1036 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
doubt. We must, however, distinctly state here once 
for all that we cannot approve of further personal con¬ 
troversy. The columns of the Forest and Stream are 
always open for the discussion, of any question bearing 
upon the advancement of any sport. When the argu¬ 
ment becomes atflill of a personal nature correspondents 
may not expect to see our space occupied with its publi¬ 
cation:— 
Highland Park, Ill., Jan, 22d. 
Editor Forest and Stream .*— 
My communication, signed “ N. K. D." and published 
in your issue of the 8 th mat., called out such an “ an¬ 
swer r ' from Mr. W. Holberton that I think it proper to 
make a brief reply—it may not be an answer. 
In all my archery notes which have appeared in the 
Forest and Stream I have endeavored to give opinions 
as opinions and facts as facts, and to make no statements 
about matters I was not posted on. So when Mr. Hol- 
borton politely tells me lam not posted, and willfuly or 
ignorantly misconstrues what I write, I feel called upon 
to take a little notice of him. He says he has handled 
very many of Mr. Aldred’s bows, knows they do notstand 
this climate, and that the universal complaint is that 
they break very easily. The complaint can hardly be 
“universal,” though it may be as far as lus knowledge 
extends. And though numbers of the Buffalo club may 
beur him out in his statement, I am informed that nearly 
all of their best archers use Aldred's bows. 
In reply to the statement of the fact that “for $30 we 
can get as fine and durable a Spanish yew as one would 
wish, - ' Mr. Holberton says: “As to Spanish yews costing 
only $30 landed here, I doubt.” His “doubt,” while ii, 
impeaches my honesty, does not alter the facts in the 
case. The Spanish yew in question, now owned by Mr. 
O, W. Ivy le, was imported by Mr. H. C. Carver and sold to 
Mr. Ford P. Hall for $18.74. 
Mr. Holberton seems very anxious to compare this bow 
with Mi-. Beecher's split-bamboo. Mr. Kyle assures me 
bis bow has shot more than 8,000 arrows, and I venture 
the assertion that should Mr. Beechers bow be at the 
next grand National Meeting it can be compared with 
Mr. Kyle's, both as to condition, power and ability to 
drive the arrows to the centre of the target. 
Mr. Holberton says, Spanish yews “cannot be sold in 
London for less than $30 or $40.” If he will refer to Mr. 
Aldred's price list, of which he probably has a quantity, 
he will learn the price of bows in London. Again, Mr. 
Holberton writes: “As to American makers overcharg¬ 
ing, I am afraid ‘N. K. D.” is not posted. He can buy a 
good bow of American make for $3.50 to $4.50.” Mr. 
Holberton entirely misrepresents me. I referred in no 
way to American makers’ charges for American-made 
goods. You will see by looking at the article in question, 
that I said “ American dealers in English archery ” over¬ 
charged. From which statement it would harclly seem 
possible to iufer that I meant overcharged for American 
goods. 
In praising Mr. Aldred’s goods, I have not done so be¬ 
cause I was interested in the sale of archery, but because 
as an archer they have pleased me so well. And, by- 
£th e-way, Mr. Aldred has not realized large profits from 
his American trade, as one dealer—be it said to our shame 
—still owes him nearly two hundred pounds for archery 
goods which he finds it impossible to collect. 
Considerable stress in placed upon the fact that some 
t American makers warrant their hows. This would he 
very nice for all parties, if it only prevented their break¬ 
ing' or was proof they would not break. But if they 
break in other places as fast as they have here, we fear 
the makers will not long continue to warrant them. 
Early last season Mr. Carver had a split-bamboo made to 
order. Only a few arrows had been shot with it, when I 
saw a foot of the upper limb break off while it was being 
shot. It being warranted, another was sent to take its 
place. But it broke like the first. A third cas sent, which 
has not yet been tried, for when it was i o be tested the 
tips came off and it was put aside. A? far as we know, 
only one otlier split-bamboo bow has been owned here. Mr. 
Gray won the one offered for the best fifty yards shoot¬ 
ing at the Chicago meeting. But it was so misshaped 
that he did not dare to use it, and the makers are to give 
him another in its place. The makers have kept their 
warrants good in a most praisworthy manner. 
Edward B. Weston. 
TENDENCY OF AMERICAN SKILL WITH THE 
LONG BOW. 
T HE year 1879 having passed into history fraught 
with many notable events, I would like to call the 
attention of the archery ivorld, all of whom read the 
Forest and Stream (or should do so if they now do not), 
to a few of the distinctively progressive achievements 
which American toxophilites in their first season of ex¬ 
perience have contributed to the old year's records, and 1 
am very sure that every ‘ ‘ archer bom” will appreciate and 
ever take pride in the very creditable scores that are 
chronicled upon the pages of the year just gone. This 
review will be drawn up chiefly, and perhaps in some 
cases imperfectly, from the author’s memory, and with 
the view- and desire of eliciting through the columns of 
Forest and Stream from brother archers everywhere, 
an enlivening interchange of comment, correction and 
criticism. 
