J-nxv 9, 1885. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



473 



intimate that there is any affinity between the workings of 

 warm blood— particularly the blue kind-in tuan, and the 

 Workings of cold blood ih fishes, and I only do it to ask the 

 scientists here gathered together, if it is possible for the infu- 

 sion of fresh WOdd to act upon and improve and strengthen 

 fishes that have, been in breeding for ages io circumscribed 

 waters Whatever scientists may say about the infusion of 

 fresh fish blddd. which would apply offiy in . Certain cases, I 

 am satisfied that fish in alien waters improve in fpOd Or game 

 qualities only when they find better feed or better water 

 which carries a more vigorous condition, which is the game^ 

 ness desired bv anglers. . 



Mr. Mather— The observations of Mr. Cheney correspond 

 with those Of others who have given attention to this subject. 

 As a rule a transplanted animal does either better or worse 

 than if left in its native place, especially if carried to a con- 

 siderable distance. The brown trout, Balmo fario, of Europe 

 grow rapidly here, while our eastern trout, Salveliniis fontni- 

 alis. have made rapid growth in Germany. TheG-erman carp 

 is another instance of rapid growth after transplanting, for in 

 America they have far exceeded their growth in their native 

 land. I do hot know the history of the black bass in Saratoga 

 and Eff ner lakes, to which Mr. Cheney refers, and which he 

 claims stocked the Hudson. I have been under the impression 

 ' that the first black bass in the Hndson River came down the 

 Erie Canal when it was opened, some fifty years ago, but they 

 have never increased much below Troy during this time. 



THE MARYLAND COMMISSION.— The Pish Commission 

 operations on the Eastern Shore, under Dr. Humphrey's 

 management, have been very successful this season. Three 

 newly constructed hatching houses, equipped with the latest 

 improved apparatus and located on favorable sites, one at 

 Coward's Point, on Choptank River, one at Sharptown, on 

 Nanticoke River, and one at Salisbury, on Wicomico River, 

 have been in operation and have produced an aggregate of 

 32,099,000 shad, herring and perch fry, which have been 

 distributed and planted generally in the rivers of this section 

 of the State. This is an increase of about five millions over 

 the production of last year. The shad hatching has, however, 

 decreased on" accoutit of the unusually small catch of 

 fish, rendering it possible for the spawn gatherers to procure 

 only a small quantity of ripe eggs. This scarcity of shad, after 

 a good season last year, is hard to account for, All fishermen 

 in the vicinity of Salisbury attribute it to the increasing 

 number of pound nets, fikes, stake seines, etc., which are set 

 across the current on the fishing grounds, and sometimes well 

 out in the channels, not only in the mouths of the rivers and 

 small fresh water streams, but also on the bay shore. Whether 

 this is the cause Or not it is certain that for some reason the 

 shad have shunned Maryland waters tnis season and shown 

 themselves in increased numbers in the Delaware and more 

 hbrtbefn waters* On the Other hand there has been a largely 

 increased catch of herrings and perch. Both these -Varieties 

 have this spi iug swarmed hi Maryland waters, particularly 

 tne Nanticoke; The rock, or striped bass, has also been plenti- 

 ful during the entire whiter and spring. The Commission Was 

 unable; however to procure any ripe rock spawn whatever 

 during the entire season Last year eight million eggs of this 

 fish were taken and four million hatched, the first and drily 

 rock ever hatched in Maryland. With the improved hatching 

 facilities now entirely perfected, and the use of the steam 

 launch Beulah on the Nanticoke, and the possible transporta- 

 tion of shad eggs from the South, the commission expects next 

 year to very nearly double the results of this season's hatching 

 of spring tish. The German carp is now engaging all the 

 Commission's attention, and there will be a distribuation of 

 small carp and one and two year old fish about November 1. 



GEO. SHEPARD PAGE, of Stanley, Morris county, N. J., 

 has been made an honorary corresponding member of the 

 National Pishculture Association of Great Britain. 



fft* Mmml 



Address all communications to the Forest and stream Publish- 

 ing Co. . 



FIXTURES. 



BF.NCH SHOWS. 



Sept; 22, 23, 24 and 35.— Dog Show of the Milwaukee Exposition As- 

 sociation. John D. Olcott. Superintendent. Milwaukee, Wis. 



Oct. 27, 28 and 29.— Twelfth Dog Show of the Western Pennsylvania 

 Poultry Society, Pittsburgh, Pa. C. B. Elben, Seeretarv. 



FIELD TRIALS. 



