150 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 25, 1680. 



THE NEW YORK BENCH SHOW. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



Devoted to Fdji/d and Aquatic Sports, Practical Natural 

 Histobt, Fish Citltube, the Protection of Game, Presebva- 

 ttos of Forests, and the Inculcation- in Men and Women or 

 A Healthy Interest en Oct-Door Recreation and Studv : 



PUBLISHED BY 



FOEEST AND STREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY. 



— AI— 



No. m fulton street, new tobk. 

 IPost Obucb Box S832. - ! 



TERMS, FOUR DOLLARS A YEAR, STRICTLY IN ADVANCE. 



Advertising Bates. 



Inside pages, nonpariel type, 25 cents per line ; outside page, 40 



cents. Spee n,] twelve months. Notices in 



editorial column, 50 cents per line— eight words to the line, and 



twelve lines to one inch. . , , ,- 



Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday or each weeK.if 



All transient advertisements must be accompanied -with the 

 money or they will not be inserted. 



No advertisement, or business notice of an Immoral character 

 will bo received on any terms. 



VAny pubii- ' ■ ■ :■ " .- t hi ■: oi Lr n r r.t,p ,=enjs as above onetime, with 

 brief editorir. n Hi nttaei rto,and sending marked 



copy to us, will receivt the Forest and Stream for one year, 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1880. 



To Correspondents. 



All communicatlonB whatever, intended for publication, must be 

 iccompanied with real name of the writer as a guaranty of good 

 faith and be -■ /'orest and Stream Publishing Com- 



pany. Names will not be published if objection be made. Anony- 

 mous communications will not be rogarded. 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Seerbtaries oi" Clubs and Associations are urged to fuv or us wtUi 

 brief notes of their movements and transactions. 



Nothing will be admitted to any department of the paper that 

 may not be read with prom me circle. 



• \v"RcaQnotberesT"' fefoi ' reliction of mallserviceif money 

 remite'i to us is lost. 



^£r Trade supplied by American News Company. 



Removal.— On or before May 1st the Forest and 

 Stream will remove into its new offices in the Times 

 building, Nos. 39 and 41 Park Row. 



Game and Fish Resorts. — We have been much grat- 

 ified at the courtesy of numerous friends who have so 

 Mndly responded to our request for specific information 

 of fishing and shooting grounds. The season when such 

 information will be put to practical use is now rapidly 

 approaching ; and we again call attention to the scope 

 and usefulness of our plan. 



The office of the Forest and Stream has long been 

 recognized as the right place at which to apply for direc- 

 tions to the various sporting localities of the country. 

 To make the information thus sought fresh, accurate and 

 reliable we are compelled, in turn, to urge our corre- 

 spondents and friends all over the land to give us the 

 results of their personal experiences. By receiving such 

 reports, filing them away here and there, transmitting 

 them to others whom they may benefit, we are con- 

 stantly rendering an invaluable service to the great body 

 of sportsmen. 



The managers of various railroads which may pass 

 through good sporting country, the proprietors of sum- 

 mer hotels and residents in game districts will find it 

 greatly to their own interests to transmit to us at an 

 early date such particulars as are designated in our Game 

 Bag and Gun columns. 



The spring trout fishing opens in this State, in Pennsyl- 

 vania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia, Minnesota 

 and California next Thursday, and at that time the army 

 of anglers will go forth to the streams. Early repoi ts 

 for the Forest and Stream Directory will be duly appre- 

 ciated by those who avail themselves of the same. 



—Do not fail to inspectthe display of trout at Mr. Black- 

 ford's stand in Fulton Market next Thursday. Next to 

 going out to the trout streams, will be the pleasure of 

 lingering over the beauties to be seen there. The Amer- 

 ican Fish Cultural Association is happy in the appoint- 

 ment of its annual meeting this year at such a time that 

 the members, may avail themselves of the pleasure of 

 examining the rare collection. 



— i « i — 



The party who have iu charge the American exhibit for 



the Berlin Exhibition sailed last Saturday from lloboken 

 in the steamer Neckar. Too much credit cannot be given 

 to Prof. Goode, upon whose shoulders iu a great meas- 

 ure fell the task of collecting aud arranging the proposed 

 display, and to whose energetic labors the excellence of 

 that display is largely due, 



THE entries for the coming bench show of the West- 

 minster Kennel Club are coming in much more 

 rapidly than at the corresponding period of any other 

 exhibition.; and there is every promise that the number 

 of animals and the general excellence of the various 

 classes represented will surpass any previous show. The 

 rapid advance in quality of the dogs now presented for 

 competition at the exhibition of the Westminster Ken- 

 nel Club is very marked. Many dogs, which in the earlier 

 history of bench shows would have received awards or 

 high mention, fall short of such honor because the stand- 

 ard of excellence has advanced. Certainly no agencies 

 have contributed so appreciably to the breeding of fine 

 stock in America as the bench shows in various parts of 

 the country. They have had in their peculiar field the 

 same good effects as those which have followed the annual 

 cattle, shows and other competitive exhibitions of live 

 stook. 



