FOREST AND STREAM. 



to represent these journals were to meet at the rooms of 

 the New York Press Club for the purpose of making ar- 

 rangements for places on the team. It has been suggested 

 that a team of eight men a side shall contest at Creedmoor 

 Jr. as soon as practicable. 



Who Next?— The tailors have become infected with the 

 rifle fever, and two matches at Creedmoor Jr. have increased 

 the temperature and pulse of these Knights of the Shears. 

 The employees of Messrs. J. A. Post & Co. held a contest 

 on Monday the 17th inst., at which some good scores were 

 made. On the evening of the 20th, Devlin & Co.'s hands 

 tried to win glory for themselves at the butt Of the rifle. 

 It was the first floor against the second floor. As the shoot- 

 ing progressed the excitement grew, and odds were freely 

 offered that the target would not be hit. At the close of 

 the match each shooter became the happy possessor of a 

 medal bearing an appropriate motto. The "Duffer" re- 

 ceiving one which bore the emblem ,l C. O. D.," and 

 showed his knowledge of its meaning by asking all to 

 "come over and drink-" 



Massachusetts.— The members of the Massachusetts 

 Rifle Association practice every Saturday at their range at 

 Spy Point. We give the best scores made at the last com- 

 petition, when those using Mr. Dittmar's powder were 

 successful. Range, 200 yards. 



Name. Score. - Totals. 



D. K.rkwood J 1 " » " '°i W 4 'I % 'I I I H ,0M5 



C.E.Saoboru { j «»''?" VI J '2 " K" 



F.R. Sba'tuck fW 8 10 13 11 5 13 10 9 g j ^ 



A P riarl-P J 8 9 11 9 9 11 7 10 10 10 ( Q , ,„ 



A. P. Claikc... -j 4 4 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 4J- 94-42 



p B Torv > 8 8 7 10 9 9 10 11 U 10 1 Q0 Ac> 



^•^Cory , 4444 4 4455 4 \ 93 ~ 42 



Best possible score— Creed mor, 50; Massachusetts, 120. Grand aver 

 age— Creedmoor, 38.7; Massachusetts, 81 8. 



The Harvard College Club —Our rifle club is now ir^ 

 good working order, and the members intend shortly to cbal 

 lenge Amherst and Wesleyan Universily. Their best 

 scores have crept up to 42, 43, and 46 out of a possible 50 

 at 200 yards, off-hand, and 23 out of 25 at the same dis 

 tance. 



Connecticut.— An association for the promotion of long 

 range rifle shooting has been organized at Hartford, Conn,, 

 to be known as the Connecticut Rifle Association. At the 

 meeting on December 29, 1875, officers were chosen as fol- 

 lows:— President, Genera] Josheph R. Haw.ley; Vice Presi- 

 dent, Nathan Washburn; Secretary and Treasurer, Major 

 B. F. Blakeslee; Executive Committee, O. E. Pollard,' of 

 the Independent Rifle Club, New Britain; G. \Y*. Yale 

 (American team); John C. Kinney, of Franklin Rifle Club, 

 Hartford; Major L A. Barbour, First Infantry, and T. F. 

 Piunket, of the Manchester Rifle Club. The organization 

 starts with a good membership and excellent prospects. At 

 n recent practice one of the members, although an amateur, 

 made a score of 48 in a possible 50, at 500 yards. With 

 such expert riflemen as General Hawley and Mr. Yale to 

 coach them, the club should turnout a very strong team 

 for the Centennial matches. 



Rhode Island Amateur Rifle Club —On January 

 the 15th inst., the members of this association proceeded 

 to Mr. Perkins' range at Valley Falls, for the purpose of 

 contesting for the champion badge. Distance, 500 yards; 

 highest possible score, 50. The best scores were:— Keyes, 

 44; Rabbeth, 44; Perkins, 40; Thomas, 40; and Howe, 30. 



Saratoga Rifle Club. — On the 13th the regular match 

 for the club badge of the Saratoga Rifle Club took place at 

 the Tompkins rar.ge. Ezra Davis won with a score of 

 45 out out of a possible 50, F. W. Miller, 40, W. Benson, 

 37, G. W. Ainsworth, 86, O.Gates and E.Allen, 30, A. 

