258 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 17, 1890. 



FRANKFORD, April 14.— We expected to shoot a match with 

 the West Jersey Gun Club on Saturday, April 12, hut the shoot 

 was postponed on account of the Jerseyites having their club 

 house torn down preparatory to rebuilding. Mr. Heikes was the 

 guest of Mr. Wolsteneroft during his stay in Frankford, and on 

 Easter Monday be shot at 100 birds on the club Grounds with Mr. 

 Wolsteneroft. It has never been the writer's fortune to see such 

 a grand exhibition of shooting. The conditions of the race were 

 100 Keystones, 3 traps, 28yds. rise, both barrels. After the rain 

 stopped falling the wind began to blow a gale, and it. blew so hard 

 that the thick paper rolls that the targets come in would bo blown 

 end-over-end off the grounds, and the targets would dip and soar 

 and zigzag, in every conceivable way. Mr. Heikes won the race 

 by breaking 94 out of 100. Mr. Wolsteneroft broke 88. Mr. Heikes 

 used his second barrell3 times, ana Mr. Wolsteneroft used his 

 second 20 times. This is phenomenal shooting under the condi- 

 tions that prevailed. Before Mr. Heikes left for Ohio lie deluded 

 the club purchasing committee into buying a lot of blueroek 

 targets and traps, and our last now member bought his gun. 

 The writer supposes that the infant thought that the gun was so 

 thoroughly broken in that it would stand him in good stead for 

 lack of skill. On Saturday, April 19, the Wawasett Club of Wil- 

 mington will make a pilgrimage to our grounds at Frankford to 

 shoot a match with us. We propose to turn the grounds into a 

 Waterloo for them if it lies in the wood .— S. 



NEW YORK STATE SHOOT.-The thirty-second annual con- 

 vention of the New York State Asssociation for the Protection of 

 Fish and Game, will be held at Lyons, N. Y., June 9, 10. U, 12 and 

 13. The committee of arrangements are: Or. J. W. Putnam 

 (chairman), R. J. Parshall, M. L. Forsyth. H. G. Hotehkiss, Jr., H. 

 B. Whitney, Henry Killick, W. S. Gavitt, Sec.-Treas. Matters 

 pertaining to the coming convention are progressing finely, and 

 the committee now has the. assurance of a grand success. Prizes 

 have been donated in goodly numbers, and they expect to issue 

 the largest cash and merchandise list that has been had for sev- 

 eral years. American Association trap rules will govern in all 

 contests except live-bird shooting and the sweepstake shooting. 

 The sweepstake shooting will be open to all comers, and it is 

 hoped that many outside of the State v\ill take advantage of this 

 and attend. It is intended to make this a strong feature at this 

 convention. Ample accommodations will he made, and it is the 

 purpose of the committee to make it pleasant for all and to fur- 

 nish such conveniences as sportsmen enjoy. The grounds are 

 good, easy of access; shooting to the north. Tne programmes, 

 both, of association shoots and sweepstakes, will be issued about 

 May 10. All contemplating coming and desiring these will be 

 furnished by applying to W. S. Gavitt, Secretary, Lyons, N. Y. 

 The targets to be used will be kingbirds, manufactured by Messrs. 

 Cruttenden & Card, of Oazenovia. 



SAN FRANCISCO, April 5.-The Blueroek Shooting Club held 

 its first shoot of the season at Bird's Point this afternoon. There 

 was not a large attendance as the weather was anything but in- 

 viting. It was a most successful shoot, however. On account of 

 the rainy weather, the M»rch shoot had been postponed and the 

 event to-day embraced both tbe March and April shoots. Owing 

 to the la.teness of the hour there was no money sweep, such as 

 usually follows monthly matches. The sport commenced at 2 

 o'clock and continued until nearly 5. The shooting for each 

 month was at 15 singles and 5 pairs, 18yds. rise for JO-bore and 

 16 for 12-bore guns; for doubles the rise, is 14yds. for 10-bore and 

 12 for smaller bore guns. H. H. Briggs acted as referee. The 

 score was as follows of the March shoot: 



