392 



DRESSING FOR SHOOTING-BOOTS. 



There are a great variety of receipts for making mixtures calcu- 

 lated to render boots water-proof; we will give some of them for 

 what they are worth, leaving our friends to make a more thorough 

 trial of their qualities than we have had an inclination to do as 

 yet, for we have never been over-anxious to preserve our feet dry, 

 and, when we did think worth while to make the effort, we have 

 seldom found any preparations much superior to a good greasing 

 with dubbing the night before going out, arid stopping up the seams 

 with a mixture of beeswax and grease melted slowly over the fire, 

 or, if these ingredients are not at hand, the free use of a tallow can- 

 dle at the moment of going out for the day, will generally answer 

 the same purpose. 



Porter's edition of Hawker furnishes us with much information 

 on this subject ; and we should pass the matter over without any 

 further notice, if we were sure all our readers had provided them- 

 selves with this valuable work ; in fact, we might with perfect justice 

 to ourselves omit this subject as well as many others without a single 

 comment, as they have already been largely dwelt upon in Hawker : 

 and if a sportsman should read our unpretending volume without 

 providing himself with the other far more valuable work, he does 

 not deserve to be well posted up in sporting-affairs, as Hawker is 

 considered the prince of sportsmen in England, and his editor, Por- 

 ter, is too well known in this country to need any puffing from us. 



The best kind of grease for dressing boots is shoemakers' 

 dubbing. We have used it for years in preference to all other 

 mixtures: it repels the water, and keeps the leather soft and 

 pliable. The boots should always be moistened before applying it, 

 and it should not be put on too frequently, or the leather may be 

 rendered too porous. Before grease of any kind is applied to 

 boots, they should be rubbed quite clean and the hard mud taken 

 from the seams ; otherwise the leather, as well as the thread, will 

 rot much faster and the boots repel the water far less than if they 

 were perfectly clean when the grease is put on. 



