48 



'FOREST AJTOJ STREAM? 



Bpatfiels, and, EOr aught 1 know, still do. Many houses bad 

 breeds, the foundation of which the oldest member of tlie 

 family could adt remember. Every country vicarage had 



one or two. The spoiling farmer invariably 

 Yet, us you justly observed," tin: different varieties of spaniels 

 have become so merged one with another that while the breed 

 erali - -v.-r been highly valued and considered india- 

 peusahle" to woodcock and rabbit shooting, yet such latitude 

 in form, color and size has been allowed that niuety-nine 

 sportsmen out of a hundred Who shoot over them could no 

 more toll you than the man in the moon what the points of a 

 cocker were. Every one interested at all in spaniels can 

 roughly define an Irish water, a Clumber, a Sussex, and, of 

 course, a Blenheim and King Charles ; but once launch out 

 into the great mixed up, undefined classes that range them- 

 selves on the show bench as cockers and field spaniels, and if 

 you try to lay down the law otherwise than to suit your own 

 fancy you will have a difficult: task before you, 



1 cannot doubt but that spaniels have a great future before 

 hem in this country. It has been an increasing wonder to 

 me how sportsmen in the Northern States and Canada have 

 so long neglected to cultivate them. 1 cannot think it ad- 

 visable to encourage, as the judges used to do in the English 

 shows, that ultra delicacy of form so prominent among the 

 prize takers in the cocker classes. The King Charles cross 

 used to show roost unmistakably on the cocker benches at 

 their meetings, and probably does so still. The Devonshire 

 cooker, though hard to define accurately, may be said, gene- 

 rally speaking, however, to exist as a breed. Everything 

 about them is workmanlike ; their color usually liver and 

 white, or black, short-legged and long-bodied, with form well 

 knit and compact. They give one the idea of as perfect a 

 unity of strength and activity as the canine race can show. 



The coat is sometitm s wavy and sometimes curly, speaking 

 of which, I do not quite follow your objection to the latter. 

 If only because it points to a cross with the water spaniel, 

 why is that any blemish? I should rather have thought that, 

 it would have helped to frame a good field dog. We used in 

 Devonshire to shoot partridges over them constantly, break- 

 ing them to range within twenty-five yards of the gun ; and 

 in a broken country, where the shooting was varied and the 

 bag likely to be mixed, we found them far more useful than 

 pointers or setters. 



Cockers used to be kept by the poor people in Scotland not 

 infrequently as watch-dogs, as they bear the reputation of 

 being impossible for strangers to silence, either by strokes or 

 menaces. Finally, they are less expensive to keep than any 

 other sporting dog, and, in my experience, are less prone to 

 lose flesh and condition than either setters or pointers. 



Rrsowoon. 



JArr Forest and Stream and Hod and Gun. 

 STOCK DOGS. 



NOW that so much interest is beinf: taken in improving 

 the canine race, it is well to consider on what princi- 

 ple stock dogs should be selected and how they shall be j udged 

 at bench shows. I, for one, am a firm believer that at all 

 bench shows the dog that produces the best progeny should 

 receive the prize without any regard to his beauty, for it is 

 often a handsome dog is but a chance himself, and may never 

 produce his equal; yet, having been awarded the prize in a 

 class where the sire and progeny were judged as one, his ser- 

 vices are eagerly sought after by those who possibly have 

 never seen either him or his progeny, or know uothing of his 

 formation or physical stamina ; they simply know he is a 

 prize winner, and to the novice the progeny of prize winners 

 have great attractions. One very important matter that should 

 be considered in judging stock dogs is the age^ of progeny 

 shown with them. There should be an age limit beyond 

 Which the progeny are not eligible to compete with their 

 sires, for the simple reason that the older sires have a large 

 advantage over their younger competitors, for the reason that 

 they have a much larger progeny to select from, where there 

 is no limit to age of progeny shown. In breeding, one. of the 

 mOSt important requisites of a good stock dog is the physical 

 constitution he imparts; to his progeny, thereby rendering 

 them strong or weak. Those Who have carefully watched 

 the progeny of some of the present sires of the day are well 

 aware they have not sufficient physical stamina to withstand 

 or recover from the many ills to which the canine race is sub- 

 ject, and wc see whole litters die before a year old even under 

 the best of care and most skillful treatment. This is a matter 

 worthy not only the consideration of breeders, but of all par- 

 ties who purchase with expectation of raising whelps. 