AF Adams 16 L Abbott 8 W E Mayhew .15 



W J Fox 14 M H Cad waller. . . 17 CP Stone 10 



RAEddv 11 SEKnowles 19 R E Bell 13 



FG Sanhoru 14 



April shoot: 



Adams 12 Abbott 7 Mayhew 17 



Fox 14 Cadwaller 20 Stone 10 



Eddy 19 Knowles 17 Boll 12 



Sanborn 13 



FREEHOLD, N. J. } April 10.- The Freehold Gunning Club 

 closed its first year this afternoon with a. shoot on its grounds a 

 short distance east of the town. The club has an active member- 

 ship of about forty, and has held shoots twice a month during the 

 year. Millard F. Conover ranks as high man. He won the first 

 medal eight times and the second medal four times, and is now 

 the owner of both. J. Maggee and C. C. Snyder tied Mr. Conover 

 for the third medal by winning it three times. The three men 

 will shoot off, but the chances are decidedly in favor of Mr. Con- 

 over. The club has purchased three line gold scarf pins for prizes 

 this year. They are all of the four-leaved clover pattern. One 

 is studded with diamonds, one with rubies, and the third with 

 pearls. The first shoot of the new year brought D. Buck, Jr., to 

 the front with a record of 8 out of 10. J. W. Danzer and C. W. 

 Campbell tied for second place with 7 each. They shot olT and 

 Mr. Campbell wod.- P. V. Thompson, Millard F. Conover, C. L. 

 Shephard, C. C. Snyder, E. Hart Havens, Frank W. Conover, R. 

 Hulse Cooper and I. D. Norton tied for third place. The shoot off 

 was won by Thompson, who made a score of 8. The club will 

 enter a team in the Monmouth county team shoot at Long Branch 

 in July. 



MASPETH, N. Y., April 8.— First average shoot of club year 

 commencing to-day. Two classes, A and B. Prizes, one gold 

 badge worth $35, each class four money prizes, |15. $10, $7 and $5. 

 Match at 7 live pigeons. 5 King's patent ground traps, handicap 

 22 to 30yds. rise, 80\'ds. boundary, no back bound, club rules: 



Manning... 1111 11 1-7 Duryea 1101111-6 



DSchroeder 1011 100— I Helmken 0111010—4 



Siems 1110101—5 Grau 1011100-4 



Blanch 1111110-6 Bohmcke 1110101-5 



C Meyer 1001110-4 Eberhardt 1011110-5 



Lyon 1101011—5 C Meyer, Jr 1111110-6 



After the regular shoot eight of the members entered in a 

 sweepstakes shoot miss and out, which was hotly contested by 

 Dr. Schrocder and C. Meyer, Jr., the latter winning by killing his 

 fourteenth bird. 



BERGEN POINT, N. J., April 12.— A series of six matches at 

 clay-pigeons on the grounds of the New Jersey Athletic Club 

 furnished considerable sport this afternoon for the gunning con- 

 tingent of the organization and a fair-sized crowd of spectators. 

 The first event on the programme was the third match for the 

 several class badges. Each competitor had 20 birds, the score 

 being as follows: Major J. M. Taylor 14, Richard Sunderinann 

 17, DeWitt C. Smith 0. Geo. S. Vinden 9, Chas. A. Pope 14, Ed. L, 

 Vredenburgh 15. H. M. Popbam 8, R. S. Paret 10, Howard Cook 11. 

 The second match was at 10 birds each: Major J. M. Taylor cap- 

 tured first prize with 9, DeWitt C. Smith second, Paret, Sunder- 

 mann, Cook and Vredenburgh tied for third and Sundermann 

 won; fourth was secured by Popbam. A match with similar con- 

 ditions was the third event : Major J. M. Taylor again won first 

 prize, Sundermann second, Virden third, Smith and Pope divided 

 The fourth event was a walking match at 10 birds: First was won 

 by Vredenburgh, Virden second. Major Taylor third on shoot off. 

 Vredenburgh won first in the fifth event, a match at 5 pairs each; 

 Taylor second, Sunderma.nn third. In the last event, a match at 

 20 birds each, Taylor was again a first prize winner with 12. 

 Vredenburgh cantured second. 



