FOREST AND STREAM 
345 
been postponed till fall. In the Department of the Platte the 
8 th Infantry will change with the 23d in Arizona, and the 
1st Infantry on the lakes will change with Stanley’s 22d in 
the Department of Dakota. 
The Muskoka Distbict. —In our advertised list of 
summer resorts, mention will be found of one whose name 
is euphonious but altogether unfamiliar; and yet it is the 
most accessible, the cheapest, and most prolific in genuine 
sport, of any we have yet had occasion to visit or refer to. 
This is the Muskoka Lake region, which comprises a chain 
of lakes and net-work of rivers that abound in three pound 
brook trout, salmon trout, black bass, and pickerel, some 
of tliese localities almost virgin in their primitive wildness, 
and yet nearly all accessible by railroad and steamboat, in 
forty-eight hours from New York, via Toronto and -the 
Northern railroad of Canada. The chief among them are 
lakes Simcoe, Couchiching, Muskoka, Rosseau, Joseph, 
Nipissing, (the first four navigated by the very excellent 
steamers advertised in our paper,) and the Muskoka and 
Magnetewan rivers. By this route the tourist can go to 
Georgian Bay. These lakes are no fish-ponds. Simcoe is 
thirty miles long, and the rest are of pretentious size. And 
while the most remote are inhabited only by the Ojibewa 
Indians, there are handsome towns of several thousand 
population on the others, that furnish every comfort to in¬ 
valids or parties not desiring to camp out. One can take 
the round trip in the steamer, or he can leave the city of 
Orillia on one morning, steam away off into the wilderness, 
camp one night, and return the next evening. The round 
fare is only $6, ticket good for n month. This district, 
although familiar to residents of Toronto and the imme¬ 
diate neighborhood, seems to have been a sealed book 
hitherto to citizens of the United States, and is not even 
mentioned in any tourist’s guide. It was not until this 
year that any special effort was made to bring it to the 
notice of sportsmen. We are proud to be able to print in 
our columns its first published announcement. Those of 
our readers who follow our advice in this matter, will have 
occasion hereafter to thank the Hon. A. P. Cockburn, M. 
P., for the very servicable and comfortable means he has 
placed at the disposal of the’ public for reaching this 
freshest and most attractive region. Intending visitors 
should take night train to Niagara Falls and Toronto. We 
will furnish descriptive pamphlets to those who wish them. 
-t- 
A Pipe. —Sometime ago we published for the benefit of 
smokers and the world in general an invention of our friend 
“Piseco” for coloring pipes in the most elegant way. The 
process was to fill the pipe with tobacco, light it, of course, 
and then make water power do the smoking and artistic 
tinting. Yery few inventions spring from a man’s head- 
perfect, as the patent Minerva did from great Jove’s brain; 
hence, we have more than once been fearful that some of 
our friends might burn tobacco in vain by the hogshead - 
full and get no results. The other day the inventor of this 
process showed us his pipe—a great, big, capacious, wonder¬ 
ful one, carved into almost animate life, representing a fox 
making his way through a thicket, and ogling two birds 
cooing, all unsuspicious of danger. The skill of the artist 
was marvellous—but the coloring was surpassing ! It was 
of the softest, most beautiful shades of purple, umber and 
chocolate. In fact it was a pipe so perfect that to carry it 
in one’s mouth would cause the smoker to be stopped every 
five minutes like a handsome nurse-maid carrying a pretty 
baby. That pipe was the achievement of the patent pro¬ 
cess, the automatic water-smoking arrangement described 
by us some time ago. In Thibet they pray to the grand 
Lama by means of water power; the smoking American 
can color pipes in the same way. 
The Chicago G-un Tbial. —We beg to acknow ledge the 
receipt of the tables of the shot gun trial at Chicago, as 
published by the Field and Stream. We are prevented by 
the pressure on our columns from publishing them 
in detail. We beg to state that we by no means con¬ 
sider such statements of performances of guns as con¬ 
clusive. or tending to decide the comparative excel- 
ence of any gun. In the Chicago trial, undoubtedly, 
charges and shot, and thickness of paper were the same for 
all, but what we require, in order that a comparison may be 
made between the guns in New York and Chicago is, that 
the same kind of paper shall be used at all gun trials. 
