FOREST AND STREAM.: 



133 



Ripe ubout the Bame 

 a moderate growing i 

 exceeding productive 

 shine will sometimes 

 grow 



iwba. The vine is 



: unbler, yet it is 



The leaves are tender, and hoi Biin- 



and southeastern locations, li is 



very desirable a* a good grape, as It 



uoi' mildew Sou should grow tills grope on northern ex> 



pi.i-ui. - if you would have good, large, rich fruit 



vine into a rich, rather sandy soil, on cither a northeastern 



oranurthern exposure, ana take good care of it, and we 



venture topredict complete satisfaction. A fine apicry wine 



can be made from this grape, and will keep growing better 



and better with age. " du.ifod Quill. 



MakshaiA, of Tennessee.— "Wli.tt. is this sand!" 

 It belongs to one of the nlOBt interesting studies of ages 

 past. It is, when strictly defined, one or a Species oi the 

 infusoria, which existed before the deluge. This lathe 

 house of an antediluvian insect, whose extreme minuteness 

 is such that sometime* more than a million ot them are 

 found in ft cubic inch of chalk. They were b6 extremely 

 small, and so miraculously prolific al the era of their "house 

 building," that those lfttge mountains, made up ol calca 

 reous substances, carapades, bold so important a place in 

 the mineral crust of the globe. To the microscopist of to- 

 day they stand revealed as the tripoii of commerce. Some 

 of the tripolis are Of a red color, and arc familiar to every 

 house painter. Our servants use the coarser sorts 10 scour 

 and keep bright the kitchen utensils. It is called the osse- 

 oas structure 6f the infusoria. Ollipod Quill. 



II. II. T., Esq., Randolph. New York.— I received your 

 package containing the "grasshopper parasites." They 

 are the same kind of an insect thatlsawten years ago, 

 when they produced the most terrible mortality among the 

 grasshoppers. At that period the whole of the grasshop- 

 tppeared; they were literally eaten up. [t was, 1 

 recollect, a theme of every day comment, ye1 totMebesi 

 of my knowledge there was no scientific examination 

 made at the time, This parasite, according to ray own in- 

 vestigations, is an unknown depredator upon grasshopper 

 life. I will let you know the result of my future invest] 

 gaiions upon this subject. Ollipod Quii.t.. 



l\u §ettneL 



THE WEBSTER SETTERS. 



BV GEOP.GK W. ULUNT, 



Being the person who had I he first brace of these dogs 

 imported into this country, I will give their history and 

 pedigree. . 



While on a visit to Daniel Webster, Esq., at Marsh- 

 field, I had a pointer bitch which I bought of the Enrl of 

 Derby's game keeper. My friend Charles King, who was 

 with tne, had Q pointer .log, a very fine one, and Mr. Web 

 sler Was Very miiell interested in their performance when 

 a Tier woodcock. I lold him there was a breed of dogs iu 

 Scotland far superior— the Duke of Gordon setters— which 

 I could not gel, as I was not an P. F. V. ; that: he might get 

 them if he went abroad. He said if he did he would try. 

 I put it, down auioug great men's promises, and soon for- 

 got it. 



Ill December, 1839, 1 received a note from Mr. Webster, 

 ■who had arrived from England, stating that he had a brace 

 of Duke of Gordon setters for me, which I found on board 

 the London packet— John Griswold's line. The dog was 

 named Rake, and the bitch Rachel. The pair were the 

 handsomest I ever saw — gentle and intelligent, with most 

 acute powers of scent: . 



The pair were sired out of different mothers I >\ Regent, 

 who was bought by the Earl of Chesterfield at Tattersall's 

 as a stud dog, for seventy-live guineas. Rachel dropped 

 cleveu pups soon after she arrived in this country, which 

 were distributed among the friends of Mr. Webster and 

 myself. 