Mov. 16, 1885.— Seventh Annual Field Trials of the Eastern Field 

 Trials Club, High Point, N. C. Entries for Derby close May 1. W. 

 A. Coster, Secretarv. Flatbush, L. I. 



Dec. ^.—Seventh Anuual Field Trials of the National Field Trials 

 Club, Grand Junction, Tenn. Entries for Derby close April 1, B. M. 

 Stephenson, La Grange, Tenn., Secretary. 



A. K. R. -SPECIAL NOTICE. 



THE AMERICAN KENNEL REGISTER, for the registration of 

 pedigrees, etc. (with prize lists of all shows and trials), is pub- 

 lished every month. Entries close on the 1st. Should he in early. 

 Entry blanks sent on receipt of stamped and addressed envelope. 

 Registration fee (50 cents) must accompany each entry. No entries 

 inserted unless paid in advance. Yearly subscription $1.50. Address 

 'American Kennel Register," P. O. Box 2832, New York. Number 

 of entries already printed 2450, 



there was plenty oE talk of such from that time on during 

 the show, by exhibitors and visitors. E. W. Jester. 



St, George's, Delaware, July 3. 



Editor Forest and Stream ' 



C H. Mason has several times taken upon himself, within 

 the last few months, to present to your readers and his few 

 followers, incorrectly and entirely favorable to himself, inci- 

 dents relative to the English setter dog Jester, which he 

 claimed to have purchased at the New York dog show held in 

 April, 1883. Although Borne three years have elapsed, and as 

 he Continues to shield himself under cover of this pretended 

 purchase, I wish to state clearly the circumstances connected 

 with the case. In 1882 the English setter dog puppies (Class 

 No. 40) were brought into the ring, where I was acting as 

 steward at the time, and while the puppies were being looked 

 over by Mr. Higgins, the judge, I remarked to a friend stand- 

 ing outside of the ring, upon the fine appearance of the puppy 

 No. 455 in question. I at once approached the person leading 

 him and then learned that he was the owner (Mr. E.W. Jester. 

 of St. George's Del.). I asked him particularly whether the 

 puppy had been claimed or purchased by any one, and upon 

 receiving his reply in the negative I then and there purchased 

 the dog. Before the awards were made I had occasion to 

 leave tne ring, in order that the following class might be pre- 

 pared. Upon returning I found that my purchase had been 

 awarded first prize, and on the arrival of the next class in 

 order I went to examine my dog in his kennel, where I again 

 saw Mr. Jester and called his attention to a card bearing the 

 inscription, "C. H. Mason, England, claimed at catalogue 

 price." Mr. Jester again gave me his assurance that he knew 

 of no such person, had not disposed of or promised the dog to 

 anv one but myself and that the card was not in the kenuel 

 when he left for the. judging ring. I then sought our superin- 

 tendent, Lincoln, and reported to him my purchase, when he, 

 Lincoln, remarked, "Mason came to me not five minutes 

 ago, claimed and paid §100 for that dog." Upon returning to 

 the ring I saw Mason, who inquired my name and asked if I 

 had purchased No. 455, following his question with the re- 

 mark that he bought the dog before I had, but was not pre- 

 pared to answer my question as to just when he made his pre 

 tended purchase. ' I left the matter entirely in the hands of 

 disinterested parties, being ready to transfer my light and 

 title to Mason ; but they decided the purchase belonged to me, 

 and I have retained the dog to this day, being prepared in the 

 interim, to meet Mr. Mason's "court test." He has seen fit, in 

 his several communications, to pronounce the dog faulty ; but 

 the faults failed to reach his brain even when he made his so- 

 called purchase. Mr. E. W. Jester and others, I feel confi- 

 dent, are quite ready to substantiate what I have said. We 

 are all quite weary "of Mason's continued representations of 

 his injuries, and many of your readers are no doubt delighted 

 to observe, in your issue of July 2, over his signature, that he 

 has written his final letter in a controversy which has at last 

 become distasteful to him, L. B. Wright, 



New York, July 6, 1886. 



THE SALE OF JESTER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In the letter of Mr. C. H. Mason in your issue of 2d inst., 

 appears the following: 



"At New York the following May, 1882, he [Mason] claimed 

 Jester, the English setter, at $100, before the dogs were 

 judged, and after Jester got first prize one of Mr. Mortimer's 

 present employes [note the last word] bought and paid for the 

 dog, doing Mr. Mason out of the purchase," etc. 



Now as this assertion reflects upon Mr. Wright as pur- 

 chaser and myself as seller of Jester, I desire to inform Mr. 

