862 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 28, 1908. 
Unexpected Success. 
Belvidere, N. J., Nov. 15 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Algonquin Park, Ontario, is an ideal 
country for a vacation. Our camp was on Cache 
Lake, two miles from the park headquarters, 
w r here the kindly superintendent spends the short 
summer and the long dreary winter, and where 
the fire wardens return at long intervals for 
supplies. 
We were in the habit of going to nearby lakes 
on fishing excursions, and one cool morning we 
decided to try a certain little lake in spite of 
the reports that there was no fishing there. After 
packing the cooking utensils, coffee and bacon 
in the pack basket, father, George and I started 
in the canoe. The portage to the lake is three- 
quarters of a mile long. After we had fastened 
the paddles securely to the canoe and padded 
my shoulders with the sweaters, I turned it over 
my head, and shouldering it, carried it to a pond 
made by the beavers, where I changed with 
George. The muddy shores were covered with 
deer tracks, although we saw but one there. 
On reaching the lake we caught minnows to 
put on the spinners. Father paddled first, while 
George and I trolled deep, because the trout lie 
near the bottom. I lost three in succession, and 
then had a heavy strike. The fish went to the 
bottom, where he sulked for about five minutes, 
and then he towed the canoe into the middle of 
the lake. George looked at his watch and in¬ 
formed us that it was twenty minutes after one. 
At a quarter of two I had grave fears that my 
wrist would break. The sun was very hot, I 
wore a sweater, and could not relax my hold 
upon the rod to take it off. At 2 o’clock the 
trout came to the surface to take a look as us, 
and then went down for twenty minutes more, 
but at last he was pulled into the canoe by means 
of a gaff father had made with a gang of hooks 
taken from a muscallonge troll. The salmon 
trout weighed eleven pounds by our scales, but 
I shall always think he weighed ten pounds 
more. 
We paddled to the shore where we intended 
to cook our dinner, and were just getting out 
of the canoe when we heard a pack of wolves 
on the other side of the lake. From the sound 
we decided that they were pulling down a deer. 
The sounds cannot be described. They were bad 
enough in the middle of the afternoon, and with 
two other people present, but at night and when 
one is in the forest alone the sound must be 
awful. 
After dinner we resumed our fishing and 
father and George got two each before it was 
time to start back. The fish were still biting 
well, but none of us wanted to go over the trail 
after dark, especially as we were unarmed. 
When we reached camp we fried one of the 
smaller fish, which made a fine supper. Sitting 
around the camp-fire that night, we determined 
that when people say that there are no fish in 
a lake it pays to go there. 
Alexander McWhorter Bruen. 
Split Bamboo Cues. 
The exceedingly heavy, thick, short rods used 
by bank fishermen are often referred to as bil¬ 
liard-cue rods, but so far as we know, it remains 
for an English firm to reverse the order and 
manufacture billiard cues from so-called split 
bamboo. It is also stated that golf club shafts 
and stays for war balloons are made from this 
material. Whip stocks have long been made in 
America from split bamboo, and these are also 
made in England. 
It seems that the billiard cues of sawed cane 
are built up from nine strips, double enameled, 
making eighteen strips in all, and this method 
readily admits the introduction of heavier mater¬ 
ial or such wood as walnut, rosewood, juniper, 
purpleheart, etc., between the cane strips or in¬ 
laid in the strips. 
A billiard cue of cane alone would scarcely 
be heavy enough to serve its purpose, so these 
are fitted with a weighting arrangement which 
is adjustable to place the balance where it should 
be. In the cues which are fitted with a bone 
joint and screw of steel, to reduce their length 
for carrying, it is likely the tips are made of* 
built cane and the butts of cane and heavier 
wood, such as maple or beech. 
American golf clubs are generally fitted with 
“I say, Jack, are there any fish in this pond?” 
“There may be, but I should think they were werry 
small, ’cause there vos no vater in this here pond afore 
that there rain yesterday.” 
(From a Seymour sketch in the Woodward Collection.) 
hickory shafts, but the objection to these is that 
they are likely to break at the smallest part, just 
above the head. Bamboo, being springy and 
strong, should serve well for this purpose, as 
well as to impart ginger to the stroke. We have 
never seen a golf club so made, although there 
may be plenty of them in America. 
