254 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 17, 1890. 



DOGS OF THE DAY. 



ON my return from Boston show, I took the opportunity 

 of calling upon Secretary Vredenburgh, as I had pro- 

 mised to do, to look at the A. K. 0. As I have already said, 

 I never had any supicion that there was any §1,000 loan to 

 the A. K. C. There has never been any evidence that the 

 treasurer is a past master as a public accountant, but no 

 one has ever had reason either to doubt his word or his 

 honesty, When he therefore said in so many words,that 

 there had never been a cent contributed to the A. K. C. 

 funds, except what had come from the regular sources of 

 revenue, there was an end in my mind to any such idea as I 

 had been told about the §1,000 check. It was not to satisfy 

 myself on this point that I took a look at the books, but to 

 be able to give a few facts which would clear the matter up. 

 Mr. Vredenburgh handed me the cash book which had been 

 kept by Mr. A. D. Lewis; it gave every item of receipt and 

 expenditure. This book was balanced up to Jan. 11, with 

 the now celebrated balance of $1,228.28, which was alleged 

 to have been made up of the contributed SI, 000. From this 

 point I worked backward, noting the carried forwards on 

 each page and roughly the difference eaused by the addition 

 of each page. In this way I came to a brought forward 

 balance on July 12, 1889, of $651,40, beyond which I did not 

 take the trouble of going. Here then is the result of my in- 

 vestigation. The July balance appears on page 3d of' the 

 cash book and sixty-two pages further on, page 94, comes 

 the balance of $1,228,28. The average footing of a page was 

 about. $60, one was as low as $30 and there were two high 

 ones, one of which was $160, the other about the same. Now 

 how was the $1,000 paid in the A, K. C. We must either 

 accept the cash book as correct or else say that Messrs. Vre- 

 denburgh and Lewis are a couple of consummate rascals to 

 concoct such a cash book. I accept it as correct. Then as 

 to the hiatus between Jan. 2 and Jan. 11, which some of my 

 readers may remember was said to have been so skillfully 

 arranged as to enable the $1,000 being poked into the treas- 

 ury, the actual receipts between these dates were iust 

 $122.75. 



In making this statement I am not entering into any dis- 

 cussion as to the method of preparing and dividing the A. 

 K. C. accounts. They are bad beyond palliation, as I have 

 previously shown when discussing them at the time of pub- 

 lication. What I do say is this, that any charges that the 

 A. K. C. bad to get outside support during the year 18S9, or 

 up to Jan. 11, are simply preposterous, unless a "man is will- 

 ing to saddle such a charge with the additional one of the 

 grossest deceit on the part of two of the A. K. C. employees. 



I do not know how widespread may be the misunder- 

 standing among the associate members as to their rights 

 and privileges, but it was evident by the introduction of 

 Dr. Foote's "resolution at the associate's meeting held at 

 Bostou, and the discussion it entailed, that there is some 

 misconception. Dr. Foote's resolution called for the dis- 

 membering of the associate memberships. This is an im- 

 possibility for the associates to accomplish. It is not a club, 

 and the members have no such power. We are simply a 

 group of individualities and can only disintegrate our own 

 selves. The American Kennel Club,' which created the 

 associate membership, can alone wipe it out, and that by 

 altering its constitution. The whole business is cut and 

 dried for us. If we like it we come in, pay over $5 and get 

 therefor $7 worth of goods. If we don't like it we needn't 

 join, and if we want the §7 worth we have to pay $7 for it. 

 Over and above this pecuniary consideration we have a right 

 of representation on the A. K. C. executive committee at 

 the rate of three delegates to begin with, and one additional 

 delegate for each hundred members after the first hundred. 



Dr. Perry, in his address to the associates at BostoD, said 

 we ought to instruct our delegates what to do. I don't see 

 how we can. We elect by popular vote the men the major- 

 ity believe to be competent enough to represent them and 

 to act for the best interests of the members, collectively aDd 

 individually. Each member must act for himself. If any 

 one has a suggestion to make it is the duty of the delegate 

 he may choose to send it to to place it before the A. K. C. 

 no matter whether that delegate is in accordance with it or 

 not. Each member is practically what a club is to its dele- 

 gate, but an associate member's delegate is not necessarily 

 bound to support every such motion or proposition by argu- 

 ment. 



