THE ENGLISH SETTER. 29 



in field sports in America were run near Memphis, Tenn., 

 in 1874, under "the auspices of the Tennessee Sportsmen's 

 Association. For four or five years thereafter, general 

 progress was slow; breeders having so many conflicting 

 interests and theories in regard to breeding, as to which 

 were the best strains, that it required a certain length of 

 time to determine which were the best dogs, and which 

 the best methods of training thus approximating to at 

 least a general agreement on sporting matters. Although 

 there are still many which are unsettled, because of the 

 whims, preferences, prejudices, beliefs, different needs and 

 training of sportsmen, it is a matter for congratulation 

 that they are educated to a point where differences of 

 opinion are now confined to large classes of sportsmen- 

 one class against the other where, a few years ago, it was 

 each individual's opinion arrayed against those of all 

 others. 



The field trials furnished an available public test to 

 determine the claims of the different breeds and strains to 

 superiority. The importation of the blue-bloods, so-called, 

 led to the keenest of competitions in the field trials with 

 the native stock; the result demonstrating the superiority 

 of the imported stock to the native. The win of a dog at 

 a field trial added largely to his monetary value, as well as 

 to the satisfaction of his owner in having the best, or one 

 of the best dogs; thus establishing a standard for others to 

 strive for. In this manner, the spirit of rivalry or emula- 

 tion which the competition engendered, created a wide- 

 spread and active demand for better dogs as to field-work, 

 and purer blood as to breeding. This, in turn, resulted in 

 engaging breeders in efforts to supply the demand; and as 

 the blue-bloods added to their victories over the native Set- 

 ter, the latter dropped more and more out of the competi- 

 tion, until, at the present day, they are seldom represented 

 in the field trials, and but little in the pedigrees of the 

 favorite lines of breeding in most instances not at all. 

 En passant, it may be said that the native Setter had 

 many admirable qualities, but was chiefly deficient in the 



