Sept. 25, lS7o 
387 
der was rammed hard, so I gave the instruction not to 
ram it. After a while I made it slower, so that that ob- 
jection was removed of being too quick. The one diffi- 
culty remained — that of being too compressible, so that 
only by careful loading could even results be obtained; 
and that it would strain more if rammed loo hard. At 
last I have succeeded and overcome that difficulty, by 
changing the composition, and by an entirely new pro- 
cess, I am able to make the grains as hard as those of 
black powder, and the new kind can he used from any 
ordinary powder flask. I waive all instructions, and say 
only, “ Use it like black powder ; use the same meas- 
ure.” There is no need of giving any more instructions. 
There is no more fear from overloading as it is with 
black powder. 
This new kind of powder bsars my own signature on 
top of cover. I shall not sell any more of the old kind 
at present. If dealers have left some of it on hand 
which they wish to exchange, I will exchange it for the 
new kind. I shall make only one kind of powder now, 
only different in grains, of which the smaller size will 
be better adapted for rifle than the larger grains; for 
shot-guns, the larger grains are better for the smaller 
bores. I shall have four grades — A, B, C, D — of which 
A is the largest size in grains. Mr. Long can take the 
powder out of the can now, and make no mistake of any 
conseqif^nce. He compares my pow'der with gun-cot- 
ton, but he will hnd a great difference between both 
when he burns them outside the gun, when my powder 
will burn very slow, with much residuum, while gun- 
cotton will flash like lightning, and leave no residuum. 
The reason that gun-cotton could not supersede black 
powder was that it cannot be loaded even every time. 
This was somewhat improved by my flrst powder being 
in grains, so that it would be measured like common 
black powder. The objection of being too compressi- 
ble I have remedied now'. 
Mr. Long asks why I do not offer my powder to the 
government. I have done this, and it has been tested 
by Capt. Prince, of the Frankfort Arsenal; it w'as found 
it had less strain than the black powder, but that it had 
to be made denser in order to get more power in the 
same space, as by the lighter kind the bullet was press- 
ing too much on the powder. The experiments 
shall be continued as soon as I go there again with the 
denser and heavier kind I am making now. Although 
the results were not satisfactory throughout, Capt. Prince, 
of undoubted authority, says that it was tlie best he 
ever had seen yet, miraculous in cleanliness, and he 
thinks it is a success for shot guns, as it was at the lime. 
I shall publish the results of the new kind as soon as 
possible; but Mr. Long cannot expect that the govern- 
ment will adopt it right away. It will take some time, 
but I hope the government shall adopt it at the end. 
If Mr. Long publishes trials again, he will do good to 
publish all particulars, pattern and penetration, and 
how many shots w'ith each powder. A few shots do 
not tell. Also, give the witnesses to the trial. An item 
would be the condition of the shot at the target; if 
round, jammed, or only flattened on the side where it 
strikes. To make a thorough test, I recommend the 
chronoscope as a pendulum, like one in the possession 
of Mr. Sturtevant, of South Framingham, Mass., by 
which a much belter result will be obtained as again>t 
paper pads or pasteboard targets, and by which also the 
recoil can be found. I hope Mr. Sturtevant shall soon 
publish his experience with my powder at his target. 
The third communication is from your own corres- 
pondent, who reported at first very unfavorable, but 
seems to he better pleased now. He shall like my latest 
powder still belter, as the trouble with the loading is 
avoided. I will send him samples of the new kind in a 
few days. Cakl Ditthak. 
West Virginia. 
Kansas City, Mo., Sept. 13. 
Having returned from my summer tour, I desire you 
to send my paper to the old address as usual. During 
my sojourn east, I made the acquaintance of j'our cor- 
respondent, “ Clayton,” in Virginia, and have seen the 
country he mentions. I found him to be a gentleman, 
as well as a thorough sportsman. His section of coun- 
try abounds in such game as deer, turkey, pheasants, 
quail, and even bear; indeed, it is particularly interest- 
ing to sportsmen now, from the fact that it has not been 
hunted over in many years. During my stay I found a 
home at the Florence House, Berkeley Springs, the 
landlord of which, Mr. Charles Green, is an old resi- 
dent and a good shot. These lands, so abundantly s up- 
plied with game, border on the Potomac River, which 
the home of the bass and other fine fish, and it appears 
to me that a select club of sportsmen could not do better 
than make some effort to secure such a locality for 
future use. Appreciating your paper, and heartily 
wishing it success, I am yours truly, J. L. 8. 
