The usual custom of fixing targets is, that the centre of the gold shall be four feet from the ground, and as the target is always sloped with its lower part advanced towards the shooter, it follows that the correct distance of the bottom of the target from the ground is a trifle more than two feet and one inch.
The Target-Stands.
The most usual target-stands are of iron, in three pieces, each of about six feet in length, hinged together at the top, and painted green, forming a tripod for the support of the target, which is caught on to it by a hooked spike at the top of the stand, and kept from shifting its position thereon by a spike about half way up each of the front legs. These stands are so destructive to any arrows that hit them, even through the targets, that, for home use, they should be padded in front with a strip of thick felt, secured with strong twine, and then carefully wrapped with strong binding and painted.
The late Mr. James Spedding first invented this method of covering the stands which he had made for the Royal Toxophilite Society, of three long ash poles, united together at the top with iron nutted screw-bolts. When the stand is so treated it is almost impossible that an arrow can be injured by contact with the stand, and the extra expense (which is, however, considerable) is soon saved by the saving in arrows at 2s. 6d. apiece.
The Meyler stand, a very expensive machine, was a strong iron arm, fitted into a metal socket fixed in the ground, and at the upper end provided with three prongs, upon which the target was fixed; but it possessed the same incurable fault as the old earthen butts, in that it was immovable (except to the places where the necessary sockets were).
The Quiver.
The tin quiver, made in different sizes to contain six, a dozen, or more arrows, with sometimes a receptacle at the top for spare strings, wax, thread, silk, file, &c., is too handy an article to be ever altogether discarded, though the arrows in it do occasionally suffer by being indiscriminately jumbled together. The arrow-boxes of wood now made to hold different quantities of arrows are, of course, to be preferred. But the best receptacle for arrows on a journey is a properly fitted compartment in the bow-box, and the method invented by the Rev. J. M. Croker is the best of all. This is fitted with a hinge, so that any arrow in it can be removed without shifting any of the others.