The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 27, 1897, Page 19

e ———— FRA THE SAN CISCO CALL, SUNDAY. JUNE 27. 189 UNCLE SAM HAS STOPPED THE “PICKING” OF SEA GULLS EGGS After ha been despoiled of their | eggs for forty-five years as regularly as the laying season came round, the sea birds thal inhabit the Foralions have been taken under the protecting wing of the United States Government, No more wiil pretty spotted and mottled eges grace the tables of th who are fond of them or enable the cheap restaurant to ad vertise *‘four fresh ranch s a habiv of when he d there is no that he will maxke this n to suppose an excention. Ayearorm red the the powe be 2t Washington natural aviary on the vei iestroyed, because sting season thousands of were taken from the rocks and sent Francisco and inierior towns to be In due t Sn me a rep: sentative of the thsonian Institution, deeply learned in rd re, went to the Farallones and made an exhaustive study of the subject. His evidently against the continuance the industry, for after the d tape had been unwound Beeman of the island lhight- ved a curt communication ¢ Lighthouse Department stating 0 egg-collecting, except those who make their pile of rocks, rece house use of on uid be allowed Thus perisbed one of the most pictur- esque industries of the Pacific Siope and one t furnished the people of San Franci co with an article of food not en- X joyed by any other country. The stoppage of the ege-picking brings to mind the experience of the first man who embarked i~ the business—none otber than John A. Russell, the veteran ana widely known clerk of the local Board of Supervisors, It was in the latter part of 1850 that Mr. | i Russely, then a lad of 18, came down from if seaport in the| the mines with a goodly sack of golddust and nuggets that he bad accumulated by | delving in the bowels of the earth. He was looking for a profitable invest- ment and not long after his arrival here fell in with the cook of the only pilot-boat | that at that time stood guard at the en- trance to the Golden Gate, The man had seen the millions of sea birds nesting on the rocks and drew such alluring pictures of the money to be made by landing the bizeggs ir this City,where at that time chicken fruit was not over plen- tiful, that young Russell at last consented prise, the cook’s contribution to the a: sets of the firm to Le his labor and expe- rience in gathering the eggs, getting them to this City and findin: a market. A stout sloop was purchased and an outfit made ready at a total cost of about $3000. When the egg season arrived the expec- tations of the partners were more than realized. The first cargo that arrived sold like the proverbial hot cakes at the prices of early davs, the big, queer-looking eggs tickling the fancy as well as the palates of the pioneers. e | ALL AROUND TH WORLD | the islands on tne next trip ana see just | the Within a few days contracts with a number of hotels had been made at lucra- | ive rates, and the sloop made all haste back scross the twenty-ihree miles of water that in:ervene between the Gate ana the lonely rocks, at that time inhab- | ted only by seal-hunters. Several cargoes of eggs were landed at an average profit of about $1500 a trip and | the vessel ana her fitling out were soon paid for. About this time rumors came to Mr. Russell’s ears that his partner was bring- ing more eggs than he accounted for and that, therefore, he was not getting a fair division of the spoils. He decided to visit | how many were loaded onto the sloop by the pickers and so informed the skipper. When he went to the beach at the ap- pointed time to embark neither skipper | nor sloop was to be Seen, nor were they | seen ever afterward. | Whether the man had stolen the boull | and fled because he feared detection and was wrecked outside and drowned without | tragedy having been noticed, or| whether the sloop was stolen by others | and the skipper murdered, are still mys- teries. Mr. Russell had taken more out of the | hotel and he gives you a check in return. to furnisn the sinews of war for the enter- | | John A. Russell. venture than he put in and other schem | took his mind off the matter, so that he | never bought a new boat, as he had orig- ! inally intended. In 1853 others went into the business and made it profitable, so that in a short time the annual egg-picking became a recognized industry ana was practiced every year up to the present one. This is the month when the birds begin to lay, and the eggs will be mused from | many tables to which their pecutiar flavor made them a welchme addition. - Nation of Gheckers| The American constitution has been calied a system of checks. Soin Amer-| ican life. When you want to travel you | give your bagrzage to the porter of your | Franciseo. At the station you reclaim it with the