October, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
605 
copies per month, but this was several 
months ago. Most of these papers we be¬ 
lieve were sent abroad. 
We are addressing the Y. M. C. A. of¬ 
ficials and again renewing our offer to give 
them as many Forest and Streams as they 
can use to advantage. If you have an op¬ 
portunity to do so, you might call the at¬ 
tention of the local Y. M. C. A. director 
to this offer. 
We also want to thank you for the for¬ 
mula you have given us for removing metal 
fouling from a high power rifle. 
If we can be of service to you in any way. 
do not hesitate to call upon us. [Editors.] 
A TAME BEAVER 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Every year I make two or three fishing 
trips and a couple of hunting trips. I get 
my moose every fall. 
I made a hunting trip to “Marmiar 
Club” last September. My brother and I 
got a moose and I killed a black bear on 
the way up to the club. Trout are plentiful. 
We very often kill partridges. There is 
lots of beaver in the vicinity. We caught 
a small one and kept him in the camp 
for a week. At the end of that time he 
was as tame as a dog. Owing to the fact 
that we had twenty miles of portage to 
make, we decided to let him go, but we 
had a hard time geting rid of him. 
We went near his prior habitation and 
put him on the top of the beaver house 
and then we paddled away, but the little 
one was crying and swimming after us. 
We stopped paddling and took him into 
the canoe and you cannot imagine how 
glad the little one was. We did this two 
or three times and we decided at last to 
go, so we went leaving the little one with 
its companions. 
J. Lawrin, Quebec, Canada. 
MICHIGAN BLACK DUCKS 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The deductions, as to Michigan Black 
Ducks, in Mr. Mershon’s letter, published 
in August number, are verified by my own 
experience of nearly thirty years’ shooting 
at the Monroe Marsh Club, 40 miles south 
of Detroit. The marshes are well pro¬ 
tected and shot lightly, the only serious 
shooting being from October 20th to No¬ 
vember 10th of each year. The Black 
Ducks have irregularly but steadily in¬ 
creased, while up to 1915 the Mallards 
seemed to be about holding their own. In 
1916 and 1917 they (the Mallards were 
present in an abundance almost unknown 
before. This was more or less true of 
other varieties—but particularly so of the 
Pintails. 
Both these species breed mainly in the 
Canadian Prairie Provinces, while the 
Black Duck does not. The shooting there 
has been greatly lessened by the drawing 
away of men for the Army and work in 
war industries. Doubtless other contrib¬ 
uting but smaller factors are the stopping 
of spring shooting and the prohibition of 
game sale in New York. Further, also, it 
is possible that recent nesting seasons may 
have been favorable. 
This is the club record for 24 years, 
showing the percentage of Black Ducks to 
total take of Blacks and Mallards: 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
1885.... 
.... 6 
1897-•• 
.... 13 
1886.... 
.... 7 
1898... 
.... 21 
1887.... 
... 14 
1899-•• 
.... 9 
1888.... 
,... 14 
1900... 
.... 26 
1889.••■ 
,... 17 
1901... 
.... 6 
1890.... 
... 20 
1902... 
. . . . l6 
1891.... 
... 24 
1903... 
.... 48 
1892.... 
... 12 
1904... 
.... 40 
1893.... 
... 7 
1905... 
•••• 33 
1894.••• 
... 8 
1906... 
• ••■ 37 
1895.... 
IT 
1907... 
.... 49 
1896.... 
... 14 
1908... 
.... 41 
Later club figures are not available, but 
I add my own individual score for the 
past five years: 
Per cent. 
1913. 50 
I9M. 55 
1915 . 42 
1916 . 22 
1917 . 34 
The Blacks come earlier in the fall than 
the Mallards and stay later, but that does 
not materially affect the score as the shoot¬ 
ing is very light at those periods. 
Harold Herrick, New York City. 
A WORD FROM DR. HENSHALL 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Forest and Stream and I are old friends 
from the first issue. But I must congratu¬ 
late you on the great improvement of the 
monthly over the old weekly. 
