340 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March i6, 1912 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
Edward C. Locke, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary, 
S. J. Gibson, Treasurer. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of 
entertainment, instruction and information between Amer¬ 
ican sportsmen. The editors invite communications on 
the subjects to which its pages are devoted. Anonymous 
communications will not be regarded. The editors are 
not responsible for the views of correspondents. 
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six months. Subscriptions may begin at any time. 
Remit by express money-order, registered letter, money- 
order or draft, payable to the Forest and Stream Pub¬ 
lishing Company. 
The paper may be obtained of newsdealers throughout 
the United States. Canada and Great Britain. Foreign 
Subscription and Sales Agents—London: Davies & Co., 
1 Finch Lane; Sampson, Low & Co. Paris: Brentano’s. 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
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A discount of 5 per cent, is allowed on an advertise¬ 
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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 LESSONS OF THE WINTER. 
The long struggle for supremacy is nearing 
its close and the sun has gained another victory 
over his adversary, the winter night. To-mor¬ 
row will be St. Patrick’s day and the end of the 
winter season. If a blizzard follows on Mon¬ 
day—well, it is the unexpected that happens in 
a region of many changes. Even the best guides 
lose the trail occasionally, and everybody knows 
that the infinite variety of spring days adds ma¬ 
terially to the enduring charm of the vernal sea¬ 
son. Who would, if he could, divide the year 
equally into seasons of snow, of rain, of summer 
heat, of autumn days or April sunshine, each 
season complete in itself and to be endured to 
the bitter end ? 
Since early December the frost has crept 
deeper and deeper into the ground, without a 
single thaw worthy of the name. Lakes and 
ponds and rivers are still coated with thick ice. 
Storage houses are filled with it, and the icemen 
are lying awake nights formulating excuses for 
next summer’s high prices. And if the ice in 
streams and brooks goes out with sudden fresh¬ 
ets, the game fish, which have had an abundance 
-of water since last October, will be swept out 
as with a broom. In many places the ice on the 
Great Lakes has provided big game with a means 
of moving southward, and it is possible that 
moose and deer will be found, next autumn, in 
places where they have not been abundant in 
recent years. Only a few days ago timber 
wolves were reported in Western Pennsylvania. 
It is assumed that they came from Canada, cross¬ 
ing Lake Erie on the ice, which has been thick 
enough for motor car travel. 
As a general thing the snowfall has been light 
and big game has not been confined to yards, 
Hence the winter mortality will be light. In the 
piairie and plains country, however, the loss of 
game has been heavy, but there the cold and lack 
oi shelter had more effect than mere depth of 
snow. Feeding by wardens, clubs and individ¬ 
uals helped, and if this did not actually cut down 
the loss, it at least furnished an excellent popu¬ 
lar object lesson and gave heretofore indifferent 
persons an insight into the necessity for this, to 
them, new work. It is now generally conceded 
that while ground game was capable of finding 
both food and shelter in the days of its abund- 
aiice, the clearing of thickets, woodlands and 
fields and the cutting of forests have left small 
game very little food and less cover. Augment¬ 
ing this is the work that has been done during 
the past two years to prevent forest and woods 
fires. Even leaf fires, heretofore regarded as 
harmless, are now known to be detrimental to 
ground game, and the boys who are fond of 
starting them are being taught to forego that 
youthful pleasure. 
All of these improvements over old practices 
are necessary to-day if serious protective work 
is to be carried on. Fortunately very favorable 
results are in evidence and the situation is not 
so black as it is painted by some. 
WORK AND SPORT. 
A Southern correspondent, commenting on 
the recently closed shooting season in the State 
in which he resides, sums up the reasons for the 
fairly abundant supply of grouse left over for 
next season in the following terse sentences: 
Plemy of grouse left for seed. Pot-hunters too lazy to 
bag them. 