check and pass it in at a counter and re- ceive snother check. As you approach your destination another functionary comes along the train, takes your check and gives you another check in its place. He fishes out your bagzage and conveys it to your hotel—for a consideration. You have left your third and last cteck at the office of the hotel when you enter it, and thence it is delivered up on receipt of the baggaze. Atfirst you bless the arrangements as the salvation of the traveler. After a few weeks of it the tyranny of the check be- comes so galling that you begin to long for the good old English method of dump- ing down your goods in tront of a porter | and leaving them to find the way them- | selves. You would even hail it as a per- sonal triumpi if some of your baggage would get lost. But it never does. Some- | time it arrives late, but it always arrives. which it started, if that isany consola- tion. They who have to do with tne bag- | zage see to that. You will soon discover | why Americans carry their goods in iron- | clad truoks, and why it is madness for any- body todoanything else. Istarted out,like an idiot, with a new leather portmanteau. They ripped the stout brass lock off in the first week—not for plunder, appar- ently, but simply because it is the tradi- | tion of the service. They punchea itand kicked and danced on it. In softer hours, when literary inspiration came, wrote on it. My portmanteau to-day 1s an epitome of the political sentimeut of Yot it seldom arrivesin the shape n | they | the United States from New York to San | As a historical document it | is beyond price, and I sm contemplating the gift of it to the library of Congress at Wasnington. As a portmantean it has both feet in the grave. The system of checks is not confined to travelers’ luggage. The conductor of the | train passes carelessly to and fro askinz | for your ticket and giving youa check in return, or asking for your check ana re- turning your ticket. stick toa boy in & hotel while you write your namein the register, he dashes off = | FOR A DIME | That Sum and Goes First- Class, Faney a queen being sold for a few col- | lars, and then boxed up like a piece o freight and sent on a journey, the ex- penses of which are pa:d with a 10-cent postage stan You may th it cannot be done, but it bas been done and is done nearly ev in the year right here in California. And notonly does the queen travel first c! but she has a wnole suite for comi any, and takes along a !arge sup- Py of luxuries for use on her journey. Of course, y¢ ve most likely guessed by this time that the queen referred to.is a queen bee, ou have guessed rightly, But have you ea of what an important matter the transportation of the-e queens is to the Golden State, or how they are brought into existence so that they can be sent on their travels? California is now conceded to be among the foremost honey-producing States in the Union, and some of the finest queen | and is at once accepted by the others. Too. other inmates of the hive at once prepare to create another, perhaps several. This is done by simply selecting a num- ber of cells containing the neuter or fe- male eggs and feeding them the mysterious compound. Unlike the other bees, the queens are not allowed to escape from their cells as soon as developed, but are kept sealed up untl wanted. Sometimes | a fully devel d queen enters the hive, In that event she is allowed to kill the par- | tiaily developed queens in the celis. At one time the only way to obtain queen bees was 10 remove them from | their hives as fast as they were produced, but this was a slow and uncertain process Science at last came to the rescue, so that or | now queen bees can aiways be obtained. In the course of studying bees 1t was | discovered that if any cell were even | touched with the mysterious substance BOX FOR SHIPPING QUEEN BEE bees that have ever lived have come into existence here and afterward been sent all over the country 1o propagate the species | and furnish the ‘“'sweetest of sweets” for } all the land. But it takes billions of the little busy bees to produce all the honey needed. Furtbermore, bees are extremely aelicate and whole hives of them are likely | to meet death from some mysterious cau-e in a few hours. To keep up the supply it is necessary to have queen bees | aiwayson hand, and in any of ibe towns near ihe bee districts they can be obtained every day in ti e year, In San Jose, Bakers- field, San Diego and many other places there are men who just make it a business 1o raise queen bees for sale to apiarists. A queen bee is not exactly born a queen. Sbe is Jaid in an ezg the same as all the | other bees, but when a queen is needed in the hive she is, while still in the embry- otic siage, fed & certain mysterious jelly that hastens ber development and ren- ders her capable