HORSE PACKS

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ALMOST anyone can put together a com paratively well made back pack, and very slight practice will enable a beginner to load a canoe. But the packing of a horse or mule is another matter. burden must be properly weighted, properly balanced, properly adjusted, and properly tied on. That means practice, and considerable knowledge.

To the average wilderness traveler the possession of a pack saddle and canvas kyacks simplifies the problem considerably. If you were to engage in packing as a business, wherein probably you would be called on to handle packages of all shapes and sizes, however, you would be compelled to discard your kyacks in favor of a sling made of ropes. And again it might very well happen that some time or another you might be called on to transport your plunder without appliances, on an animal caught up from the pasture. For this reason you must further know how to hitch a pack to a naked horse.

In this brief resumé of possibilities you can see it is necessary that you know at least three methods of throwing a lash rope--a hitch to hold your top pack and kyacks, a sling to support your boxes on the aparejos, and a hitch for the naked horse. But in addition it will be desirable to understand other hitches adapted to different exigencies of bulky top packs, knobby kyacks and the like. One hitch might hold these all well enough; but the especial hitch is better.

PACK MODELS

The detailment of processes by diagram must necessarily be rather dull reading. It can be made interesting by an attempt to follow out in actual practice the hitches described. For this purpose you do not need a full-size outfit. A pair of towels folded compactly, tied together, and thrown one each side over a bit of stovewood to represent the horse, makes a good pack, while a string with a bent nail for cinch hook will do as lash rope. With these you can follow out each detail.

SADDLING THE HORSE

First of all you must be very careful to get your saddle blankets on smooth and without wrinkles. Hoist the saddle into place, then lift it slightly and loosen the

blanket along the length of the backbone, so that the weight of the pack will not bind the blanket tight across the horse's back. In cinching up, be sure you know your animal; some puff themselves out so that in five minutes the cinch will hang loose. Fasten your latigo or cinch straps to the lower ring. Thus you can get at it even when the pack is in place.

PACKING THE KYACKS

Distribute the weight carefully between the kyacks. "Heft" them again and again. The least preponderance on one side will cause a saddle to sag in that direction; that in turn will bring pressure to bear on the opposite side of the withers, and that will surely chafe to a sore. Then you are in trouble.

When you are quite sure the kyacks weigh alike, get your companion to hang one on the pack saddle, at the same time you hook the straps of the other. If you try to do it yourself, you must leave one hanging while you pick up the other, thus running a good risk of twisting the saddle.

I. The jam hitch. All hitches possess one thing in common-the rope passes around the horse and through the cinch hook. The first pull is to tighten that cinch. Afterward other maneuvers are attempted. Now, ordinarily the packer pulls tight his cinch, and then in throwing further the hitch he depends on holding his slack. It is a very difficult thing to do. With the jam hitch, however, the necessity is obviated. The beauty of it is that the rope renders freely one way-the way you are pulling-but will not give a hair the other-the direction of loosening. So you may heave up the cinch as tightly as you please, then drop the rope and go on about your packing perfectly sure that nothing is going to slip back on you.

The rope passes once around the shank of the hook, and then through the jaw (see diagram). Be sure to get it around the shank and not the curve. Simplicity itself; and yet I have seen very few packers who know of it.

THE DIAMOND

HITCH

2. The diamond hitch. I suppose the diamond in one form or another is more used than any other. Its merit is its adaptability to different shapes and sizes of package-in fact, it is the only hitch good for aparejo packing its great flattening power, and the fact that it rivets the pack to the horse's sides. If you are to learn but one hitch, this will be the best for you; although certain others, as I shall explain under their proper captions, are better adapted to certain circumstances.

The jam hitch.

The diamond hitch is also much discussed. I have heard more arguments over it than over the Japanese war or original

sin.

"That thing a diamond hitch!" shrieks a son of the foothills to a son of the alkali; "Go to! Looks more like a game of cat's cradle. Now this is the real way to throw a diamond."

Certain pacifically inclined individuals

have attempted to quell the trouble by differentiation of nomenclature. Thus one can throw a number of diamond hitches, provided one is catholically minded, such as the "Colorado diamond," the "Arizona diamond," and others. The attempt at peace has failed.

"Oh, yes." says the son of the alkali, as he watches the attempts of the son of the foothills, "that's the Colorado diamond, " as one would say, "that is a paste jewel." The joke of it is that the results are about the same. Most of the variation consists in the manner of throwing. It is as though the discussion were whether the trigger should be pulled with the fore, middle, or both fingers. After all, the bullet would go anyway.

I describe here the single diamond, as thrown in the Sierra Nevadas; and the double diamond, as used by government freight packers in many parts of the Rockies. The former is a handy one-man hitch. The latter can be used by one man, but is easier with two.

