively, within one year. Forms close Monday 
in advance of publication date. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful in¬ 
terest in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate 
a refined taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
THE HIGH COST OF MEAT. 
The Farmers’ Bulletin, just issued by the 
United States Department of Agriculture, covers 
a subject that ultimately will have a direct bear¬ 
ing on the reduction in cost of living. It tells 
the farmer how to exterminate the Texas fever 
tick, so destructive to cattle. Another cause of 
the raise in price of beef is brought to light in 
the taking up of the Western cattle ranges by 
homesteaders, resulting in a shortage in the supply 
of beef cattle for consumption by the millions of 
people largely dependent upon cattle grown in 
that region, causing a rise in price of steers at 
the great abattoirs of the country, and a decided 
increase of cost of meat to the consumer in cities. 
Naturally, also, it has caused both the growers 
and buyers to look about for fresh pastures for 
the herds upon which their prosperity and busi¬ 
ness depends. 
The Secretary of Agriculture years ago saw 
the inevitable crisis and turned his attention to 
providing ample sustenance for the stock needed 
to supply the market, and which could no longer 
be furnished by the West. 
The locality was found in the South and 
Southwest, but that country was infested with an 
insect that made cattle raising unprofitable, if not 
impossible. So, for the past six years, the Bureau 
of Animal Industry at Washington has been con¬ 
ducting tick eradication work in all but one of 
the States of the infested region in co-operation 
with the State authorities, and has freed 162,648 
square miles of the Texas fever tick and relieved 
that area of the restrictions placed by national 
quarantine on the shipment of cattle to other sec¬ 
tions. 
In a considerable additional area the work 
of eradication is well under way, but the territory 
already freed exceeds the combined areas of 
Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. The eradica¬ 
tion of the cattle tick is of prime importance to 
the agricultural interests of the infested section, 
but the benefits resulting therefrom would not 
be confined to them; in fact, it would be enjoyed 
to a great extent by the rest of the country. 
The progress so far made in the co-operative 
campaign by the Department and the State au¬ 
thorities demonstrates that it is entirely possible 
to accomplish the complete elimination of the 
cattle tick, although a number of years of hard 
work will be required to free the entire country 
of this pest. 
It is of great importance that the efforts of 
the officials should be supplemented by the farm¬ 
ers, and to this end this Farmers’ Bulletin was 
issued, giving “Methods of Exterminating the 
Texas Fever Tick" in a practical manner that 
can be utilized by the farmer or stockman who 
has already begun or who contemplates under¬ 
taking the complete extermination of this pest 
from his farm. 
These methods may be improved upon as 
new facts become available, but they have already 
reached such a degree of perfection and have 
been given such wide practical tests that the main 
part of the task is to enlist a hearty, vigorous and 
conscientious co-operation on the part of the 
people—in other words, the work will progress 
from now on just as rapidly as the people desire 
it should and no faster. 
SILVER OR WHITE BASS. 
The return of silver bass in waters where 
they have not been captured in many years is 
the subject of jubilant articles in various news¬ 
papers of New York State. Enthusiasts of 
the rod and gun may well hail this intelligence 
with delight, because the silver bass, or white 
bass, affords the sportsman much pleasure, and 
is a toothsome dish. The Conservation Com¬ 
mission of New York State proposes to give this 
gleaming member of the bass family more atten¬ 
tion than this worthy fish has received at the 
hands of the State authorities heretofore. The 
commission hopes soon to propagate this valu¬ 
able species in large numbers when the proper 
pond facilities are available. State Fish Culturist 
Bean says of the silver bass: 
“The fish is more generally known as white 
bass, and it is a near relative of the celebrated 
striped bass of our sea coasts. It may be readily 
distinguished by its lengthwise blackish streaks 
on the side, which are eight or more in num¬ 
ber. The body is deeper than in the striped bass. 
The general color is silvery tinged with gold on 
the sides. 
