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. ’ 
i - z 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY n, 1907. 
, VOL. LXVIII.—No. 19. 
t No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
The object of this journal will be to studiously 
romote a healthful interest in outdoor recre- 
don, and to cultivate a refined taste for natural 
bjeCtS. Announcement in first number of 
Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
THE PABLO BISON HERD. 
-The Canadian Government is to be commended 
Ls well as congratulated on its acquisition of the 
Michael Pablo herd of bison, the negotiations 
l or the purchase of which have been completed 
nd arrangements made for transporting the 
nimals to the Elk Island Park, near Fort Sas- 
atchewan. By August the largest herd of bison 
fl existence will have passed out of the United 
rotates and into the possession of the Dominion 
f Canada, where they will have a range com- 
!' rising sixteen sections of land specially chosen 
or the purpose and fenced with the best woven 
jj/ire, while competent men will assist in protect¬ 
ing the animals from the cupidity of head and 
i ide hunters. 
Congress is responsible for the dilatory tactics 
■y reason of which the last opportunity to secure 
ais great herd of bison has passed by. Efforts 
Cere made by President Roosevelt and Secretary 
Hitchcock to secure an appropriation for the 
urchase of the herd, but it is understood all 
Ffforts failed. The Canadian Government, re- 
| . . . ’ 
Sizing that our Congress might at some remote 
! ime be roused to a sense of its duty in the 
flatter, went ahead with its negotiations, with 
he result stated above. 
What has been done by Pablo and Allard in 
I ringing this great herd to its present numbers 
[nd splendid condition can be repeated, and if 
le United States Government, and the authori- 
| es of States that are interested, will assist the 
American Bison Society in its work, in a few 
[ears there will be small herds in a number of 
I eserves, and the animals will increase steadily. 
! At present there is before the New York 
; egislature a bill introduced by Mr. Hooper, 
(,'hich provides for a bison reserve in the Adi- 
| ondacks, and only $20,000 is asked for fencing 
| te ten-square-mile plot and placing twenty bison 
1 it. Surely this deserves support. 
BAMBOO SAP FOR FISHERMEN. 
' If the fat of the bear, deer, wild goose and 
j ther game possesses merit when applied to the 
ody of the hunter suffering from rheumatism, 
r Drains, etc., or to his firearms, why is it that 
nglers do not try bamboo sap, as the Hindus 
| o, to cool their blood and brace them up dur- 
'g a day of disappointments along the trout 
Cream? Bamboo has become so popular as a 
! laterial for fishing rods that it is often regarded 
s standard, hence it seems the sap should also 
1 nd favor with the angler. 
j Seriously, the sap of the female bamboo is 
sed for medicinal purposes in India, and it is 
sold in the bazars in Calcutta at prices rang¬ 
ing from 41 cents to $1.35 a pound, the higher 
grade being white, calcined tabishir, as it is called. 
Tabasheer or banslochan, Consul Michael, of 
Calcutta, says, is sold in all Indian bazars, as 
it has been known from the earliest times as 
a medicinal agent, its use as such having, it is 
supposed, originated among the aboriginal tribes. 
It is also known in Borneo, and was an article 
of commerce with early Arab traders of the 
East. Its properties are said to be strengthen¬ 
ing, tonic and cooling. A great deal has been 
written about tabasheer or tabashir in Hindu 
medical works which have been reviewed by 
modern writers. It has been analyzed and has 
been shown to consist almost entirely of silica, 
with traces of lime and potash. With our pres¬ 
ent knowledge of medicine, such an article is 
not calculated to be very efficacious, but from 
its remarkable occurrence in the hollows of bam¬ 
boos the eastern mind has long associated it 
with miraculous powers. 
PRIZE WINNING PICTURES. 
In Forest and Stream of March 30 the an¬ 
nouncement was made that cash prizes would be 
given for the best five photographic pictures sub¬ 
mitted to us during the month of April, and that 
all those failing to win one of these cash prizes, 
but deserving of honorable mention, would be 
awarded Forest and Stream bears. 
The contest closed on April 30 and the decis¬ 
ions were made by three competent judges. The 
result was as given below: 
First prize, $10, J. M. Stickels, Mukwonago, 
Wis.; title of picture, “Landed.” 
