The Theory and Practice of Archery Part 4

THE GREASE BOX.

_The grease-box_ was, no doubt, an important part of an archer's equipment when prepared for battle, as he had to be out in all weathers, and the grease it contained could alone help him to avoid the ill consequences of moisture about his shooting-glove. The modern archer is seldom called upon to shoot more than, possibly, one end in a sudden shower; and many now never carry a grease-box at all. Yet there is no objection to its use. It should contain vaseline, which may be occasionally applied to the finger-guards, and to the lapping where in contact with the fingers; also, the arrows about the footing may be greased to prevent the paint from the target-faces adhering to them.

THE Ta.s.sEL.

He must be a good archer indeed who can dispense with this necessary addition to his equipment. The ta.s.sel is usually made of green worsted, and its primary use is to remove any dirt that may adhere to the arrow when it is drawn from the ground, but the head of it may be used for carrying a few pins, and concealed within the outer fringe may be kept a small piece of oiled flannel, to be applied to the arrow occasionally, so as to prevent the paint from sticking on to the shaft. The ta.s.sel should be of moderate dimensions--in fact, the smaller the better, provided it be big enough for use. It is usually hung on to a b.u.t.ton of a gentleman's coat, but ladies usually wear it attached to their girdles.

THE BELT, QUIVER, ETC.

In former days a leather belt was considered absolutely necessary, and some have been known to consider themselves more fully dressed for an archery contest with the green baize bag for the bow surrounding the waist. It was certainly useful, and kept together the various things then in use, namely, the glove, the quiver, the ta.s.sel, the grease-box, the tablets for scoring, the p.r.i.c.ker for the same purpose, the armguard, &c. A well-appointed archer of the present day devotes a coat specially for the purposes of archery, and this is fitted with a long leather-lined pocket let into the back of the coat, to the left of the left back-b.u.t.ton. This pocket holds his arrows, and becomes his quiver.

The ta.s.sel is attached to a front b.u.t.ton. Any suitable note-book with a pencil goes into a pocket, taking the place of the tablet and p.r.i.c.ker.

As a belt is not the most convenient receptacle for the rest of his equipment, no belt is carried. As ladies are not yet so well provided with pockets as gentlemen, they still find it almost absolutely necessary to carry a belt for their various requisites, and some will even voluntarily (or perhaps involuntarily, in the case of the Championess of the West) handicap themselves by carrying the whole apparatus in solid silver.

THE SCORING APPARATUS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 33. Mr. Ford shot another dozen arrows at 60 yards, scoring 80, and shows his score in the St. George's Hound to be 654 from 104 hits.]

Any ordinary note-book fitted with a pencil is by far the best thing for keeping the correct record of an archer's score. Very convenient scoring-books are to be bought at the archery shops, and these contain usually the forms for York Rounds for gentlemen, and National Rounds for ladies, to be filled up with plain figures entered in the right places as the scores are made. The objection to these books is that the rounds shot are not invariably York and National rounds. That the ingenious may be saved the trouble of re-inventing the best scoring-apparatus of past times it is here described. A card 3-1/2 inches by 2-1/2 inches was slipped into a silver frame, which was much like the contrivance used for direction cards for luggage in travelling. Between the card and the back of the silver frame was a leather pad of the same size as the card.

A p.r.i.c.ker was used to record the score on the card, and the leather pad protected the point of the p.r.i.c.ker from the silver back. The card had engraved upon it the form of the round usually shot. The form for a York Round is here given. The figures on the left-hand side indicate the twelve double ends of six arrows each--72 arrows shot at 100 yards; the middle figures indicate the eight double ends of six arrows each--48 arrows at 80 yards; and the figures on the right-hand side indicate the four double ends at 60 yards--24 arrows. This form is now filled up with the best York Round that Mr. H. A. Ford ever made, as recorded by himself, and here given in facsimile. It is believed that the wonderful score here recorded of 809, from 137 hits, in the York Round, was made at Cheltenham about September 4, 1855; but, through an unaccountable want of courtesy on the part of the Ford family, the accurate date of this score cannot be given as a fact. It is not entered in the way invented by the Rev. J. Bramhall, which indicates not only the hits made, but also the order in which the arrows were shot. Thus (see p. 69) say the first arrow, shot at 100 yards, hit the red; the second was a gold, and the third a miss; the fourth arrow was a red; the fifth was a black, and the sixth a gold. Each set of vertical s.p.a.ces for whites, blacks, blues, reds, and golds is allotted to a double end of six arrows. The result of the first arrow is marked on the left-hand side at the top, the second on the left-hand side in the middle, and the third on the left-hand side at the bottom. The same is done with the next three arrows on the right-hand side. Of course, when an arrow misses the target, no mark is made, and the order of the misses is shown by the hits.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

A translation into the modern method of Mr. Ford's best score is here given.

