FOREST AND STREAM. 
497 
March 30, 1907.] 
Nova Scotia Protectionists. 
! ie killing of wildfowl from Sepf 15 until Jan. 
, but regrets that this law is rendered nugatory 
nd ineffective because sale and possession are 
lermitted for two months after the end of the 
hooting season. 
“The bills introduced in both branches of the 
legislature to amend Section 141 of the game 
aw,” says the association, “are approved and 
irged for passage, because they aim to prevent 
n the future a practice that is doing as much to 
liminish the number of wildfowl as is spring 
-hooting. Under the present law market hunters 
nay kill all of the birds that it is possible for 
hem to secure, whether they can be sold during 
he open season or the sixty days thereafter that 
,re given the market men in which to dispose 
)f their stock; if there is any surplus on hand 
)n March I it can be placed in cold storage, 
mder bond, and kept until the next open season. 
“This privilege is wrong, not only in princi- 
)le, but in effect, because it offers a premium to 
he market shooter to kill all the birds or game 
hat he can, as he knows that if it cannot be 
disposed of during one open season it can be 
during the next one. 
“The bonding privilege provided for in Sec- 
ion 141 of the game law of this State should be 
Lf-epealed, in so far as it relates to birds and 
tame, for the above reason, df this is done, the 
narket hunter will then only kill what he knows 
-an be sold during the open season, and thus 
housands and thousands of wildfowl and other 
tame will not be slaughtered. 
“Every person who knows anything about the 
present status of the game birds and animals of 
North America feels that the time has arrived 
,vhen prompt action must be taken to prevent 
extermination. 
“For the above reasons the Legislature of the 
! State of New York is respectfully but earnestly 
irged to adopt laws that will prevent the sale 
ir possession of wildfowl after the close season 
eommences, and also to prevent the cold storage 
Ibf wildfowl and other game during any close 
Reason.” 
Cypress “Knees.” 
: Editor Forest and Stream: 
The cypress knee is a familiar object in all 
the lowland forests of the south, but there are 
thousands of northern people who have never 
seen them, and there are many southern people, 
too, who have not seen them till they stumbled 
| over them some dark night. The knee is of 
f solid wood, has no limbs nor leaves, is anywhere 
! from six inches to six feet high, and its rounded 
top and flattened sides give it very much the 
shape of a human leg bent at the knee till the 
ithigh and calf are brought together, hence the 
^appropriate name of “knee.” 
For a number of years I was curious as to 
what part the knees played in the life of the 
^cypress tree, for they are part of its root sys- 
; tern, and do not grow independently. They 
were not sprouts, trying to grow into trees, for 
| they never developed branches; and the final 
conclusion was that their only use was for 
oeople to stumble over. How, and why, such 
tseless appendages to the tree were formed was 
; 1 mystery, until one day, when drifting down a 
leep channel which had been washed through 
1 cypress swamp, the secret was exposed. The 
\ earth had been washed away from the roots 
of some of the trees, and roots in all stages of 
growth were in sight. None of these roots was 
less than two and a half inches thick and of uni¬ 
form size clear to their tips, or rather, clear 
:o their blunt ends, for there was no tip. Nature 
intended these roots to grow in soft mud, and 
they were all right for that purpose; but when 
he blunt end of a root encountered something 
j too hard to push through, it bent, or buckled, 
I in the line of least resistance, and as this was 
i generally toward the top of the ground, and the 
! continuing growth of the root pushing the 
i lend further upward, made the bend closer, until 
mall£ the two arms of the bend were close 
f ogether, and they grew together, with one 
i sheet of bark inclosing both. 
O. H. Hampton. 
1 
jl 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
There has been a great deal of activity 
among the sportsmen of Nova Scotia during the 
past fall, and the present winter. A year ago 
a certain lumber combine introduced a bill in 
the House of Assembly, which was framed to 
exclude the public from the woods. The bill 
passed, but popular feeling was so strongly 
opposed to it, that it was repealed two days 
later. An association, known as The People’s 
Fish and Game Protective Association, was 
formed, with branches in all the principal towns 
and many of the villages. Its object was the 
•protection of the game and fish of the province; 
and the maintenance of the people’s right to 
fish and hunt on uncultivated and uninclosed 
ground. 
Early in January a meeting of the association 
was held at Kentville, and delegates were ap¬ 
pointed to meet the Nova Scotia Game Society 
at its annual meeting at Halifax. In addition 
to these delegates, leading sportsmen and sev¬ 
eral rural game wardens were present. Many 
matters pertaining to the protection and propa¬ 
gation of game, were brought before the meet- 
MR. PRICE’S POINTER. 
itig. The question as to the sale of game, 
esoecially the sale of moose meat, was dis¬ 
cussed at great length. While practically every 
person present was opposed to it as an in¬ 
dividual, a number of the rural delegates repre¬ 
sented branches of the People’s Association, 
which was in favor of the practice under proper 
restrictions. It was finally decided that the 
sale of game was not desirable or advisable. 