With reference to the entry of the pointer dog Robertson 

 at Baltimore, which appeared in the catalogue without any- 

 thing but the name. Mr. J. H. Winslow gives the following 

 explanation: "I take pleasure in informing you as well as 

 I can how it happened. My entries were all sent from 

 Chicago, and I had no facts and figures before me, and I 

 simply wrote Mr. Diffenderffer, giving the names of my 

 entries and asking him to look in the New York catalogue 

 for further particulars. This dog Robertson was en tered at 

 the New York show in the name of J. F. Wilson, which was 

 a mistake; but his name, breeding, etc., was correct, as you 

 will see by referring to number 327. Mr. Diffenderffer, I 

 suppose, looked for Robertson as belonging to J. H. Win- 

 slow, and was unable to find it." The Robertson entry was 

 named solely because the clog won nothing, and I knew Mr. 

 Winslow would not object to my picking it out of the many 

 entries which were not printed according to rule. 



Mr. Vredenburgh said to me in New York, that he thought 

 I should not make vague charges, for he didn't think it was 

 his duty to be a detective and spy after law-breakers. This 

 with reference to my having said that a club had altered its 

 date of closing entries. I thought every one knew about it 

 and it was with no idea of giving evasive information I did 

 not mention the club by name. Last January, the secretary 

 of the Collie Club published a notice in the kennel papers 

 that his committee had decided to alter the conditions of 

 the stud dog stakes. The letter was dated Jan, 6 and the 

 original entry date was Dec. 1. 



The result of the voting for officers and delegates of the 

 associate members of the A. K. C, will be somewhat of a 

 surprise. I understand that it is as follows: Pres., Dr J 

 Frank Perry; Viee-Pres., L. F. Whitman; Sec'y, A P Vre- 

 denburgh. Delegates, Dr. Perry, Messrs. Anthony and Vre- 

 denburgh, I think it is of doubtful policy to have the sec- 

 retary of the A. K. C. act as secretary of the associate mem- 

 bers. However, if Mr Vredenburgh does the amount of 

 work Dr. Perry calls for, there will be no reason to com- 

 plain. I am told that there are now over 300 members and 

 it is very desirable that a start should be made at once on 

 the vote for the additional delegates, so they can be on hand 

 tor the May meeting of the executive committee. 



4.-u A £? ot % s \ w f s l° d S ea with the Rochester Kennel Club by 

 the YVoodstock Spaniel Kennels against both Newton Ab- 

 bott Skipper and Bridford Lady as being ineligible for the 

 challenge class, field spaniels, at that show. I believe 

 he says he entered them in their proper class. If this is 

 so, the mistake is then on the part of the Rochester K C 

 However that may be, the matter has been settled, so far as 

 the protest was concerned, by allowing it and navifie the 

 first prize to the Woodstock Kennels for Bridford Gladys. 



Among recent sales are the following: The toy black and 

 tan terrier Tippoo, by Dimple out of Queen Dot, bv the 

 Manchester Terrier Kennels, of Philadelphia, to Mrs J H 



+ ' P °4. New The basset b °™nl Chasseur, by Farmer 



out of Flora, by Mr. Cornelius Stevenson to Mr. C, F Staf- 



ford, both of Philadelphia. The collie bitch Mavis, by 

 Eclipse out of Nesta, by the undersigned to the Chestnut 

 Hill Kennels. Mavis has been bred to The Squire. 



It costs something to keep a breeding kennel at Provi- 

 dence, judging by the following advertisement clipped from 

 the Providence Journal: "Everv owner or keeper of a dog, 

 of what age soever, in the city of Providence, shall annually 

 m the month of April, cause such dog to be registered, 

 numbered and described, from the first day of the ensuing 

 June; and shall cause it to wear a collar round its neck dis- 

 tinctly marked with its owner's name and with its registered 

 number; and shall pay to the Chief of Police for such license 

 one dollar and fifteen cents for a male dog and five dollars 

 and fifteen cents for a female dog." If vou don't take out 

 the license until May it costs a dollar extra, but as to what 

 happens after May the "ad" is silent. 



. , Mr ^J >es J ia11 P^sed through Philadelphia last week, and 

 Mr. Winslow and I did our best to convince him that there 

 was no difference between a greyhound coursing a hare and 

 a setter or pointer hunting quail. A good hour's work 

 thrown away. We did get him to acknowledge, however, 

 that to course a hare found in the open was not cruelty! 