 Mason or any one else that is at all interested in the matter of 

 the truth of this sale. I took Jester into the ring at men- 

 tioned time. I saw no notice of his being claimed by any one 

 on his stall at that time. I heard nothing of his being 

 claimed by Mr. Mason until after I had taken him back from 

 the ring and just as I was going to put him on the bench, 

 when I was told Mr. Mason had claimed him. I would say I 

 was several minutes in taking him from ring to bench," as 

 several persons stopped me to look at him, Mr. Mason the first 

 one. He asked some questions, referred to his catalogue, and 

 left me. 



Mr. Wright bought Jester in the ring before he was judged, 

 iand tendered me his check there upon sight. Mr. Wright 

 was acting steward in the class. Mr. Wright knew nothing 

 of Mr. Mason claiming the dog until after we retired from 

 the ring, 



I have understood Mr. Mason tendered Mr. Lincoln Ms 

 check for Jester. I positively assert I never saw Mr. Mason's 

 check nor had any intimation from Mi-. Lincoln at any time 

 during the show or since that he held such check or was in- 

 trusted with such commission to purchase, though I admit 



CONTRARIETIES OF CANINE FORM. 



H" OW Can these contrarieties agree? To fix on an ideal 

 (whether borne in the mind's eye, with or without the 

 assistance of a standard, or in the tangible form of a model) 

 and to embody the same in a living animal, is generally the 

 height of the breeder's ambition, the goal he rightly aims at. 

 Most frequently the standard of the ideal is already 'fixed, and 

 the breeder has to strive to produce it as typically as he pos- 

 sibly can; yet, in his endeavors, he constantly attains animals 

 possessing very different points to what he wished and antici- 

 pated, But all the contrarieties aud difficulties of breeding 

 weigh nothing (or at least should not) with the judge who 

 awards the prizes at a show, for if he acts as a man of honor, 

 he is bound to award the prizes (to the best of his ability) to 

 the specimen approaching nearest all round to the standard, 

 and any consideration as to what dogs are likely to be most 

 useful for improving or preserving the breed, etc., is quite 

 foreign to his commission, and simply opening a way for a 

 judge to please his own fancies, and virtually amounts to mor- 

 ally swffidling the public. In dogs, the character- 

 istics that have to be cultivated are often some- 

 what at variance with the uses they are nomi- 

 nally destined for, and almost universal disregard is paid 

 to the uses or habits they are subjected to and allowed to fol- 

 low. Breeders are, owing to this, constantly disappointed and 

 disgusted by the results, apparent incongruities and difficul- 

 ties they encounter. However, the points constituting a good 

 specimen of the canine race may be divided into two parts- 

 first and foremost, the all-essential characteristics constituting 

 each particular breed ; and, secondly, the points constituting 

 merely a well-grown, well-developed animal. In a general 

 way dogs fail in this second division through injudicious and 

 faulty rearing, comprising exercise, feeding and kenneling, 

 and the unfavorable treatment their parents have been sub- 

 jected to: for there is little doubt but that the weakness and 

 defects in many a puppy have arisen through the confined 

 and pampered life the sire has led. This is a subject few 

 breeders sufficiently consider. They select a dog because he 

 possesses some characteristic or characteristics of the breed 

 strongly developed, often condoning defects in his muscular 

 system which have arisen more or less from want of exercise 

 and unfavorable treatment, and are then disappointed because 

 his offspring comes out scraggy, weak-loined, badly-ribbed, 

 leggy anirnals, with crooked legs, faulty hocks, weak joints, 

 and hindquarters generally defective. 



Some judges, especially those whose knowledge of the char- 

 acteristics of the particular breed is somewhat limited, yet 

 having what is termed "a good eye for a dog," often select "for 

 prizes such animals as have been advantageously reared, yet 

 are deficient or even faulty in typical characteristics. And 

 those that generally make this mistake are what are termed 

 all-round judges. Specialty judges, on the other hand, not un- 

 frequently in then - zeal for the typical points rush to the other 

 extreme, and select animals that possess these points strongly 

 marked, however deficient m general symmetry. The char- 

 acteristic points themselves often present contrarieties which 

 both breeder and judge should know, and try to strike the 

 happy medium between the two. To enumerate a few of 

 these inimicalities. In that most favorite of all favorite breeds 

 — the fox-terrier — a long, lean head is admired and sought 

 after, combined with a cobby and somewhat thick-set body. 

