Speed Versus Nose 89 



almost useless to expect much of a run this dry 

 weather. Hoping to hear further from the fellow 

 beagle men both through your columns and the 

 mail." 



Then Mr. G. A. Bockstaff, in December of the 

 same year, opens up on the question of speed versus 

 nose, that old familiar argument which we hear dis- 

 cussed more than ever today, so that in harking 

 back to what the field-trial men thought of this 

 question, a quarter of a century ago, should be of 

 more than passing interest to the present-day fol- 

 lower of the trials. He states that about a year 

 previous he had started a discussion on the speed 

 of beagles in field trials in another journal, and 

 "while I was not snowed under by any means, the 

 beagle men of the West were not enthusiastic by 

 any means for my style of beagle. I now want to 

 carry my lance into the camp of the Eastern men, 

 and should like you to spare me space to do it. 

 My contention is that too much weight is put on 

 speed and too little on the fine powers of scent — 

 nose. This latter power is about the only great 

 difference between a hound and a cur dog. The 

 object of beagle breeders that are aiming for field 

 trial winners seems to be to get speed at all hazards. 

 Get nose if they can, but at any rate they must 

 get speed. It is rather amusing to go to a bench 



