May i8, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
627 
about the place after a heavy rain is by oiling 
the surface of the water with No. 4 unrefined 
kerosene. Half an ounce of oil will form a film 
over fifteen square feet of surface, but after 
every heavy rain a few dashes of oil should be 
added. The larvje of the mosquito during their 
development, or incubation in the water, must 
have air, and they rise to the surface when very 
young, on an average of once in fifteen minutes 
for breath. The oil forms a very fine film over 
the surface and the larvae are unable to penetrate 
it. In places where large bodies of stagnant 
water, such as swamps and marshes are found, 
larvaecide should be used, and since this is very 
expensive, it is far better to place the work in 
the hands of an expert. The male mosquito sub¬ 
sists on the sap, or juices of vegetation, and it 
is only the female that is sanguiniferous, or blood 
conveying, and consequently the dreaded stig- 
inagoea, which transmits yellow fever, malaria 
and other diseases, is of this sex. 
The Boy Scouts of America are doing more 
at present to exterminate the mosquito than any 
organization in the country. In certain sections 
of the country the Boy Scouts go on Saturday 
hikes in their own locality and they have a 
cleaning-up squad, whose duty it is to turn over 
tin cans, rain barrels, and in fact everything that 
might hold stagnant water. 
Captain B. S. Osbon. 
Captain Bradley S. Osbon died May 6 at the 
Post Graduate Hospital, in New York, aged 
eighty-four. His long life had been one of stir¬ 
ring adventure, during which he had visited, and 
fought on, most of the seven seas. 
Bradley S. Osbon was only ten years old when 
he ran away from home to go to sea. At the 
age of fourteen he shipped on a New Bedford 
whaler which took him to the Antarctic Ocean 
and to Australia. While still a boy he signed 
on the brigantine Swallow for a whaling voy¬ 
age to the Arctic, and the tale of the Swallow’s 
battle with a Chinese junk, as Captain Osbon 
used to tell it, was one of thrilling interest. 
Next Osbon was in the Anglo-Chinese navy, 
where there was much fighting and some plunder, 
and for some years he was in the China seas. 
Between 1850 and i860 he was a commander in 
the Argentine navy during a local revolution, 
and at length returned to New York, some time 
before the Civil War. When that broke out he 
joined the navy and was signal officer on Ad¬ 
miral Farragut’s flagship when the fleet went 
up the river to capture New Orleans. Mexico, 
South America, Europe and Cuba were the 
scenes of many other adventures in his long 
and stirring life. Captain Osbon used to tell 
that during the Spanish-American war he was 
a volunteer naval scout and was the first to dis¬ 
cover Cervera’s fleet before it took refuge in 
Santiago. 
In recent years Captain Osbon was secretary 
of the Arctic Club. He attained some notoriety 
in connection with the Dr. Cook-North Pole dis¬ 
cussion, for he was a partner of Dr. Cook. Cap¬ 
tain Osbon was a simple, trustful man and was 
loyal to his belief in Dr. Cook up to the last. 
Captain Osbon published a number of stories 
of his adventures in Forest and Stream, and 
was the author of a book entitled, “A Sailor of 
Fortune.” 
Stale Game Refuges. 
\\ e called attention last week to the bill, now 
before Congress, authorizing the President to set 
aside in forest reservations small areas to be pro¬ 
tected as breeding refuges for big game. If the 
sportsmen throughout the country shall become 
interested in this bill and will write to their 
Congressmen to support it, there is a strong pos¬ 
sibility that it will pass during this session of 
Congress. Bills with a similar purpose, which 
have been presented to Congress before, have 
failed. 
.A.fter careful study of the situation, the game 
preservation committee of the Boone and 
Crockett Club drafted this bill in such terms 
as to eliminate the objectionable features of 
former bills and at the same time to preserve the 
object sought to be attained—game refuges in 
forest reserves. Heretofore game refuge bills 
have failed for two reasons—State’s rights ob¬ 
jections and those based on the withdrawing from 
public use of areas which could otherwise be 
used for the grazing of cattle and sheep. The 
former objection is avoided in the bill by not 
authorizing any area in a State to be set aside 
unless specially requested by the Governor of 
that State, thus assuring to each State independ¬ 
ent control of the matter. The second objec¬ 
tion is obviated in the bill by making the areas 
to be set aside so small that scarcely any impres¬ 
sion will be made on the grazing lands. The 
game will thus come under the protection of the 
Department of Agriculture only in these small 
areas—to be restocked with game animals and 
reserved as breeding grounds—while the natural 
increase will be overflowing in areas where the 
game is under State control. Should this bill 
become a law, it is the purpose of the Boone and 
Crockett Club to begin the restocking with elk 
of some of the areas which the States shall ask 
to have set aside. After seeing the practical 
demonstrations thus made, it is hoped that local 
and other associations will become aroused to 
the possibilities of restocking breeding grounds 
in forest reserves and continuing the work begun 
by the Boone and Crockett Club. 