 F. Mitchell, 29, J. Pitney and W. H. Hodgman, 27. 



Syracuse. — We have received some targets made at the 

 Yates Dragoon Rifle Range, a gallery in the above city. 

 The targets, all being at 120 feet, are not equal those made 

 at Conlin's or Creedmoor Jr. We shall be indebted to our 

 correspondent for a report of the matches now in progress 

 at this range. 



Milwaukee. — Although mid-Winter, the weather on 

 Jan. 14th was so mild and pleasant, a few of the Milwau- 

 kee Rifle Club could not resist the temptation of enjoying 

 their regular practice on the WanwatOfeO Range. They 

 only took one sighting shot, and the distance was 500 

 yards with the following result: — 



Name. Score. Total. 



Fielding .....5444555555 47 



Sketch 4 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 4 5 45 



Welles 4 555444554 45 



Bangs 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 45 



Williams 4 4 5 4 3 5 4 5 4 5 43 



Meunier 3 3 5 5 5 4 5 5 4 4 43 



Turner "2442543543 36 



Hhiks 4542 3 255 30 



Ormsby 3355420055 30 



The Team of Great Britain. — It has been generally 

 thought that the team which is to be selected in England 

 for the international match would exclude residents of Ire- 

 land and Scotland. The latter were expected to be repre- 

 sented by teams of their own. Recent correspondence 

 between the representatives of the National Rifle Associa- 

 tion in England and this country has decided that there 

 shall be no restrictions to places in the selection of the 

 team. At a meeting of the National Association, of Eng- 

 gland, held January 22d, Sir Henry Halford was further 

 authorized to represent the Association, and to make all 

 necessary arrangements. 



Sir Henry Halford has written a letter to the Volunteer 

 Service Gazette, wherein he says that "the team which will 

 shoot in America this year will be selected from the best 

 shots in Great Britain and Ireland, and will not be re- 

 stricted to Great Britain aione." As the use of the word 

 "British" was somewhat ambiguous it is satisfactory to 

 know that that point is definitely settled. Our contempo- 

 rary copies from us the remarkable scores made by the 

 Chicago Rifle Club on November 27th, and calls attention 

 to them editorially. 



— In our excellent contemporary, the Volunteer Service 

 Gazette, from Whose columns all Of us have acquired so 

 much about systematic rifle shooting, we find an admirable 

 rmim4 of »the history of Wimbledon. Two extracts we 



take, one showing the improvement made, the other inter- 

 esting as indicating the commencement of team shooting:—- 



1860. 



"At these early meetings there were, except for the 

 Duke of Cambridge's and the Duke of Wellington's prize, 

 and the Second Stage of the Queen's only two classes of 

 rifles— Enfield and other Government weapons, and "any 

 riffes." The latter were restricted in weight to ten pounds, 

 and neither hair triggers nor magnifying sights were allow- 

 ed^ We have always believed that in imposing these re- 

 strictions the Council of the National Rifle Association in- 

 tended to exclude any weapons other than those adapted to 

 either military or sporting purposes, and that they did not 

 anticipate that the ingenuity of gunmakers would enable 

 them to produce the beautiful instruments called Match 

 rifles, which, while they come within the conditions, are 

 of no use except for target shooting. The meeting was 

 evidently an extremely successful one, though the number 

 of competitors, of course, appears to us now very small- 

 only 299 Volunteers being on the ground. We need not 

 here go into any analysis of the shooting, which was, in- 

 deed, not very remarkable. The Gold Medal and the 

 Queen's Prize were won, as everybody knows, by Mr. 

 Edward Ross, then a mere lad. His score was 24 out of a 

 possible 60, and was made up of three centres (6 points) 

 and eighteen outers (18 points). There was no bulls-eye in 

 those days at the long ranges. Among the competitors we 

 find many well known names besides that of Edward 

 Ross ." 



[Mr. Ross has since then carried rifle shooting to its ex- 

 treme range of excellence, and is President of the Scotch 

 Rifle Association], 



1861. 



