Forest and Stream 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 22, 1909. 
VOL. LXXIL—No. 2U 
No. 127 Franklin St., New York. 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright, 1909, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Gbobgb Bird Grutnbll, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary. 
Louis Dban Speir, Treasurer. 
127 Franklm Street, New York. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
j will be to studiously promote a healthful interest 
in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate a refined 
taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
WYOMING BIG-GAME LAW. 
Forest and Stream recently called attention 
to the singular error in the Wyoming game law, 
by which all shooting of big game except deer 
was forbidden. The blunder was a serious one 
for hunters who contemplated a trip to what 
is the best elk country left in the world, and it 
was serious also for the State of Wyoming, 
which annually receives a considerable revenue 
from the non-resident license fees paid by 
sportsmen who go there from other States. 
Advices just received from Cheyenne state 
that the matter has been taken up by the State 
authorities, who, regarding the obvious intent 
of the law rather than its language, have deter¬ 
mined that the prohibition contained in Section 
25 shall be disregarded, and that hunters paying 
their license fee will be permitted to take big 
game as provided in the other sections of the 
law. 
Since the announcement of this legislative 
error a number of hunters, prevented by the 
passage of this law from going to Wyoming, 
have set on foot arrangements for trips to other 
Rocky Mountain States. It is, therefore, im¬ 
portant that the interpretation of the law by the 
State officials should be announced without delay. 
ANCIENT MYTHS. 
The telegraph, the telephone, the mails and 
the daily papers have done much toward dispell¬ 
ing belief in the ancient myth concerning the in¬ 
fallibility of birds and animals in their alleged 
knowledge or instinct or whatever it is that is 
supposed to forewarn them of storms. In our 
news columns this week there are several items 
telling of the unseasonable snowstorm of early 
May and its effect on the migrating birds. 
These migrants were as much astonished to 
find deep snow everywhere and more of it fall¬ 
ing throughout the day as were the men and 
women who, confident that low temperature 
was a thing of the past, had gone forth clad in 
summer garments. But while men and women 
found food and warmth in their homes that 
night, with physicians to cure the pneumonia and 
colds which followed, few thought of the hap¬ 
less birds. 
These, obeying that natural law which impels 
them to migrate in spring and autumn, found 
themselves in a far country, amid conditions to 
which they were unaccustomed. Like an army 
exhausted through forced marches, with scant 
food and no shelter, they succumbed in com¬ 
panies, regiments, battalions. In the melting of 
the snow the story was told, and men and women 
who found the misguided victims of one of 
nature’s moods said, “Too bad,’’ and forgot the 
incident. 
This storm was not without its humorous 
side, however. Not a few trout fishers who 
had gone to the mountain streams to cure “the 
fever,” waded back to their lodgings through a 
foot of snow, and on the following day it was 
possible to photograph favorite pools and rapids, 
now snow and ice bound, as in winter. 
In Central Park the wild ducks, which make 
their nests along the shores of the lakes in April 
every season, and which were abroad with their 
broods of tiny ducklings amid the snow, seemed 
strangely out of place. To listen to their ex¬ 
cited gabble, it was not difficult to imagine that 
the old pairs were trying to convince their 
broods that something had gone wrong with the 
seasons, and that it was not usual for them to 
raise families in snow-girt lakes. 
THE FORESTS. 
Theee million three hundred and forty-six 
thousand one hundred and six cords of wood 
were cut and used in the manufacture of pulp 
in 1908. There was a decrease from 1907, partly 
due to an unfavorable season, while only 251 
mills operated last year instead of 258 for the 
previous year. In the total spruce predominated, 
while about 700,000 cords of poplar and spruce 
were imported. 
A contrast to these figures is found in state¬ 
ments made within a week relative to reforest¬ 
ing work. The Pennsylvania railway is plant¬ 
ing large numbers of trees along its right of 
way and on land owned by it in Pennsylvania 
and New Jersey, its intention being to add 1,000,- 
000 new trees to the number already set out, or 
3,430,000 in all for the three years now ended. 
Eventually these trees are expected to supply 
materials for crossties and other work. 
It is said that 2,000 acres of land in Georgia 
is to be reforested under the direction of a for¬ 
estry expert, and that a stock company has been 
formed to finance the project. It is explained 
that those who buy stock can hardly hope to 
gain themselves any income from the invest¬ 
ment, as the trees will not grow to marketable 
size within their lifetime. There will be no in¬ 
come until their children, or others, own the 
stock. 
If there was more of this spirit shown, the 
work of reforestation would be materially aided. 
At present sentiment is strongly inclined toward 
letting the future take care of itself. Too many 
are willing to destroy the trees, but are not in¬ 
terested in replacing them with others, as they 
know these will not attain marketable size for 
two or three generations. Men leave vast sums 
of money for their descendants, but very few 
of them have planted trees for the benefit of 
their great grandchildren. 
GAME WARDENS AND THE BALLOT. 
If game wardens were elected by popular vote, 
as proposed in Louisiana, it would become even 
more difficult than under present methods to 
secure adequate enforcement of game and fish 
laws. In sections where public sentiment is 
opposed to any laws at all, it would become an 
exceedingly difficult matter for an energetic 
warden to perform his duties, while a politician 
holding the place would find it easy to over¬ 
look the offenses of his supporters at the polls. 
Game wardens should be appointed under civil 
service rules, and this will be the remedy in 
future for political influence over our game pro¬ 
tectors. Place them as far away as possible 
from the reach of political influence, demand 
efficiency and energy, and make the warden ser¬ 
vice a branch of the State Government which 
ail of the people will respect. When thjs is 
accomplished the service will be more efficient. 
It will be open only to real men, and it will be 
considered an honor, and not a disgrace, to be¬ 
come identified with the, ;work, ^ 
There was a time when the game warden was 
hated by everyone. At present he is respected 
because of the power that is behind him, though 
this is often partially or wholly lacking. In the 
future he will be aided and encouraged because 
of his good work in a worthy cause. 
An interesting note printed elsewhere relates 
to the dying of large numbers of carp in a 
Western lake. At this season it is not unusual 
to receive reports of fish dying by wholesale, but 
it is seldom that the despised carp suffer in this 
fashion. They alone seem to be more or less 
immune to the epidemics of disease, polluted 
water or whatever it may be that kills fish in 
this wholesale manner. The appearance on the 
surface and banks of lakes of numerous dead 
fish is generally associated with disease or 
natural phenomena not understood by anglers. 
Frequently investigation results in fixing the 
blame on dynamiters, or on manufacturing plants 
which permit acids, etc., to escape into the water. 
n 
The conclusion of William L. Finley’s papers 
on the bird life found by him on the Three- 
Arch Rocks Reservation, off the Oregon coast, 
must be deferred until next week. In this paper 
Mr. Finley tells of the habits of the murres, and 
an excellent photograph by Herman T. Bohl- 
man shows a portion of a large colony. As these 
birds crowd together and deposit their eggs and 
rear their young on the bare rocks, it seems al¬ 
most impossible for a parent bird to leave and 
return to its own egg or chick, but that this is 
done is shown by Mr. Finley. 
