Forest and Stream 
i VOL. LXXVI.-No. 8. 
I No. 127 Franklin St.. New York 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright, 1911, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charxes B. Reynolds, Secretary, 
Louis Dean Speir, Treasurer, 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful in¬ 
terest in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate 
a refined taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
THE APPALACHIAN BILL. 
1 he so-called Appalachian Reserve Bill passed 
the United States Senate Feb. 15 by a vote of 
57 to 9. It passed the House of Representatives 
last summer and now requires only the signa¬ 
ture of the President to become law. 
While commonly called the Appalachian Bill 
and generally regarded as authorizing the crea¬ 
tion of a White Mountain and Appalachian 
f orest Reserve, neither the Appalachians nor 
the White Mountains are mentioned in it. It 
carries the power for the Government to acquire 
lands in States, and the specific purpose of those 
who have so long labored for the bill was to 
make forest reserves in these two regions. 
The subject has been a familiar one to Forest 
and Stream readers for the last fifteen years. 
The deforesting of the White Mountains and 
the dwindling of the streams which flow from 
them, and also from the Appalachian Mountains, 
have long excited uneasiness in the minds of 
farseeing persons, and a number of bills have 
been introduced in Congress in the effort to 
remedy the threatened evil. In the early days 
of these efforts it seemed impossible to awaken 
any interest in this subject, and a long cam¬ 
paign of education was required to bring about 
action by Congress. The bill now passed is very 
different in its terms from those earlier intro¬ 
duced and promises long delay before anything 
is actually accomplished. 
Ihe value of the reservations that may be 
established—whether considered as forest pre¬ 
serves or as protections to the watersheds of 
navigable streams-can hardly be over-estimated. 
They have another value, however, which is very 
important. They will make admirable refuges 
for Virginia deer, wapiti, and possibly for other 
species of game, large and small, and since the 
civil and criminal jurisdiction over persons with¬ 
in any lands acquired for these reservations is 
to be retained in the States in which the lands 
are located, there is every probability that it 
will be possible effectively to protect wild creat¬ 
ures found in these reservations. 
The legislation is properly regarded as one 
o the most important conservation enactments 
that has ever been set on the Federal statute 
TO STOCK NATIONAL RESERVATIONS. 
In the effort to protect and to increase 
some of North America’s most interesting 
mammals, fine displays of public spirit have been 
exhibited within a few years by various asso¬ 
ciations. Some years ago the New York Zoo¬ 
logical Society presented to the National Gov¬ 
ernment a herd of bison for the Wichita Game 
Pieserve, and more recently the American Bison 
Society made a similar gift for the Montana 
Buffalo Preserve, while this winter the Boone 
and Crockett Club performed a like service for 
these preserves by sending to each a herd of 
antelope. 
It has been pointed out that in the Ye.lowstone 
Park the Government possesses considerable 
herds of native animals which are rigidly pro¬ 
tected, and are in most cases increasing in num¬ 
bers. From this stock other national reserva¬ 
tions ought to be supplied with animals, which 
under rigid protection would in those reserva- 
tions increase in a like manner. 
At present this cannot be done, for the reason 
that no funds are available for the capture and 
transfer of animals from one national reserva¬ 
tion to another. This lack should be remedied, 
and Congiess should make an appropriation for 
this purpose. An amendment to the agricul¬ 
tural appropriation bill has been offered in com¬ 
mittee and favorably reported to the Senate to 
provide a fund of five thousand dollars for the 
purchase, capture and transfer of animals from 
national reservations. This amendment should 
receive the support of Congress. 
Over much of North America the large game 
animals have been exterminated, and certain 
unique species like the bison and the prong- 
horned antelope have seemed on the point of ex¬ 
tinction. Some accident or some epidemic dis¬ 
ease might readily enough sweep away all the 
animals in the Yellowstone Park, as in other 
quarters of the globe diseases have swept away 
other species of animals. It would be a wise 
insurance against such a possible misfortune to 
establish a number of separate herds on different 
reservations, so that a loss of this kind in one 
region might be confined to that region alone, 
and the threatened species be preserved else¬ 
where. 
So many accounts of successful hunting trips 
are published that one of another sort, which 
we are printing in this issue, may be welcomed 
by readers. This is the story of two sportsmen 
who, through a combination of circumstances, 
returned from a long journey in the woods of 
Canada, where moose are usually abundant, with¬ 
out trophies. Failing to secure a guide, they 
w'ent into the woods without one, and their ex¬ 
periences would have proved serious to less sea¬ 
soned sportsmen. In recent years numerous long 
journeys of this sort have been made by young 
men, equipped with maps and compass, and with¬ 
out guides, but generally in the warm season. 
In the search for big game it is more satisfac¬ 
tory to employ a guide, but the pioneer spirit 
inherited by not a few sportsmen impels them 
to go alone, and in their own good time they 
return to civilization well pleased with their 
novel experiences. 
*! 
A meeting of the fish and game committee of 
t ie Connecticut Legislature was held at Hart¬ 
ford last week before which a number of pro¬ 
posed changes in the game laws were brought 
up. There seems to be strong disposition by 
many gunners to urge the opening of the season 
or the shooting of ducks up to April f, but this 
is opposed by a great number of men. There is 
a proposal also to establish a close season on 
quail for a period of five years, and another to 
S 101-ten the shooting season by cutting off Octo- 
er, so as to make the open season include only 
the month of November. It is proposed also 
to extend the close season on deer for three 
years. It is understood that later-perhaps some 
time 111 the month of March-the committee will 
give a hearing to all persons interested in the 
game laws. 
*» 
Camp cookery is to be taught in the house- 
hold arts department of Columbia University, 
to be able to prepare wholesome meals is an 
accomplishment worth while. The actual cook¬ 
ing, under backwoods conditions, is a very dif¬ 
ferent proposition, requiring fortitude and 
patience as well as skill, yet we would not ad¬ 
vise the novice to neglect such an opportunity 
as that offered by this New York college. The 
natural love for woods life possessed by some be¬ 
ginners is often soured by first attempts to pre¬ 
pare meals. 
* 
The Senate Committee on Commerce directed 
last Friday a favorable report on the bill au¬ 
thorizing the bui.ding by a power company of 
a dam across the St. Lawrence River at Long 
Sault Island, New York. Postponement of action 
on this bill was requested by Governor Dix until 
the matter could be investigated by the New 
\ ork Legislature, and in a special message to 
the Legislature he protested against the Long 
Sault project, but without avail. 
* 
A COPY of the first edition of Walton’s “Com- 
pleat Angler” was sold by the New York Auc¬ 
tion Company last week for $2,900. “Der Vol- 
kommene Angler,” said to be a copy of the only 
translation into a foreign language of Walton's 
book, brought only $38. 
All amendments to the fish and game laws 
pending before the Legislature will be given a 
public hearing before the Senate fish and game 
committee on March 1. 
