FOREST AND STREAM, 



, ■! 1883 



and setters. Our bench shows have stimulated the interest 

 in pets and house dogs. The. mastiff, the St. Bernard, the 

 Newfoundland, the merry little beadle, the spaniel, the 

 collie, the terrier, and even that class known in the cata- 

 logue as miscellaneous, each commands a full share of public 

 favor. 



Our columns contain the records of many important legal 

 decisions, marking the gradual recognition of the dog as 

 property, for the protection of which the law will provide. 

 The rights of dog owners are better known than formerly ; 

 dog thieves have been sent to jail; the transportation com- 

 panies have, in many instances, acceded to the just demands 

 of their sportsmen patrons, and in many other, and equally 

 important respects, there is ample cause for congratulation. 



THE RIFLE. 



The decade covers about all there is of modern rifle prac- 

 tice in this country. In 1873, the first named date, the first 

 shot was fired over the Creedmoor range, and that ground was 

 the initial one of the series of places of resort for shooting 

 men in the country. The close of the great civil war was fol- 

 lowed by a period of depression in the small arm trade. 

 Many ingenious contrivances hadheen brought out during 

 the days of civil strife, and some of them were rusbed 

 through the factories into actual use, but with the end of 

 the fight the demand for all such inventions suddenly ceased, 

 and the remaining models found their way into museums, 

 etc., while inventors turned their attention in other chan- 

 nels. 



There came then to grow* up a feeling that it would be a 

 wise thing to have some attention paid to rifle shooting, as 

 an art. Many of the States had large bodies of citizens who 

 had banded themselves together under military forms, and 

 this home guard, great in aggregate, was ridiculously weak 

 in the matter of rifle shooting. It was pointed out by the 

 few enthusiasts, who appreciated the absurdity of having a 

 body of soldiers who were excellent in everything but the 

 one great essential of a valuable guardsman, /. i .. the ability 

 to shoot, that thousands of National Guardsmen wen pass- 

 ing through long terms of service without having been called 

 on to fire a single shot in the way of drill. Public attention 

 was called to the matter, particularly in this State, and Creed- 

 moor came into existence. 



The first trials of the men over the ranges proved that 

 there was good reason in the establishment of these shooting 

 butts. The men were woefully ignorant, hut with the first 

 shot came a recognition of the fact on the part of the men 

 that they needed drill, and that was half the battle of re- 

 form. The men were anxious to supply the deficiencj' in 

 their military training, and from that day on very good 

 progress has been made. There have been instances of 

 neglect and carelessness, but on the other hand, there are 

 hundreds of members of the several regiments in tins city 

 who have given days and weeks of intelligent effort each 

 year to the work of perfecting themselves in rifle shooting gen - 

 eraliy, and the. use of the Stute arm in particular. These men 

 have formed a nucl< j u„> from which a great deal of knowledge 

 on topics of interest to riflemen has permeated the whole guard , 

 and w t c speak with due caution when we say that instead of 

 the showy uniformed mob of a decade ago, the sruardsmenof 

 this city are to-day ahle to do effective work with the weap- 

 ons in their hands. The value of the guard as a law pre- 

 serving force has been increased many fold. Throughout 

 the State the same influence has been at work and similar 

 results have heen reached. At Creedmoor, on more than 

 ' one occasion, indeed, the out of town men have shown that 

 they were more than a match for the metropolitans. 



New York deserves the honor of being the pioneer State in 

 this movement, but it. was not long before other States 

 joined in and w ith equally good results. California sent a 

 team across the continent, anda very good record they made 

 for themselves. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut 

 and Massachusetts have each made intelligent effort to get 

 the members of their National Guard into shooting trim. 

 State associations sprang up in various directions, regimen- 

 tal and division clubs appeared, and matches of all sorts 

 were put on the several programmes of meetings. Thous- 

 ands upon thousands of men got a notion of what ball prac- 

 tice really was, and many vague ideas on the subject were 

 crowded away. 



