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TERRAPIN ARE SCARCE, .
THE CATCH OF DIAMOND BACKS
GROWING SMALLER DAILY.
Fish Commissioner Bowers Declares
the Species Must Eventually Be
come Exterminated Without Radi
cal Measures Are Adopted.
In his annual report Fish Commis
sioner Bowers calls attention to the
growing scarcity of the diamond back
ed terrapin, and declares that the
species must eventually become ex
terminated if present methods of the
industry continue, or if no steps are
taken to arrest the decline by culti
vation. For years the Chesapecake
Bay has been the most productive re
gion of this high priced and muc’h‘
sought delicacy. Statistics ' of the
catch in that region, therefore, will
give a pretty good idea of the rapid
decline in the industry. In 1901, for
instance, the catch of terrapin in
Maryland’s part of the bay was only
one-sixtieth of the quantity and cne
twentieth of the value of the catch of
1891. In that portion of the bay be
longing to Virginia the catch in 1901
was one-tenth the quantity and one
thirtieth the value of that in 1891.
This decrease has in part been
made -good by the importation of ter
rapin from the South Atlantic and
Gulf States, and has, therefcre, not
had the ‘effect on prices that might
otherwise have been expected.
Though the more Southern terrapin
ijs inferior to the Chesapeake Bay
variety it becomes a fair substitute
‘on being kept awhile in pounds before
being shipped to market. .
The Commission is now making a
study of the diamond back terrapin
of the Chesapeake Bay region with a
view' to ascertaining the extent and
causes of the decrease, the laws reg
ulating terrapin fishing and the like.
Incidental to this investigation into
the extent and fiauses of the decrease
of the terrapifi special attenticn is
directed to those points in the natural
history of the species which bear on
the question of artificial rearing, .and
a series of experiments has be:zn in
augurated directed to this phase of
the subject. :
The most notable of these are ‘ex
perimental pounds on the Chopiank
River, Maryland, laboratory and in
vestigations at Beaufort, N. C. At
the latter place the terrapin are Kept
under the constant observation of
scientists employed in the laboratory,
and a careful study of their growth,
breeding habits and the like is made.
Also here in Washington the Commis
sion has men making a syste2matic
study of terrapin brought together
from Declaware, Maryland, Virginia,
North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi,
Louisiana and Texas, in order to de
termine the specific or varie:al differ
ences. All these investigations and
experiments were commenced in 1902,
but the final report on them will not
be made up until the end of the pres
ent season, by which time it is hoped
a practicable method of cultivation
may have beenn deveoloped. g
Inquiries and experiments of much
the same nature are being made with
reference to the oyster, the lobster
and the blue crab. Experiments in
the hatching and rearing of lobsters
are conducted at the Woods Hole,
Mass., station, and a final and com
plete report on them will soon be
made by those in charge. Also the
Commission is having a handbook
prepared giving information regarding
the habits, growth and rearing of
lobsters, as well as the method and
extent of the lobster fisheries. Touch- |
ing these the reports says: ]
“The condition of the lobster fish
ery has been practically unchanged'
for several years, although it cannot ‘
be doubted that the tendency is
downward. The catch fluctuated some
what from year to year and certain lo- ]
calities may show a decided increase; |
but if the general output in a State!
is greater in one yecar than anothex'l
the cause may usually be found in |
the fact that the fishery was prose-f
cuted for.a longer time or that more
men and more apparatus were em
ployed.”
It seems very improbable that
there will be any general improve
ment in the fishery until new methods
of conducting it are adopied and shall
have continued for a number of years.
Uniform protective laws are greatly
needed, and without them the work
of the Commission in lobster cultiva
tion will have but little effect at this
stage of the decline.
From data collected by the Com
mission it appears that there are at
this time about 213,000 men engaged l
in the fishing industry in this coun
try, of whom 155,600 are fishermen. ‘
The aggregate capital invested is
- $76,850,000, of which about ome-watrd
represents vessels and boats of all
ing. Squarely in the midle of the
sorts and apparatus of capture. The
value of the catch at first hands:is
estimated at $49,882,000, of which the
ccean and coast fisheries represent
$44,564,000.
The ocean fisheries of New Eng
land, which have always been the
most important of their class, have
been in a satisfactory condition. At
the two great ports of Gloucester and
Boston the guantity of fish landed by
American fishing vessels in 1902 was
about 168,000,000 pounds, valued at
$4,380,000, an increase of 17,000,000
pounds and $130,000, as compared
with 1501.
