760 
FOREST AND STREAM 
June 15, 1912 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
Charles Otis, President. 
W. G. Beecroft, Secretary. S. J. Gibson, Treasurer. 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
CORRESPONIiENCE— Forest and Stream is the 
recognized 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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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. 
“OLD CLOTHES.” 
Have the days of old clothes gone by? If 
so, the fun of summer living has passed away 
for all time. Time was, when we went to the 
woods our old togs Were as essential as rod 
or gun. Now many sportsmen’s resorts compel 
good clothes in the dining room and on the 
piazzas. Hotel proprietors, who know only for¬ 
mality and never have experienced the pleasure 
of baggy trousers, have an idea that the patrons 
demand style. A ballot from the guests would 
show that only suffragettes and wall flower re¬ 
sorters want “glad rags” on the premises. 
Much has been done to ruin resort business 
by the Cafe de I’Opera suggestion. We all are 
willing to show our respect to the ladies, and 
those that come with them, by “dressing for din¬ 
ner,” but the man who goes to a resort where 
fishing is good, goes first for the fishing, next 
for the food and bed, and last for any “hit” he 
may make among feminine boarders. 
The hotel wise enough to advertise “old 
clothes may be worn here” will be popularized 
by real outdoor men and women. 
RAKING THE SEA. 
When the Scotchman curls upon the ice, the 
“curling iron” is preceded by brooms to sweep 
away minute obstructions. 
When the ponies race, the dirt track is raked 
to take up pebbles and to give the horses a foot¬ 
hold, and so, in the course of racing events it 
becomes necessary to skim the seas with a fine 
mesh net to get up loose flotsam and jetsam that 
the shells, now put over the course in motor 
boat events, shall be protected from disaster. 
The time was when the racer was prepared 
for the elements. Now it seems that the sea 
must be prepared for the racer. In order to 
“keep down the weight,” racing power boats 
to-day are built of such heftless material that, 
like a silk hat brushed the wrong way, they fre¬ 
quently must be sent back for repairs before 
they are fit for further usefulness. 
In the recent Atlantic Y. C. regatta. Com¬ 
modore Blackton’s skeleton-built boat ran into 
an obstruction, possibly only an orange crate, 
and was at the bottom of eight fathoms of 
water in a trice. Since that sinking, the Atlan¬ 
tic Y. C. has decided to abandon racing in the 
loY^er bay, because it is too dangerous. 
Long Island provides a speedway for motor 
car races. It seems likely now that Long Island 
Sound may be called upon to provide a tideless, 
flotsamless, jetsamless course for water flyers. 
It is too bad Central Park lakes are too 
small for speed boat races; the surroundings 
would be ideal. 
PIQUE KILLS AGRICULTURE BILL. 
Hon. Weldon B. Heyburn, U. S. Senator 
from Idaho, was so incensed at what he termed 
“arbitrary and inquisitorial methods,” pursued 
by representatives of the United States Forestry 
Service, that he poured vituperation on the heads 
of these representatives in such depth as to cause 
the drowning of the agricultural appropriation 
bill in Congress, thereby floating it back to “con¬ 
ference for revision,” which is a polite way of 
saying “sweet dreams.” 
The vote was 36 to 27, opposition coming from 
Western Senators who objected to “the present 
policy of administering the forest service and 
wholesale withdrawals of public lands for forest 
purposes.” Maybe a “particular friend, of a 
particular friend” of a Senator couldn’t get any 
greater mineral prospecting or timber cutting 
privileges than an ordinary citizen of the United 
States of America was allowed. 
FISHING FOR FISH OR FUN AND FISH. 
As an example of the difference in human 
dispositions we cite two cases; 
Out in Toledo, Ohio, Lacey Y. Williams, a 
manufacturer and a man of influence and wealth, 
after thinking over the hooking situation, de¬ 
cided that so many small fish, taken on the 
barbed hook, died after being returned to water, 
there should be something done to save the 
under-length fish caught. He invented a barb¬ 
less hook which, when pulled into a fish too 
small for the creel, could be taken out without 
injury to the little fellow. At his own expense 
he had made hooks suitable for all game fish, 
and has put these hooks on the market at a 
nominal sum. 