Attention was soon turned to the regular army, and it 

 was discovered that the professional soldiers were but little 

 better than tbe amateur warriors in the matter of rifle prac- 

 tice. Comparatively they were a great deal worse. This 

 duty of a soldier had simply been neglected; bin. once the 

 eve of the press was turned upon tbe army, officers and men 

 set to work, and to-day every man wearing the official blue 

 of Uncle Sam is put through a regular season's work before 

 the targets. Some very excellent results have followed. 

 and it would be with considerable confidence for an Amer- 

 ican victory that we would welcome a team match with 

 British regulars to day. 



Following naturally upon this field work was Ihe atten- 

 tion paid to the arms. Many points of value to armorers, 

 which cau only be determined by a trial in the bands of 

 troops, have been brought out. In this Stale it is fait to 

 assume thai the very best work of which the State arm is 

 capable has been accomplished by the men. Other States 

 found the men with antiquated rifles or even more obsolete 

 muskets. Interest was roused in ihe matter of arms, and a 

 great many old shop traditions have been swept aside re- 



garding the making of arms and especially of ammunition 

 Rifle sights have undergone a complete transformation, 

 while in a thousand details valuable points have been 

 brought out and tested, and either finally laid aside or 

 placed as facts in the rifleman's ready reference book. The 

 Springfield Armory has felt the necessity of doing something, 

 and the best models of that favorite arm are now turned 

 rail. Aiany very intelligent officers of the. IT. S. Army have 

 given almost their entire attention to these, topics, and such 

 names as Litchfield, Parkhurst, Day, Miller, Zalinski and 

 Shorkley may be mentioned as only indicative of a score 

 more similarly well-informed experts. Private armories, 

 too, base sustained their reputation and the character of 

 America as the best mart for small-arm buyers in the 

 world by turning out particularly fine "special" military 

 rifles. 



Running parallel with this birth of an interest in purely 

 military marksmanship came the great series of small-bore 

 matches. It was in July, 1873, that Ireland for the first 

 time won the Eleho shield at the Wimbledon meeting. She 

 had pluckily struggled on for years, and finding herself at 

 last the champion of Great Britain, at once sat down in the 

 pel son of Major Leach and wrote that general invitation of 

 October, 1873, directed to the riflemen of America. The 

 letter seems lo have been written under the general impres- 

 sion which exists ahroad that Americans are a nation of 

 rifle shooters, thai a miniature rifle is the usual babies' play- 

 thing, and that a, full-blown Long-Tom is lugged about by 

 every true-blooded Yankee. Luckily, tbe Amateur Rifle 

 Club had just been formed, for the encouragement of the 

 finer styles of rifle shooting, with the object largely of 

 interesting civilians in the sport and of showing that as a. 

 means of relaxation from close business life a day on the 

 range, with the, compary and rivalry of fellow marksmen, 

 could he profitably and agreeably passed. 



The club had elected officers, but it had not fired a shot at 

 long range. There was not an available rifle in the club 

 rack, and yet the invitation of the Irishmen called for a 

 match at 800, 900 and 1,000 yards with the then champions 

 of the best range in the world. The acceptance of that chal- 

 lenge was an example of the supremest American cheek. 

 Yet it was accepted. 



The winter was passed by the rifle-makers in turning out 

 weapons which it was hoped would w T in the match. Early 

 spring saw a body of very determined gentlemen banging 

 away, and under very great encouragement from the public 

 and newspapers the match was fought in September, 1874, 

 and brought an American victory. Who ever said that the 

 unexpected was always happening must have had this rifle 

 mat eli in Iris mind's eye. It was a tight struggle, but the re- 

 sult gave a boom to rifle shooting here, the £ood effects of 

 which it is still feeling. 