The dogs, I may add, were obtained through Sir Henry 

 Hal ford, the King's physician. After shooting over them 

 for one season, Mr. Webster (who went off politically with 

 Mr.Tvler— I stuck to Mr. Clay) demanded a separation 

 of the dogs, he taking to Raeliel, and 1 taking to Rake as 

 most appropriate. 1 have a picture of Rake, taken iu the 

 act of pointing, which describes him far better than I cau 

 write; but a handsomer, more decile, intelligent dog never 

 ranged a field. I have known him to point an English 

 snipe over forty yards off. Rake died in 1844, but I kept 

 up the breed, and shot over those of my own raising until 

 1856. Of Rachel's "mournings" I know not. 



-♦»♦ 



THE PESTIFEROUS PRACTICE OF SET- 

 TERS RETRIEVING. 



NhwTTobk, is? i. 



ElUTOK FOREST AND STBBAJK— 



la direct contradiction to all theories mid imoat experiences, .yum 

 correspondent, E.iS. Carman, tries toconvine.- iu of tuc utter iisc-lessness 



Have certainly Ihe merit of niiiemmy. and, I I the tyro, mtglll 966m pltum 

 ime;bnt theyes aotanq i ' epted ;i- proof by others. 



Whether his experience in made up of exceptional, not sppHcSbh mslau, 



1,1c 



o Jin 



induration his previously expressed Ideas on "refined mongivlism," and 



his avowed preferences in chat direction, it. would not be the strangest 



I fail to see what connection thare is bet \ een rtaunc 

 mjr. Real staunchness, as I ui.ih al a ■ ' •' 

 into a dog; it is "lired in the bun. and 



whipped 

 mt— 



Bometbing radically and 



Than retrievinR siionld 



teeing and pointing, cad 



has not frequently seen 



.li, Q l>i an neglected:, and 

 ! setter.!' insfinctiva lOVeot 

 to rata eve, is led to Hush in- 

 I d iking iKtekyiHiw.il and 



. uiiii in ■lining to 

 .rained by experience. Who 

 . of retrieving, vtheu elo*t on 



to the. bird, make detours i 



the scent, showing concha 



let and not to. 



While honting last Fall! 



yini; enrrenl of ail benrine 

 absolutely and literally. fol- 



;.l a moanluill thai had bcell suv|il by 

 it li wliiiisli ashen, and an Incident thai 

 •.mch aprypvn in Ihiis connection occurred to DJO there: A 



.;.,,;... i .. . falling in full view of nl'.i.i. I .-i ■■ in 



i IMC* over tWO 



years old, tin- order "fleafl bird." 1'he ilo,: had seel) the him fall, aud wiih 

 nose well up he took the direction and shortU pointed, Walkuurclose 

 up to hhu she bird waa as pluinlv ,i-. .,.- :,- thi dog; but from the eleva- 

 lioti of the dog'e head it waa nu ntstikablY apparent tit n hs did not see 

 it. Thoscenc v,.i-as "preoy a- a pietnrs," and while I stood in silent 

 adtniriiiion. loath tt) break the eliirin. the grouse gaye a convulsive (lap 



and line drOM In e dOg'a alien tOWttrda II. ami his ii-lonishineiil al ihe 



el.,-e piu.\i,iii!j of tile bird was amusing; lie fairly -lared at it I ill or- 

 dere.i to fetch. 



Tins is a single instance, which no doubt many a sportsman can multi- 

 ply ,i,i bnjtnttnm rrom his own observations - . 



The- point;- is, to my nttao", by no means essential; 

 ii l- pretty and nothing mon , The m ist killing and stanncnest working 

 dogsl have ever veen conid nol beindnced to poini dead, I they fur- 

 nished the moat unanswerable arguments aeainsi the theory that retriev- 

 ing can only-be obtained al the expenneof staunohness, by invariably 

 Rotating any fresh nird Mint, happened to be on ttapii path whi 

 of ilic dead, their unerring scenting powors enabling them to discern be- 

 tween dead or wounded and alive, and novel once leading ihem astray. 



