144 The Sporting Dog 



fashion. These half-sized hounds were also fav- 

 ored on deer by hunters who followed the plan of 

 slow-tracking. 



When the era of bench shows set in, all dog 

 breeds and beagles with the rest began to be 

 systematized. The pioneer of American breeders 

 was General Rowett of Carlinville, Illinois. He 

 selected his foundation stock carefully, and to 

 this day most beagles which may be called 

 American-bred trace to his kennel. His stand- 

 bys were Sam and Dolly. He bred about 1880 

 a dog called Warrior, which became the property 

 of Mr. Turner of St. Louis and sired from Rosy, 

 another Rowett, the famous Champion Lee, chief 

 winner in some of the New York bench shows, 

 and the patriarch of the kennel of Mr. Pottinger 

 Dorsey of New Market, Maryland, who was for 

 years the most prominent American breeder. 

 Mr. Dorsey bred Fitzhugh Lee and Lee H, 

 and from his imported Chimer produced Dor- 

 sey's Pilot, another of the successful American 

 sires. 



In the bench-show fancy the climax of interest 

 was reached in 1890 and the two or three years 

 preceding. At that time Mr. W. Stewart Dif- 

 fenderfer of Baltimore was exhibiting his favorite, 

 Champion Lou. She was not only a superior 

 beagle, but was so attractive in disposition that 

 she was a pet on the bench. Mr. Diffenderfer 



