116 RECREATION 
tion and the English 
woods being so infin- 
itely better adapted that 
it has seemed useless to 
try to compete with 
them. At any rate, the 
making of both bows 
and arrows requires the 
utmost skill and ac- 
curacy. Snakewood, 
lancewood and lemon- 
wood are all used in 
making bows, but the 
best of all is the yew and 
the best and most ex- 
pensive of all bows is 
the self-yew bow, or one 
made of a single stick of 
yew; and when it is 
known that it not infre- 
quently happens that 
only one or two bows 
can be made from an 
entire yew log it is not 
to be wondered at that 
Copyright, 1906, by Waldon Fawcett 
WINDING A SPLICED BOW a good self-yew bow 
Like some anglers, many veteran archers make their own weapons 

paid, will cost from seven 
or elght dollars upward. 
To the uninitiated it 
would seem the easiest 
matter in the world to 
purchase a bow and ar- 
rows, while any small 
boy knows that it is “just 
no trick at all to make a 
set of them.” | 
Nevertheless, it. is 
doubtful whether the 
most expert among 
American wood workers 
or the most skilled of the 
Indians or Gypsies could 
ever turn out weapons 
at all comparable with 
English ones. Very few 
even of the toy bows and 
arrows sold in the de- 
partment stores and toy 
shops are made in this 
country, the English 
makers having brought Copyright, 1906, by Waldon Fawcett 
h FEATHERING AN ARROW 
the art so near to perfec- And the love they put into their work is of the old, old vintage of Boydom 

