FOREST AND STREAM. 


































DEVOTED TO FIELD AND Aquatic Sports, Practica NATURAL History, 
‘Fish CULTURE, THE PROTECTION OF GAME, PRESRVATION OF FORESTS, 
AND THE INCULCATION IN MEN AND WOMEN OF A HEALTHY INTER*ST 
IN OUT-DO0R RECREATION AND STUDY: 
PUBLISHED BY 
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, f e ae 
Sorest and Strean Publishing Company, 
——AT—— 
2103 FULTON STREET, NEW YORK. 
eas 
Terms, Five Dollars a Year, Strictly in Advance. 
—_—_q—_—_— 
A discount of twenty per cent. for five copies and upwards. Any person 
sending us one subscription and Five Dollars will receive a copy of 
Hallock’s *‘ Fisurye Tourist,’* postage free. 
og 
Advertising Kates, 
“ In regular advertising columns, nonpareil type, 12lines to the inch, 25 
cents per line. Advertisements on outside page. 40 cents per line. Reading 
notices, 50 cents per line. Advertisements in double column 25 per cent. 
extra. Where advertisements are inserted over 1 month, a discount of 
10 per cent. will be made; over three months, 20 per cent; over six 
months, 30 per cent. 


NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DEC. 4, 1873. 
To Correspondents. 


See aS 
All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 
correspondence, must be addressed to THE 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 Names will not be published if 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 careful 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 
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 Forrst 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 
send to make them unpopular with the virtuous and good. No advertise- 
ment or business notice of an immoral character will be received on any 
terms; and nothing will be admitted to any department o the paper that 
may not be read with propriety in the home circle. 
We cannot be responsible for the dereliction of the mail service, if 
money remitted to us is lost. 
Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, if possible. 
CHARLES HALLOCK, 
Managing Editor. 


Calendar of Events for the Current Week. 
he ee 
SutTurRDAY, December 6.—Louisiana Jockey Club, New Orleans, 
TuESDAY, December 9.—Lonisiana Jockey Club, New Orleans. 
WEDNESDAY, December; 10.—Camden Jockey Club, Camden, South 
Carolina. 
TuupspAy, December 11.—Louisiana Jockey Club, New Orleans.... 
Camden Jockey Club, Camden, 8. C. 


FIELD CLUBS—A SUGGESTION. 
pst See 
E have entertained the opinion that a large amount 
of practical information of the most valuable qual- 
ity of a zoological or other character was obtainable outside 
of strictly scientific sources. The exceedingly valuable 
material furnished to the columns of Forest AND STREAM 
by our many correspondents, coming tous quite unsolici- 
ted, is the strongest proof we can present that a spirit of 
research in Natural History, with habits of close observa- 
tion, exists in the United States to a most marked degree. 
Tf learned professors of the Smithsonian and other leading 
scientists in our universities and schools have been good 
enough to give our readers information and instruction, 
conveyed with infinite skill and erudition, we have at the 
same time derived many advantages from the contribu- 
tions of persons unknown to fame, with no idea of scien- 
tific study, but whose singularly novel and interesting ob- 
servations in regard to animals, birds, and fishes have lent 
additional charms to the columns of the Forrest AND 
Srrpam. What has been so persistently asserted by us, 
that a practical knowledge of Natural History must of neces- 
sity underlie all attainments which combine to make a thorough 
sportsman, are then undoubtedly true. From Labrador to 
Florida, from New Jersey to California, those who handle the 
sun and the rod have given us their rich stores of informa- 
tion, and all seem to appreciate the fact that the study of 
the game or fish they seek, with a knowledge of their hab- 
its when noted, not only gives an immense amount of prac- 
tical information, but adds fresh zest to their manly plea- 
sures. : 
We feel ourselves called upon to make this general ac- 
knowledgment of the value of the labors of all our con- 
tributors, and to express to all of them how gratefully the 
public, both at home and abroad, have appreciated their 
labors, for English sporting journals and periodicals are 
copying us with avidity. 
There is, however, a method of combining such general 
advance of intelligence, which, without depriving the 
ForeEsT AND STREAM in the least of their valuable services, 
would be of infinite advantage to many of our co-laborers. 
In England they have certain kinds of societies, and, dis- 
Sarding the rather pompous titles of ‘‘scientific societies,” 
they simply call themselves ‘‘Field Clubs.” In quite an un- 
ostentatious way they collect from absolute experiences in 
the fields, woods, and rivers, in the forests and streams, an 
endless variety of useful information. The subjects they 
choose are varied. Some field clubs take up geology, others 
zoology or botany, some meteorology, others archeology, 
but generally all these various branches of study are com- 
bined. The sportsman going in the fields, for instance, 
notes age, sex, general appearance, habits, and effects of 
season on the birds he hunts. Should he find a bird un- 
known to the section of country, he jots it down in his 
book, perhaps stuffs the specimen himself, and at a subse- 
quent meeting of his field club descants on this novel bird, 
and not only gives but gainsinformation. If he is a fisher- 
man, there are a thousand novel facts which strike his in- 
telligent notice. He learns something about the migration 
of fish, their methods of spawning, the differences even in 
the same species as to color, shape, or size, and, carefully 
recording the facts of his own experiences, imparts it to 
others. If the field club is ambitious, at the end of the 
year, their proceedings could be published, and it would be 
surprising to find what a vast amount of solid facts would 
be given to the world. 
Societies of this character in England, humble at first, 
counting but a few members at their start, have in a com- 
paratively short time developed into real centres of vast 
importance and scientific acquirement, and from being sim- 
ply ‘‘field clubs” are now august scientific societies, pub- 
lishing each year volumes full of the most varied informa- 
tion, and having libraries attached to their societies. 
Societies of this character, composed of every element, 
stimulate the general advance of human culture, and foster 
a love for that most delightful of all subjects, Natural His- 
tory. There is no reason why our own readers, the many 
contributors to the Formst AND STREAM, especially our 
friends of the yun and rod, should not establish field clubs 
in the localities in which they live. The objects worthy 
of their research exist quite as well in the State of New 
York as in Nebraska. No country in the world abounds 
with such magnificent material. 
There is nothing which will tend to so fully develop not 
only among the older, but among the younger people, a 
taste for ennobling studies as the formation of societies of 
independent investigation ef this simple character. We 
have canvassed this matter sufficiently to have discovered a 
nucleus for an association of this kind, and when the mat- 
ter has been sufficiently discussed by our readers, we shall 
develop our plans. We ask a careful consideration of our 
sugeestion. 

