134 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 23, 1910. 
will tend to distort his feet and legs, while his 
shoulders and head will taper to a small point. 
So it is with all high objects, for the distance 
along the ground is less than the distance to 
their tops. The further away from such an 
object you are, the less will the distortion be, 
and as a rule it is easily avoided. As a further 
illustration, if you focus on a framed picture 
hanging on the far side of a room you are in, 
the horizontal and vertical lines will appear to 
he truthfully rendered, but in order to render 
these lines correctly with the camera three feet 
distant, the lens must face the exact center of 
jhe picture, else it will be distorted and the 
corners of the frame will not appear as right 
angles. It would be equally reasonable to ex¬ 
pect to photograph an oval picture so that it 
would appear to be rectangular. 
With the ordinary rectilinear lens it is impos¬ 
sible to focus sharply on an object whose vertical 
and horizontal lines are in the same plane. When 
a small stop or aperture is used, the blurring and 
distortion near the edges of the rectangular plate 
are not so marked, but as the size of the opening 
is increased the blurring increases, too. This is 
due to astigmatism and is corrected in the anas- 
t.igmat lenses. 
If you will place a sheet of white paper on a 
table under an electric light and hold a lens be¬ 
tween the two, moving it up or down until the 
image of the carbon filament is sharply defined 
on the paper, the distance from the lens to the 
image, in inches, will be the approximate focal 
length of the lens. Say this is 714 inches. There¬ 
fore, if you wish to purchase a camera in which 
to use this lens, the minimum distance from lens 
to plate must not be greater than 7L2 inches, and 
7 will be better, for as I said above, you have 
determined the approximate focal length only in 
this test. The true focal length is from the plate 
to a point within the doublet, but the explanation 
must be purely a technical one, is unnecessary 
here and is omitted. 
In the small reflecting cameras the distance 
from the sensitive plate to the lens is from 5 
to 8 inches, and the bellows is made to draw 
out only far enough to cover the range of a 
lens of proper focal length for that camera. This 
measurement is called the focus of the lens, and 
is generally stamped on the cell of the front 
combination. For such a camera a non-sym- 
metrical doublet anastigmat lens is excellent, and 
the outfit has many uses. If, however, it is de¬ 
sired to extend this range, the draw of the 
bellows must be three or four times greater, for 
if the front combination is removed, the remain¬ 
ing rear combination will not come into sharp 
focus until the bellows has been drawn out to 
15, 20 or more inches. The image will then be 
made two or more times as large as with the 
doublet, but a much longer exposure will be 
necessary. In like manner the front combina¬ 
tion may be used separately. But long bellows 
is not generally useful outdoors, is bulky, and 
is confined to cameras of large size in this 
type, or to folding cameras. The symmetrical 
anastigmat lens, however, is extremely useful, 
for it may also be used in a folding camera with 
long draw, in landscape, copying, enlarging and 
similar work. The symmetrical lens is often a 
great help in making a picture of a distant ob¬ 
ject which cannot be approached. It takes the 
place of the tele-photo lens in a way, in that the 
rear combination magnifies the object two or 
more times. In short, a hawk sitting on a dis¬ 
tant tree/photographed with the rear combina¬ 
tion, will appear two or more times as large as 
if the lens were used in its ordinary capacity as 
a doublet. 
I would again emphasize the fact that a large 
camera is not only unnecessary, but a positive 
millstone around the neck of the sportsman. 
When I began to study photography, twenty 
years ago, there were two sizes to choose from, 
5x7 and 4x5. Either one was bulky enough 
when a few dozen glass plates were also to be 
considered as part of the equipment to be taken 
into the woods, for films were not much good 
in those days, and the rectilinear lenses gave 
small figures and were backed with slow shut¬ 
ters, so that a large plate was necessary to get 
fair definition and an image of decent size. But 
lenses and shutters have been improved so much 
that large, clearly defined images can now be 
got on small films. From a good negative, there¬ 
fore, beautiful enlargements can be made, and 
films of postal card size are employed by an 
army of serious workers who depend almost en¬ 
tirely on making clear enlargements from these 
for illustrations and other purposes. 
Perry D. Frazer. 
Fake Photographs. 
Every trade, calling and profession has its 
fakirs, frauds and imposters. The adage that 
“seeing is believing” has been taken advantage 
of the world over by those who would impose 
upon the credulity of an unsuspecting populace 
by presenting to their view that which they might 
otherwise doubt. People who will not “believe 
their own eyes” are few and far between, and 
as certainly as “figures will not lie,” so there 
are those who think that photographs always 
speak the truth. A photographic reproduction 
of an object is regarded as the best possible 
evidence of its reality. 