Directly underneath his advertisement, in a 
current sporting magazine, we find the adver¬ 
tisement of a concern in Iowa, offering three 
“marvel hooks” and a box of “fish lure.” The 
alleged theory is that this “lure” will call the 
fish, while a patent hook, that “blocks the sears” 
when struck, shoots a rat trap hook into the 
back of the head of the fish so that he cannot 
get away. The idea is that all you need is the 
hooks, and “lure,” and without any ability as 
a fisherman you can land any fish. Of course 
no real fisherman would fall for such an un¬ 
sportsmanlike proposition. 
On the other hand the only man who would 
try to beat the law on the length of fish taken 
would be most apt to use this “rat trap.” 
The Forest, Fish and Game Commission of 
every State in the Union should bar this 
“novelty,” making it a misdemeanor to use any¬ 
thing in the way of a trap hook. 
BREEDING OF CAPTIVE BLACK BEARS. 
Seven or eight years ago Forest and Stream 
published a brief account of the breeding of 
American black bears at Silver Lake Park, near 
Akron, Ohio. Shortly before that A. B. Baker, 
now assistant superintendent of the National 
Zoological Park, had also published an account 
of the breeding of these bears during a period 
of twelve years. Mr. Baker has recently an¬ 
nounced in the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Col¬ 
lections further notes on the breeding of the 
American black bear in captivity. 
The data concerning the breeding of these 
Silver Lake bears extend over a period of 
twenty-one years. They bred when three and 
a half years old, producing their first cubs seven 
months later, on Jan. 23, 1892. The bear had 
young very regularly thereafter, missing only 
five times in eighteen years, with a total of 
thirty-four or possibly thirty-five cubs. 
Two other young females bred up to Jan¬ 
uary, 1912, ten litters of twenty-two cubs, and 
five litters of twelve cubs, respectively. This 
gives a total of sixty-eight or sixty-nine cubs in 
twenty-one years. 
An important feature of the bears’ quarters 
is the retiring den, used in hibernation, where 
the young are born. The coupling season is the 
last ten days of June, and the first week in 
July. 
In autumn the bears become very fat. At 
the approach of cold weather large quantities 
of dry leaves are thrown into the pit, and these 
the bears carry into the den. 
As a rule they come out from hibernation 
early in March. When they emerge they are 
still fat and do not appear to be hungry, and 
it is not until three or four days, or even a 
week later, that they begin to eat with the usual 
appetite. 
In considering the litters of cubs born by 
these three females from 1892 to 1912, it appears 
that there were three litters of one cub each, 
twelve litters of two cubs, eleven litters of three 
cubs and two litters of four cubs. 
No cubs have been lost except through ac¬ 
cident, and the death of a twenty-months-old 
bear was the only one by disease. 
The food supply of these bears approximates 
that which the animals get in their wild state. 
These are miscellaneous scraps or refuse, food 
from the hotels and picnic tables; green food, 
such as dandelion tops, clover, green corn, water¬ 
melons and berries for the summer; for the fall, 
acorns, dried sweet corn and wind-fall apples. 
No meat is fed except a little that has been 
cooked. 
The surplus bears are usually sold at eight 
or ten months old to animal dealers, at $25 or 
$30. The highest prices obtained were $75 for 
a grown bear, and $50 each for two cubs. A 
few were sold at two years old for meat at $25 
or $30, the skin and head being reserved. There 
is a standing offer of $25 each for future cubs. 
The present value of the black fur is about 
$25 for No. I large Northern skins, and 20 to 40 
per cent, less for those from Middle and South¬ 
ern regions. For ladies’ wear, prime silky skins 
of cubs and yearlings are worth up to $15. 
Both bears of the original pair, now twenty- 
four years old, are still in excellent health, 
though the male does not become as fat in 
autumn as he did when younger, and the fe¬ 
male has had no cubs for the last three years. 