 Yet it has been remarked that very long-headed dogs are 

 mostly leggy or stilty, the reason "being that there is a 

 natural tendency toward a proportionate length of limb ac- 

 companying length of head, and the reverse when the head is 

 characteristically short, and the limbs will be proportionately 

 short m a natural condition; yet the art of breeding is to culti- 

 vate length of head without losing sight of correct iength of 

 limb. Breeders are too liable to be led away by individual 

 possession of some properties their own animal or animals re- 

 quire improving in, without ascertaing if the strain of the 

 animal they seek correction from is or is not defective in the 

 concordant points. Thus, for example, a fox-terrier breeder 

 wishing to obtain greater length of head selects some dog with 

 this point strongly developed, regardless in most cases of whit 

 his immediate ancestors have been like, especially the ancestor 

 from which the point in question was obtained, which if they 

 did but know, would in many instances at once cause them to 

 forego breeding from the animal they had selected to correct 

 one point, for they would then see it would be an animal cal- 

 culated probably to do a vast amount of injury to then- owu 

 strain. 



Owing to the discordance in these typical points some have 

 argued in favor of condonation of a" shorter head, and thus 



simplifying the difficulties; but the result is then in a general 

 way a more compact body, but accompanied by overfulness 

 of skull and breadth of chest, points rightly objectionable in 

 the breed. Breeders may accept it as a safe rule never to 

 rush to extremes, but stick to animals whose immediate an- 

 cestors they have known the characteristics of, and to be care- 

 ful that the parents are healthy and have been regularly and 

 thoroughly exercised prior to being bred from, and a good 

 deal of the barrenness so frequently complained of might be 

 avoided if this latter was more looked to. Fox-terrier pup- 

 pies should have plenty of liberty, and neither over or under- 

 fed, and a to:> liberal supply of flesh renders them gaunt and 

 large, and it is of greater importance that the sire should be 

 sufficiently long in head, under rather than full-sized, small in 

 the ear, compact and symmetrical in bod y. The dam should 

 have a long head, and be by a well-formed sire. 



In boarhounds, especially in the now all-fashionable vari- 

 ety, the great Dane, vast size is an essential ; still it should not 

 be cultivated at the expense of weak hindquarters and a 

 straddling gait. Great height is often accompanied with 

 lightness of bone, showing plainly that owing to some ca.nse 

 the animal has been extenuated in height beyond its natural 

 proportion, and such dogs are not calculated to beget really 

 large offspring'. Where size is an essential it is a safe plan to 

 follow the rule that the Amerioans have with such excellent 

 results, with regard to breeding the cart horse, viz. , to go in 

 for the heaviest animals, this in the long run is the surest 

 means of obtaining vast size ; and uow there is a probability 

 of an attempt to restore the. Irish wolfhound, admirers of 

 that variety would do well to remember this. In the 

 great Dane, Irish wolfhound and boarhounds generally. 

 length of head and general weight, combined with totai 

 freedom of any throatiness, wrinkle, or useless lumber of 

 th<j nature, are safe guides for breeding. Weakness of 

 jaw often accompanies very long heads, and should be 

 guarded against, while the other extreme is "generally ac- 

 companied by too full a skull; but this latter is one of the"con- 

 trarieties caused through a false standard, as, providing a 

 Great Dane or deerhound has height and length of body, with 

 a long, wedge-shaped skull— it is a mistake to think tlie head 

 can be too full in the skull- -providing there is no approach to 

 apple-headedness, which is a sure indication of a mastiff or 

 bulldog cross, and most untypical of the true greyhound. The 

 greater the girth of the skull the greater the muscular power 

 of the jaw is a certainty. In deerhounds narrowness of head 

 is considered a characteristic ; but length is really more so, and 

 when heads are very light and narrow they not unfrequently 

 suffer in length: and it is possible for the male deerhound to 

 have too effeminate a head. This is one of the difficulties of 

 breeding, to secure length, h'ghtness and narrowness of head 

 combined, without rendering the jaw weak; but a safe rule in 

 selecting a stud dog of any of these breeds is to look for length 

 of head. 