Recent Publications. 
Trout Waters: Management and Angling, by 
Wilson IT. Armistead. Cloth, 200 pages, 
$1.75. London, Adam and Charles Black; 
New York, the Macmillan Company. 
Originally these papers appeared in the Shoot¬ 
ing Times. Recognizing the opportunities for 
observation on the part of anglers, Mr. Armis¬ 
tead thinks it strange that so many of them ac¬ 
quire little knowledge of the life history of the 
fishes. Of this he writes painstakingly, giving 
the results of his own observations during a 
number of years devoted to practical fish cul¬ 
ture. He writes from the standpoint of the 
preserve owner or club, and points out the best 
means for maintaining the supply of game fish 
in preserved waters. 
Rainbow trout he does not favor in British 
waters. Among other things he says they are 
very susceptible to epidemic diseases and to 
frost, and are likely to become bottom feeders. 
While fontinalis is a better fish in his estima¬ 
tion, he objects to its migratory habits, and says 
- 
it is a mistake to introduce either it or the rain¬ 
bow into waters containing brown trout where 
the food is not particularly abundant. “They 
[fontinalis] are such keen feeders that they will 
rapidly diminish the already scanty supply and 
the fario will have a poor chance. A male fon¬ 
tinalis is a fearful cannibal,” he continues; “I 
have on more than one occasion seen one tackle 
a fish of nearly his own size.” This is rather an 
unusual statement in view of the belief held in 
America that brown trout eat the brook trout. 
African Nature Notes and Reminiscences, by 
Frederick C. Selous. Cloth, 356 pages, with 
a foreword by President Roosevelt and il¬ 
lustrations by E. Caldwell; $3 net. New 
York and London, the Macmillan Company. 
Extremely valuable is this collection of the 
observations, experiences and deductions of this 
veteran big-game hunter and naturalist. Open¬ 
ing with two chapters on the much-discussed 
question of protective coloration, recognition 
marks and the influence of environment on living 
organisms, the volume contains exhaustive notes 
on the habits and characteristics of lions, hyenas, 
wild dogs, cheetahs, cape buffalo, tse-tse fly, black 
rhinoceros, giraffe, the gemsbok and that curious 
race, the Bushmen of South Africa. His remi¬ 
niscences relate to hunting trips in Africa, but 
are rather of curious accidents and incidents 
than of actual hunting. 
The Gentlemen, by Alfred Ollivant. Cloth, 406 
pages, $1.50 net. New York, the Macmillan 
Company. 
A treat for readers who are fond of yarns of 
the sea. The scene is laid in the south of Eng¬ 
land, in Portsmouth Harbor and eastward to 
Beachy Head in the time of Nelson. Land and 
sea fights, marksmanship and skill with the 
sword are described vividly. Every page bristles 
with action and the yarns are sure to furnish 
entertainment on a winter’s night. 
Books Received : “On Safari; Big Game 
Hunting in British East Africa, with Studies 
in Bird Life,” by Abel Chapman; Longmans, 
Green & Co. “True Tales of the Plains,” by 
Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody) ; New York, the 
Empire Book Company. “Davie and Elisabeth,” 
by Muriel Campbell Dyar; New York, Harper & 
Bros. “Adventures With Four-footed Folk,” by 
Belle M. Brain; New York, Fleming H. Revell 
Company. “Arcana of Nature,” by Hudson 
Tuttle; New York, the Stillman Publishing 
Company. “The Blue Peter,” by Morley 
Roberts; Boston, L. C. Page & Co. “The 
Marooner,” by Charles Frederick Holder; New 
York, B. W. Dodge & Co. 
Carp Recipe. 
Virden, Ill., Nov. 15.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The recipe given by F. J. D., in 
Forest and Stream of Nov. 14, is a very good 
one, but not original with him. 
In cooking a carp one should be guided by 
the size of the fish and further by the fact that 
you are unfortunate enough to possess one. 
We of the great West sometimes cook the carp 
as suggested by F. J. D., but we invariably throw 
the shingle after the carp, and eat the skillet. 
M. H. Farmer. 