RIVERSIDE, N. J., April 11— One hundred and fifty gunners 

 were present at Riverside this afternoon to witness the live- 

 pigeon shooting match between A. James, a crack shot of the 

 North End Gun Club, of Frankford, and J. Sivad, of the Phila- 

 delphia Sportsman's Club. The shoot was a most exciting one 

 from the time the first bird was liberated until the close of the 

 match. Hurlingham rules governed the contest. Wm. Wolsten- 

 eroft acted as referee. J. H. Gihbs as judge for Sivad and George 

 Elmer as judge for James. The score of the shooters follows, 

 the figure 2 indicating when the second barrel was used: 



A James 1012203 ill:; 1 1 21 1 0 1 222012-83 



J Sivad 1111221111110221010110201—20 



EATONTOWN, N. J., April 12.— The regular weekly clay-bird 

 shoot of the Oceanville Gun Club took place yesterday afternoon. 

 The first event was the club shoot at 10 bluerocks and the score 

 was as follows: W.J.Cook 9, A. T. Metzgar and J. C. Laird 8, 

 W. A. Boecraft, Geo. L. Gibbs and G. White 7, A. B. Stout 6. A 

 number of sweepstake matches followed, which were won by Geo, 

 L. Gibbs and J. C. Laird. 



ATLANTIC CITY, N. J.. April ]0.-Tho monthly shoot of the 

 Atlantic Gun Club for the gold and silver medals took place on 

 the club's grounds this afternoon. The score resulted as follows. 

 15 singles and 10 double*: C. Minerd 21, R. C. Griscom 17, Thos. 

 Wilson 17, S, Lillig 17, A. C. Griscom 16, Dr. Raith 16, Wm. Hay- 

 day 15. Geo. Thompson 13. C. Minerd and R. C. Griscom, accord- 

 ing to the rules of the. club, were not entitled to the medals, as 

 they had not broken their previous records. Wilson and Lillig 

 shot off for first place, in which Wilson won, receiving the gold 

 medal, the silver medal going to Lillig. 



TOW AND A, Pa„ April 11.— At the regular weekly shoot of the 

 Towanda Rod and Gun Club the following scores were made from 

 two traps, known angles. 16yds. rise for 25 singles and 11yds. for 

 10 doubles: Snider 18, Montanye 23. Dittrich 23, Turner 14, Rit- 

 tenbury 31.— D i 



MASPETH, L. I., April 9. -Regular monthly shoot of the Man- 

 hattan Gun Club of New York: 



M Lichtenberger 1111111—7 Aug Eberhardt 1101111— « 



J Bayer 1011000—3 P J Lambrecht, 1100111—5 



Geo Fahrenkopf 1000100—2 Jos Breitkepf 0100001—2 



Classified shoot, SI entrance: 



Lichtenberger 111110-5 Lambrecht 111100-4 



Bayer 010100—3 Breitkopf 111111-6 



AUBURN, N. Y.— On April 23 the Auburn Gun Club will hold 

 an all-day open tournament, rapid-firing system, on its grounds. 



PORTLAND, Ore., March 30 -At an exhibition shoot here to- 

 day at live pigeons Capt. Bogardus only killed 22 out of 30. He 

 and his sons have been here for a couple of weeks, but go on to- 

 morrow to Montana. 



HOLMESBIJRG. Pa., April 7— Several members of the Holmes- 

 burg Gun Club had a shoot to-day at 23 birds each: Enoch 14, 

 McMaster 12, Griffiths 9, Johnson 6, Fleming 6. 



CAZENOVIA, N. Y., April 8.— Yon were at Albany last year 

 and saw the 18yds. plunge trap bird shoot for Dean Richmond 

 trophy. Is it not about time the Empire State done away with 

 this style and adopt ground traps and 30yds. rise?— C. 



ztwqing. 



The list of officers and directions for joining the A. C. A. and 

 W. Q, A. will be found in the first issue of each month. 



FIXTURES. 



May. 



30. Bed Dragon, Spring Regatta 29-Junel. Passaic River Meet, 



and Trophy Cups. Newark Bay. 



30. South Boston, Open. 



.TUNE. 



