FOREST AND STREAM.: 



117 



tie Iritunia. of two feet between each plant, I nave placed 

 with good effect it. plant of the Arundt aOrutpiem; I in- 

 plautVows all winter with a fine green leaf, Or you can 

 use in its place, with fine effect, the SHpiu, a curious and 

 interesting plant. Von can nowplacethe Sptreaffiipenduln 

 and Si.iti'r i.y-ifnU'i in position. These will be found grace- 

 ful and pleasing Now if yon place in your next, row out- 

 ward, at, two feet distance from the first, say eight good, 

 strong, well growing plants of the Aiuuranthus UtMsafolirus, 

 at equal distances, you will, if you fill up the intermediate 

 spaces with the S-Mller after, or any dwarf variety, have a 

 fine circular show. Now we propose to fill up in like man- 

 ner in groups, al equal distances, with such flowers as, for 

 one continuous circle at six iuches distance, from plant to 

 plant, will give us a circular ribbon or hell running around 

 our eiit ire circle. For this purpose "we choose good strong 

 plants of the purple aster, or any color you may desire. 

 Between the ribbon of asters and the extreme front of your 

 circle vou will have considerable space left, which I usually 

 planted -With groups of Br, Ww»* and carinas, four plants 

 of each in groups, and running around the extreme circle 

 within one foot Of the grass edge. At equal distances of 

 four feet set out the finest plants of the vtfiadxwm ,esanlen- 

 trjit, and have the plants started well before putting out, 

 Your best way is to buy all your pi; : '• pr. \ i..us to making 

 your garden, and then place them out as 1 have named, or 

 ] ■ i .1 • your own taste may suggest. Or you can write the 

 names of your plants upon a piece of shingle, or label, and 

 stick thetn where vou desire to place your plant. Between 

 these plants in the outer row (we mean the calladiums) you 

 can place very small zonal geraniums— scarlet or white— 

 in , i i i mix colors in this arrangement. Remember-, you 

 must have space I o give a tine effect to such a garden. 

 Though but small, yaw dowers and plants need room to 

 show- and for development take particular notice that you 

 i by far look upon the soil than to muss up or 

 crowd your plants. At some future time 1 may I ell you 

 how lo* make a tropical or water garden upon a similar 

 plan, aud give you a list of plants suited for the same. 

 Ollipod Quill. 



■»«♦ 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Blood Red Water.— Can you give me the reason of 

 the very red color of the water contained in the accom- 

 panying vial 1 I took the same from a small pond in our 

 Skate, Which at limes has this peculiar red appearance. It 

 remains sometimes from three days to a week, and then it 

 becomes clear again. W. W. W. 



We find the first mention of the "blood red water" as 

 far back as the days of Moses, and had not modern science 

 dispelled the old charm of this ancient superstitious omen 

 we should be left to search for the truth of this interesting 

 scientific fact in vain. The microscope has stripped the 

 subject of much of the mystery which has for so long sur- 

 rounded it, and in the dim redness of the water we find 

 only a natural cause, interesting and valuable to the stu- 

 dent, as well as to the individual searcher after the hiddeu 

 beautiful. The real cause of the redness of the water con- 

 tained in the vial before us is the presence of an innumer- 

 able multitude of 'cgton* of extremely small plants and 

 animals, which, under the influence of certain atmospheric 

 States and conditions, multiply in such wonderful myriads 

 that the mind can scarcely realize the wonderful extent of 

 their procreation. The water contains a species of Trieho- 

 ■iesima not very unlike that found on the borders of the 

 Red Sea. This animalcuhe, when seen under the micro- 

 scope, will he found composed of a gelatinous matter of a 

 purplish red color, termed microscopic alga, having the 

 appearance of slightly curved scales of half an inch in 

 length, some or them variegated in color, and belonging 

 to flic lowest forms of animal and plant life. They may 

 he considered as belonging to the Infusoria, or living Bia- 

 tomacea. The greatest wonder concerning these minute 

 animalcule? is that Die supposed weight of a single one 

 would be less than the millionth part of a milligramme, 

 (.0154 grain). 



We ilave another letter upon this subject, relating to an- 

 other species of these Infusoria, and will answer the same 

 as soon as we can give 'the subject a careful microscopic 

 investigation. Olupod Quill. 



Clara Weston, River Head, New York.— The verbena 

 mite, for which you ask a remedy, is a mile indeed. It is 

 not so large as the spider pest, and much unlike him in his 

 operations. You cannot see this mite unaided by the 

 glass, but with it it appears as large as a common sized 



■■-. -.i. ■ tl> , and is seen very zealously at work. Plants at- 

 tacked by this mile have a dingy, brown appearance, as 

 they are very social, and congregate together in great num- 

 bers. If yo'ur verbenas are troubled with them you will 

 do well to examine other tender leaved plants, such as the 

 heliotropes and petunias, for they love them also. You 

 can kill them with most any mineral fertilizers. We use 

 Gould's and Grafton's mineral fertilizers; both are good 

 and effective. After showering your plant leaves well 

 with lepid water, sprinkle the dry powder over them, aud 

 the miles will leave at once. Lime water, tolerably hot, 

 poured over your flower pots, will also exterminate them. 