People who have visited interstate fairs, im¬ 
migration congresses and like gatherings have no 
doubt been presented with souvenir cards repre¬ 
senting a single ear of corn mounted upon a log 
wagon and drawn by a span of horses, or of a 
single potato upon a bob sled making a comfort¬ 
able load for a single horse. These cards, and 
many others of like import, are photographic 
productions, but so skillfully executed as to de¬ 
ceive the unwary. 
In my collection of fake photographs I have 
two which are interesting. One is a photograph 
of a bass apparently about sixteen feet long in 
the very act of striking the lure of a patient 
fisherman on Lake Washington. The other rep¬ 
resents a hunter returning from the chase with 
six ’coons suspended from his shoulder. Both 
are reproduced elsewhere in this issue. 
The manner in which these fake photographs 
are produced is simple in the extreme. In the 
case of the bass a photograph was taken of a 
man sitting quietly in a boat waiting for a bite. 
A photograph was then taken of a very ordinary 
bass of about two pounds’ weight. With a pair 
of sharp scissors all of the photograph was cut 
away, leaving the fish only. This was then 
pasted carefully upon the first photograph in the 
proper position and the composite photograph 
thus made was rephotographed and the- effect 
obtained was that of a giant fish. The ’coon 
photograph was produced in like manner, a sin¬ 
gle ’coon being photographed six times in dif¬ 
ferent positions. With the aid of a pair of sharp 
scissors and a little paste these were transferred 
to the photograph of the hunter and his dog, 
which, when rephotographed, produced a won¬ 
derfully pleasing result. 
A little patience and practice will enable any 
amateur photographer to produce wonderful re¬ 
sults. One of the cleverest illusions of this kind 
I ever inspected was that of a Kansas farmer 
climbing a cornstalk with ladders, block and 
tackle, ropes and a saw for the purpose of lower¬ 
ing the ear to the ground. It is a harmless 
amusement and one which will be productive of 
much pierriment among your friends. 
A. J. Young. 
Deer in Connecticut. 
Stamford, Conn., July 16.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The reports about increase of deer in 
Connecticut and the tameness of the animals is 
quite in accord with our observations in this 
locality. There are a number of deer on my 
place and they do some damage, but I am will¬ 
ing to stand the loss. They eat peas and beans 
in the garden fifty yards from the house and 
they nip the tops from some of my grafted chest¬ 
nuts. My men see them close at hand while at 
work. Last week I jumped one out of his bed 
in the tall weeds only a few yards from where 
several boys were swimming and shouting. Deer 
would increase much faster were it not for the 
hounds. Hounds are running loose here at all 
times, day and night. The old deer care noth¬ 
ing for them, as they jump into the river and 
watch the hounds trying to find the lost trail. 
Last year I saw a doe cross the stream and 
then stand in the bushes peering at two hounds 
ranging back and forth on the opposite bank. 
The doe saw me, but did not run. She was 
more interested in the dogs. The loss is among 
the fawns. Early in the spring we will find a 
doe with two fawns. A little later she has one 
fawn and then none. The hounds kill off about 
all of the fawns in this vicinity. 
In the current number of Forest and Stream 
your contributor on the subject of “Wild Ducks 
on the Farm” refers to the grazing habits of the 
birds, and I would like to add a note about the 
desirability of sowing a patch of hairy vetch for 
ducks, chickens and for farm animals also. The 
seed can be obtained from any large dealer. Sow 
the seed about the middle of August. The trail¬ 
ing plants make a fine mass of green herbage, 
lasting green all winter. In the spring the blue 
flowers are beautiful. The seed pods open early 
in August, and self-sowing follows, so that the 
patch is self-sustaining. It drives out grass and 
becomes the dominant plant. Fowls and farm 
animals eat the green vetch greedily all winter. 
I do not know why all northern farmers do not 
raise hairy vetch. It is one of the things one 
finds out about, and then wonders why he did 
not always raise it. Robert T. Morris. 
Improvement, Yes. 
Brockton, Mass., July 9.—Forest and Stream Publish¬ 
ing Co., New York.—Gentlemen: Enclosed please find 
money order for two years’ subscription to Forest and 
Stream. I wish to congratulate you on the decided im¬ 
provement of your paper since I have been a reader— 
which is a little over thirty years. Previous to being a 
subscriber, I bought regularly from my friend, Mr. E. 
M. Thompson, newsdealer. 
I have watched very regretfully the game in this State 
grow scarce. Wishing you continued success, 
Respectfully yours, 
Fred. M. Keene. 
