876 Bow- Shooting. 



giving preference to the woods in the order named. Let the billet be 

 from five to seven feet long, according to the desired length of the 

 bow. Now with great care shave the piece down to a uniform size 

 for its whole length, say nearly circular, and two and a half inches 

 in diameter. Lay the piece away to dry in the shade for two months, 

 taking care that no hint of moisture ever reaches it. When it is 

 thoroughly seasoned, finish as follows : First, mark the exact center 

 of the billet, and from this point in the direction of what is to be the 

 lower end of the bow lay off a space of five inches for the handle. 

 From each extremity of the handle taper the bow to the ends, each 

 of which must be a shade larger than the tip of the archer's third 

 finger. Now dress the handle and body of the bow down till by 

 trying it you find it nearly of the proper strength, then flatten the 

 back a little the whole length of the bow, glue a bit of green plush 

 round the handle, and your bow is ready for the horn tips, which are 

 the ends of cow-horns bored out to fit over the bow's ends and 

 nocked or notched as seen in the detail drawings on a previous page. 

 The hole bored in the horn to receive the tip of the bow should be 

 deep enough to let the wood pass in to slightly above the nock. To 

 make the horn work easily, boil it in water for an hour or two. A 

 bow of six feet in length and of sixty pounds drawing power will 

 throw a good arrow two hundred and twenty-five yards. Of course, 

 the reader knows at once that his bow must be suited to his muscular 

 force and to the experience he has had in archery. Fifty pounds 

 drawing weight is about right for an ordinary man to begin with. 

 The length of the bow should be two or three inches in excess of the 

 archer's height. A lady's bow may be from twenty-eight to forty 

 pounds strong. I have somewhere seen it stated that her majesty 

 Queen Victoria in her younger days greatly enjoyed archery, and 

 gloried in her ability to brace and draw a fifty-five pound bow. 



To Make a Good Bowstring. — Take silk or flax harness-thread 

 of the best quality and twist a string of about one-seventh of an inch in 

 diameter, waxing it well during the process of twisting with, shoe- 

 maker's wax or bees-wax. Fasten one end of this string tightly 

 into the nock of the lower end of the bow. With the other end of 

 the string form a neat, firm loop (not a slip-noose) around the other 

 end of the bow, two and a half or three inches below the nock. Your 

 weapon is now ready to string, or "brace," as the old archers had it. 



