To one ounce of India-rubber (the old bottle-shaped gum) cut into very small pieces, and dissolved in only as much spirits of naphtha as will convert the rubber into a thick fluid, add not more than one pint of oil; linseed oil, or neat’s foot oil is, I am told, the best.
For waterproofing cloth:—
2 lbs. alum,
1 lb. sugar of lead,
20 quarts spring water.
Strain off to clear. Let garment soak 48 hours. Hang up until dry. Well brush afterwards. Inexpensive yet effective!
When you catch cold, do not too hastily blame our climate, our enviable climate, which preserves longer than any other the bloom of its women and the vigour of its men, where the extremes of cold and heat are equally unknown, in which you can take with advantage exercise every day in the year, and need never suffer annoyance from mosquitoes, sandflies, fleas, and other abominations, from which few countries are free. When heated by labour, are we not too apt to throw off some article of apparel in order to get cool? whereas the Turk, more sensibly, puts on additional clothing, and sits out of a draught until he loses all the extra heat he acquired from exercise.
[105] Since the publication of the first edition of this book, I have had the gratification of reading Mr. Herbert’s “Field Sports in the United States, &c.,” and find that he does not consider Indian-corn to possess any injurious qualities—on the contrary, he strongly recommends its adoption in kennels.
[106] In all diseases of dogs—inflammatory, of course, excepted—warmth is recommended.
[107] There is a hardy breed of pointers that rarely take it,—especially if they are liberally fed, and lie warm while young.—W. N. H.
[108] “Dogs, their Management,” published by Routledge,—a work evidently written by a kind-hearted man of reflection, experience, and judgment; one who dares think for himself, not servilely treading in the footsteps of his predecessors.
[109] A right good sportsman, in days long gone by, gave this advice to his son—“a true chip of the old block,”—“Don’t get an experienced keeper wedded to his own customs and prejudices; but engage a young man fond of sport. Break him to your mind; and then, and not until then, will you have dogs broken to your mind.”