SPORTING DOGS BREEDING AND BREAKING. 299 



first cross, though some bred from mine and the 

 Scotch sheep-dog have turned out very well. But 

 the sheep-dog has a fine nose and amazing sagacity, 

 with a grand capacity to receive education and 

 retain its fruits. 



The first dogs I shot over were cocking-spaniels, 

 and I do not believe they had any breaking at all. 

 I recently visited the neighborhood in which 1 

 learned to shoot on the wing, and the fine farm 

 of Mr. Jeremiah Rundell, at Stockport, on the 

 Hudson River, over which I used to shoot. With 

 him and his family I ate some splendid apples, 

 the produce of an orchard whose trees I helped 

 to plant eighteen years ago. 