And now. ere I conclude, I wnh to coll atteiitf.ei to a "real noCOAgtsfr 

 em > in Mr. Carman's own arguments. IP- says in iJie ,-n uinerai l-oi of 

 the points and virtues or a thoroughly bonse-brotoeo dog: "He leeks, 

 Hail- and fetches any article from a three cent piece to a handkerchief, 

 ball ..1 hat." Whv is such stress laid on Ho-, when m Intends to say to 



in 



and i 



era, and I emphatically indorse your opinion that It ia 

 setter's education, and gieatly enhances his value ' 



THE SETTER IN AMERICA AND 

 ENGLAND. 



uv "liisniM. ' 



IF :i man keeps a setter in America, he wants a "general 

 dog," as we call it in this country. By that an Ameri- 

 can means a dog that finds, and points, and retrieves, and 

 that will go through thick underwood, thorns, and so on; 

 but an Englishman does not look for painting in his "gen- 

 eral utility 31 dog — simply he wants a dog that ranges close, 

 unit drops to shot or "wing." 



Years agrj pointing dogs were used for pheasants as well 

 as partridges, and almost all the old portraits represent 

 them with a. pheasant in their mouths. In the old Spoetiny 

 Md'jitziifi there is an engraving of an old short-tailed pointer 

 (the original was, I think, by the celebrated Abraham 

 Cooper, the Royal Academician,) who has one pheasant in 

 his mouth, and is pointing another before he brings it 

 back. 



The retriever is a comparatively modern invention; our 

 forefathers made I heir dogs do* anything— but then, dog 

 breaking was at its zenith. ' ISTo gamekeeper could get a 

 situation unless he could break pointers; aud what is more, 

 every man who phot, knew how the dogs ought to be used. 



It 'is a common opinion — indeed, it is my opinion—that 

 you imperil the staunchness of a dog upon Ids point if you 

 let him "road" a running bird, overtake, and retrieve it, 

 though, a great deal depends upon the man himself; and 

 unless the sportsman is thoroughly at heart a lover of the 

 dog, he is very much tempted to "Hie on !" his dog direct- 

 ly he has shot til or crippled a bird, and to do so is ruin to 

 the dog. 



In my work on the dog I have been a little severe on 

 those who profess to break setiers with bells; but setters 

 vary so much in temperament aud general disposition, that 

 1 incline to the opinion they may be more readily- trained 

 to anything than any other dog in the world. There is 

 also the undoubted fact that American sportsmen, second 

 to no men who shoot in the four quarters of the globe, use 

 setiers for woodcock shooting in swamps and thorny brakes, 

 and that I hey do their work well where the ordinary spaniel 

 would be too slow. But especial training, as well as a 

 marked fitness of disposition and constitution, is desirable 

 for the purpose, aud the physical fitness of the dog is of 

 the greatest consequence, setters are not by nature dogs 

 thaf thrust Ihemselves through covert, and for such. pur- 

 poses ii is belter lo have a dog that will creep under than 

 gO over thorns or furze. 



If a setter is good, I have no prejudice about his breed or 

 color, though I have about the purity of his blood, the 

 form of his frame, and the texture of "his coat. ".Drop- 

 pers," as dogs half pointer are called, are frequently good 

 in their first generation, but I never saw the produce of a 

 dropper that was worth a shilling. I would never breed 

 them, for it is decidedly the way to deteriorate setter blood, 

 as directly you let them out 'of your hands l hey may be 

 used to propagate their race by unscrupulous or unprin- 

 cipled persons. 



1 cannot recommend any special breed of setters lor 

 American shooting; it will not be the breed that v, ill suit, 

 but the individual specimen. As, however, the dog Ought 

 to be conspicuous, he should have a considerable portion 

 of while about him, and failing that be would be, I should 

 say, very hard to find when on his point, whether he wears 

 bells or no; for. of course, just when the sound is most re- 

 quired the dog is motionless, and a white crochet collar, 

 (such as is used to distinguish greyhounds, I believe,) 

 would be a sore impediment in the American jungle. 



