



























A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 
DBEYOTED TO Fre_p AND AQuaTic Sports, PRACTICAL NATURAL Hisvory, 
Fish CULTURE, THE PROTECTION OF GAME, PRESRVATION OF Forests, 
AND THF INCULCATION INMEN AND WoMEN OF A HEALTHY INTERFST 
IN OUT-i 0R RECREATION AND StupyY: 
PUBLISHED BY 
Sorest and Stream Publishing Company, 
103 FULTON STREET, NEW YORK. 
See GE 
Terms, Five Dollars a Year, Strictly in Advance. 
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sending us two subscriptions and Ten Dollars wi 
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extra, Where advertisements are inserted over 1 month, a discount of 
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NEW YORK, THURSDAY, OOT. 23, 1873. 
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receive a copy of 



To Correspondents. 
aes 
All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 
correspondence, must be addressed to Tur ForEst AND STREAM PuB- 
LISHING COMPANY. Personal letters only, to the Manager. 
All communications intended for publication must be accompanied with 
real name, as a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published if 
objection be made. No anonymous contributions will be regarded. 
Articles relating to any topic within the scope of this paper are solicited. 
We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 
Ladies are especially invited to use our columns, which will be pre- 
pared with areful reference to their perusal and instruction. 
Secretaries of.Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brief 
notes of their movements and transactions, as it is the aim of this paper 
to become a medium of useful and reliable information between gentle- 
men sportsmen from one end of the country to the other; and they will 
find our columns a desirable medium for advertising announcements, 
The Publishers of Forrest anD STREAM aim to merit and secure the 
patronage and countenance of that portion of the community whose re- 
fined intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 
is beautiful in Nature. It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 
the legitimate sports of land and water to those base uses which always 
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CHARLES HALLOCK, 
Managing Editor. 

Calendar of Events for the Current Week. 
Se ee 
Fray, October 24.—Maryland Jockey Club....Lexington Trotting 
Horse Association, Lexington, Ky....Mountain Park, Brookville, Penn 
....Prospect Park Antumn Meeting. 
SaturpDAy, October 25.—Boat cluns foot of 133d street, Harlem...... 
Lexington Trotting Horse Association, Ky....Prospect Park, Autumn 
Meeting. 
Monpsy, October 27.—Macon State Fair, Georgia. 
TuxEspay, October 28.—Richmond State Fair, Va....West Eutaw Dis- 
trict Fair, Ala....Roanoke and Tar River State Fair, Weldon, N. C..... 
Agricultural and Mechanical Fair, Jackson, West Tenn. 
WEDNESDAY, October 29.—Richmond State Fair, Va....West Eutaw 
District Fair, Ala.... Roanoke and Tar River State Fair, Weldon, N. C.. 
Agricultural and Mechanical Fair, Jackson, West Tenn. 
THURSDAY, October 30.—Richmond State Fair, Va..:.West Eutaw 
District Fair, Ala....Roanoke and Tar River State Fair, Weldon, N.C... 
Agricultural and Mechanical Fair, Jackson, West Renn. 
2 
REMARKABLE ROWING FEATS. 



R. REGINALD HERBERT, a gentleman well known 
in racing circles in Eugland, accomplished a great 
rowing feat on October 16th. He wagered £1,000 that he 
would row from Maidenhead to Westminster Bridge, on 
the river Thames, a distance of forty-seven and a half 
miles, in twelve hours. Mr. Herbert has not rowed for 
years, and when at school at Eton was considered only a 
- fair sculler. This will show that he had to row four miles 
an hour. It must be borne in mind that there are eleven 
“locks;” each lock would take five minutes to pass through 
before he could start again, having aman stationed there 
to open and shut them. This would make nearly an hour 
apparently wasted; but as he could rest the five minutes it 
would be a literal gain, which is of the utmost. importance 
in a long and tedious pull. Then take into consideration 
refreshments, etc., which would take up half an hour of 
the twelve hours allowed him, making altogether one hour 
and a half to be deducted, he won this extraordinary wager, 
and rowed the forty-seven and a half miles in nine hours 
(according to the telegram), leaving three hours to spare. 
It will be seen that he rowed at the rate of a little over 
eleven minutes tothe mile. If the time lost in passing 
through the eleven locks and other contingencies are taken 
into consideration, the actual rowing time would be seven 
and a half hours, or at the rate of a mile in 9 minutes, 284 
seconds. 
An almost similar feat was achieved on the Hudson river 
some years ago. Mr. J. J. Astor and Mr. Walter Langdon 
rowed from New York city to Hyde Park dock, on the 
Hudson river, a distance of eighty-seven miles, in seven- 
tecn hours and a half. This isas near the distance and 
time as_our memory serves us. 