"Perhaps, however, the most important novelty in the 

 competitions was the introduction of matches between 

 'teams,' all the shooting having been hitherto 'individual.' 

 And these matches were begun by two of the most 

 interesting tkat have ever been organized— viz., those be- 

 tween the Public Schools, and between the Universities of 

 Oxford and Cambridge. For the first, however, only three 

 schools— Eton, Harrow, and Rugby— entered, and in the 

 second, each University was only represented by two cham- 

 pions." 



fyUonzl $$Hpime8. 



— The skating season bids fair to be of the short and 

 sweet order, or like the good coffee at one's boarding house, 

 "very good indeed what there was of it," Here it is the 

 2G(h of January, and not an hour's skating has been had, 

 either at Prospect or Central Park. The Union Pond, in 

 Brooklyn, was open a few day's atter New Yoars, and the 

 Capitoline Lake was crowded for about a week during the 

 present month, but that is all the skating we have thus far 

 had in the metropolis, and now it is too late in the season 

 to expect any more skating except after a cold spell or 

 two for a few days should cover the lakes with strong ice. 



—The game of rackets has again become popular in the 

 metropolis, and matches are played nearly every day at 

 McQuade's Court, 404 Madison street. Nothing of any 

 special importance in match playing has occured, however, 

 since theMcQuade and Manning contest of December. Tha 

 new club courts on Twenty-sixth street are progressing to- 

 wards completion, and it is expected that the Centennial 

 year will see some fine displays of the beauties of the game 

 there. Several fine racket players will visit the metropolis 

 from England, and of course they will be entertained by 

 t le club, as they are chiefly military officers. 



— Skating has become the fashionable winter pastime with 

 the English nobility this Winter. The severe weather in 

 England has coated the lakes and ponds with excellent 

 ice and the facilities for a full engagement of skating have 

 therefore been unusually great. American club skates are 

 all the fashion, and the American parlor skates — Plympton's 

 patent — are all the go at the London skating rinks. 



— The curlers of the metropolis, in December last, when the 

 first cold wave rushed over the city and gave promise of keen 

 ice for the sport, laid out a fine programme for the season's 

 games, but old Prcb. has "smashed their slate" with his 

 intervals of mild spells of weather, and the Scotchmen 

 have been rendered inconsolable by their inability to 

 "glide the stanes" over the glittering ice, and enjoy the 

 excitement of their winter contests. The grand match, 

 North vs. South, has been twice postponed on account of 

 thaws, and it is now doubtful if it can ba played here this 

 season. The Inter- State match, too, New Jersey vs. New 

 York, named to take place at Paterson, has been twice de- 

 ferred from the same cause- 



— The professional base ball clubs are getting rcnly for 

 the opening of the Centennial year campaign. The Louis- 

 ville club, the Southern champions, will call their roll on 

 February 1st. The Chicago and St. Louis clubs on Feb- 

 ruary 15th, and the Cincinnati on February 10th. The 

 Bostons are ordered to report by the last week in February. 

 The Mutuals are practicing racket daily at the Racket 

 Court in Madison street, and the Philadelphia clubs have 

 been in similar training all the winter, 



— A futile effort has been made by a few discontented 

 spiiits calling themselves the National Chess Association, to 

 upset the arrangements now being made by the Philadelphia 

 Chess Club to organize a grand international tournament. 

 The club in question is one of the most influential organ- 

 izations in the country, and it is right and proper that they 

 should have control at the Centennial chess meeting in 

 Philadelphia. The so-called National Association is prac- 

 tically a defunct institution, and it is to be hoped that no 

 chess club will take any notice of their appeal for funds. 



—The reorganization of the Gotham Club is the first step 

 in amendment looking to a revival of old amateur ball 

 playing during the Centennial year. The Knickerbocker 

 and Excelsior will take the field in May, as also the Star 

 Club, of Brooklyu, and no doubt the Empires and Eagles 

 will follow the lead of the Gothams. 