 Hence, it is not the coursing that is a cruelty, but theplaciug 

 the bares in a corral where they have all the feed and water 

 they need. If it hadn't been that in this much-governed 

 City of Brotherly Love, with license applications pending, 

 lights are turned out at midnight, there is no saying what 

 might have been the result of this two-to-one engagement. 

 Mr. Peshall gave us the discouraging information that the 

 coursing bill had been thrown out at Albany, and says that 

 the Society on the next occasion of any coursing, whether 

 with terriers or greyhounds, will take hares and dogs and 

 destroy the latter. 'Ware chase." 



The Stud Book made its appearance close upon the prom- 

 ised date. I have come across one criticism of it. ''Oak 

 view" complains that there is no index. If the well-known 

 gentleman who uses that signature will look again he will 

 find that it indexes itself. You turn to the breed and all 

 the entries are in alphabetical order. My growl is that 

 there has been no effort made to give the complete record of 

 the dogs. This is done in the English Stud Book and 

 should be done here. I also think it was done last year, but 

 as I have not got a copy of the Stud Book of 1889 I am not 

 positive. In all these things we ought to make improve- 

 ments if we possibly can, and not allow adverse comparisons 

 to be possible- 

 Here comes in the question. How about registering prize 

 dogs? The A. K. C. rule now is that all prize winners are 

 registered free. For the information of the folks at 44 

 Broadway I will state that the secretary of the English 

 Kennel Club sends out to all prize dog owners blanks in 

 which to give the full extended pedigree. That I know was 

 the custom when I was exhibiting in England, in 1878 and 

 1879, and it is not likely to have been discontinued. I hap- 

 pen to be on the Stud Book committee, a perfect sinecure 

 seemingly, for I have had nothing to do regarding the book 

 since my appointment last February, so it will not be my 

 fault if this is not done in the next Stud Book. 



The case of the deaf bull-terrier Beryl at Boston is likely 

 to bring to a determination what is to be considered total 

 deafness, which under the rules is a case for disqualification. 

 This idea of testing a dog by shotgun in a room, whether 

 adjoining or not, is immaterial so long as they are communi- 

 cating, is no test of deafness. It is my misfortune to be able 

 to testify regarding the wonderful sensitiveness of other 

 organs, when hearing is defective. Anything that causes a 

 jar or concussion is no test at all for deafness, unless the 

 deafness is a sudden attack and before the othpr faculties 

 have gained their acute sensitiveness. Passing a finger 

 across my forehead will awake me when calling would fail. 

 Not that I could not hearthe calling if awoke, but the other 

 faculty has been improved upon, A person treading as 

 lightly as possible across the floor of a room will be detected 

 without a sound being heard. But putting that subject on 

 one side, what is total deafness as contemplated by the rule? 

 Is it not such a degree of deafness as prevents the dog bein 

 under control? Is it not that the dog's sense of hearing 

 shall be acute enough to enable him to respond to a call ? I f 

 we are to have no limit such as that, where are we to end 

 with our tests? Mr. Porter says the dog gave no recognition 

 ot loud noises, and the gun test was tried later on. If a gun 

 test fails can an owner call for a cannon or a nitro-glycerine 

 test? Mr. Porter seems at a loss to know how the A. K C 

 can be reached on this subject. Of course an appeal on the 

 Beryl protest is out of the question. The Vet. in such a 

 case is the boss and there is no appeal from his dictum 

 What can be done is to ask for an interpretation of the rule 

 Mr. Porter can do that either by letter or through a member 

 of the executive committee, the former for choice, as the 

 committee man might forget. j. W". 



AN OLD-FASHIONED COON HUNT. 



ON the night of Nov. 11 the four Frakes boys, Briden- 

 stein and I started out after coons. We had two 

 hounds, Frakes' Bugs and my Flora. We had bad luck 

 until late in the night and the boys grumbled, but I told 

 them not to get discouraged until we stopped hunting, for 

 we would surely get one, and my prophesy came true. 



At last the dogs struck a trail on a fence and Bugs soou 

 lost it entirely, but Flora had better luck and went on and 

 treed the coons alone, up a big stub. They went inside of 

 the tree. Then the fun began. We threw o'ff our coats and 

 went in for a good piece of work chopping down the tree. 

