Jan. 25, 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
115 
ago. Mr. Horsman, senior, is in Europe, and 
on his return in a few weeks will complete the 
work. 
There is a gratifying interest in New York 
suburbs, which is a splendid thing for the sport. 
It may not set well with our Jersey City friends 
to call them suburbanites, but be that as it may, 
James Duff, of Jersey City, the veteran archery 
goods manufacturer, is doing great work, and 
his Jersey City club is now one of the strongest 
miinerically in the country. Harry Du Bois, one 
of E. I. Horsman Co.’s force, tells the writer 
that he ard a number of residents in the Oranges 
are organizing a clul) to begin operations right 
away with a range in West Orange. There are 
a number of other items of interest of this kind, 
all showing the extent of the archery boom that 
i.s on hereabouts. 
The writer has just returned from Chicago, 
where he shot on Christmas day on the grounds 
of the Chicago Archery Association, where he 
learned the sport. It is a delight to go to Chi¬ 
cago, if only to see and talk with that veteran 
archer. Dr. E. B. Weston, who is justly en¬ 
titled to be called dean of the sport. In Dr. 
Weston’s office one day there were besides the 
doctor E. T. Rendtorff, whose work is setting 
the archery world by the ears; George Postgate, 
archery director of the Pittsburgh Athletic As¬ 
sociation, where such excellent work is being 
done; H. W. Bishop, of the Chicago Associa¬ 
tion, whose scores are becoming astonishing, and 
myself. It was a treat to ply Rendtorff with 
questions and get his clear cut, well thought-out 
answers. You understand that Rendtorff, in a 
sense, is a beginner. Pie has been shooting in 
his own yard for two years and ordinarily it 
takes two years to get out of the beginners’ 
class in archery. But late this last summer we 
began to hear of Rendtorff’s wonderful practice 
scores, and we woke up to the fact that we had 
a hitherto unknown genius in the game. Since 
hearing of him, every archer has been anxious 
to see and talk with Rendtorff. This is why 
this meeting is here detailed. The writer wishes 
to inform his brother archers that when they 
meet Rendtorff at the Boston tournament next 
August, they will not only meet a man to de¬ 
light their hearts, but a man to match their skill. 
The writer has not seen him shoot, and he has 
as yet had no public shooting experience; but 
his sound principles, coupled with what he has 
accomplished in practice, point to an unequalled 
first tournament achievement for him. 
W. H. Wills, 
116 Nassau St., New York, Member of 
Executive Committee, National A. A. 
Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green. 
“Archery w'as all the fashion at Brazenface. 
They had as fine a lawn for it as the Trinity 
men had, and all day long there was somebody 
to be seen making holes in the targets and en¬ 
deavoring to realize the pose of the Apollo Bel- 
videre; rather a difficult thing to do when you 
wear plaid trousers and shaggy coats. As Air. 
Verdant Green felt desirous not only to uphold 
all the institutions of the university, but also to 
make himself acquainted with the sports and 
pastimes of the place, he forthwith joined the 
Archery and Cricket Clubs. He at once inspected 
the manufactures of Muir and Buchanan, and 
after selecting from their stores a fancy wood 
bow with arrows, belt, quiver, guard, tips, tassels 
and grease pot, he felt himself to be duly pre¬ 
pared to represent the Toxophilite character. 
But the sustaining it was a more difficult thing 
than he had conceived, for although he thought 
that it would be ne.xt to impossible to miss a 
shot wdien the target was so large and the arrow 
went so easily from the bow, yet our hero soon 
discovered that even in the first steps of archery 
there was something to be learned, and that the 
mere stringing of his bow was a performance 
attended with consideralile difficulty. It was al¬ 
ways slipping from his instep, or twdsting the 
wrong way, or threatening to snap in sunder, or 
refusing to allow his fingers to slip the knot, or 
doing something that was dreadfully uncomfort¬ 
able, and productive of perspiration; and two or 
three times he was reduced to the abject neces¬ 
sity of asking his friends to string his bow for 
him. 
“But when he had mastered this slight diffi¬ 
culty, he found that the arrows (to use Air. 
Bouncer's phrase) ‘wobbled,’ and had a predi¬ 
lection for going anywhere but into the target, 
notwithstanding its size; and unfortunately one 
went into the body of the honorable A'lr. 
Stormer’s favorite Skye terrier, though, thanks 
to its shaggy coat and the bluntness of the ar¬ 
row, it did not do a great amount of mischief. 
Nevertheless, the vials of Mr. Stormer’s wrath 
were outpoured upon Verdant Green’s head, and 
such epea pteroenta followed the winged arrow 
Gananoque, Ont., Jan. 5 — Editor Forest 
and Stream: The above photograph may in¬ 
terest you as it shows two things: First, the 
extraordinary and summer-like condition of the 
St. Lawrence River on Jan. i, 1913, when canoe 
sailing was possible; and second, Ralph B. Brit¬ 
ton taking his daily practice spin in view of his 
that our hero became alarmed, and for the time 
foreswore archery practice.” 
Information Wanted. 
Eastman, Ga., Jan. 14. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Since reading your paper I have be¬ 
come interested in archery. I am somewhat of 
an archer myself, having learned the art when 
a boy. I understand how to make bows and 
arrows, but have no suitable material. Will you 
not inform me of places and firms where I may 
buy bows and arrows? Also let me know the 
proper material of which both bows and arrows 
are made, and where I could procure the ma¬ 
terial ? 
Is it the usual custom to buy supplies from 
manufactured stock of some' supply house or 
to make such supplies for one’s self? I have 
searched every issue of your paper for the in¬ 
formation I need, but have learned nothing of 
the material. 
I can make fairly good bows of yellow pine 
wlien of the proper granular structure and suf¬ 
ficiently dry. I make my arrows of reeds cut 
from the forest and afterwards dryed. I can 
shoot pretty accurately, but I find that the reed 
is not sufficiently rigid to prevent lateral deflec¬ 
tion from the target aimed at. 
The furthest effective arrow flights I can 
make with my own make of bows and arrows is 
about 200 yards. N. W. Hurst. 
challenge for the international cup, as published 
in your columns in the issue of Oct. 19. 
The light was faint for a snapshot with an 
F. 8 (my shutter has no slow automatic cut-off), 
b.ut it shows Ralph Britton in characteristic ac¬ 
tion on the sliding seat. 
Victor J. Slocum. 