The Sportsman’s Paradise. 
A PALACE CAR — A BAGGAGE CAR — A DINING BOOM, AND 
A DRAWING ROOM AND KITCHEN ON CAB WHEELS — A 
HUNT ON THE CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILWAY. 
Let me tell you about it as briefly as possible. 
A party of gentlemen, composed of Judge Schley and 
R. P. Flower, of New York City; Norris W. Mudy, 
of Chicago, with Samuel H. Turrill, Brice Wilcox and 
A. J. Edwards, of the Chicago Gun Club, and G. W. 
Flower, of Watertown, N. Y., left Chicago Thursday, 
the 10th inst., in the directors’ car of the Chicago and 
Northwestern Railway, with stores for a three-days' hunt. 
The car is fitted up with lounges and seats to occupy 
during the day, which are converted into commodious 
sleeping apartments at night. To this was attached a 
baggage car lor a dining-room and kitchen, wiih serv- 
ants and all the appointments of a first-class hotel dining- 
room. The party made their point of attack at Beaver 
Station, about 140 miles from Omaha and 200 miles west 
of the Mississippi River. After a pleasant ride over the 
splendid road-bed of the C. and N. W., of eleven hours, 
they reached Beaver Station on the “ great land ocean,” 
the prairies of Iowa. 
To the writer, who had never looked out on the bound- 
less sea of land, the scene was not only unique and novel, 
but the greatest wonder of his life. Think of it! Five 
hundred miles of corn forests and grain fields! Millions 
of acres of land within ihe range of the naked eye, as it 
sweeps the horizon on either side. It is not like when, 
in mid-ocean, the eye rests on the majestic horizon, and 
tires at the world of waters; but, on the contrary, the 
land ocean has not only the corn forests and fields of 
waving grain, but myriads of blooming flowers stud the 
prairies ever in this month of September, which, in bril 
liancy of tint and beauty of blossom, almost rival any 
to be culled from the cultivated gardens of the East. To 
the sportsman who is always in love with nature, the 
prairie has a charm not surpassed by the gorgeous scene- 
ry of the Adirondacks, orj the bold and awe-begetting 
scenery of the Rocky Mountains, or even the fascinating 
beauties of the Yosemite Valley. 
Our cars were switched off the main track on to a 
siding; near a pond, where the mallard and the wood- 
duck all night long made the hunters anxious (with 
their quacking) for the day-break to come, that they 
might be up and at them. The morning came, and after 
breakfast the breech-loaders were opened on duck and 
prairie chicken, and the slaughter commenced. Three 
days and late into the night of each day a ceaseless 
cannonade was kept up until a surfeit of game caused 
an armistice and a parley, which ended in a treaty to 
return to Chicago and go up toLake Superior and attack 
the water-fowl and finny tribes of that far-famed local 
ity. And now we are on our return just crossing the 
Mississippi (at Clinton) whose broad and murky stream 
on this foggy morning seems placidly and sleepily 
flowing on its noiseless way to the Gulf, there to min- 
gle its colorless flood with the waters of the ever-green 
Atlantic to be wakened from its lethargy. 
A team and driver are procured, and then a drive on 
the open prairie to a stubble of wheat or oats. The 
team is halted and the hunter alights, the dogs are pul 
out, and as the prairie chicken come to the grain stub- 
ble night and morning to feed, the keen scent of the set- 
ter and pointer (with which species of dog the West 
abounds) trails the chickens, which generally go in 
coveys or flocks at this season of the year. The dog 
gelling in the range, stands pointing with his nose to- 
ward the birds until his master comes with gun in band, 
and then he flushes them. If you are a quick and skil- 
ful shot, down come the birds with right and left bar- 
rels. The dog then charges or lies down until you re- 
load, and then proceeds as before. If the cover is good 
and the birds lie well to the dog, and you are steady 
and careful, nearly every bird in a covey can be bagged. 
But if your dog is ill broke and is fast, or if both dog 
and man are rash and impetuous, you are liable to raise 
the whole covey at once, and then they fly into the ever- 
ai jacent cornfields, from which it is next to impossible 
to extricate them. 