 When it fell the coons thought it safer to remain inside, so 

 they stayed there. Then we did have fun; any one that 

 ever hunted coons must well know that. The next thing 

 was to get them out. We finally cut a hole big enough for 

 a dog to get in. 1 looked in and the first thing I saw was 

 six eyes. There were three coons. 



I let Flora in through the hole that we had cut, and one 

 of the Frakes got a pole and punched in at the other end of 

 the hollow. Presently Flora came out with a 12-pound coon 

 and killed it. Back she went after another one, and F. be- 

 gan punching again. She caught it and pulled it part way 

 out, but lost her hold, and back it went. That one was the 

 old one, and such a time as we had to kill her! All of the 

 boys had clubs to keep the coons from going up other trees. 

 After we had got her out 1 would get the dogs off, And then 

 say, "Hit her on the head," which they always missed and 

 struck her on the back, which would only roll the fat over 

 a little. Once she got on a tree and one of the boys struck 

 at her with his fist, but missed the coon and hit the tree. 

 He said it hurt, and it looked so to me. Well, it was first 

 man, then dog and then coon on top. until it was killed; all 

 were hallooing, barking and squalling together. The third 

 coon did not make much fun; but we got all three of them 

 They are quite plenty here this fall. F. C. S. 



Vioksbubg, Mich. 



THE AMERICAN' FOX-TERRIER CLTJB. — At the an- 

 nual meeting of the American Fox-Terrier Club, held in 

 Boston, April 1, 1890, the following gentlemen were elected 

 officers for the ensuing year: August Belmont, Jr., Presi- 

 dent; John E. Thayer, Vice-President; H. P. Frothinghani 

 Secretary-Treasurer; Governors, August Belmont, Jr., John 

 E. Thayer, L. M. Rutherfurd, Jr., W. Rutherfurd, H. P 

 Frothinghani, Clarence Rathbone, Edward Kelly, F R 

 Hitchcock, Fred Hpey.— H. P. FflOTHINGHAM, Sec'y, 



SPAYING. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Doctor Fritts has the honor of furnishing us with the 

 most dogmatic if not the most amusing of articles on spay- 

 ing, and it is to be hoped the majority of his numerous ex- 

 periments have been made on the yaller dog and not on the 

 good ones. He is correct in saying that the operation is safe 

 in competent hands under antiseptic methods. 



I cannot see why the removal of any natural and healthy 

 organ from an animal is not an unnatural operation. If it 

 were a natural one nature would probably remove it with- 

 out our assistance. 



Heretofore it has been an accepted fact that the removal 

 of the essential organs of generation of either sex was fol- 

 lowed by an increase of fat, and an increased tenderness of 

 the muscles. Tenderness may not be synonomous with 

 weakness, but still it may. If the above is not correct what 

 adequate explanation have we of the time-honored custom 

 of spaying sows and caponizing chickens. 



Has your correspondent put his spayed bitches through 

 months of field work with others that were not spayed, or 

 kept them in idleness with unspayed bitches, on the same 

 amount of food, and carefully compared their condition in 

 regard to fat? If not, his experiments are not complete. 



We are not treating of isolated cases. Some selected 

 bitches will probably be good after considerable abuse, 

 having unusual natural abilities. I lately lost an intimate 

 friend, who was one of the best shots and' all-around sports- 

 men m this State. At the age of thirty he lost his right 

 arm near the shoulder joint. Would it be proper, using 

 him as an example, for me to advise young men who have 

 an ambition to excel in field sports, to begin their prepara- 

 tions by removing the right arm? 



Has it occurred to the doctor that the surroundings of the 

 stallion iu our civilization are almost as unnatural as that 

 ot the gelding, his use tending to develop his sexual tend- 

 encies to an unnatural extent. I had occasion to live, for 

 eleven years where stallions were exclusively used, and it 

 has never been my fortune to see such horses since. If cas- 

 trating a horse is of such iuestimable value, outside of the 

 unpleasantness connected with his sexual instincts, why is 

 it that we have not had spayed mares for generations? 