7. Mariue and Field, Bath. 21. New York, Annual. 

 14. Iauthe. Spring. 28. Brooklyn, Annual. 



17. South Boston, Clnb, 



•TUXY. 



1-15. Central Div., Lake Chan- 12. Yonkers, Open, Yonker-. 



tauqua, N. Y. 26. South Boston, Club. 



12. South Boston, Open. — . Northern Div. A. C. A., Lake 



12-26. W. C. A. Meet, Ballast of Two Mountains. 



Island, 



AUGUST. 



?.. South Boston, Open. 23. South Boston, Open. 



8-32. A.C.A.Meet, Jessup's Neck 30. Orange, Annual. 



SEPTEMBER. 



1. Ianthe, Annual. 30, 31, Sept. 1, South Boston, Har- 



bor Meet. 



CANOE SAILS. 



THE present time is emphatically an era of experiment in all 

 branches of pleasure sailing, and at no period of their hist "ry 

 have so many important advances been made both in yachting 

 and in canoeing as in the past five years. In hotb sports most 

 radical changes have taken place in models and methods; the 

 heavy lead keel of the modern yacht is paralleled by the sliding 

 seat of the canoe, each adding to the power, though in widely dif- 

 ferent ways; and, so far at least, as speed is concerned, great ad- 

 vances have been made in every direction. In the position of the 

 two sports to-day, however, a very curious contrast is noticeable. 

 In yachting the question of rig may be considered as finally set- 

 tled, at least for an indefinite time; the modern cutter rig has 

 driven out all others— the sloop, the lugger, the schooner, the 

 yawl— and while a number of details arc still far from perfect, it 

 is not probable that for many years we shall see any radical de- 

 parture from the sail plans of the present American and British 

 fleets. I n model, however, the case is entirely different, and the 

 question is still open between the center board and keel, with odds 

 in favor of the one or the other according to the size of the boat; 

 between the varying proportions of beam and depth, exemplified 

 best in the wide range covered by the 40ft. class, from Liris to 

 Minerva. The tendency at present toward the keel boat of mod- 

 erate dimensions and power is very strongly marked; but no one 

 ran say which of the many types represented in the lively strife 

 now in progress will prove the survivor, or whether aU will give 

 place, to something as yet unknown. 



In canoeing the exact reverse of these conditions is found; for 

 three seasons past there have been comparatively few advances in 

 model, and while there are to-day many good boats and the 

 general standard has been greatly raised, the best of these are 

 practically no better than the leading boats of 1887 and '88, such 

 as Ply and Notus. As far as model is concerned, the result of the 

 racing last year and the year previous seems to show that within 

 the very wide range comprised between Fly and Eclipse, there is 

 little to choose in point of speed, and that with equal rigs and 

 handlings one would he as fast as another. The fact seems to be, 

 that in canoeing, the boats all being of the same general dimen- 

 sions, 16X30 and 3 to 5in. draft, all niceties and refinements of 

 model are of comparatively little importance, so long as the bout, 

 is uot really unfair or the displacement very badly balanced. The 

 sliding seat makes the power and stabili'y of the boat of little im- 

 portance, a deficiency in this direction is more than made up by a 

 little extra agility on the part of the crew; the lines, in a boat of 

 six beams, must of necessity be fine and easy; and the fore and 

 aft. trim is easily controlled by the position of the crew, no need 

 to cut off the lead keel or to take it off entirely and recast it. The 

 main factors in the modern racing canoe would appear to be the 

 skill and agility of the man, bis ability to do half a dozen things 

 at once; the sliding seat, a big centerboard and the sails. 



On this last point, however, canoeists are by no means agreed; 

 there is as much diversity among canoe rigs as among yacht 

 models, and the next improvements in canoe sailing must be 

 looked for in this direction. Such a state of affairs is conducive to 

 great advances in both sports; the yachtsman of to-day can be 

 sure of having just as good a rig as his fellows, and the good or 

 bad performance of his boat, under good handline-, may be largely 

 ascribed to model and details of hull rather than rig. The racing 

 canoeist, on the other hand, can build or buy a boat that is no 

 whit inferior to the crack racers, but for the rest he must depend 

 mainly on his rig. The use of battens on canoe sails has been uni- 

 versal here for the last 10 years, the idea being taken from the 

 English, and by them from the Chinese. The improvement in 

 baHened sails, especially in the direction first pointed out by Mr. 

