282 
Augu:?t 7,1875. 
THI B3FLE. 
Worcester, Mass., .July 31. — The second of the com- 
petitive trials by the members of the Worcester Sports- 
men's club for the purpose of selecting a club team and 
substitutes, took place on the shooting grounds east of 
Lake Quiusigamond, Saturday, the trial occupying the 
entire day. The -weather was quite tiying at time.s, 
gusts of wind blowing across the range necessitating a 
constant change of sights, this being particularly the 
case at the 400 }'ard3 shooting. The scores, however, 
were quite satisfactory, that at 300 yards ofl hand show- 
ing a gain of 22 points in the totals over the trial two 
weeks ago, while at 400 yards, without artificial rests, 
five of the contestants scored 30 and upward out of a 
possible 3.5. Considering that this is the first time the 
members have shot the distance, the result gives hopes 
of still better scores in the future. Stedman Clark, 
secretary, acted as scorer, and B. M. Harrington marker. 
Each member was allowed seven shots, with a possible 
score- of 3.5. The following is the score: 
300 yds off hand. 
A L Kice 3 3 2 -2 0 2 3—15 
E T Smith 000 2 53 3—13 
I 0 Bates Smith 403000 2—9 
J W Bieelow 5 0 2 0 4 4 0—15 
G .1 Ruga 200303 2—10 
A G Maim 5023 2 0 4—16 
G H Hal' 3 0 0 2 2 0 3-10 
A E Grimes 202420 0—10 
W J McFarland 3253 2 3 3—21 
A P Catting 3 3 2 3 3 4 3--21 
Stedman Clark 4 0 0 3 2 2 2 — 13 
L W Holman 0 2 2 1 0 0 2—8 
Frank \Ve-«on 050433 4—19 
XaTban Wa^hbom 0 0 5 2 3 4 4 — 18 
400 yds without 
artificial rest T*l. 
3 4 4 4 4 5 1—28 43 
4 0 4 4 3 3 4—22 35 
5 3 5 4 3 3 2—27 36 
8 2 5 3 4 0 2—19 ^4 
3 3 3 2 4 5 5—25 35 
4 5 4 4 3 3 5—28 44 
4 5 3 2 3 2 0—19 29 
4 2 4 4 6 5 3—26 36 
5 5 4 5 4 5 4— 5:1 
5 5 5 5 4 4 3—31 52 
5 5 2 5 4 5 4— :ll 44 
3 0 3 2 0 2 3—13 21 
5 5 4 4 5 2 5—30 49 
4 4 5 5 5 5 4— 50 
ifessrs. Rice, E. T. Smith, I. C. Bates Smith, Bige- 
low, Hall, Grimes, McFarland, Clark, Holman and 
Wesson n.sed the Frank Wesson rifle ; Messrs. Mann, 
Cutting and Washburn used the Heurj- rifle ; Mr. Rugg 
the Holden rifle. 
After the trial a sweepstakes, with tliree prizes, dis- 
tance 500 yards without artificial rest, was arranged. 
There were ten contestants, two of whom scored four 
bull’s-eyes out of five shots, ilr. Frank W esson scoring 
24 out of a possible 2.5. Five shots were allowed with 
a possible 25. The following is the score: 
A P Catting 
Frank W esson 
A G Mann 
Nathan Washbnm 
Stedman Clark 
I C Bates Smith... 
G J Kugg 
A L Rice 
A E Grimes 
G H lUll 
3 4 5 4 3—19 
5 5 4 5 5—24 
2 3 5 4 5—19 
4 4 4 2 .S— 19 
3 5 2 4 4-lS 
3 5 4 4 i— 21 
3 0 2 4 5—14 
4 0 5 4 4— n 
4 2 3 5 2—16 
5 5 5 5 2—22 
The first prize was awarded to Frank Wesson, second 
to G. H. Hall, third to I. C. Bates Smith. The third 
trial will take place Saturday, August 14. 