The effect on the mental qualities can but be taken'np 

 under the head of women, as tbe doctor brings her into the 

 question. In the first place it was not the intention of the. 

 pioneers in this operation that it should be done on healthy 

 ovaries. Still, many an unfortunate woman can testify in 

 sorrow that it has been done. The number of unsexed 

 women increased very fast, and the conservative members 

 of the profession soon began to view with some alarm the 

 future of these women, and if the doctor keeps as well 

 posted on medical as he does on sporting literature, he is 

 certainly aware that the pendulum has long since swung 

 the other way, because as time passed so large a percentage 

 of these unfortunates became the victims of various mental 

 dcraugements, from insanity down. It is naturally impos- 

 sible for an unsexed animal, man, woman, or beast, to be a 

 perfect one. If any one wants to spay his bitch, she is iu 

 his.power, and if he gets a good dog, he has probably lost a 

 phenomenal one. Bkeam, 



G eorgia. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



You need not bother about the subject of spaying bitches, 

 for full 90 per cent, of the experienced huntsmen of the 

 country are with you, and I believe you may safely count 

 on 99 per cent, of the fox hunters. I make no objection to 

 the pain incident to the operation, as that may ba slight; 

 and I am not sufficiently up in psychology to know what 

 effect gelding produces on the brain. But right here I take 

 leave to say I have never read of nor heard of a eunuch who 

 was great either in the field of thought or on the field of 

 battle, or any other field of action. It is a fact known to 

 every one, who takes the trouble to note what he sees, that 

 spayed bitches and altered dogs, after a few years, are too 

 ready to take on flesh, and always becomes dull and lazy 

 and logy. They lose spirit and dash; animation and ambi- 

 tion are most essential qualities to every hunting dog. The 

 reason given for castrating horses is the very reason for not 

 castrating dogs; the object in the former case being to re- 

 duce the stallion's surplus energy and courage, of which a 

 dog cannot have too much. I am aware a few geldings have 

 distinguished themselves on the turf, but they are sluggish, 

 every one, and require tremendous punishment every time 

 with whip and spur. Besides, at the supreme moment they 

 often lack pluck or endurance, whichever it may be, and by 

 flunking throw away the race. Added to this, it goes with- 

 out saying among horsemen that stallions are more intelli- 

 gent than geldings. Stoxewall. 



Minneapolis, Minn., April 3. 



BUFFALO DOG SHOW. 



• [Special to Forest and Stream ] 



BUFFALO, April 15.— The Buffalo Dog Show opened to- 

 day. Owing to an accident on the railroad a number of 

 dogs did not arrive and the judging was postponed until to- 

 morrow in some of the classes. The weather is fine and the 

 attendance has been fair. The bull bitch Dimple and the 

 bull-terrier bitch Miilstream were found dead in their box 

 when they arrived, having been smothered on the way. The 

 show appears to be well managed and is running smoothly. 

 A number of good dogs are present, and a few new ones, 

 that are also good, have been brought out. Judging is not 

 nearly complete and the list of awards will not be given un- 

 til next week. 



CENTRAL FIELD TRIALS. 



NEW YORK, April 14.— Editor Forest and Stream: We 

 would consider it a favor if vou will kindly make 

 known the fact that Messrs. J. M. Tracy, John Davidson 

 and N. Wallace will judge all the stakes at our coming field 

 trials. Our All-Aged Stakes will not close uutil Oct. 15, 

 and the Free-for-All Nov. 1. In the All-Aged Stake pointers 

 and setters will be run separately, as the cash prizes will be 

 the same as last year, viz,: $230 to first, $150 to second, and 

 $1C0 to third, with $200 additional to the absolute winner of 

 the All-Aged Stake. The Free-for-All Stake will be £1,000 

 to the winner of first, and this year we will add $100 to the 

 last dog beaten by the winner of first. 



Central Field Teial Club, C. H. Odell, Sec-Treas 



LOS ANGELES DOG SHOW. — We have received the 



give a cup each for the best sporting and non-sporting dog. 

 Winners of first in all classes, when brought from a distance 



of 200 miles and over, will receive in addition to diploma 

 their entry fee. Several valuable specials are offered and 

 many more are promised. Mr. H. W. Wilson is the super- 

 intendent. Mr. H. H. Briggs, of the Breeder and Sports- 

 man, will judge all classes. Entries close May 1. The ad- 

 dress of the secretary is E. K. Benchley, Los Angeies, Cal. 



DOG POISONING.— A correspondent at Los Angeles, 

 Cal„ writes: '"There has been considerable dog poisoning 

 here of late, and the Southern California Kennel Club has 

 offered a reward of $250 for the conviction of the guilty 

 parties." * * - • • - - — - •= 



