OcfT. S4, 1896.1 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
SBB 
contended for many years, and which has as often been 
filled by the owner of the victorious dog at the annual 
meeting the following January at the Aldine Hotel. 
The Derby and All-Aged Stake is opsn to members of 
the club only. The club has secured 11,000 acres of the 
very best shooting ground at Thomasville, N, C, and has, 
it is conceded, one of the best stocked shooting preserves 
in America. 
Blanks and other information relative to the running 
of the stake mentioned can be had by addressing Dr. 
Alexander Glass, Secretary, No. 2125 Sansom street, Phil- 
adelphia. 
TROOPING COONS. 
California. — Editor Forest and Stream: I was raised 
on the banks of the Columbia River, and for youthful 
companions I had none but the young Siwashes of the 
Cathlamets, and the Wahkiakums, and for good times none 
had better. Among the Cathlamets were two mighty 
coon hunters, Gull and Tick by name, and from them L 
learned the ways of the coon, and I tell you he has more 
than one way. If he is hard pushed there is no telling 
where or what his cunning will call into play. You no 
doubt have been a party to a fox hunt, and know from 
experience that the sly old fox will double his trail or 
leap a brook three or four times to baffle theTiounds. A 
coon can stick his nose in his fur and laugh at the best 
tricks of the fox. 
A fox is nothing if not a sneak at his best, while a coon 
is bold and fearless, and all hie movements, whether by 
day or night, are characteristic of that of every animal in 
the green forest. 
I nlust now take you away with me on one of our coon 
hunts along the banks of the Columbia. 
Most coon hunts are conducted by moonlight, with rifle, 
aye, and hounds, but our way was just the reverse of all 
others on the river. We would hunt down our coons by 
broad daylight. We did not break our necks or bark our 
shins tumbling over fallen timber before a fat pine torch, 
or work like beavers cutting down a treed coon ; but we 
took to our canoes and paddled noiselessly up the river 
about four or five miles, and just at break of day two 
of us would land. The third man, as agreed upon be- 
forehand, would paddle the canoe down the river again 
about one or two miles, then land and work on up until 
• we met. The coons had been running all night, and to 
find a "sign" is as easy as falling off a log, and there 
the trail commences; but to keep that trail is what 
calls in all the faculties, and the knowledge and 
habits of the animal in pursuit of, not saying anything 
about the lay of the land, for thickets of briar and bram- 
ble are met with on every river bottom. "Direction" is 
the main trail to success on this coon hunt. The parent 
coons together with the young coons have been out on a 
forage all night; they have left no stone nor leaf unturned 
in their efforts to satisfy the cravings of an empty 
stomach. They have been up and down the margin of 
the river catching minnows in the shallow eddies. They 
have been by the silent pool dispatching the innocent 
frog. They have rambled far and wide, and in their play- 
ful moods have chased each other among the tree tops 
until the gleam of breaking day told them by instinct to 
gather for their home. In a troop they travel on in their 
well-worn path to their home in a hollow tree, or among 
the roots ot a prostrate-pine. 
To follow the "sign" of -coons takes good judgment, 
especially so at different times of the seasons. In th6 fall 
and winter they are trooping; it is so called among trap- 
pers, because you will find the male and female together, 
and of teti one will come across a troop of coons in broad 
daylight. The females will le{i.d, with the males coming 
on benind, fighting, snarling and tumbling for supremacy 
nearest the females; if one has got his eyes and ears open, 
and is in a position to the windward of their approach, he 
will have some fun by blazing away on the leading coon. 
As soon as the shot is fired every male coon will take to a 
tree in the near vicinity and every female coon will take 
the back track until their fright be over, then double atid 
take for home. Now, if one be a good rifle shot, he can 
get the last one of those coons that treed. I have shot as 
many as nine coons out of one troop in that peculiar 
manner. Of course, it takes a good man in the woods to 
trail up a troop of coons, and I believe that there are not 
ten men in 1,000 that can do it, for the coons have a cute 
nose, a fine ear and a pair of keen eyes, and will surely 
detect the babe in the woods 
Gull, who was the chief of the Cathlamets, and old 
Tick, chief of the Wahkiakums, and I, have bagged as 
many as twenty-five coons in one hunt. 