 Barney in the Pecowsic, has been so great that the superiority of 

 the. battens was unquestioned by canoeists. A couple of years 

 ago, however, Mr. Gilbert H. Wilson, the well known yacht sail- 

 maker, became interested in the canoe rigs, and on a close study 

 of them he. in conversation with some canoeists, condemned the 

 battens entirely as destroying the proper sit of the sail and greatly 

 impairing its efficiency. His statement that a better sail could 

 be made without battens led to a trial of such sails by Mr. C. J. 

 Stevens, of the canoe Vagabond, of the New York C. C, and for 

 two seasons Mr. Stevens lias experimented with them, a number 

 of sails having been made for him by Mr. F. M. Wilson, of Port 

 Jefferson, a brother of Mr Gilbert ft. Wilson. At our request 

 Mr. Stevens has prepared the following notes embodying the re- 

 sults of a long experience with canoe sails of all kinds, beginning 

 with the old English battened balance lug. His remarks apply 

 only to racing sails, in which speed is the sole object; and while 

 the same principles are involved in designing a cruising rig, there 

 are other essentials to be considered in such a case. 



Since the only reason for puttiug sail on any boat is to propel 

 her at some desirable speed, it follows that the sole object of the 

 racing canoeist in designing a sail plan is to obtain that one 

 which is the most effective, or will secure for him the greatest 

 number of prizes. In designing a suit of sails we have to consider 

 fust, area; second, form; third, distribution; fourth, material. 



Area.— The area will be determined by the supposed stability of 

 the boat, but is usually arrived at by comparison with other boats. 

 At present most racing men use from 100 to 125ft., with a steady 

 upward tendency, as methods are developed enabling greater 

 areas to be carried. The recent introduction of the sliding seat 

 has so increased the power of the boat on the wind that it is now 

 generally accepted that the only limit to sail spread is the amount 

 which can be carried to leeward. 



F<yrm.— The form of sail has been undergoing a steady change 

 for many years, and all in the direction of the greatest efficiency 

 to windward, since experience has shown that to he the most im- 

 portant quality in racing. At present the three leading forms of 

 sail in use are the standing battened of Eclipse and Canuck, the 

 hoisting battened of Fly, and hoisting unbattened of Vagabond. 

 The question of whether or not sails should hoist has practically 

 ceased to be of importance, for after the success of Notus, Fly, 

 and the other Lowell boats, it may safely be accepted as a fact 

 that there is practically no difference in speed between the two. 

 The standing sail is the simpler to rig, but is not so safe as the 

 hoisting. The question of rigging has undoubtedly had more to 

 do with the favor in which the standing sail has been held in the 



past than anything else, and there is no doubt that it will be less 

 popular as canoeists learn the art of rigging neatly and well. 



Since it is accepted that the limit of sail is that which can be 

 carried to leeward, and, further, since such limit is practically 

 fixed by the amount which can he safely jibed, it becomes impor- 

 tant to discover in what form we can get the greatest area with 

 the least danger during this delicate operation. Numerous ex- 

 periments show that to get this safely in the greatest degree we 

 must keep the center of effort as near the mast as possible, and 

 musc not have any sail aft of a straight line, struck from a point 

 on a line with the mast equal to the greatest height of sail, to the 

 clew; the dotted lines in the drawings. Such a sail is the "leg of 

 mutton," which can be jibed in almost any weather in which it 

 can be carried. In other forms as the sail is brought aft of the 

 straight line it will bo found that the sail catches the projecting 

 part outside this liue when brought amidship in jibing, and sends 

 it over with such an impetus as to be dangerous in strong breezes. 