Pattern may be had most any way, but penetration is a 
more difficult question. We consider ourselves, then, at 
sea on this subject without any fixed standard of rules. 
W e beg to state that the Chicago trial, as reported in the 
Meld and Stream , appears to us to have been well managed, 
and the tables are carefully and systematically given We 
add to this brief summary of the gun trial a letter from one 
of our correspondents on this subject:— 
Jackson, Miss., July 2,, 1874. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
Field and Stream of June 27, is before me with the Gun Trial of June 
4th, 5th and 6th, at Chicago. There is some excellent shooting recorded, 
especially when taking the explanation of the Field and Stream editor 
into consideration; the pads used being 240 lbs. to the ream heavier 
than those used at English trials. 
I do not intend to say anything about the superiority of one gun over 
the other, but must mention the only muzzle loader shot at the trial 
which was simply nowhere; the gun is a Jos. Man ton, and, while its 
penetration is as good as the most of the breech loaders, its pattern (dis¬ 
tribution of shot) is so miserable that the poorest breech loader beats it 
19 pellets and the best beats tbe Manton 103 pellets, its average being 88; 
what a comment on the gentlemen who stick to what they are pleased to 
term their “old potmetal, 1 ’ meaning muzzle loaders, as superior to breech 
loaders in shooting. 
One lesson I learn from this trial is, that it is folly to handicap a gun 
iu regard to amount of powder, or to prescribe the weight and number of 
shot for the different size guns. Here is where I think they make the 
mistake at the Chicago trial. One ounce of shot is not enough for a ten 
bore but just the thing for a twelve bore; in regard to powder, let them 
use the same make and-grain, but allow them to shoot any quantity they 
see fit, from one drachm to a pound, provided the gentlemen using the 
latter quantity give timely notice to those standing around. 
Glance at the record and you will see that the difference of one-fourth 
of a drachm of powder makes quite a difference in favor of some and 
damages the shooting of others. A gentleman and sportsman of high 
standing wrote to a friend some time since that he found, when testing 
an English gun just received^ that the charge of powder and shot as 
marked on the case, was the very worst for the gun that could have been 
suggested. 
The only thing the trial has shown is, what the different guns can do 
with four to four and a quarter drachms of powder and one ounce of shot, 
and I dare say not a single gun there showed what it is capable of doing, 
when loaded to its tried capacity, and not, as I said before, handicapped. 
Yours truly, G. C. E. 
[fbom oub special cobbespondent.] 
June 26.— Tbe iron net which the last fifty years have 
woven so tightly arid flung so skilfully over hill and dale, 
imprisoning our rural villages, corn fields, and orchards, our 
crowded cities and scattered hamlets, has gone far to 
demolish those brilliant coaches and teams which were the 
pride and admiration of our ancestors. Where are now 
the horsey looking, close shaven old knights of the whip, 
in the smallest of trousers and largest of coats, who pulled 
up their four bays' so jauntily at t.ie bow windows of the 
roadside taverns, and quaffed huge bumpers of foaming ale 
from white hands of rosy blackeyed barmaids? Where is 
now the “high-flyer,” that famous coach of yore which 
started from Salisbury twice in every week, with old Joe 
Evans on the box, with a conductor on the knife board who 
blew his yard of tin like any trumpeter? The roaring 
smoking engines burst forth in their tunnels from the very 
bosom of the earth, and in vain poor old Joe double-thonged 
his wheelers, and let his lash fall down his leaders’ flanks, 
he couldn’t do more than fourteen miles an hour, and his 
steaming rival did fifty, so he gave it up, and his old 
wagon is now tinderwood, whilst the daisies are growing- 
over its potent driver’s grave. Ah me, the coach in those 
days was a sight to see, as it left the old house’s gate-way, 
as spick and span as red paint and varnish could make it. 
