THE SETTER. 1838 
much altogether untried, so that not only will much time 
be lost, but much game will be passed over. 
The man who shoots over dogs or a dog broken to 
quarter and beat his ground truly, will get twice as many 
shots on the same ground, and in the same time, with 
another hunting animals which meander at their own 
sweet will. 
If I must shoot over a dog unsteady at his points and 
unsteady at his charge, but a good ranger and quarterer 
of his ground, or over one as stanch as a rock, who ran 
about after his own pleasure, and were shooting a match, 
I would take the former, confident that I could make up 
by the quantity of game found for the other defects. 
These are the points which the young shooter ought 
-to regard in choosing his dog, though, if he be wise, he will 
take some experienced friend to counsel. 
Let him remember, that it costs no more to keep a 
good dog than a bad one; that a dog properly kept, hav- 
ing been well bought at a proper age, lasts probably, apart 
from accidents, five or six years, or more ;—unless he be so 
unhappy as to'live in Newark, New Jersey, where the in- 
habitants throw strychnine, the deadliest of all poisons, 
broadcast, in the streets, without the interference, if not 
by the direct encouragement, of the city government—that 
it is, therefore, the cheapest plan in the long run, to buy 
a good dog; and lastly, that there is no such thing as buy- 
ing a good dog at a low price. 
A well-bred, well-looking, well-broke setter, or pointer 
dog, has just as real a market value, apart from any fancy 
price, which may go to any amount, as any merchandise in 