I believe, to make a success of trai'ing a troop of coons, 
one must know every inch of the country he is hunting 
in, and have a natural instinct f 6r trailing j ust as a hound 
has, otherwise he will spy never more than two or three 
coons at one time. I have tried trooping coons away 
from large river banks, but with indifferent success. The 
Columbia River, I believe, is the only stream, because of 
its sparse settlements along its banks, where trooping 
coons can be followed with any success by a good trailer. 
The coons come from far and wide to the banks of the 
river to gather the food, which a river of so large a vol- 
ume can only give. 
This mode of hunting coons may seem strange to you 
or your readers; but ic is nevertheless true, as any one 
who has studied the habits of the coon will attest. I have 
followed hunting and trapping ever since I was a boy, 
and I can give you facts that seem yet stranger than this. 
The best part of my hunting days are over, game is no 
more as plentiful as it was; but memory lends a charm, 
and we must fight our battles over again. 
Hank Peterson, 
A Stray Shinplaster 
Comes to us once in a while for a copy 
of "Game Laws in « Brief;" but shin- 
plasters nowadays are scarcer than Moose 
in New York; and 25 cents in postage 
stamps will do just as well. 
POINTS AND FLUSHES. 
At a meeting of the Metropolitan Kennel Club, held 
Oct, 17 in New York, the following resolution was passed: 
''The executive committee considered it to the interest of 
the club to hold a bench show in Brooklyn Thanksgiving 
week, and would urgently request the presence of all 
members at Rockwell's, 140 Lexmgton avenue, New York 
city, on Wednesday, the 2l8t inst,, at 4 P. M." 
The Armstrong Republican, of Kittanning, Pa., men- 
tions an extraordinary large litter as follows: "A female 
St. Bernard owned by A. C, Bailey, the well-known mer- 
chant of Ford City, recently gave birth to nineteen pups. 
This is the largest number ever known to have been born 
at one time, and is exciting considerable curiosity among 
dog fanciers." 
Mr. P. T. Madison, secretary-treasurer of the Conti- 
nental F, T, Club, is deserving of the thanks of all field 
trial patrons for his forethought and energy in arranging 
a scale of prices favoring visitors at Tupelo. With hotel 
rates at $1.50 per day, double teams with driver at $3 50, 
and sadale horses at |l per day, the expense account of 
the trial will be materially reduced to all concerned. 
What Mr. Madison has done other directors can do if they 
choose to try. Forest and Stream years ago called at- 
tention to the unjust discrimination against sportsmen at 
field trials, where it seemed that the more that attended 
and the longer they remained, the higher the rate charged. 
Hotels having weekly rates would abolish such rates so 
fair as field trial patrons in the field trial season were con- 
cerned, though a patron might be seated beside a local 
patron who was paying but little more for a week's board 
than the field trial man paid for a day's. 
Mr. Joseph H. Hunter, the well-known sportsman, 
whose skill at the traps, in the field or with fishing rod, 
are well known, writes us the unpleasant information 
that he will not give field trials much attention in future. 
Some scoundrelly fellow poisoned his favorite shooting 
dog recently. Black Wonder was famous in field trial 
records and was of extraordinary high merit in field 
shooting. The Messrs. Hunter brought to the competi- 
tion many times dogs of the highest merit, the best per- 
haps being Daisy Hunter, and she was among the oest 
ever brought to a field trial. Sad to relate, she disap- 
peared in a neighborhood with which she was familiar 
and nothing was heard of her afterward. It is no wonder 
that such hard luck should be discouraging. 
The Boston Terrier Club Book, Vol. II., 1896, is replete 
with information concerning club matters and matters 
concerning the Boston terrier. It contains a list of ofli- 
cers and members, and constitution, standard, trophies, 
produce stakes, prize winners, registxations, etc. Secre- 
tary, F. G. Davis, Boston. 
The prices at Mr. Lorillard's sale ruled low. Antevolo 
sold for $20; Rancocas Belle, $210. Others from $35 to 
$5 and $2, mostly the smaller prices. 
We learn that there is much interest in the superin- 
tendency of the prospective Brooklyn show. 