No matter how beautifully formed and coated a dog may 

 be if he fails to produce whelps with strong constitutions, 

 such as will enable them to pass through and recover from au 

 ordinary case of distemper, I should consider him worthless, 

 except as a bench show winner, where such matters are not 

 considered. To those who breed for their own use and with 

 a desire to improve their slock, a prize winner will have but 

 little attractions, unless he produces liiB like in a fair share of 

 his progeny. They should much sooner breed to some dog, 

 though of inferior merit on the bench, if in a majority of lit- 

 ters he has produced whelps that surpass him in all those re- 

 quirements that go far toward making a perfect dog ; but, 

 above all things, do not breed from weak, washy stock if you 

 expect to raise the whelps. 1 am led to these remarks by the 

 large number of whelps of inbred strains that have died in 

 this locality within the past two years; but experience is a 

 good teacher by which we may all profit. SnAintOOK. 



Chicago, Feb. 11, 1879. 



PniLADKl.i'nrA Doo Show.— The. first annual dog show of 

 the Philadelphia Kennel Club will be held from April 30 to 

 25. Further particulars as to premium lists, etc., will be 

 printed later. | 



Thb Fibud Trial Mtjddlb.— A number of correspoudents 

 who have sent us letters regarding the wretched Minnesota 

 Field Trial business will understand why they do not appear 

 by referring to last week's paper, where we declared our col- 

 umns closed to a further discussion of the matter. 



Magnet.— To numerous inquiries regarding this bitch we 

 would say that we have sent all communications toiler owner, 

 as we cannot find time to reply to them. 



—The owner of the dog Tin Tag, which name was claimed 



last week, should be C. N. Gabb, instead of Gibbs, as printed. 



_.».—, 



Biub Biii/roN Pointers.— 1 would like to know if any of 

 your readers ever saw a blue belton pointer, 1 have a pointer 



hich exactly answers the description given of the blue bel- 

 ie setter by Mr. Bulges. His color is " black and white 



which 



ton seller by Mr. Bulges 



ticked, with slight tanned spots on feet and legs." Sis head 

 and eyes, black and tan. He is an excellent, field dog, staunch, 

 fine nose and a rapid hunter; his pedigree not known. I 

 should like for some of your readers who are adepts in the 

 "dog line." to give their opinion as to how a cross between 

 said dog aud pure blue belton setter would do. 



Monroe, N. 0. J. A. Smith. 



Such a cross would only produce droppers, some of which 

 might look like setters and some like pointers. 



Names Claiaied.— J. D. Henderson, of Maytown, Pa., 

 claims the name Mark for his red Irish setter pup, whelped 

 Sept. 28, 1878, out of Floss by Champiou York. Presented 

 by Gh W. Fairiugton, Middletown, Pa., the trainer of the 

 dog and bitch. 



— Mr. W. H. Pierce, Peekskill, N. Y., claims the name of 

 Maggie May for his pure Gordon bitch pup out of Thomas' 

 Fanny by Thomas' imported Prince, presented to him by A. 

 H. Thomas, of Warrensburgh,' N. Y. 



— Mr. Nelson J. Parker, of New Brunswick, N. J., bred 

 his Gordon setter Wrag (black and tan, full pedigree), lately 

 owned by Wm. n. Pierce, of Peek3kill, N. Y., to Dr. S. 

 Fleet Spoil's black and tan Gordon setter Romeo, by Gypsum 

 out of Daisy. Both dogs are 1st prize winners. 



