Worcester daily spy., 1872-08-19

stated this section is thirty mine feet long. As
near as can be determined without excavating
the adjacent earth the diameter of the tree at
the base is TWENTY-FIVE feet Midway of its
length, or twenty feet from the base it is fifteen
feet.
And all this immense mass of wood has turned
to stone, hard and t1inty as a pOrphyry. Some
of it looks like agate, finely yeined and delicate
ly tinted; other with opal ne lustre; some white
as driven snow, or with the polished surface of
chalcedOny. Portions of the trunk must have
been rotten, for its stony remains are honey
cOmbed and the cavities filled with delicate crys-
tails that sparkle in the sunlight like real dia-
monds. Breaking into the knots with heavy
blows of sledge hammer reveals miniature caves
and grottoeS, glittering with StalactiteS and
stalagmites of real crystal. Specimens of the
bark can be Clipped off, looking as natural,
DOUBTLESS, as when It's own green leaves waved
in the breeze, and Darwins inchOate man gam
boiled among the giantstemS.
1t is useless to speculate upon the time when
that giant of the forest aouiiShed; OF the hun
dreds or thousands of wears during which
torrid sun daily kissed its shining leaves; OF
its fall and long immersion in the SliciouS bath
that changed its every fibre to flint. 1t is his
tory in stone, telling Of the changes in the con-
ditiOn Of the climate of this part of the world
that may well make one shiver il he expects to
stop here fifty or hundred thousand years
longer. Meantime, il can supply material for
the walls of court honse, window sils and
caps for all of Denver, or centre-table tops for
the western states. 1t is the very biggest thing
in stone, and among trees it takes the PAIN.
Call at the News office, or at Rev. Hamilton's,
and see speCimens.-DenGer Ne1CS.
SHAD FIsH1NG.-1he Rochester Advertiser
says: 1t has been the popular notion in this
country that Shad could not be induced to take
a bait, and when captured ii must be by the net
in some form. Seth Green has letter from
Thomas Chamer, dated At Holyoke, on the
Connecticut, giving the result of his expert
ments at batting shad in company with another
named George Murray. The writer says not
wthsanding the old saying that shad will not
take bait, he and his companion went TO Hol-
yoke two years ago and began making obServa-
tons and experiments. They had never visited
4 shad stream before A careful examination of
the stomach of the shad gave no light as to what
they fed upon. Various kind of bait, natural
and artificial, were tried, and for considerable
time without satisfactory result. At length
some flies were dressed in a peculiar manner,
and these the shad took and were captured in
considerable numbers with hook and line. In
July 1871, 1888 shad were taken on two poles.
Three flies were used on one line, and sometimes
as many as three shad were taken at one cast -
the whole weighing eight and a half pounds
The present season has not been so good owing
partly TO roily water, but the sport has been
fair. In one evening, between Z and s 80, the
two anglers took in twenty shad on hooks and
lines. Mr.. Chalmers says that from bOvhood he
has been given 10 sport with rod and line, and
thinks the catching of shad with hook and line
the best angling he has found. He desires that
this method Of shad fishing be tried in other
water than the Connecticut"