 The oilier insect of which you write is a species of thrip. 

 The fumes of tobacco well applied will kill them. Two or 

 three good smokings will compel them to change their 

 quarters. Ollipod Q.ou,l. 



ADIRONDACK WOODS AND WORRIES. 



Sandv Hill. N. Y., September Slst. 187-1. 

 Eoiroii Koi-.kst ami Stream:- 



[n your issue of September Kill is mi editorial paragraph, relating to 

 some acts of 0. F. Norton ,i'\i.. And t in- subsequent proc . 



in Die to be ill consider.."!, very nearly to the verge of flippancy. 1 have 



moral riyhr die .sporiHiu n. nalel keopBrs nnd guides Imcl 1,0 

 'I ID found) their bonis ill the 



nuHei of Big Clear Pou'l': tanortbis hum and ibi- utrearn the property 



on 4 Co., upou which tbey pay taxes to the State, and 



Sorton 4 C".'- property b»Tond disputes! Thesporls- 



■ not, 1 presume, claim any shadow nf title m (he land :ind 



vrbicn they are removing these obstructions, and have no 



r office and pitch any 



do not know, but will give you a couple of instances from my own ex- 

 perience in doing slumbering business on the Sarauac waters. From 

 ISM to 186? tnclMJve T was getting saw logs out of the Upper Saranac: 

 was part, owner of the northwest one-third of Township Twenty-three. 

 OpOt his land W«S a quantify of valuable pine timber A fire, which 

 started from the shore of Lead Fond, burned about 15.000 standard logs 

 of that timber, causing me a loss of at least $5,000. That ire. I can now 

 prove, was cnused by the carelessness of a wealthy sportsman esince 

 dead*. These mciiuiui theft appendages ithu hotel men and the guides) 

 caused rue L*reat less mid annoyance. W r e were compelled to watch our 

 ,, - i ,1 i, „ ins night. :.nd day. "until our logs were sufe in the keeping 

 i i,, , tlrrenl in the river. Our lumber camps were burned, or the roofs 

 used for fnel. .v.- i e j ie,I off: mir dams destroyed, timber lauds burned: 

 our timber systematically stolen for all the uses of the country about. I 

 [i:i,l oci i-l en re in, ill a Couple of hoats, and not having any lumber suit- 

 able, 1 applied o a man by the name of Reynolds, who, 1 was told, had 

 some, 1 paid him a large price, and when the lumber cume to hand 

 found my own log mark on a number of the pieces. The fellow bad se- 

 lected the right kind of a log and stole it from my drive when it was 

 passiug Miller's Pond. I believe that up to 1 865 Ihere was not. a half 

 ilnaii boats floating on the Saranac waters that, were not made from 

 stolen timber. 1 am sorry to say that the sporrsmen that 1 have chanced 

 lo fall in with in fifteen years' experience, have not secured my admira- 

 tion, or even respect (WiflU few notable exceptions). Asamle, they 

 were ready to oai k OP the guide in any deviltry he might take in hand. 

 Now the whole i rfiAJ Spoi -men, hotel keepers and guides, were aud to 

 ., nee ev tot, now- are, nothiug but interlopers and trespassers, Having 

 no permanent^ interest in the country, uine-tenths of them don't own 

 a Toot of land— not oue-half of them have even a uominal home— they 

 are u nuisance and a cuise to any country which they invade. And the 

 fact ii ilic, arc a enmeniencc to your sporting people had not onghl 

 to blind yon to their faults, or make vou willing to encourage, or assist 

 them in sneh enterprises as they appear to have got in hand now, for 

 you may feel assured that C. F. Norton & Co, have not braved a general 

 coullsgration of their property without an adequate canse. 



I know the hotel keepers and guides of the Saranac through and 

 through, audi do no: betn-ve the Etrawra akb Sthea-m has anything in 

 common with them, and will not, attest the second thought, make itself 

 their mouthpiece- or champion. O. A. T. 



[pur correspondent has stated to us in a supplementary 

 note that he speaks in general terms in his strictures above. 

 He recognizes honorable exceptions among guides, and 

 other classes, who have come under his displeasure. This 

 matler of trespass and rights involves serious and compli- 

 cated questions, which can only he settled by wise adjudi- 

 cation in the future. — Ed.] 



%ht Mennel. 



OUGHT SETTERS TO RETRIEVE? 



