tMov. ^, igoi. 
right to hunt their foxes in their own way, but they 
should employ some term which truly designates that 
peculiar way. Call it fox potting, or shotgun practice on 
foxes, or, if the foxes are pests, call it vermin extermina- 
tion, but pray do not call it fox hunting, a term which 
has honored traditions, eminently honorable methods,_and 
methods which are so distinctive that they are entirely 
unlike. But be the New England methods as wrong as 
they may, the fox slaughter, described under the caption 
"A Vermont Mode," out-Herods Herod. The essentials 
of it are two hounds, two "hunters," one a "crack fox 
hunter," two "favorite stands," a harried fox, a wood- 
chuck hole, crowbar and shovel, digging for the fox, 
smoking him out, pulling him out, giving him to the dogs 
to shake, and "the pelt, an extra fine one, was presented 
to the cabin by Mr. Currie, and will occupy a place of 
honor over the stone. fireplace." The fox, thus brought to 
hand and to death, is designated as a "trophy." It was 
truly a "mode." At the conclusion the writer sagely 
remarks : "There are two interesting facts to note, first, a 
fox driven to earth by hounds will suffocate rather than 
jump out to the dogs." How strange! How incon- 
siderate on the part of the fox to deprive the hunters of 
a crowning pleasure. But New England fox potting 
seems to have offshoots of peculiar methods, of which 
the "Vermont mode" may be an advance and possibly 
in its effectiveness and novelty an improvement. 
Albert Converse. 
Clay and Benton, and a Basket of Poppies* 
Sixty or more years ago I heard Joshua R. Giddings 
relate the following stories relating to those two eminent 
statesmen: 
Clay, as is well known, was a great favorite with 
young boys, and many of the newsboys and bootblacks 
m Washington were on intimate terms with him. He 
was one day approached by a young lad carrying a heavy 
covered basket. "What have you there, Jimmie?" he 
asked. "Puppies," he replied; "three of them, and I 
want to sell you one. You can have your pick of 'em 
for one dollar" "I think Mrs. Clay would like that 
spotted fellow," Clay replied. "What are their politics?" 
The boy was aware of his political belief, and promptly 
replied, "They are good Whigs, and their mother is, 
too." "Well, here is a dollar; take him to Mrs. Clay 
and tell her to give you a good dinner." 
Three days later Clay and Benton were walking down 
the same street discussing as usual the "specie question." 
"Say, Tom," says Clay, "there is a boy coming who 
will ask you to buy a young dog. Whether you purchase 
or not, be sure and ask him about the puppies' politics." 
Benton said to the boy: "I guess that my girl Jessie 
does need a puppy, or thinks that she does, but I wish 
to be very careful about buying. What politics have the 
two young dogs?" The lad was also aware of the 
political beHef of Benton, and assured him that they 
were good Democrats. 
• "What! What!" says Clay; "you told me that they 
•were Whigs." "They were then," says Jimmie, "but now 
they have their eyes opened." 
Benton was so pleased with the boy's reply that he 
gave him an extra dollar, and an order on Jessie for a 
good dinner. — ^Jay B. Miller in Springfield Republican. 
— ® — 
For Cruising Yachtsmen. 
With the purpose of stimulating the interest in cruis- 
ing, and the keeping of a detailed log by cruising yachts- 
men during the season of 1902, the publishers of Forest 
AND Stream offer prizes for the best stories of cruises 
.submitted to be published in Forest and Stream. It is 
believed that these will form not only entertaining records 
of pleasant summer days spent afloat along our coasts and 
waterways, but will furnish information of practical value 
to other yachtsmen making subsequent cruises on the 
same waters. 
" Prizes will be awarded to the three best stories as fol- 
lows: . . - 
First prize, $50.00. 
Second prize, $30.00. 
Third prize, $20.00. 
Contributions are invited under the following condi- 
tions: 
1. The cruise must be made in waters of the United 
States or Canada in the season of 1902. 
2. The cruise must be made in a sailing yacht, power 
to be used only as an auxiliary, if at all. 
