142 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
piece and cut down the objects, one after the other, as if 
they were hanging motionless in a dead calm. 
The best practice for this purpose, not merely for the 
novice, but for the old hand who by any accidental cir- 
cumstances has got out of use, and one which cannot fail to 
produce its effect, is to shoot at large-sized turnips pitched 
into the air with the utmost force and vigor of a power- 
ful arm, in all possible directions, diagonally, across, and 
toward, or away from, the shooter, by a clever and practised 
assistant. 
With a tyro, the lesson should commence by tossing 
the turnip directly before him, slowly upward; and as he 
improves and attains certainty in hitting it, increasing its 
velocity and altering its direction. 
The learner, after a few trials, should avoid shooting at 
the turnip when at its maximum elevation, for while in that 
position, it hangs for a moment in the air virtually motion- 
less, and then presents a stationary shot. He should, 
therefore, as soon as he is tolerably sure of it, when at its 
height, begin firing as it rises or descends, by which 
means he will easily learn what allowance is to be made 
for speed and distance. When he is master of this, let it 
be first tossed, then hurled, as I have said above, diagon- 
ally across him, away from, or toward him; and by the 
same degrees, imperceptibly he will come to such skill, 
that he will never, or scarcely ever, miss it. So soon as 
he can accomplish this (and I have seen scores of boys 
who have done so, and could do so in a great measure 
myself, before I had ever thought in my most sanguine 
dreams of firing at game), he cean—my word upon it—kill 