BY E. S. CABMAN. 



ed t 



way. 



: Co. are h.ui- 



bermen, ami have i.ne,. ,,,,,!, ,,r tiinhci ei.pnse.il ro ilie incendiarism of 



tbn.| region, tin* Saranac {raids They would urn incur his 



ill w|fl without gi ovoealioji, Wliul S « a Cm have. MitMctU 



IT is a matter of the greatest surprise to me that gentle- 

 men who profess great experience in the rearing and 

 training of hunting dogs, can advocate retrieving in setters. 

 Either in their experience they have not closely considered 

 the effects of this practice, or my own experience has been 

 made up of exceptional instances not generally applicable. 

 If upon any one principle connected with the rearing of 

 setters I entertain a stronger conviction than upon all 

 others, it is that teaching young setters to retrieve has 

 wrought an injury which, in its direct and hereditary ef- 

 fects, has well nigh rendered impossible that willing, un- 

 questioning obedience and discipline, at all times and 

 places, of which the setter that has never dreamed of fond- 

 ling a wounded or dead bird is easily capable. 



The natural instinct of hunting dogs, as we all know, is 

 to seize and devour their game. The pause made by lions, 

 panthers, cats, dogs, and many others, preparatory to 

 springing upon their prey, has in the setter heen converted 

 by training into a stop, that should terminate only with the 

 flight, of the birds. Any relapse upon his native prompt- 

 ing to seize and devour the bird is so severely punished 

 that he must in the future choose between the pain of such 

 punishment and curbing the passionate temptings of his 

 nature. If the latter, so far so good; if the former, the 

 dog generally becomes eager, headstrong, and unruly to 

 worfhlessness. 



Now, we will suppose our young setter thoroughly house 

 broken. He charges at a whisper or a point of the finger, 

 lie remains as long as required. Whining, barking, fu- 

 rious demonstrations, and all puppyisms, are suppressed or 

 under control. He seeks, finds, and fetches any article 

 from a three cent piece to a haudkerchief, ball, or hat. He 

 ranges satisfactorily, obeys the wave of the hand, charges 

 at a distance upon signal, and is altogether mellow for the 

 practice to which this education has tended to fit him, and 

 we are now to ascertain how far our dog is worthy of the 

 patient, studied, affectionate instruction we have lavished 

 upon him. 



Most gratifyingly he points his first quail, remaining 

 steadfast under fire and the tempting sight of the fall of 

 the bird. Though aglow with excitement, and trembling 

 in every nerve, he wistfully charges at his master's well 

 known word, lo await in anxious, nervous expectation his 

 further command. Is it to "go" and "fetch" that bird? (!) 

 If birds, when shot, dropped dead in every instance, the 

 vital objection to retrieving might, no longer exist. But it 

 may be conceded that in a majority of cases there con- 

 tinues a muscular action of the dying bird perceptible to 

 the sensitive mouth of the dog to invite or justify a closer 

 hold. Occasionally, though falling as if dead, the bird is 

 only wounded, and flutters off when it catches a glimpse 

 Of I he dog close upon it. Disregarding the sternest warn- 

 ing from the master — if, indeed, there is time to utter a 

 warning — the dog rushes after the bird, that now appears 

 for an instant, is then hidden in the grass, agaiu manages 

 to fly a few feet, and releases itself from the first cautious 

 grasp of the dog to be bitten through and through, and 

 held as in a vise at last. 



This is not theory or conjecture. It is an old story, to 

 be repealed as long us retrieving Is tolerated. Thus our 



promising dog tastes the blood that his keen, vivid, electri- 

 cal nature, untutored, craves. It is brandy to the lips of 

 the drunkard that struggles to reform; fire to the veins al- 

 ready red hot. A lesson has been taught too well that he 

 will never unlearn, ami for the future, unless wc break his 

 spirit by everlasting and cruel drubbings, his retrieving 

 will prove mortifying and unsatisfactory. As a rule, the 

 dog will either mouth or bite his birds, or drop them sev- 

 eral times in his return to his master as an excuse for 

 mouthing them without seeming to do so. I have seen 

 dogs waver for moments, in the act of returning, between 

 their well couccived allegiance and duty and a gnawing 

 desire to mutilate or destroy their birds, sometimes with 

 one, sometimes with the other result. As injurious, how- 

 ever, as this objection may be in itself, it is a hundred times 

 more harmful in one of its bearings, as I beg very briefly 

 to consider. 



Setters should never once become familiarized with live 

 birds. Their province is to find and point live birds, and 

 their sole reward is to see and smell the dead birds shot over 

 them through their sagacity. 



Retrieving, as I have before remarked, tends to establish 

 a connection between seeing and poiutiug in lieu of itmeUing 

 and pointing, and the dog, from contact with live birds, is 

 ever goaded by gradual steps to catch a glimpse of the bird 

 which he should be well contented to point from scent 

 alone, if acting under a well advised discipline. Staunch- 

 ness is therefore impaired, and the already too impetuous 

 nature of the setter rendered more impetuous. 