—— 0 fe 
WINTER SPORTS. 
ITHIN a period of time covering but a little more 
than the past decade, the winter sport and exercise 
of skating in this country was indulged in almost exclusive- 
ly by the masculine sex, and chiefly by juveniles, and gen- 
erally by those only who found time to avail themselves of 
the favorable condition of the ice on such ponds or streams 
as were located in the immediate vicinity of their houses. 
At that period adults, too, would, on holiday occasions, 
take to the ice for a few hours’ sport, provided the snow 
had not placed an embargo on the use of any ice for skating 
purposes. What a change has taken place in regard to this 
exercise, however, within the past dozen years! Now thou- 
sands engage in the sport where tens only indulged in it, and 
the fair sex rival their masculine protectors in the skill in 
which they disport themselves on skates. In fact skating 
has become a regular American institution, and one which 
specially commends itself to both sexes and all classes as 
an exciting and invigorating out-door exercise and recrea- 
tion. A dozen years ago alady on skates was not only a 
rare and novel sight in this vicinity, but any fair one, 
‘native and to the manner born,” who in such a way would 
have dared to brave the opinion of ‘‘ her set,” and to have 
outraged their peculiar sense of feminine propriety by ap- 
pearing on a public field of ice on skates, would have been 
driven forth in disgrace from the sacred circles of ‘‘ our 
best society.” Now, however, the very reverse rule pre- 
vails, for the self same fair one would now be tabooed as 
“slow” and ‘‘behind the times” if she could not grace- 
fully accomplish the ‘‘ outside circle” or practically illus- 
trate the beauties of the ‘‘ grape vine twist” and other 
mysteries of the skating art in the latest style. Now, too, 
every girl not afflicted with weak ankles, thin or crooked 
nether limbs, or positive physical inability to exercise her- 
self on skates, is uneasy and dissatisfied unless enjoying 
herself in the winter Inxury of skating on a clear field of 
ice. At one time a perfect furore for the sport prevailed 
amongst the fair sex of our northern cities, and no wonder 
either, for American women, until within afew years’ past, 
have been so much excluded from any participation in the 
out-door amusements and exercises which European ladies 
indulge in to sucha wholesome extent, that it is not sur- 
prising that when the door to such recreation is opened to 
them they shouldrush in to enjoy it with almost ecstatic de- 
light, or go to extremes in the indulgence of the too long 
prohibited pleasure. Now, however, skating has settled 
down into a permanent recreative exercise for Americans 
of both sexes, and its present deserved popularity will never 
relax, we trust. 
Looking at skating from a sanitary point of view the 
benefits accruing from it outnumber its drawbacks to such 
an extent as to render opposition to the sport on any reason- 
abie grounds futile. Especially is this the case in reference 
to its enjoyment by ladies, for to them it has been an 
especial advantage when they have indulged in it with 
judicious care and moderation. The prominent cause of 
the delicate and sickly constitutions of American girls, and 
especially of our city ladies, arises in a great measure from 
their entire neglect of out-door recreative exercise. Two- 
thirds of the lives of fashionable American women have 
hitherto been passed in the artificial and poisonous atmos- 
phere of their poorly ventilated and furnace-heated apart- 
ments Theresult has been the preventing of that exhala- 
tion of carbon and the inhalation of oxygen which are of 
such vital importance to the health of everv human being. 
Now it happens that this requisite healthy action of the 
lungs in the expulsion of the refuse carbon from the blood 
and the reception. of the life-giving properties of the air 
we breath, is never better promoted than when the indivi- 
dual is engaged in the vigorous exercise of skating, for while 
thus causing the blood to circulate healthily to the surface 
of the body by the muscular exercise, and thereby giving 
life to the dormant functions of the skin, the oxygen of the 
pure frosty air is inhaled under circumstances best calcu- 
culated to invigorate the entire system. The sanitarian 
rule is, that exercise, to be beneficial, must have the effect 
of increasing the insensible perspiration, or, in other 
words, give an impetus to the healthy action of the skin in 
removing effete matter from the system. By this means 
the otherwise overworked functions of the lungs, bowels 
and kidneys are relieved and the diseases which res: lt 
