7 2 Deer Breeding for Fine Heads 



has good horns one year goes back the next very much in his head, 

 he is almost sure to be seriously ill, and will very often be found 

 lying dead before the year is out. 



Strong horn-growth is a very sure sign of good health in a 

 stag, just as a firm crest is in a horse. 



When the number of sets of horns begins to get large there 

 is often difficulty in knowing what to do with them. 



In a riding-school or a long hall the horns may, however, be 

 arranged close together over the walls ; in a riding-school care 

 being taken that they are not put down too low, so as to be 

 dangerous to horses or their riders. Average ordinary-sized horns 

 which are not required to show yearly increase of growth in any 

 set belonging to a particular stag, may be utilized for making 

 furniture, etc. 



In Vienna and Hamburg there are many manufacturers of such 

 things, to whom the horns may be sent, when they will be made 

 up into furniture, with the seats covered either with leather, cloth, 

 or deer-skin (I do not like the latter, as the hair soon gets rubbed 

 bald in places and comes off on clothes). 



It is not advisable to get an upholsterer unaccustomed to this 

 kind of work to undertake the job, as it takes a lot of contriving 

 to so fit the horns together that their points shall not catch in 

 everything or on everybody who passes. 



Hat-racks, umbrella-stands (often made of a group of fallow- 

 deer horns mounted vertically in a circle so that the palmation 

 forms a sort of basket), picture-frames of all sizes, and especially 

 chandeliers, candelabra, and electric-light holders, ink-stands, etc., 

 may be thus manufactured. 