It is urged that we lose birds by hunting over non-re- 

 trievers. There are occasions certainly when birds are lost, 

 but they are rare. When w r ounded we can sometimes shoot 

 them again. Seldom it is that a bird falls in bushes which 

 we cannot penetrate; and not once in fifty times does it 

 fall in a stream or body of water that we cannot ford. 

 What sportsmen will not agree with us that it is better to 

 lose one bird in fifty— yea, one in twenty— than to suffer 

 his dog to depart from the Staunch, artistic, incomparable. 

 manoeuvres that we can never witness without admiring? 

 I believe that nine dogs out of every ten will either, al odd 

 times, mouth or bite their birds, and that the tenth dog, 

 perfect in retrieving, will be deficient in nose, enthusiasm, 

 or some other essential qualification. 



My dear Forest and Stream, you cannot perform a 

 richer service to the true sportsman — whom you serve so 

 splendidly— than by a conspicuous aud continued denunci- 

 ation of this pestiferous practice. 



FIELD TRIALS— No. I. 



BY SNAPSHOT. 



I HAVE often wondered how it was that, there were still 

 judges to be had, both for dog shows and dog trials, 

 considering the treatment the said judges invariably re- 

 ceive, particularly at showns, at the hands of a considerable 

 percentage of owners of the dogs under inspection. I, for 

 one, would not be a judge unify any consideration. Le 

 jeu n'en wul pas fe ckasudelle. To be abused, reviled, ridi- 

 culed bv everv dissatisfied exhibitor must be an ordeal 

 which, "I imagine, but few men could withstand tamely. 

 It is terribly trying, even to a bystander, to hear the rough 

 observations made, so what must it be to him against 

 whom the shafts of' the satire are directed, and who can 

 plainly enough hear the inuendocs and double entendre* di- 

 rectly or indirectly heaped upon his devoted head? His 

 post is certainly an unenviable one, for whichever wav he 

 decides there must be some dissatisfied parties; and it is 

 not, pleasant to know beforehand that, whatever your de- 

 cisions may come t|jj there will be some one to find fault 

 with them. 



Such being the case, and the arrangement of having a 

 judge or judges proving so unsatisfactory, why not have a 

 jury? Surely no one would have the audacity to find fault 

 with a body of gentlemen for coming unanimously to a de- 

 cision ; and if any one did they would hardly have the 

 "cheek" to express aloud their doubts about the jurymen's 

 integrity in the way one may hear them expressed nowa- 

 days in "connection with the judge's or judges' name. 

 . Field trials are not quite so open to adverse criticisms as 

 clog shows are, for every one present at a trial can seo 

 readily enough, from the various competitors' perform- 

 ances. Which among them are worthless, which are good, 

 and amongst the good ones which are the best. But then, 

 again, as concerns these last, there comes a hitch occasion- 

 ally; for though there are two or three judges they, even 

 they, sometimes disagree. And you know the saying, 

 "Wheu doctors disagree," etc. This happens mostly from 

 one of the judges nursing some pet theory of his own, 

 which clashes with that of 'his confreres. Perhaps that pet 

 theory of his will be style. It used to be said of one cele- 

 brated judge that, if allowed his own undisturbed way, he 

 would always have placed first and foremost any fast rang- 

 ing and high stepping dog over the heads of his more 

 stead; and more staunch opponents, simply because he 

 (the judge) is so takeu in by dash that it blots out in his 

 eyes every other defect. Now, this is simply absurd. 

 ■Style is all very fine, certainly, but it is not a sine qua, 

 non in setting dogs. The quality par XBCeUanee is staunch- 

 ness, if a setting; dog be not staunch he ought to be dis- 

 qualified at once f for what is he good for? A dog that 

 does not keep steady on game (whatever maybe the value 

 placed upon him on account of his pedigree, his appear- 

 ance, his temper, aud his winning ways) is worse than a 

 bore to a sportsman, for he does not give the guns a chance 

 to tire, and a party of shooters might go quartering 10,000 

 acres for a. whole" week with such an animal, and not be- 

 able to bag a head of game, except, by chance, or by a 

 mere fluke. Of course, the dog's style would be very much 

 admired al starting, but the right value of the animal 

 would pretty soon be estimated by the, shooters. 



Owners, or such flashy dogs are always misled by their 

 friends, for this reason — that it would seem boorish and 

 rather unkind, after being invited by a friend to his shoot- 

 ing party, to find fault with his dog, or dogs, of whom he. 

 baa evidently such a high opinion" The consequence is, 



ihHi, though you inwardly curse the dogs, you are obliged 