The Westminster Club has been largely influential in 

 directing popular taste in canine matters. For instance, 

 among pet dogs the much and justly-abused Spitz, unee 

 so common and fashionable, was ignored by the Club at 

 its first show, and at subsequent shows. The consequence 

 is that the Spitz has long since deservedly lost caste, and 

 his place is filled by other breeds of pet dogs. Wc shall 

 not now attempt to speak of the increase in the num- 

 ber of the various classes of pet dogs and sporting dogs 

 now owned in New York, the direct result of former 

 bench shows, for we have not the statistics before us ; 

 but this increase is both noticeable, and highly encourag- 

 ing. Doubtless a similar effect has followed the exhibi- 

 tions of Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and St. LouiR. 



In the selection of judges the committee have been 

 very happy tin's year. Messrs. Hammond and Wise are 

 well known to all interested, and the gentlemen from 

 abroad need no commendation from us, Dr. Gordon 

 Stables has made special study of the classes which he is 

 appointed to judge, and as a judge at bench shows Mr. 

 Hugh Dalziel has a well-earned reputation for honesty, 

 straightforwardness and impartiality. Competition is 

 keen in the judging ring nowadays ; many owners press 

 forward their favorites for the first prize ; and the judg- 

 ing must be not only by experts, but by experts who are 

 unprejudiced and impartial. "Wo may at this early day 

 premise that the assignment of the awards will give sat- 

 isfaction, not to all — that will never be possible — but to 

 the great majority of exhibitors and visitors. 



The New York State Tournament.— It is a foregone 

 conclusion that the approaching Sportsmen's Convention, 

 to be held at Seneca Falls under the direction of the Sen- 

 eca Gun Club, will be a grand success. The prize list, 

 although not yet completed, figures over $2,000. A very 

 generous response is being made by the citizens of Sen- 

 eca Falls for the purpose of adding a citizens' purse, and 

 the prospects are that the present prize list will far ex- 

 ceed any before offered at a State convention. Reports 

 from the West contain favorable news for an early catch 

 of birds, and there is little doubt of their being secured 

 early. The location of the grounds has not yet been de- 

 cided upon, but the committee have several in view, any 

 one of which would be excellent. From al! parts of the 

 State comes news of new clubs organizing, with the in- 

 tention of joining the, association. There is every rea- 

 son to hope for an early meeting, and with the renewed 

 interest manifest among the Long Island sportsmen, and 

 intentions expressed from members in Central and West- 

 ern New York, there can be no reasonable doubt but that 

 the 1880 convention will be the largest ever held. 



Notes. — It is an excellent plan while in the woods to 

 k?ep a diary, in which each night the incidents of the 

 day may be jotted down more or less fully. The rough- 

 est and most incomplete memoranda are better than none 

 at all. Memory is a very capricious faculty of the mind ; 

 it responds readily to suggestive notes or tangible me- 

 mentoes. By means of a few written notes it is possible 

 to bring back almost a complete picture of the entire va- 

 cation trip, as pleasant in its recollection as in its actual 

 experience. A worthless bit of bark, a feather, a fur tip, 

 or a flattened bullet, and the numberless little odds and 

 ends of camp-life, preserved by chance and of no intrin- 

 sic value, may yet possess in their suggestiveness a worth 

 which renders them moro precious than trinkets of silver 

 and gold. The trophies of the hunt, adorning study or 

 dining-room, are naturally objects of pride as evidences 

 of success in the field ; but there is a much higher grati- 

 fication in thinking over the thousand and one incidents 

 and experiences connected with them and brought back 

 to memory by them. If we can find sermons in stones, 

 and books in the running brooks, a cabinet of the nick- 

 nacks of camp life contains material for whole volumes 

 of reminiscences. 



We had a most pleasant call last week from "Penob- 

 scot," whose frequent contributions to this journal have 

 done so much to interest and instruct their readers. Mr. 

 Libby returns from a four years' residence in Nevada to 

 his home in Maine. Next fall he proposes to inake an 



extended trip through the Maine woods, and we are 

 promised an account of the trip, ''Penobscot" knows 

 the Maine country as well as any man living, and what 

 he may write will be Bure to be intelligent and authentic. 



Mr. Charles G. Jewett, of Howell, Mich., is one of the 

 exponents of the therapeutic value of field sports, and 

 has proved the efficacy of the rod and gun to change an 

 invalid into a robust, strong imn. Mr, Jewett is by no 

 means the only one of our acquaintances, who has found 

 in the health-giving properties of exercise, sunshine and 

 pure air the great remedial agencies provided by nature. 

 We can mention men in almost every prof ession and walk 

 of life who have found health and strength only in the 

 exhilarating rough and tumble of out-of-door occupation. 

