Forest and Stream 
Copyright, 1906, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 



Terms, $3 4 Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. l 
Six Months, $1.50. ) 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MARCH to, 1906. 



VOL. LXVI.—No. 10. 
1 No. 346 Broadway, New York. 



THEN AND NOW. 
HALF a century is but a short stretch of time 
in the history of the world, or indeed in the his- 
tory of some men. However, in matters of sport 
the limitations of fifty years have been important 
and many. This is best realized by delving into 
the sporting literature of fifty years ago. 
It was our pleasing privilege recently to ex- 
amine a file of the old Spirit of the Times of the 
year 1854. It held a high place in the esteem of 
horsemen and sportsmen; and, indeed, the sound 
of its name even now is sufficient to make some 
of the old-timers fall prostrate, figuratively, in 
adoration and chant endless chatter in praise of 
the “good old days” when “the tall son of York” 
was the only sporting oracle and accomplished 
bibber. The old files truly show that he pos- 
sessed good gray matter and a long pair of shears. 
An examination of the old Spirit pages shows 
that human nature in those old days was much 
the same as the human nature of the present time. 
The literature of the Spirit, at that time, was dis- 
tinctly amateurish, affected, stilty, and not a little 
of it pitched in a key which at the present time 
would be called bombastic. And yet it is not 
dificult to understand that those writers, identi- 
fied with the early, formative stages of American 
sportsmanship, should have attained high fame, 
for in their field they were the only and therefore 
the highest exponents. In a realm where only a 
few had any accurate knowledge, the few could 
be highly oracular and diffuse without any fear 
of hostile criticism. As a matter of fact, the 
Spirit literature of the old days, as we read it 
now, does not compare at all with the literature of 
the present time, either in respect to technical 
knowledge or the genius and literary excellence 
of the writers. But to return. 
As showing the vast strides between 1854 and 
1906, the intermediate gradations being ignored, 
some advertisements of the sporting goods of 
“the good old days” are taken from the Spirit 
of the Times as follows: 
Removal—Sportsmen’s Warehouse—Henry Tomes & Co, 
Importer of Guns, Rifles and Pistols, and all articles of 
sporting ware and ammunition. 
Have removed to a new and commodious store, in 
their old location, 203 Broadway, where they invite the 
attention of sportsmen and dealers in sporting articles 
to their stock, comprising Ely’s Caps—Patent Wire 
Cartridges—Best White Cloth and Concave Felt Wad- 
ding—Cloth Wadding in Sheets—Baldwin’s Paper Wad- 
ding—Walker’s Caps—Cox’s Caps—Powder Flasks—Shot 
Belts—Game Bags—Dram Flasks—Saloon Pistols—Bowie 
Knives—Sporting Knives. 
Marston’s Fire-Arms Co., store 205 Broadway, offer 
for sale * * * breechloading and self-cleaning rifles, 
shotguns, pistols, etc. These are the best guns in the 
world—can be loaded and fired ten times a minute. 
To sportsmen and country gun makers: B. J. Hart, 
manufacturer and importer of guns and materials, solicits 
the attention of Sportsmen to his assortment of fine guns, 
made by Smith, King and other celebrated makers 
* * * He would particularly call the attention of sports- 
men to Bently & Son’s central-fire guns for sale, of 
which he is the sole agent in the United States. In 
speaking of these guns, Mr. Johnson, the author of ‘‘The 
Gun and How to Use It,” says: ‘‘Many attempts have, 
from time to time, been made to discharge the percuss- 
ing gun by a central-fire from the primage. The most 
successful of these attempts is that made by Bently & 
Son, of Liverpool; those who have tried it speak highly 
of its merits; there is no doubt whatever that the nearer 
the priming can be brought to the gun powder to be 
exploded, the more instantaneous and rapid must be the 
discharge.” 