3. The story must be prefaced by a description of the 
boat. Cruises should be treated in as interesting and 
readable a way as possible, but should be practical and 
contain all possible information and data that would be of 
■yalue to men going over the same route. A description 
of the handling of the ship in all weathers will be re- 
garded very favorably in making awards, and it is sug- 
gested to writers that an accurate account be kept of all 
incidents happening while under way. 
4. An outline chart suitable for reproduction, showing 
the course taken, must accompany each article. When 
possible, articles should be accompanied by amateur photo- 
graphs taken on the cruise, including one of the boat. 
Good photographs will be considered in making the 
awards. 
5. The story should contain about seven thousand 
words, written on one side of the paper only, and must 
be received at the office of the Forest and Stream Pub- 
lishing Company, 346 Broadway, New York city, on or 
before Nov. 15, 1902, 
Mr. T. C. Zerega has very kindly consented to act as 
judge and to make the awards. 
The following sales have been made through the agency 
of Mr. Stanley M. Seaman : 35ft. sloop Narcissus, owned 
by Mr. Adolph Erdman, New York city, and the 30ft. 
sloop Duchess, for Mr. L. D. Huntington, Jr., New 
Rochelle. 
Cruise of the Schooner Genesee. 
The schooner Genesee, which arrived in New York on 
Sept. 26, after an extended European cruise, is noAV at 
Tebo's, South Brooklyn, where she has been put out of 
commission. Genesee was designed by Messrs. A. Cary 
Smith & Barbey, and was built by Mr. Lewis Nixon at 
Elizabethport, N. J., in 1900, for Mr. James Sibley Wat- 
son, of Rochester. Genesee is 148ft. over all, iioft. water- 
Ime, 27ft. breadth and 13ft. 6in. draft. Her power is 
supplied with two Almy IxDilers of 100 horse-power, and 
she carries twenty tons of coal. A cabin plan and a com- 
plete description of Genesee appeared in Forest and 
Stream of Dec. 22, 1900. The photograph of the boat 
reproduced in this issue shows her under cruising canvas. 
Genesee is an enlarged Lasca, one of Mr. Smith's earlier 
productions, a boat of 90ft. waterline length, that proved 
to be a very fast and able craft. 
Genesee's recent cruise was an interesting one. She 
left New York on May i of this year, and her log for the 
trip across follows: 
May I, 1902 — Scotland Lightship abeam at half-past 
two o'clock; iSS miles. 
May 2 — Moderate N.E. wind ; 181 miles. 
May 3 — ^Variable northerly winds; 179 miles. 
May 4 — Strong N.N.E. wind, with choppy head sea; 
186 miles. 
May s — Fresh S.E. wind ; heavy sea ; 226 miles. 
May 6 — Moderate gale ; heavy sea ; 237 miles. 
May 7 — Strong gale ; hove to 17 hours ; 84 miles. 
May 8— Wind and sea moderating; winds N.N.W. ; 
263 miles. 
May 9 — Very light N.W. wind; sighted the Navahoe; 
180 miles. 
May 10 — Light wind and calm; 93 miles. 
May II — Light southerly wind and calm; 163 miles. 
May 12 — Light southerly wind and 12 hours' calm; 73 
miles. 
May 13 — Same, with eight hours' calm. 
May 14 — Light westerly winds; 157 miles. 
May IS — Fresh westerly winds ; 241 miles. 
May 16 — Fresh gale from N.W. ; under reduced canvas ; 
236 miles. 
May 17 — Strong N.W. wind ; close reefed mainsail ; 
227 miles. 
May 18 — Same conditions; 240 miles. 
May 19 — Same conditions; 240 miles. 
May 20 — Strong northerly wind and choppy head sea; 
156 miles. 
May 21 — Same conditions ; arrived mouth of Elbe River 
at twenty minutes past two P. M. 
May 22 — Went through canal under steam and arrived 
at Kiel at eight P. M. 
After staying for the big regattas at Kiel, she pro- 
ceeded to the Baltic, and there visited Stockholm, Calmar, 
Wesby and other ports. Before going to the coast of 
Norway, stops were made at Copenhagen, Goteborg and 
Christiania. 