 Our correspondence brings us into communication with 

 scores of men of similar experiences. Were there no 

 other good attending participation in the sports peculiar 

 to the forest and stream, this single fact would afford 

 sufficient grounds I o encourage and foster such partici- 

 pation. 



We need make no apology for reproducing in our col- 

 umns to-day the hit of native American literature, which 

 our correspondent has embodied in his paper on the 

 •"'Attractions of Arkansas;" for certainly no sketch of 

 that State would be complete without at least a passing 

 reference to the famous dialogue between the Traveler 

 and the Squatter. The story is an old one ; but it is for 

 this very reason all the more interesting, because it pic- 

 tures a curious phase of social life in the Southwest, 

 which has now almost completely passed away. To be 

 appreciated, the story should be listened to as doled out 

 by a self-taught musician of the backwoods, to whom 

 the peculiar idioms are not altogether novel. It was oil* 

 good fortune once, on a bright moonlight night, down hi 

 Eastern Tennesee, to hear it thus rendered from a va- 

 grant Troubadour from the Florida piny woods, who in- 

 terpreted the spirit of the original with a disregard of 

 musical harmony and a mutilation of the English lan- 

 guage, which we candidly believe was never before ap- 

 proached by mortal man. Or, better still, "Yell "tells 

 us that we should hear it played by an Arkansas fiddler, 

 in a log-cabin, and see it danced to by some Arkansas 

 young folks, on a " puncheon" floor. The dexterity of 

 the dancers in getting over and around the inequalities 

 of this style of floor, without missing a stop or breaking 

 the continuity, so to speak, is an inexhaustable source of 

 delight to the spectator, and well worth a day's journey 

 to witness. _ 



PRESIDENT ADAMS ON DOGS. 



IT affords us no little satisfaction to be able to present 

 to our readers this week a letter from the late cx- 

 President, John Quincy Adams, "the old man eloquent," 

 narrating some peculiarly interesting, though not unpar- 

 alleled, instances of the sagacity and mpmory of the dog. 

 The letter, which has, outside of its attractions to lovers 

 of the dog, an historical interest that will command for 

 it the attention of every one, has never before been pub- 

 lished. It was written to Dr. Parkman, of Boston, whoso 

 murder by Professor Webster, of Harvard, will be re- 

 membered by some of our older readers ; when that gen- 

 tleman was assisting his friend Jlr. Audubon in collect- 

 ing material for the latter's superb work on the Vivip- 

 arous Quudrupeds of North America. 



We owe the opportunity of reproducing this interest- 

 ing document to the courtesy of a member of the great 

 naturalist's family, in whose possession it now is. To 

 her we desire, most cordially to acknowledge out obliga- 

 tions and those of our readers. 



The letter is as follows :— 



Washington, S8BI MiWcft, 1835. 

 Dr. George Parltman, Boston. 



DeauSib:-! have received with much pleasure your kind let- 

 ter of the 21st inst., aud am always gratified with every token of 

 your friendly recollection. There are two incidents which I have 

 witnessed indicating instinct, memory and association of irieas in 

 dogs, which made impression upon my mind, and to one of which 

 your letter no doubt refers : my own memory fails me so much 

 thatlh'ivo no recollection of having mentioned it to yon, as I 

 certainly did from the reference which you made to mi 



Hesiaing at Berlin, during the closing yours of the last century. 

 the British Minister of that Court, the Earl oi Elgin, had a pair of 

 dogs of the terrier breed with the remarkable peculiarity that 

 their color was white, though generally with two or three choco- 

 late-colored spots on some part of the bony. In a litter of pup- 

 pies bred between them, in 1793, there was one. female milk white, 

 without a single spot, purchased of one of the servants of Lord 

 Elgin, « ho was then iu England, for me by an American named 

 Wbiteonib, who lived with me as my steward, nud whom you 

 hare perhaps known in later times as keeper of the house at Con- 

 cert Hall. 



I gave to my dog the name of Blanche, and educated her my- 

 self . Her principal good quality was that, common to ail the ter- 

 rier breed, beitig on admirable ratcatcher, and in that capacity 

 often useful. But as sho grew up she had acquired the habit o£ 

 a lap-dog, and whenever she had the opportunity would Jumjo ui> 

 into my lup and there coil herself up and go to sleep. If I were 

 sitting at a table writing or reading, so that sho could not get 

 into my lap, she would come and lie down between my feet nnd 

 i aep in the same manner. 



I Indulged her very much In both these habits, considering them 

 as maris Of the affectionate nature of tho animal, and finding 

 the lattor often comfortable to myself by keeping my feet warm , 

 particularly when traveling in a carriage in cold weather. 



In 1801 1 returned from Berlin to the United States aud resumed 

 mv residence In Boston. I brought my dog wi'.h "if tyld.tOQJE&i 



