April 24, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
657 
wane with the threatened passing of the bear. Mr. 
Bering and several other resident bear hunters were seen 
last night in regard to the organization, and all were 
heartily in accord with the movement. The big season’s 
end hunt, which this crowd postponed last week after 
an advice from Will Martin, of extremely dry weather, 
will be pulled off early in March, and an effort is on 
foot for a short hunt between the present time and 
that date. 
Owing to continued dry weather and the near 
approach of the cubbing season, all hunting has 
been postponed until fall, the “big hunt” in par¬ 
ticular. 
No State in the Union suffers more from in¬ 
discriminate and unlawful hunting than Texas. 
Nor can game be more nearly annihilated. So 
any steps toward its preservation should receive 
the strongest indorsement. Every schoolboy 
and “little niggar” able to “tote a gun” spends 
all their idle time slaughtering. 
P. C. Tucker. 
New York Legislature. 
Assembly bills have been introduced as fol¬ 
lows : 
By F. J. Murphy—Relating to nets in Lake 
Ontario. 
By Mr. Whitney—Protecting squirrels in 
Saratoga county until 1912. Also a bill making 
it unlawful to take any kind of fish in trout 
waters except by angling, and then only during 
the open season for trout. 
By Mr. Mead—Relating to trespassing on pri¬ 
vate lands and parks. 
By Mr. Lupton—Making the wildfowl open 
season on Long Island Oct. i to the last day of 
February, with possession until March 5. Brant 
are included. On order of second reading after 
amendment by fish and game committee. 
By Mr. Whitney—Permitting angling only in 
waters inhabited by trout, in the open season 
for trout. Also a bill relating to squirrels in 
Saratoga county, and one relating to an open 
season for ’coons. 
By Mr. Barden—Making the wildfowl season 
Sept. 16-Dec. 31, excepting on Seneca and 
Cayuga lakes, for which he would extend the 
open season until Feb. 20, possession to March i. 
Third reading. 
By Mr. Walters—Relating to nets in certain 
waters. 
By Mr. Cuvillier—Providing for a bounty of 
$2 per acre for a period of six years, to be paid 
persons who will plant trees. It provides for 
1,000 trees to the acre, no person to be paid for 
more than 100 acres. 
By Mr. Young^—Excepting from payment of 
license fee scap nets eight feet square in the 
Hudson River. 
By Mr. Martin—Providing for 200,000 copies 
of a digest of the game laws, so that each per¬ 
son who takes out a gun license can have a copy. 
By Mr. Hamilton—Appropriating $100,000 for 
a State game bird farm. 
The State of New York will shortly repay 
those towns which, during the fires in the forest 
preserves last autumn, incurred extraordinary 
expenses in fire fighting. Governor Hughes last 
week signed Assembly bill No. 16 which carries 
an appropriation of $100,000 for this purpose. 
He has also signed Assembly bill No. 74, which 
consolidates the fish, game and forest laws under 
Chapter ig. The changes are unimportant and 
are mainly corrections of typographical errors. 
C. r. T. C. Dinner. 
At its meeting at Barber, N. C., last fall the 
Continental Field Trial Club discussed the lack 
of matters of interest in connection with clubs 
of its kind in the long intervals between seasons 
and the result was that when some of the mem¬ 
bers discovered that John White, so long the 
efficient secretary of the club, had a birthday 
on April 15, it was promptly decided to hold 
a dinner on that date in honor of the event as 
well as for the purpose of discussing various 
matters of current interest in the dog and the 
game world ; 23 members and guests were present. 
So that there might be time for these latter 
matters, the committee decided that the dinner 
should be held at the Hotel Lafayette in New 
York on the evening of the 14th, for they felt 
that when the birthday celebration started every 
member would want to give his best efforts to 
that. Their foresight was justified, and when 
Mr. White’s birthday arrived at midnight the 
club did its best to tell him how much his long 
and faithful service for dog and gun and field 
trial clubs was appreciated. “For he’s a jolly 
good fellow” was the toast at the hour, and it 
was sung standing, with everybody feeling that 
perhaps that was the best expression of what 
they all thought. 
Hon. Robt. C. Cornell was the toastmaster 
of the occasion and so ordered the proceedings 
that in addition to having a most pleasant time 
most important action was taken by the club. 
Two vital questions were taken up and dis¬ 
cussed. The first was introduced by Dr. A. 
Schuyler Clark, who, in a very comprehensive 
and thorough way, discussed the present treat¬ 
ment of distemper in - dogs and means looking 
to its future treatment on a more scientific basis. 