Another matter which concerns the American 
reader more than anything else, was the dis¬ 
cussion on the advisability of enforcing the 
regulation as to anglers’ licenses. There is a 
regulation that aliens shall pay $5 for a permit 
to fish for trout, salmon or bass. There is a 
doubt as to the jurisdiction of the provincial 
Legislature in the rqatter of fresh-water fish¬ 
eries. The Dominion Government pays the 
fish wardens, and leaves the matter of license 
unsettled. There are many bitter complaints 
about the rivers being fished out by aliens, prin¬ 
cipally Americans, who pay no licenses, and 
kill ten times as many fish as the law permits. 
In my opinion the depletion of our rivers is 
due more to the incessant poaching at .the head 
of the tide, the illegal obstruction of the 
streams by dams unprovided with fishways, and 
the equally illegal pollution of the water with 
debris from the sawmills and gold crushers than 
to alien poachers. Nearly every river in the 
province has one or more families of lawless 
scamps resident on its banks. The destruction 
a couple of men can work in a few nights with 
dynamite, sweep-nets and spears is more than 
a hotel full of anglers could effect in three 
seasons. The imposition of a moderate license 
for the purpose of raising revenue to protect 
our inland fisheries is a move in the right di¬ 
rection. To saddle the decrease of our fish on 
the visiting sportsmen is a gross injustice. 
The meeting decided that the present open 
season for woodcock and snipe commenced 
too early. The first of September is quite soon 
enough to commence shooting. In Western 
Nova Scotia the birds are unfit to kill before 
the middle of September, but by that time the 
autumn migration from Cape Breton and the 
eastern counties has commenced, and by the 
middle of October birds are beginning to get 
scarce to the east of Halifax. 
It was decided to ask for an additional close 
season on deer. Several reports stated that 
caribou were on the increase. For the past 
ten years they have been very scarce, but the 
long close season seems to have afforded them 
protection. They are protected until 1910. 
Beaver also seem to be on the increase. 
Wardens report that they are coming back to 
their old haunts. 
A committee from the two societies was ap¬ 
pointed to confer with the local government 
on the matter of game protection. For many 
years the Game Society has depended for its 
existence on the fees paid it by the officers of 
the Imperial garrison, and the small grant it 
received from the Legislature. The garrison 
has departed, the grant has been reduced, and 
it is more than probable that the next year 
will see the two societies amalgamated. The 
game interests of the province would be far 
better served by a society of local sportsmen 
and officered by energetic business men than by 
the present dominating clique of city sportsmen. 
The Dominion Atlantic Railway, the main 
artery through which the tourist traffic reaches 
the province, has realized the importance of the 
new move for the joint protection of the game 
and the rights of the people. The company has 
done all in its power to favor the movement. 
Correspondent. 
Legislation at Albany. 
Governor Hughes, of New York, has signed 
the following bills relating to game and fish: 
Bill 554, by Mr. Boshart, amending the law in 
relation to black bass. 
Bill 54, by Mr. Wilcox, amending the law in 
relation to non-game fish in Cayuga Lake. 
Bills have been introduced as follows: 
By Mr. Mance, to amend the law relative to 
the sale of trout, prohibiting the sale of trout 
taken from any private pond or stream or a 
private preserve or from any State or private 
fish hatchery or waters used in connection there¬ 
with. 
By Mr. Filly, relating to the sale of trout in 
certain counties. 
By Mr. Draper, amending the wildfowl laws to 
permit the shooting of ducks on the Niagara 
River, in Niagara county, from Sept. 15 until 
Feb. 28. 
By Mr. Stratton, relating to the open season 
for trout in Chenango county. 
By Mr. Smith, relating to a close season for 
hares and rabbits in certain counties. 
By Mr. Eggleston, relating to Wilson snipe in 
Orleans county. 
Good News from Georgia. 
Bronwood, Ga., March it. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I am getting to be very fond of read¬ 
ing your weekly paper and get good and useful 
information from it. I inclose you a picture of 
my one-year-old pointer pup pointing a covey Of 
quail while on one of my trips over my plan¬ 
tation, with my kodak instead of my gun, to 
get a look at the game and see how it is getting 
along. I have as many as twenty coveys of quail 
on the place and they are doing well. . There 
were from fifteen to twenty-five birds in each 
covey and they have not been hurt to any degree 
from this season’s shooting. C. H. Price. 