Communicatixms for this department are requested. Anything on 
the bicycle in its relation to the sportsman is particularly desirable. 
"BICYCLE REPAIRING." 
"Bicycle Repairing" is a book of 160 pages of solid 
mechanical facts, from the press of the l7'on Age, New 
York. All the various bicycle ailments are toucned upon 
and directions given for setting them right. Special 
chapters are devoted to the most important parts of the 
bicycle, such as the handle bar, tire, wheel, valve, fork 
and frame; and enameling, brazing and nickel plating are 
treated of from the standpoint of the repair man. The 
chapter on "Miscellaneous Hints," however, contains per> 
haps the greatest amount of useful information in com- 
pact form. 
The methods of repair described are, as a rule, the sim- 
plest possible compatible vtdth good workmanship, and a 
considerable amoimt of space is given to simple home- 
made contrivances designed to perform the work of more 
expensive machines, For instance, a case-hardening fur- 
nace, suitable for use where small objects only are to be 
treated, is constructed from an old fruit can and a tin 
tobacco box in combination with a Bunsen burner, while 
a brazing furnace is made from half a dozen joints of 
ordinary gas pipe. 
The book is designed for the use of professional repair 
men, but there is much in it that will prove of interest to 
the wheelman who is of a mechanical turn. Even if the 
wheelman attempts no repairs himself, it is just as well 
for him to have a general idea of the various processes 
employed, as the knowledge will be of service when his 
wheel is placed in the hands of a professional. The un- 
precedented growth of the bicycle trade has resulted in 
many inferior mechanics and botchers taking up the busi- 
ness of repairing, and it is easily possible for these men to 
ruin a good wheel while attempting a simple repair. If 
the owner knows exactly what is wanted himself he will 
be better able to judge of the capacity of the man to 
whom he intrusts his wheel. A little knowledge of its 
mechanical construction is never wasted. As a case in 
point, a wheelman took his bicycle to a repair shop to 
nave an eight-tooth rear sprocket replaced by a seven- 
tooth one, 'He waited for his wheel, and as the job 
seemed to take an unnecessarily long time, walked back 
into the work shop to find out what the trouble was. He 
found the repairer armed with a large wrench wrestling 
with the check piece, which was screwed into the axle on 
the outside of the sprocket. The man mopped his brow, 
and asserted it as nis belief that check nut and sprocket 
were brazed on the axle. 
The owner recollected that he had heard that in that 
particular make of wheel the ch(jok nut was a left-hand 
screw, and here was a mechanic, professedly acquainted 
with the bicycle in question, who had spent twenty min- 
utes trying to ruin an axle for him. He told the man 
that he had better leave the sprcKJket on, and took it to a 
repairer that a friend had recommended a few days be- 
fore. This man had no trouble in completing the job 
satisfactorily, but he had to get a new check nut, and a 
minute more of the first man's work would have made a 
new axle necessary. 
In the introduction to "Bioyoie Repairing"* tM author 
remarks: 
"The wonder is not that the bicycle occasionally breaks 
down, but that it lasts as well as it does. When we con- 
sider the relative weight of the wheel and its rider, and 
think of its apparently frail construction, and then re- 
member the severe strains to whicl^ it is subjected in 
service, we are compelled to admire its design, the 
strength of 4ts parts and the perfection of its workman- 
ship. When a machine of this character, so delicate in 
its component parts and so finely adjusted, is in need of 
repair, it should evidently be taken to one who will un- 
derstand the difficulty and who knows how to apply the 
proper remedy, 
"This seeming delicacy of the bicycle has been of the 
utmost importance to the bicycle trade as a whole. To 
it, and to it alone, can be ascribed the wonderful scarcity 
of really poor wheels. The bicycle is a chain, and every 
part constitutes a link which must of necessity bear its 
portion of the strain. To weaken one of these links or 
parts by the introduction of inferior material means the 
speedy destruction of the wheel. To keep up the strength 
by using a greater quantity of cheap metal would meet 
with no demand, because the rider of to-day will not 
mount a heavy wheel, and the bicycle itself is the best 
safeguard against imposturs." 