I am not sufficiently experienced in retrieving setters to 

 sav whether they have a dislike to lilting woodcocks; but 

 certainly English retrievers object to them at first, and 



- logs never get over their antipathy. This might be 



got over by the etirlv traininsr of the setter to retrieve, and 

 the accomplishments should be taught when he is not over 

 four months old; whilst ordinary setters 1 work is not com- 

 menced untU he is twelve or fourteen months, or even 

 more. 



1 recoiled breaking a capital black, blue ami tan dog to 

 retrieve, commencing with him at three months. He 

 worked at retrieving until he was a year old, when he took 

 his course of setter-breaking with the others. I sold him, 

 on his merits aa a setter, to an excellent sportsman, and 

 heard nothing of him tor a couple of years after, when his 

 owner said, "in addition to his other qualities, what an ex- 

 cellent retriever he was." This my friend discovered quite 

 by accident, and Robin now takes the place of two dogsou 



the moors, and, though both retriever and setter, he is, I 

 believe, as steady as ever, singly or in company. 



On the moors J prefer ihedog which finds a wounded or 

 dead bird well and points it, and which, if the nem chases 

 it, will drop and remain down until he returns. This 

 shows :. good deal of sagacity on the dog's purl, and a con- 

 liiletite in the seller's ateftdlhess; and I have frequently 

 seen Scotch keepers do it, though contrary to my canon, 

 that in shooting all excitement and hurry on the part Of 

 man or dog is a mistake, and the consequences are not un- 

 commonly disastrous, 



Bui with certain dogs— such as. I saw worked in the 

 Highlands last August by a friend's keeper, (which dogs, 

 in the way, I subsequently purchased for Russia)— with 

 certain dogs you may take anv liberty, and David never 

 hesitated to chase a cripple after one of his dogs had found 

 it; ami ihe .inly thing lie did as he stalked back over the 

 heather was to sav in his 'hep bus:- voice, which seemed to 



me nearly as round and mellow as Lablache's, "Good dog!" 

 seek about now." Still, i hough David was as good a man 

 with dogs as it has ever been my lot to go out with, and 

 his setters were almpsl faultless, 1 experienced the S6rl Of 

 creepy feeling which comes over one when an amateur 

 'Miics ila i," or the "gentleman who plays the fiddle so 

 beautifully," {and who, by the way, is so lavish of it.) is 

 "stopping" out. of tune instead of stopping altogether. 



1 wonder what effect retrieving lias upon the setter's 

 range.' Does it in a general way contract it? For that in 

 Scotland would be a fatal thing'. Indeed, the English 

 breaking in partridge fields has a tendency to spoil the 

 sweep Of ■■> selhi for grouse, ami to make him too anxious 

 to be within hail. 1 have seen many a good worker fright- 

 ened at the long stretch of moor before him when first cast 

 off on a hillside, and quite bewildered at finding himself, 

 as David called it, "ahme on the ocean." Some dogs have 

 in this way beeu lost al once and forever. 1 remember 

 especially one brace, purchased by a young member of the 

 "Upper House," who thought he had got a bargain— and 

 Ihey were in one sens.-, for i hey never cost him anything 

 lo keep. They turned their backs to each other and raced 

 off, one north," as his gillie told me, and the other "sooth;" 

 and he added, "As the warld's roond, if they co on lang 

 enough p'raps they'll joost meet." "And did you never 

 see them again, Sandy?" I asked. "No," he replied, in 

 guttural accents, which I. won't attempt to copy, and with 

 a shrewd twinkle of his eye. "but when the .grieve on Ihe 

 next moor sold his dead lambs' skins next year, twa of 'em 

 were liner anil, white /" 



I can imagine nothing more 

 dog on the moors, where all ; 

 only fortnight you can spa 

 which probably are short ii 

 quality — a dog that i 



utterly hateful than a bad 

 iur sport, possibly for the 

 l, depends upon the dogs, 

 number and shorter still in 

 util he catches sight of a 



feet from the 

 aud tumbling t 



p of those weird Scotch sheep, at which he dashes with 

 'frantic bounds and loud yelps; or, if be has blundered up 

 a grouse, which falls a few yards ahead, saunters up to i» 

 in a leisurely way, and proceeds to crack the bones. 