_100 Yards_ Hits Score 97 973 971 731 = 11 63 753 755 711 973 = 12 60 753 75 973 53 = 10 54 75 751 953 97 = 10 58 731 73 977 775 = 11 63 551 553 733 531 = 12 46 -- -- Hits Score _80 Yards_ 66 344 Totals 977 97 955 973 = 11 77 953 993 975 975 = 12 80 975 973 755 755 = 12 74 951 775 953 955 = 12 70 -- -- _60 Yards_ 47 301 Totals 995 997 995 775 = 12 90 977 753 775 773 = 12 74 -- -- 24 164 Totals -- --- Grand totals 137 809

The incurable fault of this method of scoring by p.r.i.c.k-marks is that it is impossible to correct a mistake or to verify the accuracy of scores as recorded. (Is there not the Hibernian story of the archer who, in perfect good faith, believed that he made seventy-three hits with seventy-two arrows at sixty yards?) So much that was unpleasant transpired after the Crystal Palace Meeting in 1871, that in 1872 the system of scoring at the public meetings by means of these p.r.i.c.k-marks in the different colours was finally abandoned, and the scoring by the figures 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 introduced instead. This scoring by figures had then already been for some years in vogue amongst the West Kent archers, introduced by the hon. secretary, Mr. R. B. Martin, and the members of the Royal Toxophilite Society had mostly, for many years previously, kept their private scores in plain figures.

In this method no attempt is ever made to record the order in which the hits at any end fall; neither is it considered advisable to do so, though it would be equally easy to enter the figures in the same order, when known, as the hits are made; but this is a matter of no importance.

THE REGISTER.

Every archer is most strongly recommended to keep a careful and accurate record of all the shooting he does, not only by entering in a scoring-book every arrow shot during the day (which will act as a check to irregular and careless practice), but also by keeping a register, or book of record, in which the results of each day's shooting should be entered. Those who have not been in the habit of booking all their successes and shortcomings have no idea of the great interest with which this record invests the most solitary practice, and how conducive it is to its steady and persevering continuance. It begets a great desire to improve: for no man likes to have evidence before his eyes of his pains and exertions being of no avail, and of himself at a standstill in any pursuit he takes an interest in; it ensures a due carefulness in the shooting of every arrow, since without it the score will be bad, and therefore disagreeable to chronicle; it excites emulation, by enabling the average of one man's shooting to be compared with that of another, and restrains by its sternly demonstrating figures those flights of imagination occasionally indulged in by the owners of inaccurate memories as to feats performed and scores achieved. By taking note also in this register of the causes of failure at different times, a lessened chance will exist of their occurring again, as it will keep the same always in view, and the necessity of their avoidance prominently before the attention. In short, the archer will find the little trouble the keeping of it occasions him so abundantly repaid in a variety of ways, that when it is once commenced he will never afterwards be induced to abandon its use.

Whilst the subject of register is under consideration the beginner's attention should be called to the 'Archer's Register,' edited by Mr. J.

Sharpe, which is issued annually, and gives a full account of all the public archery meetings of the previous year, and of the doings of all the princ.i.p.al societies in the kingdom.

THE 'ASCHAM.'

This term is applied to an upright narrow cupboard, contrived for the purpose of holding all the implements of archery. It is constructed so that the bows may stand or hang upright in the back part, and in the front each individual arrow may stand, also upright, and sufficiently apart from its neighbour to avoid the possibility of any injury to the feathers. In height this _Ascham_ should be upwards of six feet, so that there may be sufficient room for the longest bows, and the bows should all, if standing, be on a bottom raised some few inches above the floor of the apartment, as an additional security against damp, which is a most fatal enemy to the bow. In damp situations, and particularly at the seaside, great care must be taken to keep out all moisture. Also, as far as possible, a tolerably even temperature should be maintained. The long box in which an archer keeps his stock of bows, arrows, &c., when travelling, is also called an _Ascham_.

THE TARGETS.

