BREEDING. 127 



ful and you are likelj to strike a coon track in 

 every cornfield, the half hound or even a cur dog, 

 will get coons; but where they are scarce and 

 you may tramp until near morning, and then 

 strike a trail five or six hours old, if you get that 

 coon, you will need a dog with a good nose and 

 T)ne that tongues on a trail. But there is one 

 point on which you will all agree — if your dog 

 does not stay at a tree and bark good and plenty, 

 he isn't much of a coon dog. Consequently in 

 breeding for coon dogs, this is the most impor- 

 tant point. Get as many other coon points as 

 3'Ou can, but be sure his ancestors have been good 

 tree dogs, as far back as you can trace them. 



The very reason that there are so many culls 

 in this country, is because many hunters think 

 a dog is a dog, and that any dog with long ears 

 is a hound. Ears count for nothing but looks; 

 bient legs, ditto ; the only way that you can per- 

 fect the breed, which in your estimation, is the 

 ideal, is by choosing the dogs of the best particu- 

 lar kind which you prefer. For instance, how 

 could a hunter expect to produce a strain of 

 dogs with good, loud voices, if he chooses as his 

 breeders the poorest squallers in the lot? Na- 

 ture is nature, and it is only by studying her 

 laws that we are able to produce our ideal of any 

 kind; also, if he wants an intelligent dog, he 



