Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal. Copyright, 1907, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms. $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. I 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1907. 
| VOL. LXVIII.—No. 18. 
( No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
The object of this journal will be to studiously 
promote a healthful interest in outdoor recre¬ 
ation, and to cultivate a refined taste for natural 
Objects. Announcement in first number of 
Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873, 
MEASURES REQUIRING ACTION. 
The Adirondack “grab” amendment is in the 
hands of the committee on rules of the New 
York Assembly. It is within the power of this 
K committee to kill the measure by refusing to 
report it. There is absolutely no excuse for re¬ 
porting it back to the Assembly, where all sorts 
of influences may and no doubt will be brought 
; to bear to rush it through in the closing hours 
of the present session. 
I, All persons who love the woods and waters 
of the Adirondacks should write to the mem¬ 
bers of this committee, or to their representatives, 
urging the burial in committee of this proposed 
amendment to Section 7 of Article VII of the 
constitution. 
The resident and nonresident license bills were 
up for third reading tin Feb. 13, were amended 
j eight days later, and on March 13 were recom¬ 
mitted. Our information is that they are likely 
to remain there because of opposition. 
At present New York State is without a non- 
j resident and alien law worthy the name. Sports- 
j wen of this State must pay a fee to hunt in 
I' neighboring States, but outsiders can hunt in 
i New York free of charge and aliens cannot be 
regulated. It is possible to pass these nonresi- 
|dent and alien measures, and we believe the 
! ■'portsmen of the State want them passed. There 
is urgent need for better laws affecting nonresi¬ 
dents and aliens, and these bills should become 
aws without delay. 
MAY DAY. 
It is very seldom that this joyous occasion is 
elebrated under such unusual circumstances as 
, >btain this year. Following a winter that began 
i ate, but was marked by low temperatures, came 
1 cold spring that upset all the calculations of 
he weather experts and gave the “oldest inhabi- 
1 ants ’ fresh material for comparisons in other 
Vears to come. The fitful bursts of sunshine 
hat occasionally warmed the hearts of all who 
vere tired of the long cold season gave way to 
hilling rains and snowfalls that would have done 
redit to December. 
This was the human view. How the woods- 
olk fared remains to be learned later on. It 
” known that the winter was a severe test of 
he endurance of big game everywhere from 
| haine to California, and without doubt the feath- 
j r ed game birds and others were thinned out to 
■ ° me extent in the localities that are less favor- 
hle than the average. The cold, wet, change- 
bl 
e spring, however, may have interfered to a 
[ mrked extent with the nesting arrangements of 
| he game birds, but the facts will not become 
apparent until later in the year. A favorable 
May can be depended on to offset to a certain 
extent the ill effects of the unseasonable storms 
of April, and all that can be done now is to 
hope for the best. 
1 he anglers' plans were sadly upset in all of 
the Eastern Slates and in many other parts of 
the Union as well, but this is favorable to the 
game fish, which can with good reason be ex¬ 
pected to furnish still better sport in May and 
June because of their long period of freedom 
from molestation. 
And all those woods-loving people who have 
been made unwilling prisoners within doors can 
be counted on to make up for their inaction by 
crowding more outdoor recreation than ever into 
the vacation days to come. 
SILKWORM GUT. 
From time to time the results of experiments 
made in the United States with silkworms with 
a view' to obtaining commercial gut have been 
recorded in the press, but it seems success has 
so far been lacking or more would be said on 
the subiect, now that the prices of the commercial 
article are steadily advancing as the demand in¬ 
creases and accidents and “crop” failures serve 
to cut down the visible supply. 
Every year the English jobbers, who handle 
practically all of the silkworm gut that comes 
into the hands of anglers through the fishing 
tackle trade, announce an advance of ten to 
thirty-five per cent, in the price of gut in gross 
lots. This advance affects the highest grades 
first, and is noticeable in the retail price of sal¬ 
mon leaders, then in the smaller sizes, although 
the finest trout sizes are affected, too. and even 
the lowest grades cost more; but the fact is ap¬ 
parent in the retail trade that the angler who 
is outfitting cannot pick his salmon or trout or 
bass leaders from so large a stock as was for¬ 
merly possible, and often he must accept second 
grade leaders or none at all, or take sizes that 
he may deem unsuited to his requirements. 
Whether the supply of Spanish silkworm gut 
will ever increase materially under the methods 
employed there at present is extremely proble¬ 
matical. Attempts have been made repeatedly to 
produce Italian, Japanese, Chinese and American 
gut of good quality, but so far these have not 
equaled the Spanish article, and for many years 
it has been the belief of scientists who have 'con¬ 
ducted experiments with silkworms that climatic, 
or other conditions are less favorable elsewhere 
than in Spain. And there the success or failure 
of a season’s supply is as uncertain as the rais¬ 
ing of corn in Kansas. Added to this, the gut 
producers do not work along scientific lines and 
they increase their output from year to year very 
little or not at all. 
Despite the apparent fact that silkworm gut 
produced in the United States is inferior to the 
imported article, and that those who have at¬ 
tempted, through scientific study and experiment, 
to improve it until it would have a commercial 
value, have admitted their failures, it seems that 
in all this broa-d land there must be a region 
adapted to the culture of silkworms and the 
production of first class gut. There are among 
us men of means and leisure without number, 
men who have taken up lines of work requiring 
years of study and experiment, not with a view 
to the attainment of large returns in cash, but 
as amusement or recreation. Possessed as they 
are with so much energy and determination, it 
would seem that if they were to take up silk¬ 
worm culture they must succeed in time. 
The attempts that have resulted in failure 
should discourage no one. It may be that the 
proper climate has not been found, or that the 
culture of the worms or the method of drawing 
or curing is faulty. Surely what has been done in 
Spain for so many years can be done here, if 
onlj' the right place is found and the methods 
employed are what they should be. On this 
score our methodical and painstaking men would 
not be likely to fail, for the Spanish methods 
are largely of the rule-of-thumb order and science 
is unknown to them. 
Silkworm gut can be produced in America. 
Strands much longer than those that come from 
Spain have been obtained from native worms. 
It would seem that this is sufficient ground for 
careful experimentation on a small scale by per¬ 
sons living in various parts of the country where 
the climatic conditions seem to be favorable. He 
who succeeds in obtaining gut of commercial 
value will earn a name for himself and make 
possible an industry that will provide a good 
living for others. 
The sportsmen’s interests of Tennessee are in 
charge of the Game and Fish Protective Asso¬ 
ciation of that State. Colonel Joseph H. Acklen, 
of Nashville, is its president. It receives no 
appropriation from the State treasury, and we 
understand that Colonel Acklen has expended 
about five thousand dollars of his own money 
in the enforcement of the game and fish laws. 
While it is a fine thing for the sportsmen of that 
State to have an executive possessed of so much 
enthusiasm, it is hardly fair for them to expect 
their interests to be looked after at the ex¬ 
pense of any individual, and if they cannot se¬ 
cure financial support from the State for their 
cause, then they should go down into their 
pockets and assist Colonel Acklen in a material 
way to carry on the good work. 
I he new postal regulations went into effect on 
May 1. One of the changes under the new law 
affects the Canadian subscribers of Forest and 
Stream. This relates to postage on publications 
of this class, and by its terms the rate is made 
much higher than formerly. Commencing with 
this issue, therefore, the Canadian postage on 
Forest and Stream will be $i extra per year. 
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