Once having tasted victory, the American riflemen were 

 loath to give it up, and again and again they showed that 

 at long range and with the finer make of rides they were 

 more than a match for the best that, could be mustered 

 against them. In 1875 Col. Gildersleeve and his team 

 repeated at Dollymount the unpleasant close of Creed- 

 moor. In 1876, in the exuberance of our Centennial joy, we 

 invited the world to come on and step on the tail of our 

 shooting jacket. They came from Scotland and Ireland, 

 from Australia and Canada, and to them all the American 

 team again showed a magnificent leading score. Piqued by 

 this repeated series of rebuffs, the Council of the National 

 Ritle Association of Great Britain detailed Sir Henry Hal- 

 ford to make up a team of the very cream of Wimbledon 

 and then to go to America and come back with the team 

 championship of the world. He came, had a good fight, 

 piled up a good score, had a good time, and went home de- 

 feated. Once since we sent over Col. Bodinc to show that 

 we were still able to hold our own, and another victory at 

 Dollymont in 1880 was recorded. 



Within the past two years a different phase has come over 

 American rifle practice. We have been tasting defeat, and 

 at Creedmoor and Wimbledon teams of American Notional 

 Guardsmen have been clowned by teams of British Volun- 

 teers. With the exact details of those two contests our 

 readers are fully aecraainted through these columns. The 

 conditions restricted the Americans to a style ot weapon and 

 at distances with which they were entirely unfamiliar, and 

 notwithstanding a gallant fight against big odds our teams 

 have, suffered defeat on two occasions. The moral of these 

 discomfitures is, that while there are many phases of rifle 

 shooting, we have been cultivating some to the neglect of 

 others, and that into this weak spot in ou r rifle armor the 

 British directed their challenge. Of course, time will bring 

 us the experience, and the demand for a military title of ac- 

 curacy at long ranges and able to fire repeated rounds with- 

 out cleaning, will lie tilled in our American armories, and 

 then — no an vtTivn*. 



To trace the influence of this modern revival of rifle prac- 

 tice which the ten years of the Forest ajoi Stream has 

 seen, would lead us into a consideration of the changes which 

 have come over hunting rifles as well, but our pages tell of 

 the experiments, the suggestions and the successes of each 

 season. Today empiricism and pot-luck has given place to 

 a scientific exactness on many points, but there is still a 

 great deal that is clumsy and behind the times in rifle shoot- 

 ing. The "gas-pipe" ritle must give way to the light- 

 weighted, well-balanced small-bore and flat-trajectoried 

 weapon of the future, and when the coming ritle is first fired, 



:t ForiEST Asm Stream representative will be there to tell its 

 readers of the event. 



FROM HldKORT WITHE TO OLA T PI ff MOWS. 



The incorrigible small boys who threw the target apples 

 had their favorites among the shooters and would not throw 

 fairly; and so that, style of shooting was unsatisfactory. 

 Some one told us of the hickory withe apple "trap." A 

 rude alfair at the hest. nothing more elaborate than a. strong 

 hickory withe, with a crotch in one end to hold the apple, 

 the other end was stuck into a post hole, the post lying fiat 

 on the ground. The withe was pulled back and let go at the 

 word. We tried it, and with immense success, for we were 

 younger in those days and not over fastidious as to the 

 appliances, so long as the sport was there. Let us see, we 

 owned a little red setter at the time, which we had taught to. 

 go into a neighboring orchard (where we dared not go, 

 ourselves) and fetch us the apples from under the trees: and 

 that must have been in 1858, for we "swapped" the dog off 

 in 1859. Some six years later a Boston man brouglu 

 out in a small way the first clumsy glass ball Trap which, 

 threw the balls straight up into the air. Ten years after 

 that, in 1876, came Paine with his trap, which was a slight 

 improvement over the "Hub" device, but it was expensive,, 

 costing $40- and Paine, left it and went oil' to Europe. The 

 "gyro pigeon" zig-zagged into notice and straightway 

 gyrated out again. Finally Bogardus, weighted down with 

 medals, devised his simple and cheap trap, and the great giass 

 hall boom began. Traps weie sold by the thousand, balls by 

 the million. Paine came back and brought out his ' 'feather- 

 filled balls." The two champions issued challenges I h 

 yard, and sold balls by the car-load. Traps multiplied, the 

 rotary with its many modifications calling for increased 

 skill, and "smoke balls," "composition balls," "bell balls,' 

