726 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Dec. 7, 1912 
ARCHERY RANGE, OAKMONT COUNTRY CLUB. 
Left to Right—T. C. Patch, Dr. Haines, Dr. Hertig, Dr. F. Howard, G. W. Postgate, W. J. Holmes. 
a full team round contest soon, for Holmes and 
Jiles are confident of doing better in a long race. 
Haines, however, says that he will soon recover 
from his surprising slump and more than make 
up for the uneasiness he gave his captain in this 
bout. There are many benefits to the archer 
in these little battles on the green, for the nerves 
are schooled to steadiness by constant familiarity 
with tension and excitement. Many a good shot 
goes to pieces under stress of tournament work, 
and the remedy is to accustom one’s self to 
shooting under adverse conditions. 
At the Bon Air Club the following scores 
were made during the week: 
Team round, 96 arrows, 60yds.: 
W J Holmes. 81 385 O L Hertig. 94 520 
O L Hertig. 95 513 
American round, 60, 50 and 40yds., 30 arrows at each 
distance: 
60yds. 50yds. 40yds. Total. 
O L Hertig.30 156 28 .156 30 176 88 48S 
J S Jiles.23 105 25 121 30 160 78 386 
Milton Loeber, a member of the Wilkins- 
burg Club, is developing into a fine shot, having 
made an American round of over 500 score re¬ 
cently. 
The archers in Poughkeepsie and vicinity all 
are equipped with Barnes yew bows and Duff 
lemonwood bows and find them fine reliable 
weapons. Dr. Haines with a little 45-pound 
Barnes bow shot a flight of over 250 yards on 
the Oakmond Golf course. This is a surpris¬ 
ingly long shot for so light a bow. 
O. L. Hertig. 
Ford’s Archery. 
Chicago, Ill., Nov. 16. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Horace A. Ford’s “Theory and Prac¬ 
tice of Archery’’ has been out of print for many 
years, and probably some of the older archers, 
and most of the younger ones have never seen 
a copy of the book. 
The following quotation from it is given 
in the author’s own language. It is copied 
from the Archer’s Register for 1878-79. 
We are confident that the opportunity here 
given of reading a part of the great archer’s 
work will be appreciated. 
Edward B. Weston. 
position. 
An archer’s general position, to be a good 
one, must be possessed of three qualities, name¬ 
ly—firmness, elasticity, and grace. Firmness 
to resist the force, pressure, and recoil of the 
bow; for, if there be any wavering or un¬ 
steadiness, the shot will prove a failure; elas¬ 
ticity, to give free play to the muscles, and the 
needful command over them, which will not be 
the case should the position be too stiff; and 
grace, to render the shooter and his perform¬ 
ances an agreeable object to the eye of the 
spectator. 
The first point that calls for remark is the 
footing or standing. The heels should be about 
six or eight inches apart, not further. The 
feet must be flat and firm on the ground, both 
equally inclining outward from the heels, so 
that the toes be some six or seven inches wider 
apart than they. The position of the feet, as 
regards the target, must be such that a straight 
line drawn from it would intersect both heels. 
The knees must be perfectly straight, not bent 
in the slightest degree. The weight of the 
body should be thrown equally on both legs; 
for, as Mr. Roberts very justly observes, a par¬ 
tial bearing on one leg more than the other, 
tends to render the shooter unsteady, and ener¬ 
vates his whole action. 
If the foregoing rules respecting the footing 
be accurately observed, it will be found that 
the side only of the archer’s person is turned 
toward the target; and this is what has been 
invariably recommended by every author upon 
archery, and is, indeed, the proper attitude. 
The left shoulder must not, however, be ad¬ 
ditionally forced forward, set in a vise, as it 
were, but allowed to remain in its natural posi¬ 
tion, otherwise the required element of elas¬ 
ticity will be lost. The body should be up¬ 
right, but not stiff; the whole person well bal¬ 
anced. and the face turned round, so as to be 
nearly fronting the target, with the expression 
calm, yet determined and confident. The 
whole attitude, in short, should be generally 
suggestive of power, command over the muscles, 
and the will to use them, so as to produce the 
desired result. 
During the brief period of time between 
the assumption of the footing and the loosing 
of the arrow, some slight alteration of the 
body’s attitude first assumed will, of necessity, 
take place. During the act of drawing and 
aiming the right shoulder will naturally come 
a little forward, and the left shoulder retire a 
little backward. The slightest possible inclina¬ 
tion forward should also be given to the head 
and chest. The object of this is to bring the 
muscles of the chest into> play to assist those 
of the arms, and is what good Bishop Latimer 
called “laying the body in the bow.’’ 
When the arrow is nocked and the footing 
taken, let the bow lie easily and lightly in the 
left hand, the wrist being turned neither inward 
nor outward, but allowed to remain in that 
position that nature intended for it. As the 
drawing of the bow commences, the grasp will 
intuitively tighten, and by the time the arrow 
is drawn to the head, the position of the hand 
and wrist will be such as to be easiest for the 
shooter, and best for the success of his shot. 
DRAWING. 
I shall venture to recommend as being, all 
things considered, the best system of drawing, 
that the pulling of the bow and the extension 
of the left arm be a simultaneous movement; 
that this be to the extent of drawing the arrow 
at the least three-fourths of its length before 
the aim be taken (if to such a distance that 
the wrist of the right hand come to about the 
level of the chin, so much the better) that the 
aim be found by a direct movement on to it 
from the starting place of the draw; that the 
right elbow be well raised, and that the arrow 
be then pulled home, either with or without a 
pause, preference being rather given to the 
latter. 
One of the main features of good drawing 
is, that the distance pulled be precisely the 
same every time, that is to say, the arrow al¬ 
ways be drawn to identically the same spot. 
Unless this be accomplished, the elevation must 
be more or less uncertain, since the power 
taken out of the bow will, of course, be greater 
or less according to the extent it is pulled. 
There appear to be no artificial means by which 
similarity of draw can be beneficially obtained. 
Nothing but constant and unremitting practice 
will serve the archer here. 
The pile of the arrow should not be drawn 
on to the bow—at least it is better that it be 
not—as, unless it is exactly the same shape as 
the arrow itself, it will throw the latter out of 
line. Thus, the arrow should be longer, by the 
length of the pile, than the archer’s actual draw. 
Now, let it be remembered, that the right 
hand must always be drawn to the same spot 
for all kinds of target-shooting, be the dis¬ 
tance what it may, and the arrow be pulled the 
same length. Some archers have a very bad 
habit of varying the length of their draw at 
different distances, while others endeavor to 
accomplish the desired elevation by raising or 
depressing the right hand. This is all decidedly 
wrong. It is the left arm, and the left arm 
alone, that should do this part of the work, 
this being elevated or depressed according to 
circumstances, the right hand being maintained 
invariably in the same position at the moment 
of the arrow’s departure. This is an incon- 
travertible rule in archery to obtain a true ele¬ 
vation, and one that admits of no variation, 
however many archers of the present day may 
be disposed to dispute its correctness. 
Finally, upon this point of drawing, it 
should be remarked, that the pull from end to 