I saw a liver pointer loosed from a bundle of dogs once 

 in the next moor to ours, which commenced rolling instead 

 of ranging, and so continued for about a quarter of an 

 hour, when they caught him and let loo,e his hi other, (to all 

 appearance,) who would not even roll ! 



The dogs seemed a mystery to their owners as well as to 

 us, and frightened at the kilts worn by their masters, (for 

 the first time probably, judging by the whiteness of their 

 knees) ; and upon making inquiry we found that they ".ere 

 Endish manufacturers — one of them, his English valet told 

 usr"the largest tape maker in England." This informa- 

 tion was vouchsafed as we overtook the shelties with the 

 game panniers, which last contained, so our gillie declared, 

 ii. good deal of heather and three grouse, though we heard a 

 good deal of Cannonading. The head gillie explained that 

 he really thought the gentlemen might have killed more, 

 only their doas "wouldn't let the grouse alone." "They 

 shot one of their dogs," the stunted English-grown hoy 

 said, "but, (he ail deer apologetically,) I don't believe as 

 they aimed at him." 



leant vouch for the truth of it, but they tell me the dogs 

 were decimated daily, and that as every dog disappeared 

 the tape-maker and his party did better. The reports of 

 the guns as we nuw and then worked near their "dyke" 

 much resembled rile firing, and sometimes there was a 

 volley, I suppose at a single bh'd; whilst now and then one 

 of Iheir best dons would be seen full chase ou the sky-line 



fcfter a ck speck which did not fly more than a couple of 



earth. There would then be a sort of wrestle 

 on the horizon, and the fluttering of a 

 kilt in full pursuit. Yelps would then he heard faintly in 

 the distance, from which we argued that, a bird 'was 

 wounded, (hat it had been overtaken by a dog misnamed 

 or nicknamed a pointer, that the gillie had been also in hot 

 chase, but that he had not come on the scene in time to 

 pieveui "Scamp yer brute" from bolting "feathers and 



all."— [mwUhi. /■'-* " 



. ♦•♦ 



THE Dachshund. -1 was Athsunt from the "old country," 

 one-and-twenty years, occupied hi racing, steeplechasitig, 

 and fishing. Whilst abroad I had a great fancy for this 

 game little liound, and have still. The first specimeus I 

 "bad were crooked in the leg, and out at elbows. Whilst 

 shooting in one of the large 'government forests in Lower 

 Brittany, I came across a good old sportsman, over seventy 

 years of age, who had been the greater part of his life in 

 Germany. He assured me "my little hounds were all 

 wrong— that they should not have crooked legs." He said, 

 and i'n which 1 fully iiaree, thill "the crooked fore-leg had 

 came merely because they had been badly kennelled and 

 eared for in' the fir.-!, instance, aud by breeding from faulty 

 dogs or bitches," He procured me three very good speci- 

 mens, but not quite straight. 1 bred from these, "in and 

 in." keeping the straighiest legged ones, and iu five years 

 had them as straight in the leg as gun barrels; ihey could 

 go twice the pace of the crooked-legged ones, or my toy 

 Bassets. 



You may depend the crooked-legged Dachshund is not the 

 corcct itctii'lc, and it is against all rules of dog anatomy to 

 suppose it is. Most of your readers are doubtless aware 

 whv the old English Turnspit was so deformed. 



Tain quite convinced, after many years study of this 

 beautiful little hound, Unit he should be stmiylit on Ihe hy, 

 in color black and tun, or red, with a coat as bright as 

 silver.— Ffjucui'n '. 



— The Ingersoll Uille Association of Canada offers $500 

 in prizes at the annual meeting to be held at the Associa- 

 tion range on the 30th and 21st of October uest, open to all 

 competitors, not excluding the Irish team. 