Over-large ears, weak loins, aud cow hocks are liable to be 

 very hereditary faults. Height, with lean racing shoulders, 

 are"essential in the deerhound, but with this there is a tend- 

 ency to a weak jaw, which is another contrariety that the 

 breeder does not lose sight of, for a dog with either defect, can 

 be neither typical nor useful, loaded shoulders iu any animal 

 intended for speed being simply ruinous. Length of back in 

 the deerhound is not of such importance as some people seem 

 to think, many short-backed greyhounds being very fast, and 

 they have somewhat the advantage in turning. But this point 

 has been too well argued in "Thacker aud Stonehenge on the 

 Greyhound" to enter upon here. At the same time," many of 

 the mere theorists who place so much stress on mere length of 

 body overlook the far more typical characteristic of the breed, 

 viz., well arched loins. In St. Bernards the rage for size has 

 blinded many judges, as well as misled the public. Weight is 

 here, again, the best guide to the breeder, and if at our larger 

 shows the prize winners were weighed officially and then: 

 weight given in their catalogue, it would be very useful to 

 breeders of the larger varieties, as well as render thecatalogues 

 more valuable. In St. Bernards good loins and well-formed 

 hindquarters should be looked for, as all very tall dogs are 

 liable to run somewhat shelly, flat-sided, weak in loin and 

 defective in ribs. In the ' mastiff, where shortness of 

 muzzle and shortness in limbs are highly characteristic of the 

 breed (points in which the London breeders have made such 

 decided improvement in the last few years, oirt-distanemg the. 

 older luminaries of the present generation), it has been re- 

 marked that there is a corresponding shortening of the body — 

 the latter a defect to a certain extent ; but instead of con- 

 demning or foregoing the short, broad head, breeders should, 

 at the same time, cultivate length of body, which Low (in his 

 "Domestic Animals of Great Britain," upon the hog) states is 

 effected more by liberal feeding than in any other way. He 

 says: "When the supplies of food are increased, the size of 

 the intestinal canal, etc., becomes extended, and this is indi- 

 cated by a prolongation of the back and enlargement of the 

 capacity of the trunk." And we may learn from what pig - 

 breeders have done that length of body is compatible with ex- 

 cessive shortness of muzzle. Thus for judges iguorantly to 

 select mastitfs possessing mere length of' body, is the way to 

 obtain long-legged, weak, narrow-loined, shelly-bodied, weak- 

 jointed, long-headed outsiders. Shortness of "back, it should 

 be remembered, being, to a certain extent, a sign of strength 

 either in the mastiff, cart horse, or hunter, how little do many 

 dog breeders and judges know of congruity of type, harmony 

 and unison of parts, consistency of proportion in form, and 

 concordance in points. 



In cultivating size in the mastiff (a consideration to a certain 

 extent, but not a typical or characteristic, as some think) it 

 should not be to obtain a little, long-bodied, stilty, boarhound- 

 like animal. Both breeder and judge should cultivate short- 

 ness of head and sufficient length of body, however adverse to 

 one another. But for either the breeder or judge to forego the 

 essential shortness of limbs and muzzle is to show sheer 

 ignorance of the characteristics of the breed, yet cobbiness 

 should be avoided. Another opposite in the points of tlie 

 mastiff is smallness of ear and pendulosity of lips and wrinkle 

 and loose skin about the head generally, all characteristics of 

 the breed that have been remarked from the earliest times, and 

 it is palpable that uone of these points should be cultivated at 

 the expense of the other: but whenever the ear is very small 

 and throat free from all dewlap there will be a tendency 

 toward absence of wrinkle, and the pendulosity of the lips will 

 be impaired, for it may be broadly laid down that leather and 

 wrinkle go together. Thus it is evident a medium or even 

 large ear should be admitted by a judge sooner than seeking 

 niere lightness of ear (a boarhound or deerhouud characteris- 

 tic sooner than a mastiff), and breeders should not lose sight 

 of one point in pursuance of others. Points like length 

 and depth of body are more dependent on good rear- 

 ing, especially exercise, than breed. Another opposite 

 is smallness of ear, combined with freedom from any 

 indication of erection; for when the ear is small, espe- 

 cially in muscular specimens, there is a natural tendency to 

 part or total erection. This can only be combined by patient 

 selection ; and fox-terrier breeders have shown what may be 

 done by perseverance. Bull-terriers, perhaps the most arti- 

 ficial of all compound breeds, present the greatest number of 

 contrarieties of any, and are consequently one of the most 

 difficult to produce of high quality. Yet the state of perfec- 

 tion and closeness of approach to the ideal standard these 

 dogs often attain prove that with care, cultivation and skill 

 the breeder may attain nearly anything and everything he 

 desires in canine form. Truly muUum inparvo in this variety 

 the educated breeder must see. In the domestic hog. through 

 cultivation and good feeding, the head has been shortened, 

 the length of the legs reduced, while the body has been 

 enlongated and the number of the dorsal lumbar "and caudal 

 vertebras actually increased. This shows alteration and 

 improvement may lie attained in some points without sacriue- 