The thirteenth annual “ rifle shoot” of the Millerton 
Sharpshooters’ As.sociation took place on Saturday, .July 
3, at Millerton, sixteen members competing. The dis- 
tance was 40 rods, any rifle, telescopic sights, with priv- 
ilege of resting. There was hut one prize offered this 
year. Nevertheless, the interest manifested in trj-ing 
to run up extraordinary strings made up for all short- 
comings. The prize consi.stcd of a gold badge, valued 
at $100. The following is the summary: 
Charles E. Overbaagh 
George L. Smith 
John H. Barker 
Stephen W. Field 
Sidney Smith 
Stephen H. Hoyt 
David Phelps 
Frank Way 
William Wade 
John S. Brown 
Archibald Storms 
Ralph Deyo 
William Le Fever 
Peter Caldwell 
Barton Palmer 
Irving W a.«hbnme 
6 1-16 
8>i 
10 1-16 
lOK 
lOK 
UK 
12 3-16 
12 7-16 
J2 11-16 
13 H 
m 
IS’S 
15H 
16 1-16 
nji 
19 3-16 
The prize accordingly goes to Mr. Overbaugh. 
The regular fall meeting will take place next Sep- 
tember, when a large number of prizes will be given, 
which will, I hope, draw out a larger number of mem- 
bers. 
Conlin’s Gai.i.ert. — The fourth competition for the 
Forexl and Stream badge was shot for on W ednesday, 
July 28, 1875. 20 shots each;' Ballard rifle. 
Geo. W. Hamilton, 14 inches; A. G. Hellwlg, 15 2-8th in.; T. C. 
Noone, 15 6-8th in. ; Fred Kessler, 17 in.; M. P. Lenon, 18 15-16th 
in.; F. Hyde, 19 3-16th in.; F. Bullick, 19 7-16th in.; J. J. O'Kelley, 
21 in.; X. F. Thomas, 21 5-8th in.; J. P. Richards, "22 in.: H. C. 
Cooke, 22 in.: D. L Beckwith, 23 in.; T. C. Lyon, 24 5-8thin.; 
C. F. Orris, 25 4-15th in.; J. H. Barclay, 29 in.; R. McFeeley, 
31 3-16th in.: A. F. Wilson, Sly^ in.; F. Clarke, 32 l-16th in.; G. 
Watson, 34in. ; M. Eastman, 34^ in.; K. Brownell, 3b in. 
The badge was won by Yale, 1st; Tragessen, 2d; 
Hayes, 3d and 4th, and is now held by Hamilton, 5th. 
Curlier in KiHles. 
New H.vven, Conn. , July 30. 
Editor Rod and Gun: 
You devote so much space to rifle matters that I am 
surprised our Connecticut controversy’ has not been 
mentioned in your columns. 
We were in the market as a buyer of rifles for our 
militia. Our soldiers make a gallant show; we are 
proud of them, and we want thtat they should be well 
armed and expert with their weapon. We made an 
appropriation, and we* appointed a commission. The 
commission sent out an agent, who hunted up a lot of 
Peabody rifles that were going — going, we should never 
regret it. The chance was too good to be lost. Those 
Peabody folk didn’t know what they were about. They 
weie giving the things away at pnees which, if they 
should rule long, would bring all the Sharps and Rem- 
ingtons to their knees. W e snapped at the dipker like 
a bass at a new spoon; and the consequence is, that 
every time our Grays go out to practice with their Pea- 
bodys they are in danger of being blown to a place for 
which no militiaman volunteers. Barrels won’t work, 
or hammers won’t keep fixed, or cartridges won’t go 
through, and thus the land of quiet habits is en- 
ilangered. The moral is that Cheap-Jack bargains are 
not always profitable. 