“The white bass abounds in the region of 
the Great Lakes. In Oneida Lake the Conserva¬ 
tion Commission collected more than 700 of the 
fish recently in gathering black bass for its 
breeding ponds at Constantia. The fish has been 
introduced into many lakes in which it was not 
native. The white bass prefers the deeper parts 
of rivers, and is also well adapted for lakes and 
ponds. It is said to be a good fish for artificial 
pond culture. It spawns in April and May near 
the shore or in the river mouths. 
“This bass swims in schools while feeding or 
migrating and thus becomes a ready prey to the 
angler. It is caught with the fly or with a min¬ 
now, and it will bite freely in the night. It is 
not unusual to score a hundred white bass in 
a few hours. It feeds naturally upon minnows, 
crayfish and other fresh water Crustacea, small 
mollusks and the young of fishes. A white bass 
one foot long will weigh about one pound. In 
the Ouachita River, Arkansas, it is said to reach 
the weight of five pounds. It is one of the best 
of food and game fishes.” 
A HOBBY. 
How fortunate it is to have a hobby, and how 
unfortunate is a man or woman without one. 
Whether* the hobby be gardening, carpentering, 
shooting, golf, fishing, music, painting, boating, 
or what not, the effect is much the same—the 
mind is concentrated upon a subject foreign to 
the day’s work and the evening’s worries. Of 
course an outdoor hobby is more healthful, though 
it may not offer more happiness, for it tones the 
system while resting the mind. Did you ever 
stop to think how many men, though diversified 
in professions, are unanimous in recreation? This 
fact was brought forcefully to our mind in glanc¬ 
ing through the subscriptions to Forest and 
Stream received in a week’s mail. They came 
from a captain in the British Army in Upper 
Burmah, India; a guide in British Columbia; an 
Episcopal clergyman in London, England; a Pres¬ 
byterian minister in Philadelphia, Pa.; a doctor 
in Arlington, Vt.; a lawyer in Chicago, Ill.; a 
bank director in Panama City, Fla.; a hotel owner 
in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada; a gentleman far¬ 
mer in Round Hill, Va.; Superintendent of 
American School Association of the City of 
Mexico; a ranch owner in Cody, Wyo.; and men 
prominent in all lines of commerce in Nova 
Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Maine, Connecticut, New 
Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, 
Maryland, Texas, California, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Delaware, 
Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Montana, Washing¬ 
ton, Arkansas, Idaho, Minnesota, Kansas, Mis¬ 
souri and Nebraska. Men miles apart geographi¬ 
cally, religiously and politically, but close to¬ 
gether in their hobby, the life out of doors. 
TEA A LA CANINE. 
An American woman, Mrs. A. L. Holland, 
innocently and with a desire to break the 
monotony of social summer doldrums, estab¬ 
lished a most disgusting precedent. This spring 
she gave a “luncheon” for her tiny Pekingese, 
Vin Sin, by name. The guests were several 
pekes, whose long nails showed they belong 
not to the useful class of canine. Each dog was 
chaperoned by its mistress and the affair was 
duly press-agented in the daily papers as a 
“tremendous success”—Brooklyn ministers to the 
contrary notwithstanding. An English society 
woman, Mrs. Pinto Leite, was inoculated with 
the idea, and its publicity possibilities. Re¬ 
cently she gave a “Billikin tea” for her peke 
pup, at which “cups of tea repeatedly were drunk 
to his health.” In Latin we have Stabulum— 
a place of abode for animals and men of poorer 
classes. What shall we say in English for 
luncheon places for dogs and wealthy women? 
STATE TO FEED DEER IN WINTER. 
Provision to have the wild deer in the 
Adirondacks fed is being made by the New 
York State Conservation Commission. Direc¬ 
tions have been sent to the protectors to have 
hay cut on the Beaver meadows at once. Two 
hundred dollars is available to each division in 
the deer country for the purpose. 