of reproducing the spe- cies. In the natural state of affairs in the bive only one queen is permitted ata time. Sbould she be lost or destroyed the | that creates queens the inmate of it was | soon supplied by the working bees with all sbe needad and given all the care neces- | sary to make her a royal personage. This phase of nature has been taken ad- vantage of by queen bee raisers all over | tbe world, and particularly in California. | The way this is done is to remove the | queen bee from the hive. The workers then prepare a few cells for the purpose, providing another queen. At this stage | the apiarist selects several dozen cells and anoints them with as much of the mysterious compound as can be obtained | from the cells already prepared. The anointed cells then receive the proper at- tention from the working bees, so that in | sixteen days the apiarist can obtain a large supply of queen bees. These are each put in a suitable receptacle with a | retinue of drones o males and workers, When an order comes for a queen bee | the apiarist selects the one wanted and puts her in her traveling box. The price of queen bees varies from $2 to $50, according to the breed and the known power of reproduction. In many parts of the United States it is | center of the box is a lump of candied | 2000 to 3000 a day, and keep up the rate | quite a fad to send these queen bees | honey to last the royal party on its travels. | for several months out of each year. Ina| around the world, and after they have | A very small hole in the side of a plug | few months the progeny of a queen will made the journey to keep them as curiosi- ties. The operation is simple. admits al. the air needed. The address is All that | written on a piece of paper that is pasted | is necessary is to address the traveling |overthe plug in such a way as not to in- box to the city from which it is sent, ‘‘via | London, Hougkong, etc,” and affix the | necessary stamps. Thousands of bees safety. The traveling box is a small wnoden affair with two compartments divided by a fine gauze screen. one side and her suite the other. terfere with the air supply, and away the queen goes to her new Lome, | When the epiarist receives his new | have made such a journey in comfort and | queen be either places her in e hive with A Queen Actually Makes the Trip for| the suite, or puts her in an old one that | bas either been devrived of its queen or | has one that is not useful. When once | The queen occupies | established in her new home the queen | venience, for as soon as they are located | In the | will reproduce Ler species at the rate of | completely destroy the old colony. A | queen of pure Italian stock will live about | three years, and the number of eggs she | will lay is almost past count. A few apiarists in California still insist on sending to Europe for their queen bees | and paying fabulous prices for them. The | tiny insects come all the way across the | stormy Atlantic and the desert wastes of our own country without apparent incon- in their new homs they start laying. | A New Style of Letter Linen Many freak letters have been received by various City officials in times gone by, but the record was broken a few days ago by a letter that came to the Health Office. With the other mail thst he delivered the postman whose duties take him to the Health Department le t a linen collar— a plain “'standup’ collar. Secretary God- chaux was about to consign it to the waste basket, under the impression that a joke was being perpetrated on him, when his eye was arrested by the sight of a canceled two-cent stamp that was pasted on the collar in the upper right hand corner, just as it is used on a regular letter. Inspection showed that inside the collar was written a long complamt regarding the condition of a sewer on Bryant streer. The address of the Health Office was written on both ends of the outside of the bit of neckwear, which was folded so that the ends met. It had evidently vassed through the Postotfice in the regular man- ner, for in addirion to the cancellation of the stamp the postmark of the San Frane cisco oftice appeared on the linen, show- ing that tne clerk had handled it on June 16. The reading of the letter was as fol- lows: Crry, June 16. Board of Healtn: Having used up all the writinz-paper I possess in a vain endeavor to nive the Bryant-sireet sewer, from Twenty- sixth to Army, atte.ded 1o, I am now com- peiled to use my linen informing this office that its condition warrants attention. There is evidently some one connected with the Health Office not doing his duty, and who- ever the collar fits let them wear it. Within the past year there have been thirty deaihs in the immediate vicinity of this sewer, and your recoras will show it that at the present time there are 100 sick children living near this