The mackerel catch has never since
'reached the proportions attained in
the years preceding 1887 although the
report shows it to be now greatly in
excess of the product during the first
half of the present period of unprec
edented scarcity. Commissioner Bow
ers says the tendency of late has been
upward, and it is believed that in a
comparatively few years the mackerel
will have again become abundant on
our shores.
Of the culture of cod in the Atlantic
coast the report says the Commis
sion’s ‘“expectations have been more
than realized. Practical results of
an unmistakable character were first
‘ manifested in 1889, since which time
| a very lucrative shore cod fishery has
| been kept up on grounds-that were
| entirely depleted or that had never
| contained cod in noteworthy numbers
in the memory of the oldest inhabi
tants.”
During the last year the Commis:
sion has distributed in New lEngland
sireams 4 d lakes great numbers of
land locked salmon, cod, lobsters,
crapple, flatfish, sea bass, mackerel,
scup and tautog. The cultivation of
the last four named had not been pre
viously carried on.to any considerable
extent. Experiments with them, as
well as with the land locked salmon,
will therefore be closely watched dur
ing the next few years.
IMoscow and Dalny. :
The destruction, of Dalny, however,
is rather a different matter from'.the
destruction of Moscow. The lattgr act
left the great Napoleon, in the midst
of an enemy’s country, far from
home with nothing to relieve the dis”
tress 'of his army. Here the condi
tions are reversed. It is the Russians
who are far from home while the
en2my is comparatively near its base
of operations. Its policy is also dif
ferent from that of its huge antago
nist. Up to date it has shown no dis
position to burn its bridges. Making
Dainy useless for its immediate pur
pose may be temporary obstruction
and embarrassment, but hardly a se
rious discouragement. The quick
moving and resourceful Jap if he can
'not find a way generally makés one.
1 If docks and piers are denizd him he
can wade ashorc through the esél
grass almost anywhere along the
coast.—Boston Transeript.
paid off his debt to 98. Thus one
small cent paid up a total debt of
seven cents. Who lost by the trans
action ?—Philadelphia Press.
Coarze hats are to be had, thovgh
they are not ever-coarse.
' ing A
oncealing €.
B Ja e Meredith,
NE of the precious lost arts of our time is the art of growing old
gracefully. 1t of
This is particularly true of women with wiom the. cu tm(;
: youth has become more thaa a fad, It is an obsession that 3
o | [ & ; : s
{,,J,E”,;‘,“; their waking thoughts and nightly dreams. Sipada. in
-‘-i-‘”fi?fl" Every woman you know past thirty has but one 11)"1' I:l . has
life, and that is lo keep young. Every paper you pt(; \mageage
columas and pages devoted to telling its femlnmg reade;‘s ihOW =
away wrinkles, and obliterate triple chias, and avoid gray ha & A arbant e
fvery woman you meet spends hours in the privacy of her apal sel
ping around on one foot, or tying herself up in figures of eight, 1 hacek of
attempt to preserve the waist measure of eighteen and the lissome §
her vaaished girlhood .
: > L . . of
Beyond thirty the entire feminine population consists of 111{ 1"352921;33 fob
Ponce de Leons engaged in a frantic, nerve-wearing, heart-breaking
the fountain of perpetual youth.
They do aot find it, of course. They find the peroxide bottle, abz:c:_tffig
complexion specialist, and the stay-maker, that for a time seem ?t i Elthat
for the thing they seek, and they cry out that they have found it, an
there are no more old women. : Kl d
In a way this is true. There are no more women who are frankly altl‘
serenely old, who have accepted age graciously and without regret, f‘)"d tvrfu(;
are eajoying the calm twilight of existence that is, g)erhaps. the most beau
part of life, as it i 3 the most beautiful part of the Gay. old
There are not even any old women’s fashions in our stores, or ar(\ly ith
ladies' corners in our household. Grand mama weats a pl(ftu;je hat s‘%\ erehtgvr
as many flowers and feathers and furbelows as Ler debutante grand- alilfg 2 . ;
Nowhere does the make-believe young womea flourish so plent utya:
. . .
right here in New York. Ridc on any car, sit in any theatre, @?Pfil 1: fiflei
restaurant and you may see her cn every side of you wita helm\‘vnta efd é =
in with powder, her faded old cheeks painted vermilion, her acanly oli nfer
brows peaciled into the proper line, her dim old eyes looking all the i‘ 1]“ R
under the elaborate gold or brenze of her faise hair, her avqirdupe(?; sfio;\:‘
into the tightness of a youthiul gown, or tie bones of her scraggy nec
ing under strings of jewels.