For windward work, since more sail can then be carried with 

 the sliding seat than to leeward, a low center of effort, while desir- 

 able, has ceased to be essential. It remains, therefore, to consider 

 simply the most effective form on this point of sailing, irrespec- 

 tive of other qualities, especially as such form has proved itself 

 the best for racing. An examination of photographs is one of the 

 best guides in deciding this form, and is more easily managed at 

 tins time of year than studies on the water. Very careful watch- 

 ing of all the different varieties of sails, commencing with the 

 balance lugs a.nd Mohicans, having yards running entirely with- 

 out support a long way aft, has shown that the peak in such cases, 

 especially in strong breezes, would never draw, but always sagged 

 off to leeward, retarded the boat, and invariably caused a ten- 

 dency on the part of the sailor to flatten his sheet to such an ex- 

 tent to overcome the trouble as to make matters worse, and drive 

 the boat's head off her course, both these sails were discarded in 

 favor of others with shorter yards, but with the same length of 

 battens as formerly, producing thereby a sail with an irregular 

 line of leech instead of the one which previously was at least 

 nominally straight. The immediate result was that the batten, 

 instead of the yard, sagged off to leeward, although not to so great 

 an extent as formerly, and in just so much was the sail an im- 

 provement. 



It was at this stage of affairs that the standing battened sail 

 appeared, and was again an improvement. The leech, while ir 

 regular in outline, did not at any point make so great an angle, 

 and produced a nearer approach to a true curve; but the battens 

 still sagged to leeward. Tiie leg of mutton with the straight leech 

 was next tried, and was found to give a flatter surface aft with 

 nothing to sag to leeward. The battens were still retained for 

 reefing and to keep the sail flat. 



At this point attention was drawn to the fact that all the best 

 yacht sails were made with a decided bag, technically known as 

 "draft," near the mast. Experience on the larger boats had 

 proven conclusively that sails so built were faster than those 

 which were fiat. The experience of yachtsmen and sail makers, 

 as well as experiments on the action of currents of air on curved 

 surf aces li ke sails, proved that to realize the greatest possible 

 benefit from the force of tire wind the sails should not be flat, but 

 should fall into a parabolic curve, with the greatest curvature 

 near the mast or stay, as shown in the section. To this end a 

 yacht's sails, instead of being made flat, out of straight breadths 

 of cloth, are. given a curved shape, like a segment of a balloon, 

 though with far less curvature. This is done mainly by varying 

 the breadth of the seam or lap, called "broad seaming." 



To apply this principle to canoe sails necessitated the complete 

 abandoning of battens, no longer a serious objection, as with the 

 adoption of the pure leg of mutton form the batten was only use- 

 ful for reefing; and reefing during a race was so rarely necessary 

 as not to be worth considering, and this more especially since the 

 sliding seat had greatly increased the range through which a 

 given area of sail could be carried on a boat. It was decided, 

 therefore, to try the experiment on Vagabond, and the result 

 proved most satisfactory, since she was found to be much faster 

 than hefore. 



Sinco it would appear that the greatest area can be most easily 

 jibed in the form of a leg of mutton, and that it is therefore the 

 best sail to leeward, yvhile also it is the best to windward, the 

 natural conclusion is that it is the best for all-round racing. 



Distribution. — Having arrived at a conclusion as to the area and 

 form, it is necessary to decide the manner in which the sail shall 

 bo distributed over the boat. The most important point hitherto 

 lias been a low center of effort, but it has beeu shown in treating 

 of form that while this is still very desirable, it is no longer essen- 

 tial and may occupy a secondary position if necessary. The result 

 of a series of experiments in 1888 was to show that it was essential 

 to get the best, especially to windward, out of the boat, that, the 

 respec tive centers of effort of the two sails should bo as close to- 

 gether as possible. To get this to the greatest extent in any form 

 of sail it is necessary to enlarge the area of the after of the two 

 sails, the one generally known as the mizen, and it isoulya 

 question now of howlatge this can safely be made. In the spring 

 of 1889 an extreme test of this theory was attempted on Vaga- 

 bond by giving her a jib and leg of mutton mainsail rig; but this 

 had to be abandoned as too awkward to handle. Later in the 

 year it was decided to get the two centers as close together as 

 possible on the boat with the ordinary arrangement of canoe sails 

 by increasing the mizen, which had steadily grown from 15ft., for 

 which she was originally designed, to 45ft., and stepping it in the 

 after end of the cockpit, as close to the seat of the canoeist as it 

 was possible to get it. At the same time a 55ft, mainsail was sub- 

 stituted for the. 65ft. sail previously used. Just before this she 

 had carried 65 and 35, or 100ft. all told. The change, therefore, 

 did not alter the area, but simply reduced the distance between 

 the centers of effort and made it 8ft. 9in. instead of Oft. 6in. 