Dr. Clark’s conclusion was in effect that distemper 
was entirely a germ disease capable of treat¬ 
ment as such, and that the discovery of a proper 
antitoxin would result in a greatly decreased 
mortality from this disease, as has been the case 
in the modern method of treating diphtheria in 
human beings, where the once enormous mor¬ 
tality has been reduced to practically nothing. 
Dr. Clark said that for the discoverey of such 
an antitoxin he was prepared to give his ser¬ 
vices as were Dr. Sherwood and Dr. Ewing. 
It would be necessary to provide funds for 
the employment of a qualified man to make 
laboratory experiments under the direction of 
these gentlemen which might possibly extend 
over a considerable period, though a practical 
success in a very short time was not beyond the 
possibilities. It was Dr. Clark’s conclusion that 
there was more than a fair possibility of isolat¬ 
ing the germ and preparing a distemper anti¬ 
toxin at an expense of about $2,500. 
For this purpose various members of the Con¬ 
tinental Club immediately subscribed the sum 
of $925, conditioned only on the balance of $2,500 
being given from other sources, and with such 
a large percentage of the necessary fund already 
raised it seems that the response from other 
clubs and private individuals must be immediate. 
It is the purpose of the experimenters to make 
their discoveries public and in such a way that 
the necessary treatment, if perfected, may be 
prepared by any one. 
The most mooted question in field trial cir¬ 
cles—the question of an organization of field 
trial clubs and the appointment of a central 
governing board for the regulation of the vari¬ 
ous matters that are of interest to each club, 
but on which there is now no concerted action— 
was introduced by Mr. Ancell H. Ball. After 
all the discussion about this matter in the sport¬ 
ing papers it was interesting to note that every 
one of the twenty-two sportsmen of experience 
present was most heartily in favor of such an 
organization. The chair appointed a committee, 
Edmund H. Osthaus, Udo M. Fleischmann, An¬ 
cell H. Ball, Bernard Waters and Dr. Wm. 
Bruette, to take action on the matter and formu¬ 
late a plan of organization. This committee is 
to meet on April 22 and the result of their de¬ 
liberations should come nearer to putting this 
matter on a basis for discussion and practical 
action than has yet been done. 
Other speakers during the evening were: John 
White, John S. Wise, Bernard Waters and John 
S. Wise, Jr. 
The party broke up at a late hour and after 
an unusually delightful time. Before separat¬ 
ing it was decided to make the dinner an annual 
event of the Continental Club. 
Subscriptions toward the distemper fund may 
be sent to Dr. A. Schuyler Clark, 26 East 
Forty-eighth street, New York, or to Udo M. 
Fleischmann, i Madison avenue, New York. The 
committee in charge of this matter will be pre¬ 
pared to issue a statement fully describing its 
scope and plan within a few days, which will be 
made widely public, as will also be the case 
with the result of the deliberations of the com¬ 
mittee on central organization. 
W. J. Jeffery. 
The announcement of the death of W. J. 
Jeffery from pneumonia comes from England, 
and will be received with regret by a large 
number of Americans who knew him personally 
or through correspondence. Mr. Jeffery was an¬ 
other one of the large number of men in the 
sportsmen’s goods trade who have taken a keen 
personal interest in their chosen profession. He 
was always very fond of rifle practice, but al¬ 
though an expert offhand shot, his name seldom 
or never appeared as a winner of matches. Few 
men knew more about hunting rifles, however, 
for he experimented thoroughly in out-of-the- 
way places, and his familiarity with the needs 
of sportsmen made him an authority, particu¬ 
larly on small-bore rifles. He also possessed ex¬ 
cellent business ability, was a liberal advertiser, 
and his name and goods are known everywhere. 
Game Birds Reared by the State. 
Ithaca, N. Y., April 10 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Your April 10 issue has an interest¬ 
ing article on game propagation in Massachu¬ 
setts which suggests to us that New York State 
collected about $120,000 in 1908 from hunting 
licenses and will probably receive a greater 
amount in 1909. 
At the New York State College of Agricul¬ 
ture all sorts of domestic animals and birds are 
bred and perfected for the good of the State at 
large and at the State’s expense. Have not the 
sportsmen of the Empire State a right to de¬ 
mand that at least one quarter of the money 
raised from direct tax on the sportsmen them¬ 
selves be turned over to the State college to 
be expended in rearing game birds and ainmals 
with which to stock our own fields and forests? 
Ithaca Gun Company. 