— — ***»- : 



— Safety lamps are used by the night policemen and 

 watchmen of Paris, which remain good for six months 

 without renewal. A small glass vial holds apiece of phos- 

 phorus Ihe size of a pea, upon which is poured boiling 

 olive oil, sufficient to fill up about a third of the, vial, which 

 is then closely corked. In use, the cork is taken out for a 

 moment, admitting air to the phosphorous, the vacant 

 inner space lights up giving a clear light, which may be 

 revived by a tresh uncorking. 



lew §itbIUittians t 



Florida; Its Scenerv, Climate, and History. By Sidnev 

 Lanier: J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia. J 



In turning over the pages of Mr. Lanier's book we meet with many 

 an old friend in the illustrations of familiar placee. The author has 

 carefully gathered together much data of value to those interested in the 

 progress of the State, and compiled it in an interesting and readable 

 form. The body of the work, in fact, is made up of pleasing descrip- 

 tions of the beaten paths of tourists, which, while they amuse, give us 

 but little insight into those deeper and more rarely visited spots of 

 which we would fain be informed. An historical account of the State 

 commences with the advent of Ponce de Leon and carries us down to 

 the last Indian war. There is a chapter for consumptives, with much 

 valuable advice to those afflicted, and another on the climate, with 

 abundant statistics. In fact, although Mr. Lanier's work is admirably 

 adapted for the pages of a magazine, in wbich shape it originally ap- 

 peared, we look in vain for something that is new— for some informa- 

 tion or f tatement which has not met our eye before. The appeudix con 

 tains papers originally read before the Florida Fruit Grower's Associa- 

 tion, descriptive of the culture of those fruits for which the 

 State is becoming famod, and which are destiaed to be a souice of 

 great wealth. To the tourist, this book will be a pleasant companion 

 for his journey, and he will be enlightened as to other places of note on 

 his trip— Charleston, Savannah, Aiken, etc.— all of which share with fa- 

 vored spots in Florida the charms of a genial climate; but it will not 

 give him those points and details of information which we look for in a 

 guide-book, and which are indispensable to the tourist. The informa- 

 tion is general and superficial, rather than introspective, and belongs to 

 Florida past, rather than to Florida present, with its infusion of latter 

 day enterprise and activity. 



White's Natural History of Selborne. 



Gilbert White has been called the Father of English Natural History. 

 He was a clergyman of the Established Church, who made his home in 

 a vine-clad cottage at Selborne, on the southern coast of England, where 

 he lived quietly until his death, at the age of seventy-three, m 1793. At 

 Selborne, White was surrounded with a charming and varied landscape, 

 and he devoted nearly the whole of his time to the observation of na- 

 ture and the study of the antiquities of the locality. These observa- 

 tions he recorded from time to time in a series of letters to Thos. Pen- 

 nant, the celebrated naturalist, and to the Hon. Daines Barrington, a 

 patron of science and a friend of White. These letters were continued 

 through more than twenty years, and in 17^8 they were collected and 

 published in book form. Since that time a great many editions— simple 

 reproductions, and with notes by different editors— have been published 

 in England, and with each succeeding year the veneration in which Gil- 

 bert White is held has increased, until his book has become an English 

 classic. The latest edition is before us. It is an elegant octavo volume 

 from the presses of McMillan.. Numerous excellent illustrations enliven 

 the pages, and the print is clear, open, and inviting. Between the 

 "Natural History" and the "Antiquities" is inserted 150 pages of notes, 

 observations, and additions Oy Frank Buckland, the well-known Editor 

 of L%nd and Water. Every other p^ige of White's text induces a half- 

 page note from Mr. Bucktaud, mo^t of which arc taken from his own 

 wide experience, or from the accounts of trustworthy correspondents 

 of his newspaper. They form a wonderfully valuable commentary upon 

 the pages of the older writei, and show that Frank Buckland is a dis- 

 ciple of which the "quiet country parson" mi^ht well feel proud. It is an 

 appetising book, and we wish every person in the country might read it, 

 and be stimulated by it to use his eves and ears in finding out, and his 

 pen in making known the natural history of his own Selborne, wherever 

 it may be. 