— M. P. H. Morris has had the misfortune to lose by death 

 his setter bitch Ida, by Rob Koy out of Mell. 



The same gentleman has bred his Llewellin setter bitch 

 Sultana (Leicester-Peeress) to his Czar (Leicester-Petrel;. 



— Mr. J. H. Whitman's Prairie-Ranger bitch Pearl whelped 

 on 11th inst. 10 puppies by pure Laverack setter Charm— 2 

 lemon and white, G black and white, and 2 liver aud white. 



—Dr. Parson's lemon and white native setter Pelts whelped, 

 Jau. 28, 10 pups by Charm— 7 lemon and white, 3 liver and 

 white. 



BREEDING FOR SEX. 



INDIANAPOLIS, Jan., 1S79. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



The following cases may be of Interest to a portion ;of your readers, 

 as they illustrate some topics that tiave jrecently been discussed in 

 your journal. 



Case iVo. 1.— Fannie, a Gordon eettir bitch, was bred to my dog Dan, 

 Sept l, being in beat two days. I was just on the eve of leaving home 

 to sboot grouse, aud was abaeut for live days, Having my dog with rue. 

 Fanuie was confined in my barn until I returned, and.remalned tliero 

 witb Dan for a week longer, when the heat passed off, Nov. 10 she 

 dropped four doga aud one bitch pup. 



Com So. ti.— Queen, an Irish aettor bitch, who bred to Dan, Nov. 1; 

 in full Heat, It being the first of the open quail season, I was just 

 ready for a week's country sliootlag. Queen was kept confined until I 

 returned, and then remained with Dan until her heat passed. Jau. 7 

 she dropped live bitch and four dog pupa. 



Remarks— It does not appear from the above cases that copulation 

 during the first half of the period of heat In a bitch Isjnecessary to suc- 

 cessful impregnation of the ova. Second, that the period of heat at 

 which impregnation takes place does not determine the sex of the off- 

 spring. In both of the foregoing cases copulation was confined to the 

 last half of the heat term, aud the results were totally different as to 

 the sex. Einbryologlsts long since reached the conclusion that it was 

 beyond human power to control or to fix the sex in embryo. Thlsar 

 was lost when Jacob removed from Padauaram. H. G. Cabby*. 



^oodhnd f Jkrm nnd §zrfon. 



For Forest and Stream and Sod and Gun. 

 SEMI-TROPICAL CALIFORNIA. 



ONE afternoon last July I sat at my window, pipe in 

 mouth, taking my otium cum dignitaie and admiring 

 the soft warm tints which the setting sun spread over the 

 brown beetling wahVof suow-capped San Jacinto and the 

 many other peaks which help to inclose the blooming valley 

 of San Bernardino. As leaning on the easement I dreamily 

 watched the lights and shadows constantly shifting to and 

 fro on the mountain side, my attention was attracted by 

 some degenerate aboriginals engaged in picking lr it in the 

 orchard below. Lazily listening to their rambling jargon, 

 unintelligible to me, and watchiug their work progress as 

 they slowly filled their baskets with the fuzzy-faced peach 

 and its cousiu-german. the apricot, I bethought me of the 

 flight of time and my present do-nothing life. Seizing my 

 pencil and paper, 1 determined to make a start at once by 

 jotting down some notes upon the country in which 1 was 

 sojourning. 



The termini of the Southern Pacific R. R. are San Fran- 

 cisco and Yuma. Yuma is in Arfeona, but at its extreme 

 southwestern corner, and just acioss the Colorado River 

 close to the Mexican border. Fort Yuma is simply a mili- 

 tary post, and is supposed to be the hottest place in this 

 world. At least so would attest, if true, the well-worn 

 story of the wicked soldier there, who, a few days after his 

 death and burial, telegraphed back for his blankets. I have 

 seen the mercury sail up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit without 