Tile local press has surprising!)’ read up on gunnerj’ 
and projectiles, targets and trajectories; wasted a deal of 
learning to prove that a Peabody is not a Winchester, 
which nobody said it was; and that big cartridges will 
not fit small bores, which nobody said they would. The 
facts are pretty well known to the trade; the cuns in 
question are the rejected or refuse arms of a certain for- 
eign contract, and the State being willing to buy, the 
Peabody agent was of course not unwilling to sell. The 
State inspector either did not know his work, or know- 
ing it, did not do it; and thus it came to pass tliat these 
noloriouslyimperfect weapons passed muster. It is said 
that the Peabody company assured the commission that 
they were selling a good serviceable article; if so, that is 
a pity. It is no less a pity that this State agent and in- 
spector did not do his duty more efficiently. Anyhow, 
the best thing to be done, now, is to condemn the whole 
lot, and to buy no more job-lots. Dexter. 
W E WOULD like to be able to believe all we hear or 
read, but the bloom of faith has gone off and in its place 
we have the sere and yellow leaf of doubt through ex. 
perience. They have a new and wonderful shot in Eu- 
rope, a Japanese or Anglo-Japanese, before whom Gil- 
dersleeve and Fulton will have to hide their diminished 
heads and stand abashed. The London Telegraph says 
of this miraculous shootist: “A lion on the ground this 
year will be the Japanese officer who has been kstonish- 
ing Hythe and Aldershot, by making bull’s-eyes from 
the shoulder at a thousand yards. Some say he is an 
Englishman, who was naturalized at a tender age in Ja- 
jian ; others again declare that he can speak not a word 
of any European language. He is, at all events, a marvel 
of marksmanship; and, when at the Chiswick garden 
party, a distinguished person said to the Japanese Am- 
bassador, ‘ I hear you have a wonderfully good shot in 
this country,’ his Excellency replied, with the modest 
and dignified terseness of a Japanese gentleman, ‘ He is 
a good shot;’ which answer meant more than a whole 
string of superlatives.” The same journal records the 
following anecdotes about the said gentleman from a 
vast number which are going the rounds of the camp 
as substantially true: “At Hythe Major Muretta was pit- 
ted against one of the most celebrated musketry instruct- 
ors in the camp, an officer who can, to use a familiar 
phrase, ‘ face the target,’ that is, can say where he is 
going to place his shots, and then do it. The Japanese 
major saw everything that the English lieutenant was 
able to perform, and immediately proceeded to cut him 
out in a manner that amazed all beholders. At Ash, 
near Aldershot, he was purposely misinformed as to the 
distance of a range, the number of yards as given him 
being 800, whereas in reality it was 1,000. Major Mu- 
retta said nothing, but calmly sighted his rifle, and fir- 
ing, hit the bull’s-eye. This he did again and again, 
and when he was told that he had been deceived in tlie 
distance, his reply was that he had not been deceived at 
all.” Major Muretta, we are further informed, is still at 
Berlin, and as he is suffering from a severe attack of 
rheumatism, his expected visit to the camp becomes a 
very problematic affair. 
An Oil City correspondent sends us a little incident 
that happteued to him in that locality last week of .June 
of interest to naturalists and sportsmen. Mr. H. Night- 
ingale, Mr. Fey and Mr. Van Velsor were out for a 
walk exercising their dogs, when one of them pointed. 
A woodcock rose and dropped twenty yards away. 
The bird again rose, and returned to near where first 
flushed. It rose the third time with a young woodcock 
between its legs. 
UBRASY TABLE. 
- ^ 
Southern and Sodth-e.vstern Nevada Preliminary 
Report upon a Reconnoissance in 1869, by Lieut. George 
W. Wheeler. — Washington, 1875. — This pamphlet is 
is.sued from the Engineer Department, LT. S. N. The 
matter contained in it embraces a survey report of ex- 
peditionary’ researches in a country with which the pub- 
lic has since been familiarized through the newspapers. 
