May 21, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
815 
secured the enactment of the present statute to 
prevent the pursuit of the fowl by boats. Many 
species of wildfowl are not greatly disturbed by 
shooting about the shores of a large pond, pro¬ 
vided they are never pursued by boats, and they 
will frequent such ponds in numbers, especially 
where food is plentiful. 
Birds will rest for a short time where there 
is no food for them, but they cannot remain 
long anywhere where food is not plentiful. Very 
little attention has yet been paid to providing 
food for wildfowl in New England. A bounte¬ 
ous food supply is the chief attraction for the 
birds in the ponds of Martha’s Vineyard, and 
it is possible to attract large numbers of birds 
to any pond by planting there their' favorite food 
plants. Wild rice, wild celery and most of the 
pond weeds on which wildfowl feed can be 
grown in many of the ponds and rivers of New 
England. It is useless to plant any of these 
plants unless the seeds are fresh and properly 
cared for, unless the planting is rightly done and 
unless the conditions are right for the particular 
plant used. But, given the right conditions, 
most of these plants will succeed at once. Never¬ 
theless there have been many failures and con¬ 
siderable money has been wasted in this work. 
It should be undertaken only under the advice 
of an expert, and his directions should be im¬ 
plicitly followed. Many failures in planting wild 
rice have occurred because the seed came from 
the Indians, who usually heat it in an oven to 
cure it. Such seed never germinates. A failure 
of this kind occurred ten years ago in Massa¬ 
chusetts. But last year seed properly gathered, 
cared for and kept moist was sowed, and the 
rice came up this spring in every pond where it 
was sowed last fall. 
Edward Howe Forbush. 
Biltmore Forest School. 
The Biltmore Forest School, after reaching 
New York April 18, went directly to Hiawatha 
Lodge, in the heart of the Adirondacks. 
Hiawatha Lodge is in the midst of the most 
extensive planting operations in the United 
States. Eight to twelve years ago Dr. Fernow, 
with the aid of the Cornell Forestry School, 
planted hundreds of acres of cut-over land. 
Many of these plantations fl have since been de¬ 
stroyed by forest fires. 
Near Saranac Inn the State has large nurseries 
and is planting extensively, while between Lake 
Placid and Lower Saranac Lake a large burnt- 
over area has been planted in Scotch pine. 
Forest planting is becoming a real thing in the 
United States. 
Commissioner Whipple, of the Forest, Fish 
and Game Department, just received the fol¬ 
lowing letter from that eminent authority on 
forestry, Dr. C. A. Schenck, Director of the 
Biltmore Forestry School: “During the short 
stay of the Biltmore Forest School in the Adi¬ 
rondacks I have had an opportunity, owing to 
your kindness and to the kindness of your staff, 
to become intimately acquainted with the won¬ 
derful work in forestry conducted by the State 
of New York in the heart of the Adirondacks. 
“Never have I seen nurseries more efficiently 
managed than those handled by Mr. Pettis, for¬ 
ester of .the State of New York. I dare say that 
I have seen, and notably in Germany, thousands 
of nurseries in all the ranges of the various 
States of the German Empire. I have also seen 
a number of large commercial nurseries in 
Europe, and I have had charge, as you well 
know, of the forestry nurseries at Biltmore for 
a long number of years. Never, however, have 
I seen such excellent nursery work as is being 
done under your auspices in the Adirondacks. 
“The practice of forestry is easy enough in 
the old country where the foresters have to deal 
with a few species only, and with a soil and a 
climate, the tricks of which have been studied 
by many a generation of foresters. In America 
forestry is and will be for a number of years 
in its experimental stage. Enthusiastic and de¬ 
voted work is required to lead to speedy success. 
The Empire State has taken the lead, as in many 
other matters, so in the forestry movement, and 
I congratulate you upon the really wonderful 
achievements obtained under your administra¬ 
tion.” 
A Gentle Surprise. 
It was an ideal time and place for day-dream¬ 
ing. The bright March sun had warmed the 
leaves and rock against which I was leaning, 
shining with kindly fervor in my face the while, 
lighting up to dazzling whiteness the great fields 
and cakes of moving ice, making them shed deep 
reflections in the shining black water. 
A pair of mergansers flew swiftly up river, 
their shadows jumping from ice floe to ice floe, 
racing their image that followed so swiftly on 
the mirroring water. Sometimes the birds, mov¬ 
ing as by a common impulse, came down so low 
that the rush of air from their wings streaked 
the black water with bars and splashes of silver; 
again they rose with such speed that in spirit 
you rose with them. 