So there is one place where downright in¬ 
dolence is deserving of the meed of praise it sel¬ 
dom or never receives. We are glad to know it 
and to have the facts from one who is qualified 
to speak with intimate knowledge of the sub¬ 
ject. Since the days of abundant game and of 
flintlocks, every town and village has had its 
few citizens, its characters, if you will, who 
have, with courage worthy of a better cause, 
lived up to their reputations; first, as .mighty 
hunters; and secondly, as being too lazy to work. 
Traditions have it that these men are hunters 
because they are too indolent to do anything 
else, but they, if permitted to explain their status, 
would put the matter in another light, saying' 
they were unable to withstand the call of the 
woods and streams and the pursuit of wild life. 
It is but one of the many ways to express in 
actions, if not in words, the love of nature that 
takes men into the big and little wilds of old 
mother earth. The wealthy man and the hard 
working citizen seek the outdoors for rest, and 
are praised for their foresight. Society, being 
an exacting, straight-laced mistress, decrees that 
the poor man must first provide for his own 
and his family’s wants before his shooting and 
fishing excursions shall receive her endorsement. 
It would be hard to say whether he believes in 
the ancient saying that “if your business inter¬ 
feres with your fishing, give up your business,” 
but the fact remains that life for him is too 
short for all the play he would like to indulge 
in, and all the work society would have him do. 
so he follows the line of least resistance, and 
this leads to woods and waters and peace. 
But our correspondent’s last statement should 
be elaborated. To bag grouse is one thing; to 
hunt for them quite another. In the hill country 
it is the character of the hunting that wears on 
the men of minimum energy and maximum 
capacity for rest. To reduce grouse to posses¬ 
sion in those rough hills is not all fun of the 
sort sought by the easy-going pot-hunter. 
Wise old Bonasa. Even if he does not know 
this, he must at any rate be credited with hav¬ 
ing found a place where he and his interesting 
family are safe, at least from the forays of his 
traditional enemy, the pot-hunter. Long may 
his shadow darken the drumming logs of the 
sunny South’s hill country and the roar of his 
drumming be heard in the land. 
Acting District Forester John H. Hatton, 
of San Francisco, has prepared a statement that 
is intended to correct an impression that has be¬ 
come general in regard to hunting within the 
limits of the National forests. He says that in 
some quarters the impression has become cur¬ 
rent that hunting is entirely prohibited, and that 
on this account predatory animals have been in¬ 
creasing alarmingly in numbers. He wishes it 
understood that this idea is erroneous, and that 
the forest service welcomes the extermination of 
beasts of prey, in many cases employing hunters 
for this purpose. In some places ammunition 
and traps are purchased and loaned free to trap¬ 
pers who make trapping a business. In and 
closely adjacent to the California National forests 
there were killed during the last fiscal year 743 
coyotes, 5 wolves, 5 mountain lions and 195 wild¬ 
cats. In all the National forests there were 
killed during this time 6,487 coyotes, 172 wolves, 
88 mountain lions and 870 wildcats. The only 
prohibitions to hunting in these forests are those 
prescribed by the State laws and there is no 
difference between the application of these laws 
outside and inside the forests. 
Admitting that he has not studied the pro¬ 
visions of the water power bills introduced in 
the New York Legislature for the Conservation 
Commission, Governor Dix nevertheless endorses 
them, evidently because he has a vague idea that 
they fit in, somehow, with his pet conservation- 
of-natural-resources scheme. But the Governor 
need not waste time studying these measures, for 
if he and the commission oppose the water grab¬ 
bers’ bills, it is a foregone conclusion that the 
power interests will not permit the passage of 
any other power bill. The State may embark 
in the business of furnishing power at some 
future time, but not with the consent of private 
enterprises that, combined, are more powerful 
than appears on the surface of the pool of popu¬ 
lar belief. 
Cork waste, valued in the markets of Spain 
at about $28 a ton to-day, not only had no value 
a few years ago, but was thrown away in the 
forests and utilized as fuel in factories. In 1910 
about 30,000 tons of cork waste were exported 
to foreign countries. There is an export duty 
of $9 per ton on corkwood in Spain, and the 
manufacturers are urging an increase in this tax, 
fearing the increased demand from other coun¬ 
tries will cut down their supply. 