I would first invite the reader’s attention to a few of the 
exceedingly great difliculties—the impossibilities of im¬ 
possibilities—that exist in archery, and wherein lie ild 
fascinations, as every toxophiiite Knows. In evidence of 
this fact it may truthfully be noted that even at the short 
ranges of thirty, forty and fifty yards, with twenty-four 
arrows and upwards, no perfect score has ever yet been 
made : no archer has ever yet succeeded in training his 
nerve forces to that steely, machine-like steadiness'requi¬ 
site to command of a nine-inch circumference through 
twenty-four successive shots, even at thirty yards. The 
English gentlemen archers (generally conceded to be the 
best the world has ever produced) have very uniformly 
confined their practice to distances of sixty to one hun¬ 
dred yards ; the Royal Toxophiiite Society, of London, 
however, setting apart one day in each season for a prize 
contest with one hundred and forty-four arrows at one 
hundred and twenty yards. The Woodmen of Arden 
also are an exception to the rule, thoir awards being 
based upon superior skill at nine score (one hundred and 
eighty) yards, shooting at clouts. That it seems most 
simple and easy to the ignorant spectator to hit a great 
four foot target at thirty yards is a matter of quite com¬ 
mon experience, in fact wherever there are archers and 
spectators. Yet placea how and arrow in that same con¬ 
fident critic’s hand for the first time and note the physi¬ 
cal contortions, the painful writhing of face, arms and 
limbs, and the final release of the ai-row, which finds its 
way into the limb of a tree or is snaked in the turf five 
or teu yards in front of the shooter. The astonishment 
of our critic at the result of his unerring marksmanship 
is unfeignedly marked, and he insists that it must have 
been a mistake (his friends endorsing this expression of 
good judgment), He tries another shaft, which is obsti¬ 
nate enough upon being loosed to fall at his feet, and he 
retires with sore fingers and chagrined vanity to a study 
of the mutability of human assurances; and that man 
novel- fails of being present at succeeding archery gather¬ 
ings ; the charms of this illusive, unconquerable pastime 
have stirred Ids ambition, and he becomes its votary. 
The essential difficulties that obtain in overcoming the 
obstacles to success in archery may best be condensed in 
the assertion of Horace A. Ford, of England (who was 
the most finished and accurate aeher the world has ever 
seen), that in the two to four seconds intervening between 
eleva ting the bow and the release of the arrow the mind, 
or will, should command into action over twenty-four 
different concentric conception*. What an array of im¬ 
pediments ; and what wonder, then, that those gentle¬ 
men who have for many years excelled as rifle and wing 
shots should marvel at their inability to hit a target at 
sixty yards. I can now call to mind two gentlemen, 
both of whom are acltnowldged superior rifle shots, yet 
are altogether deficient as archers. They have bestowed 
many days and hours in a brown study over the com¬ 
plexities that invest the successful archers' kingdom, and 
they are now apparently no nearer a solution of those 
complexities than when then- first shaft ruthlessly diso¬ 
beyed their will and fun-owed the green turf. 
During the months of October and November last a 
few English archers tried the experiment of shooting the 
American Round, adopted by the National Archery Asso¬ 
ciation of the United States, the leading scores having 
been made as follows:— 
BiU. Score. 
Mr. 0. Xi. Clare. :79 479 
Mr. G. L. Chapman... T 8 482 
These, I believe, were the only two scores exceeding 
400, Messrs, Chapman and Clare both ranking high as 
short-distance shots, and they have also won distinction 
for noticeably gopd scores at the York Round. At the 
fifty- yards range of the American Round Mr. Chapman 
made 184 with his thirty arrows, which is most excellent 
shooting. While the above scores fall short of some of 
the high scores made by our.own best archers, it should 
yet be remembered that the Englishmen were trying an 
experiment at ranges that were strange to them, and not 
adapted to their style of shooting. I do not make this 
reference and comparison to draw attention to the respec¬ 
tive merits of British and American skilled archers, for 
in this very beautiful pastime our own countrymen are 
at the present time but novitiates, apt pupils of the sturdy 
Briton ; yet they have advanced most encouragingly in 
the acquisition of long-how tactics and science, and the 
day is not far distant when we shall boldly invite our 
brothers from over the ocean to join issue with us in a 
contest for international supremacy. 
