600 
FOREST AND STREAM 
iOOR LIFE 
tRAVEL NATURE STUDY SHOOTING FISHING. YACHTING. 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company 
Chas. A. Hazen, President Charles L. Wise, Treasurer 
W. G. Beecroft, Secretary 
22 Thames Street, New York. 
CORRESPONDENCE:—Forest 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. 
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ARMY EXPERIENCE AND CAMPERS’ 
PROBLEMS. 
This is not the time to connect the European 
war with anything beyond its horrors. Still the 
fact remains that the outdoor man will learn 
much from the experience of the vast armies 
now in the field. Take for instance the matter 
of footgear. As Napoleon wisely said, an army 
travels on its stomach. This is true; but no less 
true is it that an army travels on its feet. Poorly 
shod soldiers cannot march, but a well shod man 
can advance even if suffering temporarily from 
hunger. The main necessities of an army center 
around footwear and food. Shelter can be pro¬ 
vided in some fashion by the soldier himself; the 
other two essentials must be provided for him. 
This holds true also of the peaceful outdoor 
man. He, therefore, has a direct interest in the 
homely question of foot clothing. The German 
army in particular, exemplifying as it does the 
utmost of human skill, ingenuity and prepared¬ 
ness — a vast machine, the like of which in the 
latter point the world has never seen before— 
has solved this problem effectually. 
The German soldier does not wear socks. He 
is equipped with what is claimed to be a much 
better substitute, consisting of an ingeniously 
contrived wrapping of cloth about twenty inches 
square. This new sock, if such it may be 
called, can be folded in about thirty different 
ways around the foot. Each manner of folding 
has a different purpose. One is designed to re¬ 
lieve a soreness of the heel; another the weari¬ 
ness of the instep; a third will cover an irritated 
corn; a fourth will take the pressure off the in¬ 
flamed ball 'off the foot, and so on through the 
category of all foot sufferings. The German 
soldier, during his period of preliminary enlist¬ 
ment, is taught every possible manner of wrap¬ 
ping his foot, and, at the same time, is given in¬ 
structions in the anatomy of his pedal extremi¬ 
ties. The result is that he is at all times fit for 
marching. 
Some of our own more advanced woodmen 
have tried this method with pronounced success, 
and it bids fair to become more popular. A foot 
wrapping of this sort used in connection with the 
new United States army shoe ought to give as¬ 
surance of relief from foot weariness in the 
woods. 
Another matter which is being worked out, 
and in which the woods traveler will display in¬ 
terest, is the food problem—or at least the prob¬ 
lem of bulk. Here again we find German exac¬ 
titude and love of detail at its best. Its army 
is carrying the largest quantity of food with the 
least amount of transport trouble. Everybody 
is acquainted with the dehydration process, but 
what has been done in this country is only a step 
in the direction that European military skill has 
achieved. When the present war is over, and the 
dietetic experiences growing out of it are avail¬ 
able, the peaceful camper and woods traveler 
will find much in these reports to his advantage 
and future comfort. 
GOOD REPORT FROM A GOOD COMMIS¬ 
SIONER. 
Forest and Stream is in receipt of the fourth 
biennial report of the Department of Game and 
Fish of the State of Alabama. It is always a 
pleasure to review the intelligently edited and 
interesting reports of game and fish commis¬ 
sioner John H. Wallace, Jr. In the present in¬ 
stance his book surpasses previous efforts. Mr. 
Wallace may be called the father of Alabama 
game and fish legislation, for he it was who in¬ 
troduced in the legislature of 1907 the general 
bill which forms the present law. 
Alabama, before the passage of Mr. Wallace’s 
bill, had undergone the usual disastrous experi¬ 
ences arising from conflicting and local game 
laws. Now everything is changed. To quote 
Mr. Wallace; 
The wild life of Alabama is steadily coming 
back. Deer and turkey each year are seen in 
numbers in bounties from which they had prac¬ 
tically disappeared twenty years ago. Indeed, a 
citizen of Tuscaloosa county has for the past two 
years written the Commissioner of Game and 
Fish, each season, demanding pay for his annual 
pea crop which he alleges has been destroyed by 
herds of the state’s deer. 