I am sending you a little screed anent 
the “pipe.” It has been contemplated for 
a long time; but I held my peace until 
recently when I saw in one of the maga¬ 
zines a picture of Dr. Van Dyke in an¬ 
gling garb, rod in hand, standing between 
two large fish, and in his mouth the in¬ 
evitable pipe, and a large one at that. It 
was so incongruous that I thought it time 
to enter my protest. 
I am especially pleased to see Mr. Mil¬ 
lard’s capital article on the comparative 
gameness of the trout and the black bass. 
He sent me his charming book, “Days on 
the Nepigon,” when first published. I was 
much gratified to see his portrait; it seems 
strangely familiar to me though I never 
had the pleasure of meeting him. I trust 
he will continue to grace the columns of 
our magazine. 
With best wishes and cordial regard, 
I am 
Yours very truly, 
J. A. Henshall, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Dr. Henshall, the veteran author of the 
"Book of the Black Bass” and other 
authoritative works on fishing, needs no 
introduction to our readers. His screed 
on the pipe, mentioned above, will appear 
in an early issue. [Editors.] 
ADIRONDACK CRUISING 
J. G. J., Brooklyn, N. Y.: 
We have referred your inquries to our 
canoeing editor, Jule Marshall, whose re¬ 
ply follows: 
1. You will find virgin forest in the vi¬ 
cinity of Scroon Lake in the Adirondacks. 
2. I would not advise you to paddle up 
to Scroon Lake. The Upper Hudson and 
its tributaries contain some of the fastest 
white water in the East. Ship to Schroon 
Lake Station on the Delaware & Hudson 
R. R. and paddle down stream with the 
current. 
3. The sixteen foot canoe is all right 
for the trip but try to cut down on your 
duffle. 300 lbs. is far too much. You 
can get it down to 75 lbs. per man with 
study and you will be mighty glad of it 
when you are on the trip. You can hardly 
hold to a certain number of hours per day 
nor even to an average on the paddling 
question. You can work this out as you 
go along by studying your maps and the 
weather. 
4. You do not need a permit to camp in 
the Adirondacks. Clean up all your camp 
sites, keep control of your fires and do not 
chop down a growing thing. 
5- The current has considerable effect on 
the progress of the canoe when ascending 
a stream. It is safe to say that it reduces 
the speed of the canoe to half that which 
can be made journeying with the current. 
THAT CAMP IN THE ’GLADES 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
It might prove of interest to your read¬ 
ers to know that during the past April, 
while exploring the rivers of the west coast 
of Florida, I ran across the old camp site 
mentioned in the last installment of “Lost 
in the Everglades.” 
Shark River runs into Harney’s at Tarpon 
Bay and the camp is situated on one of 
the forks of the headwaters of these riv¬ 
ers, known as Meridith River. It Is about 
a hundred yards back from the bank, a 
little grove of lime trees, densely covered 
with vines and various creepers. 
The black bass fishing in these waters is 
excellent. In one day my companion, Wil¬ 
liam Richmond, and myself caught 46 large 
mouth bass, all of which were returned to 
the water. The fish did not seem to know 
what a plug was and would oftentime rush 
for them two at a time. 
It is a wild and lonely region, filled with 
romance and mystery, and I am going back 
again. 
Van Campen Heilner, Sea Beach, N. J. 
CONDITIONING DOGS 
G. R. B., Boston, Mass.: 
Kindly advise me how to prepare my 
dogs for the hunting season. 
Dogs’ rations should be carefully regu¬ 
lated and in preparing for the hunting 
season it is well to accustom the dogs for 
several weeks to sound food like Spratt’s 
dog cakes, reinforced with fresh meat or 
a moderate allowance of good milk. Dent’s 
pepsinated condition pill three times a day 
both before the season and while the dogs 
are being worked, will go a long way to 
keeping them in good condition. Many of 
the famous field trial handlers who com¬ 
pete in the big events all over the country 
use these pills to improve the scenting 
powers of their dogs. They are mistaken 
in their belief that this remedy stimulates 
the powers of scent, for there is nothing 
known to medical science that will do so. 
The condition pills simply tone up the 
stomach and a dog with a sweet, healthy 
stomach can use his nose to advantage. 