The backing of the _target_ is made of thrashed or unthrashed straw (rye-straw is the best) firmly bound together whilst wet with strong tarred string, and in construction is somewhat similar to the make of beehive, only it is made flat. It is circular, and the front of this straw _boss_ (as it is called), intended for the canvas facing, is worked up with a flat surface, so that the facing may lie upon it more evenly than it could upon the other side. The canvas facing must also be circular, and exactly four feet in diameter; of course the straw _boss_ should also be as nearly as possible of the same size, but on no account less. The canvas facing is divided into a central circle of gold, surrounded by concentric rings of red, blue, black, and white, arranged in this order of colour from the centre outwards. The radius of the golden centre and the breadth of each of the surrounding rings should be the same, namely, one-fifth of four feet, i.e. four inches and four-fifths of an inch. Each hit in these colours is valued as follows: nine in the gold, seven in the red (formerly called scarlet), five in the blue (still occasionally known as inner white), three in the black, and one in the white. These figures, however, do not correctly represent the value of the rings according to their respective areas. The area of a circle is proportional to the square of its radius. Therefore the area of the circle containing the gold and red together is four times as large as the area of the gold circle alone; and it follows that if the gold circle be removed from this larger circle the remaining red ring will be three times the size of the gold circle. In the same manner, the circle containing the gold, red, and blue will in area be nine times as large as the gold circle alone; and if the combined gold and red circle be removed the remaining area of the blue ring will be five times as large as the gold. Again, the area of the circle containing the gold, red, blue, and black will be sixteen times larger than the gold; and if the gold, red, and blue be removed, an area seven times as large as the gold will be left for the black ring. Finally, the entire face of the target contains an area twenty-five times at large as the gold, and the white ring is nine times as large as the gold. Thus we get the target divided into twenty-five parts, of which one part is gold, three parts are red, five are blue, seven are black, and nine are white. But it does not correctly follow that, nine being taken to represent the value of a hit in the gold, and one as the value of a hit in the white (because the white ring is nine times larger than the gold circle), a hit in the red ring should count as seven, a hit in the blue as five, and a hit in the black as three. The proportion of the areas between the white and black rings is as nine to seven, giving the value of 1-2/7 for each hit in the black, or 1.28571 in decimals. Similarly, the proportion of area between the white and blue rings is as nine to five, giving the value of 1-4/5, or 1.8, as the value of each hit in the blue circle. The proportion of the area between the white and the red rings is as nine to three, giving the value of three for each hit in the red ring.

It may be taken that these values of 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, representing the hits in gold, red, blue, black, and white, are the best that can be adopted, and in their sum represent the twenty-five parts, the size of the gold, into which the target may be supposed to be divided.

There appears to be no exaggeration of the value of the gold as compared with the white, and the exaggerated value of the other colours very properly rewards superior skill, as shown by central hitting of the target.[1]

In the days when handicapping was done by taking off rings instead of percentages it might have been better to reduce the values of these reds, blues, and blacks when made by the more skilful.

The old exploded custom of adding hits to score was only a roundabout method of reducing the values of the hits from 9, 7, 5, 3, 1 to 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Targets are now all made of the same size, as already mentioned; but for many years after the revival of archery in 1781 four-feet targets were only used at the long distances of 120, 100, and 90 yards, whilst targets of three feet and two feet in diameter were used at the shorter distances and by ladies. In still older times our modern target-practice was represented by what was called the _Paper Game_, from paper being employed instead of the oil-painted canvas now in use.

It was an old fashion to score in money, thus: a gold was 2_s._ 6_d._, a scarlet 2_s._, an inner white 1_s._ 6_d._, a black 1_s._, and a white 6_d._; and this is still the custom with the Woodmen of Arden, whose members still receive in cash at the end of a prize meeting the total value of their scores. The same custom also prevails at the Annual Scorton Arrow Meeting, except that each archer pays 6_d._ into the pool for every hit he makes in the white.

Formerly, unless an arrow was entirely in one colour, it was counted as a hit in the inferior of the two colours between which its position was divided; but now, except with the Woodmen of Arden, the contrary custom prevails, and the arrow will count as a hit in the superior colour, unless it be quite surrounded by the inferior colour. It is right that the archer should have the benefit of any doubt in this matter.

The purchasers of targets should ascertain that they have well-painted and well-seasoned facings. The American-cloth facings sometimes to be met with are most unsatisfactory, and occasionally there is too much of a sticky compound laid on the facings previous to the paint, which adheres to the arrow, and helps to denude the target of colour.

It is not generally acknowledged that the colours of the target at present in use are well adapted for most accurate shooting. They are too bright and glaring, confusing to the eye, and drawing the attention away from the centre, so that it is most difficult to avoid aiming at the target generally, rather than the gold. Now that the scoring is kept in figures, and no longer in colours, there would be no difficulty in subst.i.tuting other colours that would a.s.sist to concentrate the aim, if only a general agreement about the nature of the change could be arrived at.

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 2_s._ 6_d._ 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 p.r.o.ngs, upon which the target was fixed; but it possessed the same incurable fault as the old earthen b.u.t.ts, 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 quant.i.ties 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.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] See Sir John F. W. Herschel's _Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects_, 'Estimation of Skill in Target-shooting,' p. 495.

CHAPTER VI.