FOREST AND STREAM. 
THE QUESTION OF IRRIGATION IN THE 
FAR, WEST. 
eat ic LE 
At last it seems as if this vital question of irrigation is 
no longer to be treated as one merely of scientific re- 
search, but to be carried out in its most practical methods. 
If the theories in regard to the advantages to be derived 
from the planting of trees, as found in the columns of the 
Forest AnD STREAM are worth anything, the absolute car- 
rying of them into effect in order to reclaim the arid wastes 
of land in Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mex- 
ico may shortly prove the soundness of our speculations. 
At Denver a conventiol of delegates representing most of 
the far Western States and Territories, assembled on Octo- 
ber 15th to consider the subject of irrigation, and to devise 
some means ‘‘ by which the great expanse of rainless country 
between the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains, as 
well as on the Pacific slopes, could be brought under a sys- 
tem of irrigation so as to make them valuable.” 
This is a question fraught with interest, since it looks to 
the regeneration of millions of acres of land. In 1nost por- 
tions of the country which come under the deliberation of 
the delegates, water is scarce or if running streams are 
found is charged with alkaline salts. How far the dig- 
ging of artesian wells would furnish water in quantity can 
not be determined. Copious as might be their water flow 
it is questionable whether in many sections of the country 
this water would not be more or less alkaline, and not 
suited either for tree or vegetable life or for human con- 
sumption. Then again, such artificial sources, though they 
might be productive of sweet water, and capable of turning 
certain spots in these arid wastes into oases, would be ex- 
pensive of construction and limited as to quantity of wells. 
We look upon the introduction of certain mountain streams 
which may be found in quantity throughout this section of 
country as of much more practical importance. But the 
plan is so vast in its conception that even should the dele- 
gates come to any conclusion, their efforts must be regard- 
ed as rather of an experimental character than otherwise, 
even did they determine to dig wells or to conduct fresh 
streams by means of aqueducts or California flumes through 
certain portions of the unfruitful land. One thing certain 
is that water must be had first, and with it as a positive 
means of preserving such water, trees must be planted. 
There is a wonderful cumulative power in tree planting. 
The trunk starts, the branches spread, and under its shade 
grow the grasses, all of them capable of retaining the moist- 
ure and in turn of giving it off again. As was shown ina 
late article of ours on ‘‘The Influence of Forests on Air and 
Soil,” the evaporation from the ground surface of a wooded 
country was exceedingly slow, while the soil retained the 
moisture in a proportion twice as great as when the ground 
was denuded. 
As to the power forests may have of creating or drawing 
rain to a section of country, the data on this most important 
question are by no means positive; but theory seems to 
show that if a rain fall is not caused in their immediate 
proximity they certainly play an important part in causing 
rain to fall in other areas of country more or less dictant. 
The plans of irrigation and tree planting must go hand in 
hand, for one is the preserver of the other. Have all the 
water you can bring, without trees to protect it, andthe 
evaporation from sun and wind in these sections of country 
soon sucks them dry. As to the hwmus formed by the slow 
decomposition of the leaves, grasses and mosses, consequent 
to tree planting entering more into the subject of agricul- 
ture, we have had little to say, save that tree planting 
is conducive of this most useful compound. Artificial irri- 
gation is the creative force necessary to convert these sands 
from unproductive wastes to fruitful pasturages, but the 
rain fall is the true constant element which we believe can 
be made to act, not only in circumscribed areas, but 
through large extents of this country. Of course rapid re- 
sults are not to be looked for. It may take years before 
any impression is made on these rainless wastes. At the 
same time what may be the effect of simultaneous action on 
them, we are not- prepared to state. Let us hope, 
however, that in this respect the constrvctive power of 
man may be found to about balance his destructive ener- 
gies. To sum up this theory of wood planting, which bears 
on its face every appearance of being true in practice, one 
tree planted aids materially in the growth of another tree, 
and consequently within certain limits, once the first group 
of trees planted, facility is given to the propagation of a 
forest. 
Wesincerely trust that with the many facts before them 
the delegates will treat this subject of tree planting as of 
the utmost importance, and that the result of their deliber- 
ations will form an era in the‘practical portion of American 
arboriculture, as a means 6f reclaiming arid lands. 
: Dis 
Native SaLMon FRoM THE Hupson.—We have been in- 
vited to inspect some specimens of the true salmon and 
land-locked salmon which were hatched in the Hudson 
river, and have been caught and put in alcohol, to be for- 
warded to the Smithsonian Institute. The fish are in the 
second year of their growth, and include both parr and 
smolt. They were produced under the private enterprise 
of gentlemen who at present wish particulars to be kept in 
reserve, but we shall in time be able to publish full details. 
The success thus far obtained is a gratifying promise of 
something better in future. 
ae —_____ 
—‘If George had not blowed into the muzzle of his gun,” 
sighed’a rural widow, at the-funeral of her late husband, 
last Saturday, ‘‘he might have got plenty of squirrels; it 
was such a good day for them.” 


RIFLE SHOOTING IN CANADA. 

