THE REFERENDUM 



189 



Three more days were given up to individual 

 competitions in rifle and revolver shooting. 

 After this match the press of the country be- 

 gan to take notice and devoted at least three 

 inches of space to a meeting which was to be 

 the_ turning point in rifle shooting in the 

 United States. In any other country this 

 match would have occupied columns in the 

 newspapers and would have been considered 

 important news. Outside of a very few pa- 

 pers, therefore, no credit can be claimed by 

 the press of this country for the wonderful 

 interest manifested in rifle shooting which 

 will culminate in the great National match 

 of 1905. 



From Maine to Texas, from Florida to 

 Washington, and in between, teams are com- 

 ing to Sea Girt, New Jersey, to compete for 

 the National Trophy. Thirty-five states will 

 be represented, the Army Infantry, Army 

 Cavalry, the Navy and the Marine Corps will 

 swell the number to thirty-nine, and there is 

 a possibility that West Point and Annapolis 

 will also compete, making forty-one teams all 

 animated with one desire and purpose : to 

 show their skill in rifle shooting, or if not, to 

 show their skill, to learn all that can be 

 learned at this big encampment of riflemen, 

 and to bear that knowledge back to their re- 

 spective states and communities so that in 

 1906 they will attend the meeting much bet- 

 ter prepared in every way to show their devel- 

 opment as true soldiers. 



Truly these patriotic, earnest men who 

 have been behind this rifle shooting move- 

 ment since its incipiency, who have sacrificed 

 time and money to bring about a revival of 

 that most important duty of a soldier, the art 

 of shooting straight, deserve the thanks of 

 this great nation of ours. They are not blood- 

 thirsty men, they do not desire war, but they 

 are_ far-sighted enough to see that if the 

 United States trains its men to proficiency in 

 the use of the rifle, other nations will realize 

 it and war will be far from us. 



We quote the conditions of the National 

 match : 



Kinds of fire: Slow, rapid and skirmish. 

 Distances: Slow fire, 200, 6oo, 800 and 1,000 yards. 

 Rapid fire, 200 and 500 yards. 

 Skirmish fire, 2 runs. 

 Number of shots: Two sighting shots and ten 



shots for record at each range. 

 Positions: Standing at 200 yards and prone with 



head toward target at all other ranges. 

 A.rms:_ United States service rifles and carbines 



with not less than 3-pound trigger pull. 

 Ammunition: Service cartridge as manufactured and 

 issued by the Ordnance Department, U. S. Navy. 

 Three _ Days' Contest : 



First day, August 26th: 200 and 600 yards, 

 slow fire, and 200 and 500 yards, rapid fire. 

 Second day, August 28th: 800 and 1,000 yards, 



slow fire. 

 Third day, August 29th: 2 skirmish runs. 



T. G. Ewing, 

 Inspector General Rifle Practice, 



D. N, G. 



WISHES TO REAR PHEASANTS 



Editor Recreation : 



I have been buying Recreation, but now 

 think it high time that I sent you a dollar 

 for my subscription. I enclose the same 

 herewith for one year's subscription, to start 

 with the July number. 



My summer home is at Bethayres, Pa., 

 where my father has a verv beautiful 'place! 

 The county around there is ideal. The fish- 

 ing does not amount to anything, although 

 the creek has been stocked with bass, but 

 the Italian quarrymen have used dynamite 

 in the creek to such an extent that there are 

 few, if any, left. 



The gunning consists mainly of rabbits, of 

 which there are great numbers this vear, 

 but even of this number few will survive 

 the gunning season. The negroes go out in 

 tribes" of about twenty in a bunch and 

 shoot from morning until night, and it is 

 few rabbits which have the good fortune 

 to escape them, even though they are as a 

 rule poor marksmen. But numbers count in 

 this instance. 



I have three settings of English pheasant 

 eggs which I expect to hatch next week, 

 and as I know pheasants are hard to raise,' 

 I thought that perhaps some of your readers 

 can give me some of their experience. 



Thanking you in advance for any infor- 

 mation which you can give me through Rec- 

 reation, and wishing you success. 



Carl Bloom Wolf, Bethayres, Pa. 



You might get Tegethmeir's "Pheasants" 

 published by Horace Co., Breams' Buildings 

 London, England.— Editor. 



A Little Garden Calendar," by Albert 

 Bigelow Paine, with 46 illustrations. (Hv 

 Altemus & Co., Philadelphia.) 



As a method of conveying to children much 

 pretty "folk-lore" relating to our garden flow 

 ers and fruits, this book is highly commend- 

 able, entertaining and unsual. On its practi- 

 cal side it would have been much better to 

 have curtailed, if not entirely omitted, the 

 months of January, February and March,' dur- 

 ing which flowers and vegetables, including 

 corn, are depicted as growing in pots in an 

 ordinary sitting-room's windows, and comino- 

 to their full maturity. Any child who took 

 this seriously and tried to do it, in a district 

 such as this was, where the frost extended 

 we 11 through the three months, would fail 

 and more harm than good would have been 

 effected The exigencies of the magazine, 

 where the story was first published, might 

 have required a chapter for every month but 

 when they passed into a book there was no 

 similar excuse. Only when the scene is 

 changed from the artificial condition of the 

 sitting-room to the sunshine of outdoors, does 

 the instruction become practical and helpful 

 to children. 