therefrom, are prevented. It is from the very lack of this 
healthy circulation of the blood to the surface that indivi- 
duals unaccustomed to out-door recreative exercises take cold 
so easily. Those in whom the functions of the skin are in 
active operation scarcely know what a cold is; and hence 
the hardihood of those who are constantly inhaling the 
open air under circumstances of active exercise of their 
muscles, in comparison to others who in their sedentary 
habits of life scarcely realise what recreative exercise is. 
Habitual skaters, who regularly breath the invigorating at- 
mosphere of winter on a skating pond and thereby make 
their cheeks ruddy with the newly vitalized blood sent to 
the surface by the exercise, become proof against colds. It 
is your housed girls and office-confined young men who 
become victims of colds, and not the well-clothed and well- 
exercised skater. 
Though we have recently had quite a cold snap, it has 
not been sufficient to inaugurate the skating season of 73 
and ’74, and it is not probable that the season will be open- 
ed before the middle of December. By tkat time, however, 
the skating lakes at Central and Prospect Parks will, no 
doubt, be in operation, Preparations are in progress at 
both localities for the advent of King Frost, the skating 
houses having been commenced this week. Water has 
been let on at the Capitoline and Union Lakes, too, in prepara- 
tion Yor the season’s sport. We regret to notice that even 
at this early period of the season accidents to skaters have 
occurred in different localities resulting from the risks in- 
curred in skating on Mill Ponds; three boys having been 
drowned near Highland Falls, in this State, this last week, 
and a young man in a Mill Pond in New Hampshire. No 
such danger can resu!t from skating on our Park Lakes, as 
the water is not deep for one thing, and great care is taken 
in keeping people off the ice when it is not sufficiently 
strong. 
NEBRASKA. 
HERE is always a certain amount of solid informa- 
tion derivable from the Agricultural Reports of a 
State. If such reports are not always exactly amusing, at 
least they have the merit of being instructive. The wealth 
of a country in an agricultural point of view is, however, 
of the most tangible character. As one reads, it requires 
but little imagination to see before one’s eyes the rich prai- 
ries bending under their golden harvests, or the fat kine 
drowsily chewing the cud, fetlock deep in the succulent 
blue-grass. Those dryer details of manufacturing or com- 
mercial communities, as expressed by so many looms with 
their thousands of yards of sheeting or so many forges with 
their tons of iron, or of so many ships,or an amount of money 
invested in stocks, shares or mortgages, do not present that 
palpable consistency which wheat and corn, oxen, horses, 
swine, or sheep give. In the Fourth Annual Report of the 
Board of Agriculture of the State of Nebraska for 1873, 
there is, in addition to quite a large amount of excellent in- 
formation, no end of true Western dash, There is an 
original impulsiveness about it which has its charm. Why 
should a great go-ahead State like Nebraska, which was a 
territory but a few years ago, anda terra incognita fifteen 
years before that, want to be staid, heavy and dignified, or 
to give us here in our older civilization some intensely prim 
yet dull facts in the cut and dried guise of an English 
parliamentary Blue Book? Some idea of the perfectly 
free and easy manner in which this most clever report is 
written, may be had from a line or so in the introductory 
portion. Discussing the most curious fact of that wonder- 
ful belt of civilization which is encircling this giant coun- 
try of ours, one of some three thousand miles long from 
east to west, by four or five hundred miles in width from 
north to south, the report scouts at anything like curtailing 
this huge girdle, and describes the country as ‘‘bounded on 
the north by the Aurora Borealis and on the south by the 
Day of Judgment.” 
But our report is not wanting in statistics, See what it’ 
says about the Homestead bill and the benefits the vigorous 
State of Nebraska has gained by this ‘‘twice honored bill,” 
as it calls it. Taking the whole number of acres occupied _ 
by settlers under the Homestead bill, the report states that 
up to June 30th, 1872 “the total number of acres of land - 
to which claims had been filed by homesteaders amounted 
to 25,173,369 acres,” which is an area of ground twice as 
much as is now under tillage in England. Think of such | 
a royal domain, well nigh torty thousand miles square, and — 




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