YACHTING—Bohemian Yacht Club, San Francisco, Cal.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
[This department of OUTING is devoted to answers to correspondents seeking information on subjects appertaining to all sports.]
Yachtsman, Chesapeake Bay Y. C.—You cannot do better than have your boat furnished by Messrs. Warren, Ward & Co., 6 and 8 East 20th St., N. Y. City. Commodore Gerry had his steam yacht Electra fitted by this firm, and the results are admirable. The best refrigerator for a yacht is made by W. Law, 324 East 122d Street, City.
J. Dixon, New York City.—We are able to give you the information you require as to your proposed cycling trip from West Troy to Buffalo. (1) You would be allowed to ride on the tow-path of the canal. (2) The road is not good. (3) The distance is about 325 miles. (4) On the road you should average from forty to sixty miles, but on the tow-path you would not do more than about twenty-five miles a day. You would also have to dismount often on account of mule teams, etc. These animals have been known to jump into the canal at the sight of a bicycle, thereby causing trouble between canal boat men and cycler, much to the disadvantage of the latter. We should strongly advise you to take the main road, and follow the route in the New York Road Book. (5) As to your last question, we think that you had better use your own judgment.
Observer.—The best position in which to place a registering thermometer is over an open grass-plot. If this cannot be done, a wall may be used, care being taken that it is a garden-wall, and not the wall of a house; also that the screen in which the thermometer is placed hangs at some distance from the wall, so as to admit of the free passage of air behind it. In all cases the thermometer should be placed in a screen not less than four feet from the ground, and facing to the north (in the northern hemisphere) and sheltered from the sun at all hours, but exposed to a free circulation of the air.
Drag-Hunter, Boston, Mass.—The best drag for hounds is generally supposed to be a common red herring. Assafœtida is sometimes used, and also aniseed. Many people suppose, however, that the last is detrimental to hounds, but drag-hunting of any description will spoil a pack for fox, so that that question does not matter much.
T. G. F., Portland, Oregon.—Your description and sketch of the fish caught on a branch of the Columbia River, in Washington Territory, and which you supposed to be a “grayling,” was so imperfect that it was hard to give you an answer. We referred it to Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, of the Smithsonian Institution, one of the highest authorities on ichthyology in the country. It would have been a matter of great interest had the grayling been found in that region. It seems, however, that it is only another instance of the confusion which arises from local nomenclatures. Dr. Bean’s reply sets the matter at rest, and is so interesting that we publish it in full. He writes: “The sketch sent is intended to represent Williamson’s whitefish (Coregonus Williamsoni), which is called ‘grayling’ in some parts of the West. I do not know of the existence of a grayling west of Montana, until British America is reached. Williamson’s whitefish is common in the region west of the Rocky Mountains, particularly so in the Sierra Nevada, and is often styled ‘grayling.’”
B. J. W., Albany, N. Y.—Yes. An amateur athlete may compete with a professional, provided that it is a genuinely friendly contest, but not for money or prizes, or at a public meeting.
Scott, Montreal, Canada.—The best way to preserve gut leaders is to wrap them up in wash-leather, tightly bound with string. If they are in good condition, they will keep well like this for years.