■ -*►♦♦- 



MAGAZINES. 



Scribner's Magazine. In one respect Scribner's for Feb- 

 rnary is like Scribner's for every other month in the year, and it is full of 

 useful and interesting reading, contributed by some of the most thought- 

 ful and intelligent minds. We will not anticipate the pleasure which 

 those who buy it will enjoy in its perusal, by a review or synopsis of its 

 -■')•;:-, ;,ut cordially recommend it to all who wish to while away a 

 iJoiue hour, or seek instruction in its most attractive form. 



Appleton's Journal. This popular weekly journal is a 

 capital example of literary conservatism. Its selections are invariably 

 good. The issue of last week, among other interesting papers, con- 

 tained an illustrated article on "American Historic Houses," valuable as 

 a record of the scenes of some of the earlier events in our history. Mr. 

 Christian Reid is contributing an interesting serial entitled "The Land 

 of the Sky; or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways," descriptive of the 

 beautiful mountain scenery of Virginia, with a toupcon of romance for 

 spice. As a record of science, invention, and discovery alone, the 

 Journal is well worth the trifle- it costs. 



The Eclectic, which is now in its twenty-third volume, 

 contains in the February number an unusually good selection of the 

 choicest articles from the foreign magazines and rsviews. Perhaps 

 "Modern Sorcery," from the British Quarterly Review, is equal to any 

 in importance, being an elaborate analysis of the recent works of Prof. 

 Wm. Crookes, Dr. Bollinger, Wallace, Man an, and others, bearing upon 

 modern spiritualism. For lighter reading, we have the continuation of 

 two serials, "Jonathan," by C. C. Fraser-Tyler, and "Her Dearest Foe," 

 by Mrs. Alexander. A fine portrait of Wm. M. Evarts adorns the 

 frontipiece, and is accompanied by a slight sketch of the distinguished 

 lav/yer, contributed by the editor. 



The Galaxy for February is ponderous, and if we have 

 a fault to find with this most excellent magazine, it is that there is not a 

 fair distribution of light literature and heavy; that the latter is allowed 

 to preponderate. Mr. Wm. Black's eerial, "Madcap Violet," opens the 

 present number, aud if this story is as good as his "Princess of Thule," 

 it will be a good thing for the readers of the Galaxy. Mr. Justin Mc- 

 Carthy follows with a heavy article on "Home Rulers in the English 

 Parliament," and Mr. Aloert Rhodes one on "Suicide," which is appro- 

 priately followed by a poem entitled "Transformation," by Nora Perry. 

 An anonymous writer, who is supposed to be Prof. John A. Church, has 

 an able paper on "Army Reduction," as applied to our Own estimates as 

 now being; considered by Congress, which is elaborately prepared and 

 sonndly argued. The valuable scien'ific miscellany, the regular reviews 

 of current literature, and "Nebuke," by the editor, conclude the num- 

 ber. 



St Nicholas comes to us this month fresh and cheery as 

 usual, and with lots of entertaining matter for the girls and boys. The 

 story of the "Black Douglas" opens the number and furnishes the fron- 

 tispiece. Then we have Mr. ISoah Brooks' interesting serial of the 

 "Boy Emigrants," who are s ruggling across the plains en route for Gal' 

 ifornia, and now kill their first buffalo. Our friend Fred Mather con- 

 tributes one of his useful sketches, this time teaching the boys bow to 

 make and use a "toboggan," the sled used in Canada, where the snow is 

 deep and the light crust would be cut through by runners. The table of 

 contents is long and varied, nearly e\ery article illustrated, and that, 

 too, in the nicest style. Buy it for the little ones. 



— Dr, Charles J. Ken worthy, ( l, Al Fresco"), whose Flor- 

 ida expeditions are well known, says of the Boudren 

 Lamp, manufactured by the White Manufacturing Com- 

 pany, in Bridgeport, Ct. :— 



"I am so thoroughly satisfied with the lamp, fron t practical test, that 

 I wish to notice it. To the sportsman J consider U an acquisition; and 

 all the raanufactmerg claim for it," 