The mallard, wood-duck and teal swarm in flocks in 
the pond-holes and on the grain-fields by hundreds and 
thousands nights and mornings, and can be bagged in 
i large numbers, with a good retriever for the ponds; but 
when we come next time we shall bring a portable 
boat, as it is impossible to obtain any kind of a boat on 
the prairie. 
We venture to say that no party of sportsmen ever 
had rarer sport or killed more prairie chicken in the 
same length of time than the above. Our success and 
the pleasure of our trip is attributable to the officers, 
Messrs, Porter and Hinchet, of C. & N. W. R.R„ and 
to Mr. Sami. H. Turrill, Western manager of the Rod 
AND Gun, and President of Ihe Chicago Gun Club; also 
to Mr. Bruce Wilcox and Mr. A. J. Edwards, who were 
our gentlemanly and obliging chaperons and comrades. 
Long live the Chicago Gun Club and Sam. Turrill, 
Wilcox and Edwards. Go West! Go West, and see 
them. 
Biuce Wilcox says in order to kill prairie chickens 
successfully you must have a “smell dog” and a “scat- 
ter gun,” and that Sam. Turrill, of Chicago, keeps them 
constantly on hand. Beaver. 
Oar Paper— Welcome Home. 
Boston, Sept. 13. 
Allow me to send you my best wishes for your paper. 
I have not lost a number from my first subscription, 
neither do I intend to lose one. Indeed it would he 
rather late to begin, as I have every number of the paper 
on file from its first issue to the present time. I appre- 
ciate its efforts too highly to be deterred from my weekly 
number bj' the small consideration which it costs, and 
Friday evening is always looked forward to with feel- 
ings of pleasure, knowing that I will always find some- 
thing instructive and entertaining. 
I would also congratulate Mr. C. J. Maynard on his 
safe return from a section of our country in which he 
was exposed to such danger from the scowling priests 
and savage Catholics. What with the gentleman’s vivid 
imagination of the very recent events of over three hun- 
dred years ago, and his active vision transforming the 
shell heaps into bigoted Jesuits, indeed his feelings must 
be anything hut enviable. Perhaps when the black- 
robed priest scowled on the gentleman, he had in mind 
others who had come there on a like mission merely to 
gratify a morbid curiosity, and had not conducted 
themselves with decency or decorum (a common occur- 
rence in our Boston churches in the Lenten season). I 
am the more astonished at a gentleman of Mr. Maynard’s 
ability in so straining his privilege as a correspondent 
as to introduce a subject so entirely foreign to the in- 
terests to which the paper is devoted; but the section in 
which he traveled has a tendency to create a large flow 
of bile, which might account for his imaginings. 
J. F. R. 
Chokebores, Etc. 
J. W. LONG REJOINS TO W. W. GREENER. 
Boston, Sept. 17. 
My article on “ Chokebores, etc., which appeared in 
your columns a short time ago, has, I perceive by your 
last issue (Sept. 11) called forth quite a shaip reply from 
W. W. Greener, wherein, after stating his “ regrets at 
the numerous inaccuracies therein contained,” and “ his 
conviction that I have not given the subject a suffici- 
ently close attention,” he endeavors to prove, by a series 
of false interpretaiions and irrelevant conclusions, that 
my statements are lacking in foundation and unworthy 
of favorable regard. 
First, begging your readers to please bear in mind the 
fact that it is sometimes possible for even an authority 
to be mistaken, and to consider more what is written 
than who writes it, let us inquire whether the state- 
ments Mr. Greener attributes to me, and which he takes 
so much pains to prove false and inconclusive, are in 
reality as I wrote them, or garbled and changed in im- 
port to produce a different impression from that origin- 
ally intended. In my opening sentence, I am credited 
by him with saying, “So much stiess was being laid 
upon pattern, that force or penetration was overlooked 
or considered of secondary importance ; ” “ whereas,” 
he says, “ one of the express objects of the late trial was 
to prove the alleged superiority of the penetration.” 
Whom, from the above, would you, my readers, infer I 
had been charging W'ith laying so much stress upon pat- 
tern, etc. ? Was it Parson Murray or was it the managers 
of the late trial ? The latter, most evidently. But I deny 
the soft impeachment, and will endeavor to explain. 
“ The opening sentence” referred to, which was simply 
an introductory remark, literally w'as as follows : “It 
has become a very prevalent notion among sportsmen 
of the present day to consider that gun the best .«hoote^ 
and most desirable which will, at a given distance, d«^ 