moruss. Yours truly, M. P. Jo» Secretary Godchaux was uncertain whether to consider the collar as an offi- cial document or not, but as it came in regular form and related to matters per- tinent to the business of the board he de- ciled to tile it in regular order as it now reposes, with other ofticial docnments, in the saie of the department. The queer epistle will be read at the next meeting of the board and probably given as much consideration as thoush 1t was written on scented note paper. gk Bicycle Interference With Sunday- Schools. The forty-sixth annual meetin: of the Universalist Sabbath-school Union w: beld in the Every Day Church one afternoon quite recently. The union is composed of nineteen schools, in whirh there are:500 officers and teachers and 3133 scholars. Some of the schools showea a falling off in attendance, and there was considerable discussion as to its probable cause and possible cure. The fact that scholars were not looked after, the in- difference of parents, removals from one part of thecity to another were all ad- vanced by way of explanation, but tne greater part of the blame was Inid to the bicycle.—Boston Heraid. ————————— Of 1000 persons only one reaches the age of 100 years, and not more than six that of 65 years, Wittttvie ‘G 74 s 9 ol y &74 fi pors Teapr ¢ 2 2 _rep rwoy e Gl 44/ ey g — 7 e | | PG s Toudnty sniteare returns triumphant with a caeck. Ia the very hotel bar, when you buy seven pence I you hand your | tostow it away in some secret placeand ' ha'porth of whisky you get a check. SOLDIERS TO LEARN TO SHOOT BETTER HA New and Novel System of Targets to Represent Human Forms, The United States Government has just adopted for the army a revised edition of the small-arms firing regulations of that body. Death is written in every line of the new regulations. If they are faith- fully observed, as they probably will be, the effectiveness of our soldiers in time of | battle will be noticeable. The keynote of this new dispensation is to train the United States soldier to fire at the head and beart of his enemy. Fe persons are aware of the fact that the target practice, in which every member of the army required to bear arms must hereafier participate, has for its obje ve point representations of human figures in the various positionsin which the soldier would encounter his enemy in action. A glance at the accompanying illustration wiil convey, better than it is possible for words to do, the full meaning of this fact. The targets range in their distance from the soldier from 200 to 1000 yards. Care- ful calculation has shown that it is within these points of distance that the soldier must do his effective firing. It would be nonsense to talk of firng with accuracy with a Governmentsmall arm at a greater distance than 3000 feet. When the conflict becomes very much closer than 600 feet, the only things for the soldier to remem- ber are to keep cool and shoot at the head and the heart. The first of these targets is called a short range. Sometimes it is used for 100 yards practice; that is, at a distance of 100 yards from the marksmen. More often it is used at 200 yards and occasion- ally at 300 yards, On this target, in sil- ] houette, is the figure of a soldier lying | down, as he does in action sometimes. In such a case as this the soldier is seen ly- ing directly on his face, his head being elevated from the ground as he leans.on one elbow while taking aim. In other words it is the exagt position of the skir misher, and the skirmisher is the man at whom the soldier must ordinarily first | fire, as every advance of an army is led by a skirmish line. The center of the target is rectangle— that is, a space of any desired size, the | four corners of which are right angles. The rectangle may be in form of a square, ovbiong or diamond shaped. This center, as it is called, is 22 inches high, justthe beight cf a soidier who is lying down, and four feet wide, this latter being the width of the target. | These three divisions are subdivided in | two sections each, these two portions be- ing known as the right nd lelt centers. The same rule applies to the inner and outer. To thoroughly understand just what is meant picture yourself something like this: Take & target six feet high and | four feet wide, d.vide it into three sections after the fashion of the measurements | given, the sections running from right to {left. Then draw a line directly through | the center of this target from top to bot- | tom.” First you huve the center, twentye | two inches high an i four leet e. Then | comes he inner, which is n rectangle also. Tois ioner runs in dJdepth from a poing forty-two inches above the botiom of the target to the iower line of the center. The outer is the rest of the tarzet. The- entire| target forms u rectangle six feet high and ' four feet wide.