Second prize, $7.50, H. H. Brimley, Raleigh, 
N. C.; “Skinning a ’Gator.” 
Third prize, $5, Rene Bauset, Montreal, Canada; 
“Training Young English Setters on Snipe.” 
Fourth prize, $3, George E. Dods, Fairview, 
N. J.; “Two that are Hard to Beat in Finding 
Coveys and Single Birds.” 
Fifth prize, $2, P. Barton, Calgary, Canada; 
“Patching the Canoe After a Spill.” 
Honorable mention, winning Forest and 
Stream bears—W. P. Gilreath, Jacksonville, 
Fla., “Peter’s Park Point”; Dr. J. F. Detweiler, 
Wadsworth, Ohio, “Trout for Supper”; H. H. 
Brimley, Raleigh, N. C., “Young Black Skim¬ 
mers” ; Samuel W. Lippincott, Baltimore, Md., 
“Houseboating on the Upper Missouri,” and 
“Quicksands”; J. M. Stickels, Mukwonago, Wis., 
“Muldoon Rapids on the Big Fork River, Min¬ 
nesota” ; M. A. Oudin, Schenectady, N. Y., 
“Goat Hunting”; E. J. Orpin, Anerley, S. E., 
England, “The Roach-pole Tight-line Fisherman 
of Old England”; Thomas A. Reynolds, Brock- 
ville, Canada, “Voyageurs and Canoe”; B. S. 
Brown, Challis, Idaho, “Young Sandhill Crane, 
Nest and Egg”; John B. Babcock, Victoria, B. 
C., “Indians Fishing for Salmon in the Canyon 
of the Fraser River, British Columbia.” 
IMPORTANT MEASURES PENDING. 
Senator Knapp’s bill for the protection of 
lake trout and whitefish, now before the New 
York Legislature, establishes a close season for 
both, places a minimum limit of fifteen inches 
on lake trout (as under the present law), a 
minimum limit of two pounds in the round on 
whitefish, and makes the possession of fish of 
either species in the closed season presumptive 
evidence that the same were taken illegally from 
the inland waters of the State. The close sea¬ 
son named is Oct. 1 to April 15 inclusive, except 
in Lakes Erie and Ontario (Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 in¬ 
clusive). The people of the northern counties of 
the State are in favor of the bill, and its pas¬ 
sage is urged by all good sportsmen. 
The Adirondack “grab” bill, new before the 
committee on rules of the New York Assembly, 
is reported to be favored by only three of the 
six members of that committee, while Speaker 
Wadsworth, Mr. Prentice, of New York city, 
and Mr. Moreland, of Chemung county, are in¬ 
clined to listen to the voice of the people who, 
through the press, are clamoring for the burial 
of the bill in committee. 
As we go to presfe with this issue we learn that 
an effort is to be made this week at Albany to 
bring again the nonresident and alien shooting 
license bills before the Assembly for action. 1 hey 
are now in committee. Sportsmen of this State 
should urge their passage, if for no other reason 
than this, that they will thus give the protectors 
definite hold on aliens who shoot song birds. 
The resident and nonresident tax will insure 
better game and fish protection, while aliens will 
be compelled to obtain licenses or keep out of 
the woods. 
From Chicago we learn that Dr. John B. W at¬ 
son, of the Chicago University, is on his way 
to the Gulf of Mexico, where he intends to camp 
on one of the small islands for the purpose of 
studying the rare birds 1 6 be found there. A 
desert waste is not more desolate than some of 
these gulf keys, and if a shipwrecked sailor were 
compelled to spend several months on one, he 
would not look back on his experience with 
pleashire. The naturalist, however, finds much to 
occupy his time in such a place, and no day is 
long enough to enable him to study the wild 
life as much as he would like. 
One result of ill-advised shooting and of egg 
collecting is manifest in the prices asked by Lon¬ 
don dealers for the eggs of birds that are now 
rare. The eggs of the golden eagle are quoted 
at ten dollars each, while those of the Iceland 
falcon, albatross, greater shearwater and others 
are listed regularly at three and a half to six 
dollars. To make matters worse, there is a 
steady demand for the eggs of rare birds, and 
the men who collect them command a good in¬ 
come. 
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