MISCELLANEOUS HINTS. 371 



without any farther notice, if we were sure all our readers had 

 provided themselves with this valuable work ; in fact, we might 

 with perfect justice to ourselves pass this svibjectas well as many 

 others by without a comment, as they have already been largely 

 dwelt upon in Haivher : 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 afi'airs, as Hawker is considered the Prince of 

 Sportsmen in England, and his editor. Porter, is too well known 

 in this country to need any puffing from us. 



The best kind of grease for dressing boots with is shoe- 

 maker's 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 was 

 put on. 



RECIPE. 



Drying oil (linseed, we presume), one pint ; 

 Yellow wax, two ounces ; 

 Turpentine, two ounces ; ^ 

 Burgundy pitch, one ounce. 



Melt these over a slow fire, and then add a few drachms of 

 essential oil of lavender (or thyme), (to improve the odor, we 

 suppose) ; with this your boots are to be rubbed with a brush, 

 either in the sun or at some distance from the fire. The appli- 

 cation must be repeated as often as the boots become dry again 

 until they are fully saturated. — Haivher. 



This mixture is an excellent dressing for boots generally ; it 

 will not render them water-proof, but it will cause them to repel 

 the rain extremely well. 



An excellent dressing for shooting-boots, or anything else that 

 is exposed to foul weather, is a solution of Gum Caoutchouc, or 