 etc., had their day. The glass ball is still a fav- 

 orite target. Its new rival is the clay pigeon, 

 which, being the nearest approach to the living 

 bird, is rapidly gaining in favor among sportsmen. These 

 artificial targets have greatly stimulated the practice of 

 shooting; scores and hundreds of men who would never 

 find the time to go off in search of game can easily spend an 

 hour or two of an afternoon at the traps; and innumerable 

 others would never have known how to shoot at all had 

 they not been initiated into the art by these trap contests. 



Meanwhile, during the ten years we are now reviewing, 

 there has been no end of pigeon trap-shooting. Millions of 

 birds haye been taken from the nesting groundsand brought 

 to the great annual tournaments of the Stale game protective 

 associations. What with the markets ami these .societies tin- 

 fate of the wild pigeon is sealed. 



FACNTIKO. 



The past ten years form an era in yachting in America 

 the importance of which cannot be overrated. It has 

 been a period of sowing rather than reaping, and the harvest 

 of past contests is only now being gathered v>ith broader 

 views and deeper insight of a ripening experience. During 

 this time the sport has heen passing through the various trials 

 and tribulations incidental to youth and mushroom expan- 

 sion. From toying and trifling, from casual pleasure seek 

 ing, the masses have gradually been weaned to invest i in- 

 sport with manly and dignified aims, and to appreciate to a 

 greater degree the range for study, experiment and deduc- 

 tion, as well as the athletic benefits to be derived fiom an 

 earnest pursuit of yacht building and sailing. 



The decade has not been rosy all through, for the great, 

 commercial panic of 1873, which swept fortunes out of sight, 

 and left desolation and wreck in its wake for many seasons, 

 acted like a huge pall, the weight of which was severely felt 

 by all interested in yachting. So many vessels We 

 upon the market and brought, to the hammer that building at 

 one time reached a standstill, and the impression was bom 

 that yachting, like many other pastimes, had seen its climax, 

 and was again on the wane preparatory to its i . 

 ment. But with tbe dawn of fresh prosperity lost time was 

 quickly made up, and a vast fleet has been launched within 

 (he rive years gone by, almost rivaling in number and size 

 the additions made to the squadrons in Great. Britain, where 

 nautical tastes pervade Hie whole nation. New clubs have 

 been organized all over the whole country, the kH , 

 the West, the Pacific coast and the South, all moving, as if 

 by common impulse, for the popularization of yachling 

 wdierever there is water enough to tloal a suitable boat. 



The mpi 1 growth of yachting is best shown bj I 

 to figure-.. In 1805 there were only 10 clubs in 



with less than 800 members. In 1879 we it; , ttatis ' 



93 clubs with 7,500 members, or just ten times the number 

 of fourteen years previous. The fleet in 1805 Blustered in 

 round numbers S00 cabin yachts. In 1879 we have record 

 of 530 cabin yachts, and it is safe to say thai tl 

 vessels in existence would at that date reach 700. The fleet 

 Ellen consisted of 150 schooners averaging 53 ions, 308 cabin 



sloops averaging 14 tons, 40 steamers and steam 1 'he: 



overagiug 35 tons, 20 yawls averaging 20 tons, ami I 



of about 25 tons each; the general average of all being 



about 27 tons. In 1880 the total tonnage had reached about 



•20.000 ami the number of paid hands aboard the 3 ;, 



not far from 2,000. By the close of 1883 a further increase 



rolled up the cabin yachts, of which we have definite data 



to 196 schooners, 57 cutters, 24 yawls, 530 sloops and Sf 



Steamers an steam launches: total, 800. But an addition 