INGENUITY OF TWO FARMER BOYS. 
Little Rock, Ark., Oct. 8, — One day last June, during 
the time the National Bicycle meeting was in progress 
here, L, W. Wuheeler, a farmer boy nineteen years of 
age, living in Grant county, about thirty-five miles from 
this place, rode into the city on a wheel constructed of 
wood, made by himself with such tools as are generally 
found on a farm in Arkansas. The advent of this juvenile 
wheel manufacturer in the city at a time when the 
cyclists from all over the State were gathered there nat- 
urally created quite an excitement among them, and he 
at once became the center of attraction. One of our 
local dealers saw a good thing in this wheel as an adver- 
tising medium, and offered to exchange a modern high 
grade safety for the farmer boy's crude and cumbersome 
machine. And it is needless to say that his offer was 
promptly accepted. 
After several days spent in the city he returned to his 
home on the farm, the proud possessor of a modern wheel, 
and the envy of all the boys in the neighborhood. His 
fame and success had preceded him, and he was pointed 
out with pardonable pride by all the people in his county, 
His wheel was constructed on the principle of the machine 
of to-day. The wood used was native timber, and no 
little ingenuity was displayed in the construction of the 
wheels, which were wrapped with thin strips of split 
hickory, and of course were puncture proof. 
To-day saw the advent in our city of the second one of 
the wooden home-constructed bicycles, the maker and 
rider of which was J . J. Mooney , also of Grant county, a 
lad seventeen years old. This boy, unlike his predecessor, 
did not ride his wheel from home to the city, but brought 
it the thirty-three miles on his father's wagon with a load 
of cotton, after which mounting it he proceeded to view 
the city. He too attracted considerable attention, not 
only by his wheel, but also by his attire. When ap- 
proached on the subject of disposing of his machine, he 
was very modest, and thought that an exchange of a 
$100 wheel would be a fair trade — thinking doubtless 
that if his neighbor found no trouble in disposing of his on 
such terms, he should be equally as successful. In this he 
was disappointed, however; for the bicycle season is now 
about over, and the novelty of such a machine having 
worn oft", there was little in it as an advertisement. He 
lives within three miles of the inventor of the first wooden 
cycle, and was doubtlf ss spurred on by the success of his 
neighbor, imagining that he would encounter no difficul- 
ty in effecting a similar exchange. 
This machine was constructed on the lines of the old 
ordinary, and though considerable ingenuity was dis- 
played by its youthful maker, and it was also better fin- 
ished, it was hardly up to the high standard of skill shown 
in the construction of the other wooden wheel. To the first 
undoubtedly belongs the credit of originating this style of 
wheels, while the other was only an imitator. Both 
were unsophisticated country boys, who lived where few 
bicycles are to be seen, and the tools used to_ construct 
their machines were very crude. Paul R. Litzke. 
Mother Shipton's Prophecies. 
Port Hammond, B. (J.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Under the headmg devoted to Wheeling there is an 
article in your paper of Aug. 15, "The School for all Ages." 
The writer states that Mother Shipton may have preseen 
the locomotive engine and some of the uses of electricity, 
but the bicycle was beyond her ken. I send you a clip- 
ping from a local paper in which I claim the riding astride 
refers to the bicycle. 
The quotation is as follows: 
"In those wonderful far-off days 
Women shall get a strange, odd craze, 
To dress like men, and breeches wear, 
And cut off their beautiful locks of halr^ 
And ride astride with brazen brow, 
• As witches do on broomsticks now." 
R. C. Brooke. 
NOTES. 
Evidences of the adaptability of the bicycle to new uses 
continue to multiply. The bank robber who is up to 
date dashes up to his bank on a wheel, and when he has 
looted it departs in the same way. Scorchers are so com- 
mon almost everywhere that the robber ' 'hitting it up" to 
escape his pursuers does not attract a quarter the atten- 
tion that he would if mounted on a foam-flecked horse. 
Then, too, the bicycle leaves a misleading trail, and from 
this alone it is impossible to say which way the rider 
went. Jesse James would turn in his grave to see the 
way the thing is done nowadays, but the modern robber 
knows that the use of the bicycle adds largely to his 
chances of escape, 