Mr. Horace A. Ford, of England', was undoubtedly the 
most perfect of archers that ever lived in all the centuries 
before, or the decade since his day. Both in style and 
accuracy he was superior to all other shots, as witness 
some of his scores (practice) .-— 
Hits. Score. 
75 arrows at 60 yards. 75 555 
28 golds, 37 reds, 7 blues and 3 blades. 
2-1 arrows at 00 yards.24 183 
At the York Round (consisting of 72 arrows at 100 
yards, 48 at SO yards and 24 at 60 yards) he scored :— 
100 Yards—. .-80 raids.—. ,-BO Yard$.-. — Total .—.1 
Hite. Score. Hite, Score. Hits. Score. Hits. Score. 
71 815.48 290 . 24 160.143 765 
missing only his fifty-ninth arrow at the hundred-yard 
range. Again he scored on the Single York Round 137 
hits, 809 score. He won the English champion medal 
eleven successive years, with such scores as 1,074, 1,351 
and 1,076 on the Double York Round, getting from 214 to 
245 hits out of the 288 arrows shot, and usually- making 
all of the ten points, by a majority of which the emblem 
is won. At the Leamington andMidland Counties meet¬ 
ings he was successful eleven years out of fourteen, get¬ 
ting into four figures no less than six times, viz., 1,014 
1,026, 1,030, 1,087, 1,128 and 1,162, with hits rangingfrom 
312 to 214. The only other archer who has succeeded in 
passing the boundary line of three figures in public shoot¬ 
ing is Major C. H. Fisher, who made at the Grand West¬ 
ern Meeting in 1870, 225 hits, 1,033 score; again in 1872 
at the same meeting 218 hits, 1,060 score, although in 
private practice he has several times exceeded 600 on the 
Single Round. The majority of the first-class archers of 
England to-day seldom reach 900 on the Double York 
Round in public. This is considered among BritonB a 
high score, and so it is, as let any one try who doubts. 
Mr. Will H. Thompson, of Crawfordsville, who since 
the national meeting in August last has been shooting 
with great steadiness and reliability, is undoubtedly far 
in advance of all other A me rican archers, Some of his 
best scores are as follows :— 
Hits. Seore. I Hits. Score. 
30 in-rows at: 00 yards. 30 ISO 30 arrows at 80 yards. 30 166 
::! arrows a t, fill yards. 24 160 72 arrows at 100 yadrs 64 220 
■18 arrows at 8(1 yards. 44 200 | 
Single York Round, 108 hits, 530 Bcore ; Double York 
Round, 213 hits, 1,039 score. Mr. Thompson may confi¬ 
dently flatter himself that but few archers living can 
make a better exhibit of fine shooting than the above 
scores, which he will pardon me for having taken the 
liberty of having published. Mr. Maurice Thompson has 
also since midsummer last made rapid progress, and prom¬ 
ises soon to make his younger brother exceed those al¬ 
ready great scores (noted above) if be would retain bis 
distinguished title of champion, Mr, Thompson has 
beaten 400 at the Single and 775 at the Double York 
Round; lias hit with eighteen arrows out of twenty-four 
shot at eighty yards, getting a score of 96. 
Messrs. Booe, McMechan and Brewer, of the Wabash 
Merry Bowmen, have also shown themselves capable of 
contributing excellent scores (when occasion may re¬ 
quire) towards retaining the archery renown which at¬ 
taches to the name of Crawfordsville, 
The Toxophilites of Buffalo are destined to take high 
rank as skilled archers. The almost faultless form 
adopted by Messrs. Spalding and Sidway of this society 
being specially noticeable, and giving promise of high 
scores to their credit during the coming season, in fact, I 
would venture the hint, that before the National Medal 
has passed permanently into the hands of any one indi¬ 
vidual, it will have adorned the person and honor of a 
' ‘ Buffalo Toxopholite." 
Mr. L. L. Peddingbaus, of^Marietta, with a single York 
Round of 95 hits, 421 score ; Mr. Ford P. Hall, with 84 
hits, 380 score ; Dr. E. B. Weston, with 126 hits from 744 
arrows, at 60 yds., G22 score : Mr. Gray, 29 hits from 30 
arrows at 60 yds. and 165 score, and Mr. O. W. Kyle, 28 
hits, 104 score, with same numberjof arrows and distance, 
arc deserving of special mention as having made rapid 
advancement in skill at the long distances. Mr. Manly, 
of Toledo, Mr. Gray, of Cincinnati, Mr. Brownell, of Bos¬ 
ton, Messrs. Hussey,Finkbine. Fullerton, Henry and Hack¬ 
ney, of Des Monies, Messrs. Proctor and Phipps, of De- 
Pore, Mr. Patterson, of Lawrence, Kansas, Mr. Church, 
of Charlotte, Mich., Messrs. Egan, Fairfield and. Smith, 
of Chicago, have all made high scores and shown great 
improvement both in form and accuracy. Mr. Haven, of 
San Francisco, also shoots strong and reliably, and East¬ 
ern archers will do well to look out for him, as he is a 
formidable competitor. Our American ladyarchers have 
made even greater progress than have the gentlemen, 
and one of the brightest assurances of the future high 
rank which archery shall take in this country as a re¬ 
fined and high-toned pastime, is the steady and persever¬ 
ing interest which the ladies take in it. Mrs. Townsend 
Davis and Mrs. Sidway, of Buffalo, Mrs. Lee, Mrs. Klein 
and Mrs.Ramsay, of Crawfordsville, Mrs. Carver and Miss 
Street, of Highland Park, Mrs. Brown, of Hastings, 
and Miss Bixby, of De Pere, have all made creditable 
scores during the past year, many of their practice 
scores exceeding 700 at the Double Columbia Round. 