There were mail bags and blunderbusses to guard them, 
and a luncheon box and fish hung on the lamp irons, and 
the tits which gladdened the coachman’s heart were 
pawing the ground, as blood one’s do, and plunging at the 
bits, till Dick or Joe or one eyed Bill Cliifney gathered up 
his ribbons, and sprang ligthly to his seat. “Let’m go,” 
said he, like Napoleon giving orders to his guards, and in a 
twinkling the ostlers stripped off the yellow half clothes 
and away they rattled at a slapping pace. 
For years, however, coaching has languished, and it has 
only shortly met with a real revival. During the past few 
days we have had four of those grand sights in the park, 
which’ are so characteristic of our Anglo Saxon blood. 
The Four-in-hand and The Coaching Club, have each held 
the opening meets with marked success in point of atten¬ 
dance of members. The senior club was started some 
twenty years ago, though it has only lately been in a flour¬ 
ishing position. From the nucleus of a few energetic 
sporting spirits, the Duke of Beaufort, a well known 
master of foxhounds, the best whip and perhaps the best 
man in the saddle of his day, has invested the club with an 
importance wliich makes its meets one of the greatest at¬ 
tractions to beauty and fashion of our London season. We 
have lost Mr. Morritt, whose yellow coach and roans were 
a distinguishing feature, but we have a worthy successor 
to him in Lord Aveland and Colonel Annytage. The 
Coaching Club is in its third year, and has over seventy 
members and can turn out fifty coaches at a meet. On its 
opening day they numbered thirty-three, and showed con¬ 
siderable improvement over former years, though some of 
the old school said they saw too much of the harness and 
too little of the horses. I disliked, too, the bearing reins, 
which ’are a thoroughly cockneyfied institution, and I pre¬ 
fer to see a horse driven on the check to seeing his mouth 
pulled to pieces with the rein on the bar. If you see a bar¬ 
barous bit, a nose strap, and heavy curb-chain, look at the 
man’s hands, that’s where the fault generally lies. Ten 
years ago such meets as these were scarcely recognized. 
Now it requires policemen to keep the ranks, over two 
miles of park and streets, and but for their energy the 
coaches could make no parade at all. Formerly the rally¬ 
ing point was the Apsley house, then the Marble arch, and 
now it is the Magazine, and the dinner takes place 
at Greenwich. Ascot this week will probably be pat¬ 
ronised by a good number of drags and the “turn 
outs.” These are always noted for their style and splendid 
appearance. Coaches now run from Rochester to London, 
under Colonel Haworth’s care. Tunbridge Wells (forty 
miles) is kept open by Lord Bective and Colonel Haw¬ 
thorne, and Mayor Withington runs a coach to Dorking. 
But it must not be supposed that a long purse, a good 
family, and a name with a hand to it, are certain proofs of 
good driving. Indeed they are often far from it. Of 
course Lord Poulett was all these with his well matched 
team of blacks, Lord Carrington had command over his 
rather leggy “flyers,” and the Duke of Beaufort, who cares 
more about work than show, handled right* well his strips 
of leather. But more than one noble coachman is not only 
nervous but unpractised. It is the whip that bothers them. 
“Look at that swell, master,” whispered a critical bus’ driver 
mine ear.” “ Wh y,the whip is in his way.” And sure 
enough his hands seemed too full; some'of them actually 
tied the thong to the handle before starting, others made 
casts as if they had got a salmon rod, and in one case the 
boxwood might have been a mop or a billiard cue. No 
man should ever try to drive till he can use a whip, and 
not one man in twenty can. “Don’t keep flicking the 
horse with the whip, my boy,” said an old stager to me 
when I first learnt driving; “hit him like this from the 
wrist and you won’t break the quill at the top.” There¬ 
upon he let the white leather fall, and though it was only 
a gig whip, he drew blood on the old slug I was learning 
with, who then and there burst into a smart trot and never 
wanted another touch for an hour. 
What strikes the spectator’s eye as well as the grand dis- 
X>lay of horse flesh, harness and carriage work at one of 
these gatherings, is the elegance and taste of the women on 
the drags in that expensive but necessary article, dress. 
These aristocratic beauties certainly hit off the right shades 
in a most charming manner, and it matters little whether 
the body of the vehicle is cobalt, orange, or vermillion, their 
costumes and dainty Parisian bonnets look equally “ re¬ 
cherche. 