In the Baltic Sea and the North Sea' Genesee covered 
3,200 miles, but only 700 miles of this distance was under 
sail, the balance of the trip was made when under steam. 
On Aug. 20 Genesee sailed from Bergen, Norwa)^ for 
Inverness, Scotland. She made this run under canvas 
alone, and arrived there on Aug. 22. Genesee passed 
through the Caledonian Canal on the trip from Inverness 
to Oban, where she arrived on Aug. 31. After reaching 
©ban the vessel was put in shape for the voyage home. 
On the morning of Sept. 9, Genesee sailed from Oban for 
New York, where she arrived on Sept. 26. The log of 
the passage home is as follows : 
Sept. 10 — Fresh northerly winds ; 250 miles. 
Sept. II— Variable northerly winds; 237 miles. 
Sept. 12 — Moderate N.N.W. winds; 210 miles. 
Sept. 13 — Light N.N.W. winds; 180 miles. 
Sept. 14 — Variable and light; 120 miles. 
Sept. 15 — Light air and calm; 70 miles. 
Sept. 16 — Same conditions; 18 hours of calm; 55 miles. 
Sept. 17 — Same conditions; 65 miles. 
Sept. 18 — Fresh northerly winds; 201 miles. 
Sept. 19 — ^Fresh N.N.W. winds; 232 miles. 
Sept. 20 — Light N.N.W. wind; 138 miles. 
Sept. 21— Light easterly wind; 232 miles. 
Sept. 22 — Light S.E. wind ; 166 miles. 
Sept. 23— Light northeriy winds ; 127 miles. 
Sept. 24 — Variable westerly winds; 132 miles. 
Sept. 25 — Northerly and fresh easterly winds ; 248 miles! 
Sept. 26 — Fresh easterly and S.E. winds; 230 miles. 
Arrived at Scotland Lightship ten minutes after three 
o'clock in the afternoon. 
English Letter 
The most notable event in yachting since my last letter 
is an order given to Messrs. Fife for a 65ft. racing cutter. 
This is the first yacht over 52ft. as yet built under our 
rule. No doubt this will be followed by others — if not 
Tutty will prove but a poor antagonist, though she is, for 
her time, an admirable boat. ®nce the new Fife sixty-five 
is seen, I have no doubt she will be a strong inducement 
to others to build, for the rule will be at about its best in 
this class. The name of the owner of this new boat is 
as yet a sacred secret. I have long since come to the con- 
clusion that the true value of yachting and yacht racing 
has hitherto been entirely overlooked. The sport is a 
safety valve for conspirators. The awful plots that we 
read of in history would never have been hatched if yacht 
racing had then been popular. Those countries, such as 
Russia, that have a poor opportunity for practicing the 
irystery of yachting, are hotbeds of conspiracy. There is 
certainly something in the idea. 
The news of a definite challenge from Sir Thomas Lip- 
ton has been considerably discounted long since, and even 
the daily papers have not been able to make much of it. 
Some journals which make yachting a feature of their 
publication appear anxious to decry the baronet's efforts 
in the Cup line, but so far as British yachting is con- 
cerned, these races never do any harm .to the sport at 
home, and, indeed, furnish a very welcome variety to the 
deadly monotony of our season. Of course if we had a 
uniform measurement and classification, tlie Cup races 
would serve to recruit the racing fleet of both countries. 
In connection with the next races, some doubt has been 
expressed as to whether the change in the New York 
Y. C.'s measurement rule will affect the time allowance 
between the competitors. I have no doubt that no such 
intention exists, but it seems to me that the club will have 
to take some steps to avoid it. The challenge and ac- 
ceptance are under the same conditions as governed the 
last races, but one of the conditions was the application 
of the N. Y. Y. C. time scale — not a specified time scale, 
but merely that in use by the club. When the next races 
are sailed, the "same conditions" would involve the use 
of the club's time scale, but that time scale would be new. 
They have plenty of lawyers in the club to puzzle this out, 
and it ought to be settled soon. In all probability it won't 
make the slightest difference either way, but Cup races 
should be free from probabilities of this nature. 
We are promised a recrudescence of the luffing rule trou- 
ble this winter, and many yachtsmen appear to wish for the 