DR. BEAN DECORATED. 
Dr. TarLeToN H. BEAN, the newly-appointed 
State Fishculturist of New York, has just re- 
ceived a decoration from the Emperor of Japan 
in recognition of his courtesies to the Japanese 
delegation at the St. Louis Exposition, at which 
Dr. Bean was chief of the Departments of For- 
estry and Fish and Game. The decoration is in 
the shape of a badge of gold and ivory, repre- 
senting a sunburst, in the center of which is a 
large ruby. The whole is suspended from a rib- 
bon and inclosed in a handsome lacquered box. 
Commissioner Whipple, on examining the decora- 
tion, declared that it was one of the handsomest 
he had yet seen, and congratulated Dr. Bean on 
the preferment. At former expositions Dr, Bean 
received from the German Emperor the decora- 
tion of Knight of the Imperial Order of the Red 
Eagle, and from the republic of France the dec- 
oration of Knight of the Legion of Honor. These 
were each conferred for distinguished services in 
connection with the official management of the 
Departments of Forestry and Fish and Game at 
expositions at which these governments had 
made admirable displays. Dr. Bean also is a for- 
eign member of the Danish Fisheries Society, and 
of a number of other organizations both in this 
country and abroad to which his recognized 
abilities as a scientific man and an ichthyologist 
have recommended him. 
A VICTORY FOR GAME PROTECTION. 
THE opinion of the New York Court of Appeals 
in the cases of Hill and Silz, under prosecution 
for having in possession game in close season, is 
a distinct and notable victory for the cause of 
game protection. The opinion is clean cut, con- 
cise and conclusive. It clears away the fogs 
which have obscured the principles of protection, 
The court holds (1) that the statute forbidding 
the possession of foreign game does not contra- 
vene the constitution because depriving the pos- 
sessor of his property without due process of law; 
(2) that the prohibition of the possession and 
sale of foreign game is within the police power of 
the State; and it recognizes and affirms the propo- 
sition (3) that the necessity of such prohibition 
has long been embodied and established in the 
statutes of the United States and Europe. 
Nothing could be more explicit than the court’s 
ruling, as to the Silz contention that the grouse 
in question were of foreign origin, that the law 
clearly applied to these birds, even though of a 
variety of grouse not native to New York nor 
found in a wild state in New York. 
The opinion goes far to simplify the task of 
game protection in New York. 
If the defendants shall carry the case to the 
United States Supreme Court, the result there 
may be awaited with perfect confidence. The full 
text of the opinion is given in other pages. 
DAME JULIANA. 
THE first English book on angling was written 
four hundred years ago by a woman. It was the 
“Treatyse on Fysshynge with an Angle,’ by Dame 
Juliana Berners, printed by Wynken de Worde 
in the “Boke of St. Albans” in 1496. Next week 
in our fishing columns two pages of the original 
edition of the “Treatyse”’ will be reproduced in 
fac-simile. It might perhaps be thought that as 
a fishing authority the Dame was now out of date. 
There are certainly few women writing to-day on 
any subject, of whose work it may be surmised 
that people will care much about it four hun- 
dred years hence. But Dame Juliana is as fresh 
to-day as ever; her fishing philosophy age cannot 
wither nor custom stale; her praise of the gentle 
recreation still finds responsive appreciation; and 
every angler to whom the reproduction of the 
quaint black letter text shall come next week 
will be grateful, we are sure, for such a peep 
into the old book. 
FOOLISH NATURE STORIES. 
THE school of nature fictionists who began to 
write so freely a few years ago have been often 
criticised, and of late there has been a distinct 
lull in the outpouring of the products of their 
imagination. That they are still hard at work, 
however, is made evident by the occasional ap- 
pearance in a reputable periodical of some article 
which causes the naturalist who reads it either 
to frown with indignation or to chuckle with 
laughter, according to his temperament, or the 
mood he happens to be in. The unnatural natural 
history of the daily press is not greatly to be 
wondered at, but when a leader of light and 
learning, such as the Century Magazine, gives 
space to an article like the one on the antelope, 
criticised by Mr. Arthur Erwin Brown, we may 
all of us feel sad rather than indignant. It is 
true that this imaginary natural history is pop- 
ular and sells many copies, but a periodical like 
the Century cannot be supposed to be influenced 
by this consideration. It might be imagined that 
when an article is received dealing with a matter 
about which editors must know they are entirely 
ignorant, they would take some little pains to’ go 
to some one who possessed a knowledge of the 
subject. Editors are not supposed to know the 
technicalities of all subjects, but they are sup- 
posed to know—and it may fairly be demanded 
of them that they should know—where to go to 
find somebody who does know. 
t 
THE sale question is again to the front in 
Massachusetts. A report of the important hear- 
ing of last week is given on page 370. 