 the slightest effort. Taking the train from San Franciscc at 

 four o'clock r. jls will bring oue the following afternoon to 

 Los Angeles, lying back thirty miles from the sea arid on the 

 thirty-fourth parallel. LosAugeles is one of the old mission 

 towns, and is now, owiug to the stimulus given it by the 

 completion of the railroad, a thriving and busy city of some 

 fifteen thousand inhabitants, one-half, perhaps, Mexicans or 

 half-breeds. On the road to Los Angeles the train bears the 

 tourist or emigrant through much novel, and some attrac- 

 tive scenery. The topping of Tehachapi summit is a sight 

 by itself, and the engineering skill displayed in the con- 

 struction of 'the loop' is admirable. We pass through a 

 tunnel, make a circuit of the cone-h\e peak, and cross again 

 our path of a few moments before, more than seventy feet 

 above aud directly over it. The Mohave desert, witb its in- 

 terminable growth of cacti, is a striking sight. Here we 

 see <• rowing wild and to enormous proportions, those plants 

 which in the Eastern States are so cherished and guarded 

 from the rigors of the weather. In one place they grow 



with a thick trunk to the height of twenty feci, when the 

 branches, gaunt aud prickly, spread out their bristling arm?, 

 Here, too, is seeu an instance of nature's perfect adaptation 

 of her creatures to their surroundings, in the cactus wood- 

 pecker, a bird which nests in trunks and ekes a subsistence 

 by devouring the insects which live, in and about the plan]. 

 In Los Angeles lies the famous Wolfskill orange orchard of 

 twenty acres, which yields the proprietors such incredible 

 yearly returns. Near Los Angeles, too, is the old San Ga- 

 briel mission, one of the first and richest of these old Spanish 

 settlements. Many of these decaying ruins arc found 

 in the Southern country, monuments of the past, whose 

 history of the period when the Franciscan monks 

 were so great a power has been but incompletely 

 written. The San Gabriel mission was the fourth of the 

 Upper California missions, and the crumbling walls are to- 

 day one of the objects of interest to the tourist . These mis 

 sions consisted of a conglomeration of rambling buildings, 

 generally in the form of a square* rarely more than one or 

 two stories high and made from adobe clay. They were 

 sometimes whitened, but often rough and unsightly on the 

 outside. An attempt was generally made at "a tower or 

 steeple, sometimes two, in which themission bell wasplaced, 

 whose boisterous clanging was wont to summon the brown 

 visaged natives to their morning orisons. Internally the 

 churches were gaudily decorated, pictures representing 

 heaven and holl always occupying a prominent position. 

 These were glaringly colored so as to strike the rude imagi 

 nation of the Indians. This seems to have been one of the 

 chief factors in the religious education of the natives 

 Peronse says that the picture of hell at the church of San 

 Carlos has done incalculable service in this way. 



Three hours by rail still to the southward of Los Angeles 

 will bring one to Colton, a small railroad town in San Ber- 

 nardino County. Hence coaches convey the few passengers 

 to San Bernardino, three miles to the east, or to the new and 

 flourishing colony of Biverside, seven miles in the other di- 

 rection. Let us climb up with Robinson and ramble along 

 to the latter place. 



Perpetual sunshine and cloudless skies characterize the 

 eight months of summer in semi-tropical California. I well 

 remember with what surprise the inhabitants witnessed a 

 a slight shower at Riverside one morning last July. The 

 seasons are reversed. Vegetation is most luxuriant during 

 our Eastern winter months, and the ephemeral showers, 

 scattered through the weeks, turn February into May or 

 June, and the utter absence of rain during the summer and 

 autumn causes the hills to look brown and uninviting, and, 

 except where artificial irrigation is employed, the country 

 presents a parched and unattractive aspect. Since the ad- 

 vent of the railroad the influx of Eastern people has been 

 large and steady, aud there exist now many new and 

 flourishing colonies where but a few years since the barren 

 plains yielded nothing but a rich growth of sage brush and 

 cactus. Anaheim, Pasadena, Orange and Riverside are all 

 remarkable examples, of the fertility of the soil where water 

 is at all accessible. 