The bill has been introduced in the Senate by 
Hon. George C. Perkins, an associate member 
of the club. It has already received the approval 
of the members of the Senate committee for the 
protection of game and will be reported favor¬ 
ably. Hon. William Kent introduced it in the 
House, and it is now before the agricultural 
committee. 
Should this bill become a law, it will mark the 
greatest advance toward the substantial preser¬ 
vation of our rapidly disappearing big game that 
has ever been made. The possibility of its pas¬ 
sage should give hope to those who have already 
despaired of the saving of our magnificent big- 
game animals and should spur each one on to 
active support of the bill by writing to the Con¬ 
gressman from his district. As a law the bill 
would make a new era in game protection. Its 
iniportance warrants our printing it below; 
H. R. 23839. 
A Bill for the Protection and Increase of State 
Game Preserves. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled. That the President of 
the United States is hereby authorized, on re¬ 
quest in writing by the governor of any State 
and recommendation of the Secretary of Agri¬ 
culture, to declare by public proclamation areas 
which are adapted for the protection and propa¬ 
gation of game or other animals, birds, or fish 
to be national game refuges, which shall be 
recognized as breeding grounds therefor— 
First. Whenever the Secretary of Agriculture 
shall certify that he has received in writing from 
the governor of the State in which such lands 
are situated a recommendation for the creation 
of a game refuge on national forests or on other 
unoccupied public lands; Provided, That the 
area of any one refuge shall not exceed fifty 
thousand acres; or 
Second. Whenever the Secretary of Agricul¬ 
ture shall certify that lands held in private 
ownership have been relinquished to the Gov¬ 
ernment for the purpose of establishing a refuge 
for birds or game; and the Secretary of Agri¬ 
culture is hereby authorized to accept the re¬ 
linquishment of such tracts in behalf of the 
Government of the United States. 
Sec. 2. That when such areas have been so 
designated as provided in this Act, hunting, 
trapping, killing, or capture of game or other 
animals, birds or fish upon the lands or within 
the waters of the United States within the 
limits of said areas shall be unlawful, except 
under such regulations as may be prescribed by 
the Secretary of Agriculture; and whoever shall 
violate any of the provisions of this Act shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon 
conviction in any United States court of com¬ 
petent jurisdiction shall be fined not more than 
five hundred dollars or be imprisoned for a 
period not exceeamg six months for each 
offense, or shall suffer both fine and imprison¬ 
ment, at the discretion of the court; Provided, 
That the Secretary of Agriculture may, when 
necessary, authorize the capture therein of any 
animals, birds or fish for propagation or exhi¬ 
bition, may authorize fishing with hook and line, 
may permit the collection of specimens for 
scientific purposes, and may exempt from pro¬ 
tection and destroy such species as he may 
deem injurious. 
Sec. 3. That it is the purpose of this Act to 
protect game, mammals and birds, and not to 
interfere with the operation of local game laws 
as affecting private or State lands, to encourage 
the reintroduction of elk and other big game in 
areas where they have become extinct, and to 
establish game refuges to serve as breeding 
grounds from which adjacent parts of the na¬ 
tional forests, the public domain, or other lands 
may be restocked with game. 
New Publications. 
Pitching in a Pinch, by Christy Matthewson. 
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York. Price $1. 
Christy Matthewson has put one right over the 
pan in the literary diamond with his new book, 
“Pitching in a Pinch.” It is a real baseball 
story with many illustrations from photographs 
of close plays and prominent players. If you 
buy it for your boy, he will have to resort to 
some “inside” tricks or catch you out at home 
to steal it from }'ou before you have scored a 
reading of it. 
The Life of the Common Gull, by C. Rubow. 
London, Witherby & Co. 
A series of half-tone plates from photographs, 
and a descriptive translation from the Danish. 
The plates are excellent. 