In concluding this brief review, I feel that we may all 
take great pride in both the private and public perform¬ 
ances of the year, and in the extended growth of so pure 
and healthful a recreation as archery, and I would ear¬ 
nestly recommend all organized societies to unite them¬ 
selves with the National Association, and thus aid in 
strengthening and intensifying the already well devel¬ 
oped interest in the pastime. I would further ask that 
during the coming archery season every society Bend 
reports of its weekly or fortnightly meetings to the 
Forest and Stream, which is the accredited American 
archer’s organ. The archery editor of this excellent 
paper has expressed himself as desirous of getting items 
from all quarters, and I trust that the generous space al¬ 
lotted to archery each week in its columns may be filled 
to overflowing. Thus may cold wintry evenings be pleas¬ 
antly passed in resurrecting and reviewing a carefully 
preserved file of archery scores and incidents. 
_ Henry C. Carter. 
More Experience. — Marietta, Ohio, Deo. 21s#, 1879.— 
Editor Forest and Stream :—Thinking the experience in 
archery tackle of our club might be of interest to others 
I send this paper. In the last year the Arden archers 
have tried nearly every style of bow from the cheapest 
American lance to the finest Aldred Spanish yew. In 
the English goods those by Aldred have given" the best 
satisfaction. We have hi use five self-lance and one 
Spanish yew. The yew drawing forty-nine pounds 
has been in constant use for nearly two years, 
and is now as perfect as ever. We' have broken 
three lance, one of them as perfect a piece of tim¬ 
ber as I ever saw. It soon filled with frets and went to 
pieces. The English lemon have not given satisfaction, 
we having broken seven this season, all of them by High- 
field. We have three lance by the same maker that have 
stood the very hardest usage, and are now as good as 
ever. We have three bows by Feltham, which have stood 
well, but they are nearly round, and our archers object 
to them on that plea. With Horsman’s goods we have 
been the best pleased ; some of the first he sent out were 
made nearly round, something after the Feltham pattern. 
These did not give satisfaction, but all of the late bows 
have been exactly right. We have given his self-lemon, 
beef-backed and lance-backed the hardest usage, and we 
have never had one give out. The beefwood backed 
with lance, though inclined to follow the string, are the 
nearest to the yew of any bows we have used, His lance 
backed with hickory arc also first-class. The arrow we 
incline towards is Aldred’s; they are feathered with pea¬ 
cock feathers and are more durable. 
Horsman’s arrows are excellent; we have used more 
by him than any other maker. But when he makes the 
pile to fit the stele perfectly, so they will not bend when 
ever they strike auything hard, anil puts his feathers on 
without cutting creases in the stele, then they will be the 
par excellence of arrows. L. L. Peddinghatts. 
fomens (jj/olumn. 
WOMAN IN THE FIELD. 
I T has been urged as a reflection upon the sex that a 
woman cannot throw a stone. Granted ; and doubt¬ 
less God did not intend women to throw Btones. But we 
have seen fair marksmen who were as expert as their 
masculine companions with rifle and shot gun, and we 
have been in the camp where wives, sisters and daugh¬ 
ters were most admirable acquisitions to the personnel. 
In fact, a woman can accommodate herself to the exigen¬ 
cies of camp life much more readily than a man will; and 
we actually believe that if she be relieved of the flummer¬ 
ies of fashion and the trammels of outrageous dress, she 
can endure more roughing it in the woods with less fa¬ 
tigue and less flagging of enthusiasm thanher husband or 
brother can. They have a sensible summer fashion up 
among the Catskills of donning stout shoes and strong 
walking dresses without any “fixings," and tramping 
off up the mountains and down the ravines, through 
woods and thickets, and over logs and rocks. 
It is not always the thing for a man to take his family 
into the woods with him, It is the very freed cm from 