The method generally employed in leading water to '> 

 colonies is that now in operation at Riverside. Here the 

 Santa Ana River is the means of irrigation, and human in 

 genuity has supplied the way of utilizing the same. The 

 stream being higher at a point some miles above the town 

 than the land to be irrigated, wooden flumes weve con 

 structed and led by paths, determined by surveying, to the 

 lands of the company in possession. The water turned into 

 these flumes reaches the town and is distributed to land- 

 owners by means of gates and side ditches. A moderate 

 water-tax is paid, and the people obtain their water ou any 

 day by sending in an order to the company the day previous. 



The colony of Riverside numbers fifteen hundred people 

 to-day, and is growing. The soil and climate seem peculiar- 

 ly adapted to orange culture, and this is immediately made 

 evident to a stranger by the miles and miles of young two- 

 year-old trees set in orchard shape. Other fruits thrive here, 

 among them peaches, apricots, nectarines, lemons, figs, 

 graxies and various other fruits common alike to semi-tropi- 

 cal and temperate North America. Orange culture, how- 

 ever, has attracted most attention in the southern country, 

 and the incipient rancheros are to be numbered by the 

 thousand. That the life is one presenting great inducements 

 to many cannot be questioned. To those m any way affected 

 by bronchial or pulmonary weaknesses, a permanent cure is 

 the result in nine out of ten cases. Enthusiasm in the business. 

 has played havoc with the common sense and judgment of 

 many of the new orange growers. The profits to accrue arc- 

 estimated at much too highafigure, many persons not taking 

 account of the great fall in prices to come when the hun- 

 dreds of thousands of young trees mature and bear a full 

 crop. The life is oue of perfect freedom, outdoor work and 

 healthy habits. The Tesults are a robust and hardy con- 

 stitution and a good competence. One of the inviting fea- 

 tures of ranchiug in this country is the small outlay of money 

 necessary to commence operations in the fruit-growing line. 

 An enterprising young man can start a teu-acre tract with a 

 capital of but ^1,500 to $ 2,000, or $5,000 for double the 

 amount of land. The principal source of revenue is derived 

 from orange and lemon culture, but there are besides such 

 fruits as raisin grapes aud a host of deciduous fruits for 

 which there is a constant home market. Living is cheap. 

 A man alone can live nicely on $500 per annum. Fur six 

 months of the year the market is incomparable aud every- 

 thing one could wish. Duriug the summer the heat is se- 

 vere," but one does not, I think, suffer a tithe of the misery 

 that overpowers us here in the East during our "heated 

 terms." There the nights are invariably cool and delight- 

 ful. The mercury may at midday register ill) deg. F., yet 

 at midnight it will have fallen to GO deg. or below." The air 

 is dry and seems to breathe vigor ioto the invalid intlanter. 

 A few hours away maybe enjoyed the grandest of mountain 

 scenery, bracing breezes from the placid Pacific, aud, iu 

 short, an entire change of surroundings: from the torrid 

 to the temperate in three hours I Up among these moun- 

 tains one can spend two or three weeks of summer in the 

 most complete dolce far niente. Topping the lower peaks we 

 find a succession of open mountain meadows with long lux- 

 , ,ss, aud on all sides giant pines towering skyward. 

 The beautiful live oaks, too, springing Straight and sym- 

 metrical from the sward, remind one forcibly of the grand 

 old English parks of Kent and Surrey. No undergrowth is 

 to be seen save the green fringing of the mountain brooks, 

 whose crystal waters flow from many of nature's i 

 How well I remember one night upon the San Jacinto 

 range. We had heaped the resinous fagots upon the flick- 

 criug fire for the last, time, aud, having rolled ourselves in 

 our blankets, lay beside the replenished embers. I 

 was shining down brightly, but dimmed now by the liL r ht of 

 our fire. The breeze soughed through the old trees with a 