Its inhabitants are few, and its general character arid 
and sterile. To the miner its attractions are limited, 
while to the sportsman it has no temptations. A na- 
tionel survey, however, require that all lands, bad as 
well as good, shall be taken into account. This partic- 
ular report teUs more of hard,ship and fatigue than of 
matter to amuse or attract the genenil reader. 
Pet Stock Pigeon and Poultry Bulletin, for Au- 
gust, is replete with useful matter. The advice about 
catching weasels, minks and other predatory animals, is 
worth the subscription to those who are willing to learn. 
Artificial incubation is another good subject about which 
we are very much in the dark. Poultry farming will 
scarcely ever become profitable until we find a practica- 
ble method for hatching eggs by some mechanical pro- 
cess. 
Illustrated Household 5Iagaztne for August is a 
sprightly number, opening with an article on royal sport 
in India. Poetiy and stories fill up the rest of the num- 
ber, and the price, only one dollar per annum, brings 
it within every one’s reach. 
American Naturalist for August gives us “Alas- 
kan Mummies,” by W. H. Dale, whose Alaskan articles 
are well know’u to our readers; “ Biographies of Some 
Worms,” by -A.. S. Packard, Jr.; “On Ergot,” Win. Car- 
ruthers, with the general reviews on current topics in 
science and literature. 
W-ai.lace’s Guide to tbce Adirondacks (Waverlej’ 
Publishing Company, Syracuse, N. Y.) This is the last 
book out on the Empire State Park. The subject has 
lieen dealt with romanticall)’, picturesquely and staiis-- 
tically, by artists, literary men, and state engineers. 
The present volume claims no higher pretensions than 
that of being an effective and reliable itinerary; the va- 
rious -ways in and out of that region of delight are laid 
down so that the intending tourist from any point has 
the route before him, and may consult his pleasure or 
couvenience, determine his line of travel, and calculate 
his expenses. Guide books are not usually very attractive 
reading, and it is a sort of fashion to sneer at their use- 
fulness and drj’ detail; even omniprescent Murray or 
Btedeker is not exempt from the reproach of dullness. 
But to tell a pleasant stor\*of time-tables, cost of travel, 
convenient stopping places, and other matters of fact 
good to be known, is not an easy task; nor is it made 
ea.sier by the duty of incorporating a compendious 
description of the points of chief interest which have 
been dealt with by other writers whose pens have had 
free range, either to deal with nature in all her loveli- 
ness, and dwell on her infinite beauties, or to record the 
pleasures and mishaps of field and forest adventure. 
The book before us has taken a happ)’ mean between 
the compilation of dry details of cost and distance, and 
incidents of a search alter the picturesque. We are in- 
structed where to go, what to see, and how to do it. 
This being the scops and object of the w’riter, his work 
is satisfactoril)’ performed. The Adirondack region is 
divided into the John Brown tract, the Osgewatchie 
and Grass River region, the Cliateaugay woods, the St. 
Regis woods, the Saranac region, the Adirondack and 
Hudson River regions, the Raquette and Long Lake re- 
gions, the Garoga Lake region, and the lakes Pleasant 
and Pireco regions; the whole including a tract of about 
seventy-five miles square. The approaches to these 
several divisions are clearly explained, and the full 
directions given for the best mode of achieving the 
tourists object, whether it be health, scenery or sport. 
The business is consid#!iblj’ lightened up by several 
good stories, which, if not always strictly veracious, 
are none the less readable. 
The romantic scenery, enhanced jin its influence by 
the peril and fatigue through which the adventurous 
explorer may boast of having passed, are briefly shown 
in the following extract: 
It was a quarter to 7 p. m. when we readied the sum- 
mit of the Giant-of-the- Valley. Before us was spread a 
vast and grand but gloomy depth of scenery. At our 
feet cliffs 1,000 feet in height fell away to a gray map- 
like picture, as chill and silent as a world deserted and 
left vacant. By the time that we had completed the 
barometrical observations — which indicate for the Giant 