E have before us the proceedings of the Province of 
Quebec Rifle Association for 1872, and some short 
analysis of the same will undoubtedly be of interest. Our 
own Annual Prize Meeting, printed in detail by us, will give 
for the first time an opportunity of comparing the shooting. 
The number of competitors who entered for matches 
under the rules of the Quebec Association were 1,508, but 
would have been much larger had it not been for the elections 
taking place during the match week. Though the num- 
ber of competitors is large, we believe that at Creedmoor 
it was considerably exceeded. One thing to be noticed is 
that throughout the whole year nota single acci ent oc. 
curred. One feature of the matches in the Dominion is the 
competition between the smooth bores and the breech 
loaders, which are called Optional Rifle Matches, the Sni- 
ders at 500 yards against the Rigby and Metford at 800 
yards. In these matches the Sniders at 500 yards against 
the small bores at 800 yards succeeded in taking eight out 
of fifteen prizes. At 500 aud 600 yards against 800 and 900 
yards for small bores, they were not so fortunrte, only four 
prizes being won by the English Government arm. 
The Quebec range 1s not as good as ours at Creedmoor. 
From some configuration of the ground, the butts being on 
a slope, the managers have erected platforms for the 400 
yard ranges. Platforms are always objectionable, for no mat. 
ter how solidly they may be built, they have an effect on the 
accuracy of the shooting. The Secretary, Lieutenant Col. 
Fletcher comments with very proper pride on the Canadian 
teams sent to Wimbledon, and the victories achieved by 
them there, and also that of the four Provincial teams the 
Quebec was the best. 
At the fourth annual prize meeting held at Quebec, with 
191 contestants, at 200 yards, the best score was 23 in seven 
shots, made by Trumbull of the Grand Trunk Rifles, an 
average of 3 2-7; arm, Snider Enfield. 
At 200, 500, and 600 yards, five rounds at each distance, 
arm, Snider Enfield, the winning score was 47, made by J- 
Ferguson, an average of 3 2-15. 
In the Battalion match, at 500 and 600 yards, seven shots 
at each range, team of five, the winner was the team of the 
Eighth Battalion, who made 176, which is a fair average. 
-The best individual score was 44, at 600 yards, seven shots. 
Sergeant Baxter made 24; which is a very high average. 
And in the Association match, at 500 and 600 yards, Mr. 
Morrison, of the Victoria Rifle club, scored 34 in ten shots, 
which is very good shooting with a Snider Enfield. 
In the Strangers’ stakes, Snider’s at 500, smooth bore at 
800 yards, seven shots, Mr. Stenhouse made 26 with a Met- 
ford, which is magnificent shooting; at 500 yards Mr. Wil 
son made 25, which is also tall shooting. In the Ladies’ 
cup, Captain Cotton of the Ottawa Guards, at 800 and 900 
yards, made, with at Metford, 52 in a possible 56, which is 
a very powerful score, and hard to equal. At 1,000 yards, 
with a Metford, in 15 shots, Mr. Dester made 49, an average 
of 3 4-15, which isa shade less than that made by Mr, 
Adam at our own Sharpshooters’ match, who at 1,000 yards 
made 23 in seven shots, an average of 32-7. The Conso- 
lation match was quite a good one; distance 200 and 500 
yards, five shots at, each range, the winner, Mr. Ferguson, 
making 85, an average of 34. 
It would be useful to the members of our Association to 
notice carefully the scores published by us of English and 
Canadian matches, so that they can form an estimate of 
their own shooting. Undoubtedly our progress will be 
rapid, but we can only get to thorough excellence by long 
and arduous work. Now that autumn has fairly set in, and 
the sun has lost its glare, no better season of the year can be 
found for rifle practice at Creedmoor, and we have no doubt 
but that many marksmen will take advantage of it. On the 
whole, we think from the shooting at Creedmoor, as far as 
teams taken from the N. G. go, we are quite up to the 
Canadian militia, though we are decidedly of the opinion 
that as marksmen at long range there are many Canadians 
who can beat our bestmen. It is always better to acknowl- 
edge at once where we are at fault, so as to do our best to 
remedy it. That our men had shot very little at long range 
arises from the very natural fact that knowing little about 
shooting at all, the range not having been in existence yeta 
year, it was wiser for men to creep before they could 
walk, that is to try to shoot at short range creditably before 
attempting longer distances. For our military organiza- 
tions some of the rapid firing as at Wimbledon, in order to 
test the loading capacity of breech loaders and their accu- 
racy, would be worth the future attention of the Associa- 
tion. Thus at 200 yards five men of an English militia 
regiment, in three minutes, using the Snider rifle, have fired 
265 shots, making 208 hits and 57 misses; of this large num- 
ber of shots, 7 were bull’s eyes, 78 centees, and 123 outers. 
In concluding, we trust the National Rifle Association 
wilt early in 1874 publish the list of the matches for the 
year, so that when the important event does occur it may 
draw together at Creedmoor, not only our own marksmen 
but that also Canadian and English riflemen may partici- 
pate in the contest. 
oS or 
OxpituaRyY.—Notice has just been received of the death, 
at Rome, Italy, of the venerable Peter MacMartin, of 168 
Fifth avenue, one of the finest anglers and students of ich- 
thyology on the ¢atalogue of distinguished names. His age 
was seventy and upwards. His daughters attended him at 
the time of his decease. 
$< ____ 
—What is the difference between a good soldier and a. 
hard drinker? The one knows his colors, the other colors 
his nose. ; : 
* 