| Women regard growing old as the greatest curse that can befall them, but
this is only because they make it so. ; - ;
All of us have known bri'liaat and beautiful young women, .but when we
think of the most attractive woman we have ever known, the tenderest and
the most lovable, and the one whoze charms abided with us longest, it is of
some old woman with snowy hair, and peaceful eyes, wise and graciouf; in
speech aad manner, and into whose presence it was a rest and a benediction
to come, e ¢
It is a great art for a woman to laarn to keep young, but it is the greates
art of all to learn to grow old graccfully.—New York American,
M Behind Intellect
Viorals Behind inteliect
By the Rev. IDr. N. D. Hillis.
' 2 . .
mmmemmd [ method of testinz whether a nation is waxing or waniag in
: manhood is a simple method, God says that a nation piles up the
clouds of a cominz storm. Not s'mply is it a sign of individual,
Dwmmrmmemnd] ccclesiastical and naticnal decay for a people to emphasize things
f, and forget men, but also when the scholarship of the m'i;n)d ‘z:nd
SEdal nteliect is f2r ahiead of the morals of the heart an:rl con‘%c,.(,n(c.
We kaow mu+3 ahout cocaine, morphine and op’um, but when
| a druggist tells us that he £:.ls $3OO worth of cocaine and morp.n‘ne tq :”;')mefiré
1 every month, we would trade off half our knuwiedge of naturc for obedienc
| to the laws of nature. : o L
In 1849 Carlyle stcod up azd hurled thunderbolts at Enghn_d 3 econouiil
system. England scoffzd at him. He said that they were ma:;mgvmcn(;mig
industrial machines; that they bhad forgotiten the ne:_‘essn_y. of strcnr:-’,th-' 0
England to-day, up in those counties where Cariyle deiiverad }};a.' \}ramfi:l}g‘;
Four years ago England was involved in a war. She opened enlistiag Ol“e
in Birmingham and Shefic'd and lLeeds. Only one man in siX ‘v;:(l)? é):ng
enough and broad enough to meet the military reqmremen.t-o. The \{ : e i
tral population of England are feeblings. They have white blood corpusc
instead of red. : e
Parliament appointed a cemm'tiec of investigation. They returned the
verdict tahat England in making colten had destroyed the mea. Thus Eng
kand was destroying herse!f. In a nation where four generations ago it was
| regarded as a disgrace for an Engiishman or a Scotchman to beg for bread,
now 4,000,000 out of 32,000,000 siand in line for public ctarity to the pauper.
In three generations more, since th 2 pocr reproduce rapidly, you will have
what has happened in Ireland, and Engiand’s 4,000,000 paupers will become
16,000,000. ; ;
There was a day when one cc’'cze man out of every flve went into the
Christian miaistry. In this age only cne out of every 250 think of it. In this
i church you haven’t a single boy in cne of your families who is pursuing a
" course for the Christian ministry.
i (\e‘ ’ ‘-4,‘
| 5 2
I
| n O ~
Mysteries © ature.
| By John Burroughs,
| gr=semmmme )W does the bulb of the common lawn-lily get deeper and deeper
| & into the ground each year? Why does the ginger-rcot hide its
' ‘ blossoms when nearly all other plants flaunt theirs? Why do the
B /..L_J roots of trees flow through the growad like “runnels of molten
iy 38 metal,” often separating and uniting again, while the branches
\i‘ |55 ‘are thrusf out in right lines or‘curves? Why is our common
yellow birch more often than any other tree planted upon a rock?
Why do caks or chestnuts so oftea spring up where a pine or bemlock forest
hes been cleared away? Whay dogs lightningz so commonly strike a hemlock
tree or a pine or an oak, and rareiy or never a beech? Why does the bolt some
titnes scatter the tree about, and at others only plough a chrannel down its
trunk? Why does the bumble-bee complain o loudly whea working upon
cert2in flowers? Why dogs the honey-bee lose thé sting when it stings a per
son, while the wasp, the hornest and the bumble-hee do nct? How does the
cnimney swallow get the twigs it buiids its nest with? Irom what does the
hornet make its paper? :
I have never been greatly interested in spiders, but I have always wanted
to know how a certain spider managed to stretch her cable squarely acress the
road in the woods, about my height from the ground.—Country Life in America,