I watched them idly. Overhead gulls winged 
lazily northward; in the woods on the island 
behind me bluebirds called and song sparrows 
sang. The tide rippled about the smooth, time- 
scarred rocks on which, cemented in every 
crevice and protected spot, still clung gray ice, 
smooth, pock-marked with mud. I dreamed in 
serene enjoyment, glad to feel the warmth and 
see the moving ice, thinking how foolish is the 
notion that leisure without the spending of 
money cannot be enjoyed. Appreciation of art 
is happiness; here was art, nature’s art, bound¬ 
less, limitless. I appreciated it and was happy. 
Suddenly, before my amazed -eyes, out of a 
moving ice field leapt a geyser of red; quivering, 
shining, like a mighty fox robe it shook itself 
upward. Up and up, with a sensuous reeling, 
twisting motion, shining red, the thing towered. 
For a moment it took my breath away, then as 
suddenly I realized what it was. The big red 
spar buoy that marked the end of the rocks had 
been relentlessly shoved under water by a great 
ice floe moving down with the ebb. A weak 
spot in the ice and the buoy had eagerly twisted 
itself upward, wet, trembling and shining in the 
sun. Even as I watched, it was again drawn 
under the ice out of sight. 
Julian Burroughs. 
A New Protective Organization in New 
South Wales. 
A Wild Life Protection Society has lately 
been formed in New South Wales, the main ob¬ 
ject of which is to protect native birds. 
Louisiana Legislature. 
New Orleans, La., May 10 . —Editor Forest 
and Stream: Notice has been given in the 
Legislature now in session of the introduction 
of a bill turning over to the game commission 
certain lands in Caldwell, Jefferson and Plaque¬ 
mines parishes, to be used as game preserves. 
There are about 6,000 acres in each parish which 
will be used for the purpose stated. 
Notice has also been given that a bill will be 
introduced consolidating the game and oyster 
commissions, to be composed of six members. 
It is thought this bill will be passed as a matter 
of economy. It is pointed out that one board 
can well manage the fish, game and oyster in¬ 
dustries of this State, and it is needless to spend 
so much money on two boards. The present 
game commission is composed of three mem¬ 
bers, a special attorney and a secretary, while 
the oyster commission has five members, a sec¬ 
retary, a special attorney and several office men, 
in addition to boat crews, engineers and so on. 
Representative Clinton has introduced a bill 
protecting both salt and fresh water fish and 
providing for open and closed seasons. This 
bill has been advocated by Commissioner Miller 
for some time, as it is claimed salt water fish 
are being rapidly decimated by seiners. Bills 
have also been introduced to protect deer and 
to prevent the dynamiting of fish. There will 
doubtless be numerous other bills relative to 
fishing and hunting, and all of them will be re¬ 
ferred to a committee which will likely con¬ 
solidate them into one act. 
Governor Sanders in his message on the open¬ 
ing day of the Legislature strongly advocated 
the conservation of the natural food supply of 
the State and the protection of non-game and 
insectivorous birds. His message on this sub¬ 
ject and on stream pollution is as follows: 
“The conservation of the great natural re¬ 
sources of the State has become a momentous 
question. Unheralded and almost unrecognized, 
suddenly we find that the land and water of our 
State contain an almost priceless wealth in 
natural food supply, and it seems within the 
bounds of common prudence that we should de¬ 
velop this wealth to its greatest possibilities. 
“It is the duty of the State Government to 
conserve and protect these and its other valu¬ 
able natural resources. If this be done, not only 
will they vastly increase the wealth of the State, 
but proper laws for conservation and protection 
will multiply the sources of this wealth and in¬ 
crease its volume as time progresses. 
“Non-game and insectivorous birds should be 
protected in justice to the agricultural interests 
of our State, which have suffered vast losses 
from insect -pests. Therefore, I urge you to 
pass such laws as will be necessary to carry out 
all these forms of conservation. 
“The pollution of rivers and streams through¬ 
out this country has been attracting great atten¬ 
tion in the last few years, and the American 
States are beginning to do what the European 
countries have been doing for more than a 
decade. With the agitation going on all about 
us for the conservation of our natural resources, 
we have as yet accomplished very little in con¬ 
serving the purity of our streams and lakes, yet 
it is obvious that the conservation of water 
power and natural resources is, indeed, of less 
importance when compared with the conserva- 