The Prix du Paris, worth about £5,500, fell to an English 
horse in the shape of Trent, who ran in passable form, in 
the English Derby. The French were very confident of 
success of their crack mare Saltarelle, but Cannon held 
her tolerably safe throughout and landed an easy victory. 
There was a bad accident during the race, occasioned by 
some man, as often is the case, foolishly trying to cross the 
course, the Lord knows why, before the two last horses 
came in. They bowled him over and carried him some 
yards between them, and he was picked up and carried 
away insensible, frightfully bruised and knocked about. 
There are always some of these unfortunate imbecjles, 
who risk life and limb for no possible motive, just as you 
see men, who jump out of a train before it stops, or blow 
down one gun barrel whilst the other is on full cock. The 
French “upper ten thousand” are beginning to think horse 
racing on Sunday rather a mistake, and the correct thing 
for them to do is to draw up in a splendidly appointed 
barouche, about three hundred yards from the judges’ box 
and merely talk to their acquaintances, without seeing any¬ 
thing of the race. 
Those sportsmen who have large kennels of dogs will be 
glad to hear the Spratt’s Biscuit Company have determined 
on opening an agency in New York for the sale of their 
dog biscuits, if they can get them to America on payment 
of a moderate duty. These biscuits have received most 
flattering testimonials from owners aud breeders of English 
dogs, and one gentleman even recommends them for feed¬ 
ing horses on a journey. It is a well known fact that 
coarse and unsavory food, such as sheep paunches, greaves 
and horseflesh more or less tainted, as they generally are, 
very frequently destroys for the time the powers of scent 
in the setter, retriever, pointer, or foxhound, and this 
serious defect in feeding dogs on artificial food is got over 
by the use of these biscuits. To test the proof of the asser¬ 
tion that strong smelling viands impair the nose, eat your¬ 
self some garlic and onions, then ask your chemist for a 
bottle of eau de cologne, and another like it full of 
patchoule, or rondeletia, and see if you can tell which is the 
latter. It will puzzle you amazingly. How then can you 
expect your black and tan setter, who has stuffed himself 
with strong smelling carrion, to discern between the deli¬ 
cate scents of larks and snipes, and eschew the one and 
stand to the other? On the highland moors where the ken¬ 
nels are perhaps twenty miles from a railway station, 
these biscuits have been found invaluable, as they occupy 
a small space in luggage and keep forever, besides not 
requiring any boiling or other preparation like barley meal 
and greaves. I have no doubt but that they be found 
equally serviceable on the prairies. As to dogs doing well 
when fed on them, I may mention that they are in use at 
the dogshows throughout England, and I personally tried 
them, and though I am fond of changing a dog’s diet, and 
giving him boiled green food, skim milk, and potatoes 
in addition to biscuits, yet I think for “the staff of life” in 
a do >• nothing beats them. 
During these hot months croquet is almost an indispenJ 
sable accomplishment. The popularity this game has ob - 
tained is unprecedented, and it is now quite as much an 
institution as cricket, football or polo. Last year there 
was an attempt made to supplant it by the introduction of 
badminton, or lawn tennis, another form of battledore and 
shuttlecock, played over a piece of netting, but the attempt 
ignominiously failed, and the hoops and mallets are once 
more familiar adjuncts of every county/and town house. I 
myself am not at all an ardent admirer of the game. As 
an excuse for flirtation it answers but indifferently well, as, 
though it may show off a neat foot and ancle to advantage* 
Adonis and Yenus are in the centre of 4 ring of chaperons 
and spectators, and during the present prevalence of actions 
for breach of promise, it is very injudicious to show a 
young lady how to go through a hoop in the presence of 
witnesses. It is rather an excuse for cheap entertainment. 
You can ask forty people to come and play croquet and all 
you require is a large lawn, some strongish coffee, and a 
few pounds of strawberry ice. At three o’clock the com¬ 
pany assemble, and at five o’clock they go or think about 
going, and they will all swear they have enjoyed their 
afternoon as much as if you had given them turtle soup, a 
haunch of venison and 1820 port. The most proficient 
country players are the high church parsons who come out 
in long black coats and white ties, constituting what I 
believe the French call the third sex. But very different 