 Under this rig the boat did very much better than before to wind- 

 ward, and so far as could be judged, did not lose on auy other 

 point of sailing. The only objection to this arrangement was the 

 size of the mizen, hut this never caused any trouble; aud while 

 steering with the tiller aft of the mizeotuast appeared awkward, 

 it was not found in the least degree inconvenient. On the other 

 hand, the larger the mizen, provided the sails balance, the greater 

 the tendency to weatherliness, especially in rough water; and the 

 smaller the mainsail the less the tendency for the boat's head to 

 be knocked off when sailing on the wind. The question has 

 arisen whether it is not possible to get still better results by 

 making the after sail the larger of the two, and since the experi- 

 ment is to be tried this summer on a new boat it will be watched 

 with a great deal of interest. 



It must also be remembered that, in a canoe, where shrouds 

 cannot very well be used, the higher the sail the greater the 

 difficulty of getting the spars to stand, except at the expense of 

 great weight. It was for this reason, and also on account of the 

 high centers of effort under the old plan of distribution with a 

 large mainsail and insignificant tnizen, that the leg-o'- mutton 

 never became popular. The important points to consider in dis- 

 tributing the sail on the boat are therefore: 



First— Low hoist to keep down weight of spars and height of 

 center of effort. 



Second— Large mizen to get the distance between centers of 

 efforts as short as possible. 



The low hoist is best, obtained by making both sails of the same 

 height and the booms as long as possible; on an ordinary canoe a 

 main boom of 9ft, lOin. with a leg-o'-mutton sail can easily be 

 carried, and a mi/en of 7ft. 6in. or 8ft. It must, however, be re- 

 membered that the centers of effort must be brought as close 

 as possible, and to achieve this it is desirable to get the mizen 

 mast as far forward as possible. If this is done the length of 

 main boom will be decided by the distance between the masts, 

 and not, by what can be safely handled. On a boat of 16ft., with 

 100ft. of sail, a good arrangement would be to step the mizen mast 

 at about 10ft. from the bow, with a boom of 7ft. 6m„ hoist 13ft. and 

 an area of 45ft. The mainsail of 55ft. would have the sam« hoist, 

 12ft., and a boom of 9ft. On such a rig the center of effort of each 

 sail would only be 4ft, above the tack, and the old, and practically 

 only, objection to the leg-o'-mu.tton would he overcome. 



Material.— The material for sails must be close textured, to pre- 

 vent the wind from passing through it; strong, to insure the sail 

 retaining its proper shape, and light in weight. It is also desir- 

 able that the surface should be smooth as possible to reduce the 

 friction and permit the free passage of the wind. For years the 

 practice has heen to use a light cotton, but last year the experi- 

 ment was tried of substituting linen. It was found in 100ft. to bo 

 about 21bs. lighter than cotton, while it was stronger, would not 

 stretch so much, and was of closer texture. In use the cotton 

 swells up rather more under the influence of damp air, while 

 linen keeps better because less liable to mildew. The cost of a 

 linen sail is very little more than of a cotton one. 



There is one other and very iniportaut advantage in linen. It is 

 more susceptible to light airs and is far more lively in every way 

 than cotton, and will recover and fill and spill the wind much 

 quicker. 



In regard to stretch, Mr. F. M. Wilson says: "Beside lightness, 

 what is of still more importance is that linen is more susceptible 

 to light airs and is far more lively than cotton, and will recover 

 and fill and spill the wiud much more quickly. There is less 

 stretch to linen on lines a h and o (?, than to cotton, but more on 

 lines a c and c b. Fig. 1." 



Sail Making.— While sail making or cutting has nothing to do 

 with the subject of designing, with canoeists it must to a certain 