It is safe to assert that Alabama is far ahead 
of any other southern state in game, bird and 
fish conservation, being the pioneer in the South 
in this regard and that the laws rank along with 
■those of the older states of the north and east- 
There is therefore guaranteed to our people 
and to posterity a fair and reasonable supply of 
game which bids fair to increase to the point 
when, as of yore, Alabama will become a hunt¬ 
er’s paradise, a veritable sportsman’s elysium. 
It will be realized that the enforcement of 
game laws in a state like Alabama is peculiarly 
difficult. The negro population is hard to con¬ 
trol, but so faithfully has the present commis¬ 
sioner preached the doctrine of value of our 
feathered game to the farmer, and the necessity 
of conservation, that Alabama is one of the 
states in the Union where game laws are really 
popular. 
The report under review is embodied in a 
book of 225 pages, illustrated with a large num¬ 
ber of colored plates descriptive of the game 
and fish of Alabama, and contains a mass of in¬ 
formation of value to all residents of the state, 
and of interest to the hunter and fisherman the 
country over. We hope that Mr. Wallace has 
the means at hand to place a copy in the home of 
every voter in the state. 
SUNDAY SHOOTING. 
After studying the effect of the prohibition of 
Sunday shooting, our conclusion is that it has 
entirely failed in its purpose. In New York 
State, for instance, we find practically as many 
hunters on Sunday as are found on a holiday. 
The upland game and duck shooter in the woods 
of Long Island and upon Long Island Sound 
was out in greater force last Sunday than on 
Election Day. On Sunday, within a radius of 
ten miles, sixty-seven ducking rigs were an¬ 
chored, as against fourteen on Election Day. In 
the woods, in Nassau county, each day brought 
out about the same number of rabbit hunters. 
After all, the no Sunday shooting law comes 
pretty close to being class legislation. The 
theory, among law makers, seems to be that on 
Sunday laborers are free to hunt and would, in 
consequence, overrun the woods. While we do 
not support this premise, suppose for sake of 
argument, it be correct. If the man, endowed 
with few worldly goods takes out a license, he 
surely is entitled to opportunity to use it. His 
only day off is Sunday, he is fond of shooting 
and pays as much toward game protection and 
propagation as his more wealthy neighbor, who 
is fortunate enough to “get off” during the week 
for a day’s gunning. Should the laborer, clerk 
or busy all-week man be legislated against? and 
if so, why? If the game needs rest one day 
each week, rest it on Wednesday or some other 
day besides Sunday. As a matter of fact, Sun¬ 
day closing doesn’t keep the hunter from shoot¬ 
ing on that day, it simply puts it up to him to 
break the law, which at least seventy per cent- 
of license holders do during the season, a large 
proportion of the thirty per cent, being deterred 
through religious and not sportsmanship scru¬ 
ples. Our observation is that game laws in gen¬ 
eral would be better obeyed were shooting al¬ 
lowed on Sunday. 
The King of England has given permission to 
have a part of the royal estate placed at the dis¬ 
posal of the school of forestry at Cambridge 
University for purposes of experiment and 
demonstration. 
Reports from southwest Alaska around the 
mouth of the Unuk River and Inside Passage say 
the ducks bred in that country this year in 
much larger quantities than usual. A month ago 
they were nearly full grown, and of all kinds, 
mallards, megansers, sprigs, scoters, canvas 
bluebill, with a few teal- 
Recent experiments indicate that round tim¬ 
bers of all the pines, of Engelmann spruce, 
Douglas fir, tamarack, and western larch, can be 
readily treated with preservatives, but that the 
firs, hemlocks, redwood, and Sitka spruce, in the 
round, do not take treatment easily. This in¬ 
formation should be of value to persons who 
contemplate preservative treatment of round 
posts, poles, or mine props. 
Doves are more plentiful in most sections of 
Missouri this season than they have been for 
many years. 
The Missouri Fish and Game League has of¬ 
fered a reward of $25 to the first person 
who produces legal evidence to convict any of¬ 
fender of violating the law by selling game in 
St. Louis. 
Two governors, those of Oregon and Massa¬ 
chusetts, have suspended the hunting season this 
year because of increased danger of forest fires 
when the woods were exceptionally dry. 