THE SINGLE DIAMOND

Throw the pack cinch (a) over the top of the pack, retaining the loose end of the rope. If your horse is bad, reach under him with a stick to draw the cinch within reach of your hand until you hold it and the loose end both on the same side of the animal. Hook it through the hook (II-a) and bring up along the pack. Thrust the bight (III-a) of the loose rope under the rope (b); then back over, and again under, to form a loop. The points (c-c) at which the loose rope goes around the pack rope can be made wide apart or close together according to the size of the diamond required (V). With a soft toppack requiring flattening, the diamond should be large; with heavy side pack it should be smaller.

Now go around to the other side of the animal. Pass the loose end (III-d), back, under the alforjas, forward and through the loop from below as shown by the arrows of direction in Fig. IV.

You are now ready to begin tightening. First pull your cinch tight by means of what was the loose end (b) in Fig. II. Place one foot against the animal and heave, good and plenty. Take up the slack by running over both ends of the loop (c-c, Fig. III). When you have done this, go around the other side. There take up the slack on b-b, Fig. IV. With all there is in you pull the loose end (c, Fig. IV) in the direction of the horse's body, toward

his head. Brace your foot against the kyacks. It will sag the whole hitch toward the front of the pack, but don't mind that; the defect will be remedied in a moment.

Next, still holding the slack (Fig. V), carry the loose end around the bottom of the alforjas and under the original main pack rope (c). Now pull again along the direction of the horse's body, but this time toward his tail. The strain will bend the pack rope (c), heretofore straight across back to form the diamond. It will likewise drag back to its original position amidships in the pack the entire hitch, which you will remember, was drawn too far forward by your previous pull toward

the horse's head. Thus the last pull tightens the entire pack, clamps it down, secures it immovably, which is the main recommendation and beautiful feature of the diamond hitch.

THE DOUBLE DIAMOND

The double diamond is a much more complicated affair. Begin by throwing the cinch under, not over the horse. Let it lie there. Lay the end of the rope (a) lengthwise of the horse across one side of the top of the pack (Fig. 1). Experience will teach you just how big to leave loop (b). Throw loop (b) over top of pack

(Fig. II). Reverse loop (a, Fig. II) by turning it from left to right (Fig. III). Pass loop (a) around front and back of kyack, and end of rope (d) over rope c, and under rope d. Pass around the horse and hook the cinch hook in loop (e). This forms another loop (a, Fig. 4), which must be extended to the proper size and passed around the kyack on the other side (Fig. 5). Now tighten the cinch, pull up the slack, giving strong heaves where the hitch pulls forward or back along the left of the horse, ending with a last tightener at the end (b, Fig. 5). The end is then carried back under the kyack and fastened, and the hitch is complete as shown in Fig. 6.

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'XCEPT toys, every breed of dogs presents a perplexity in the food required for health. Not in the theory of feeding, for we all know what is best, if we could provide the best at a convenient outlay of trouble and money. The bother comes to the amateur who must think of the going out of dollars and who has not a special kennel and a professional kennel

man.

In most things American the stumbling block is labor. The cost and difficulty of producing dogs and maintaining a dog fancy follow the common American experience. It is hard to get skilled labor, even if you have the money, and ruinous to do business unless you reduce labor cost to the minimum.

Thus it comes that at intervals the rules for feeding dogs must be rewritten to meet the progress of labor-saving invention.

In theory the very best feed for weanling puppies is milk and raw eggs. It is said that the eggs supply to cow's milk exactly the constituents required for a substitute when the dog mother's supply gives out. As the weeks pass you can gradually introduce bread, dog biscuit and meat. For adult dogs at hard work, you are not likely to give too much meat. The difficulty will rather be to get enough. Raw scraps from the butcher are acceptable, when you have no facilities for cooking. All the manufactured dog biscuit are good, corn meal as well as the rest, but hardly have enough substance and, in my judgment, lack some quality of digestive availability. It is my settled belief, deduced from careful observation, that no dog food is quite good as a digestible material unless it contains enough meat at least for a distinct flavor.

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The explanation is probably not adequate in dietetic science, but it has often seemed to me that there had to be a keenness of appetite and a gratification of taste to set the digestive processes at work so that the food would be fully utilized. I have often seen dogs thrive on corn or wheat bread, simply flavored with a little thin soup or kitchen grease, when they would weaken on the bread alone.

One of the modern labor-saving devices is the cracklings or dried refuse from the packing houses. A noted handler has recently published a severe condemnation of this food. He says that it is offal, has no nutriment, and tends to make bad blood. I think that he is mistaken, and that he has not used the material wisely. This stuff should not be fed exclusively or in large quantities. Chip off a pound, boil until it is soft and mix the resulting soup and softened cracklings with bread or biscuit, for six or seven dogs of collie or pointer size. The dogs will find it appetizing and will do better than if fed on the bread alone. A dog is a natural eater of scraps and offal.

This handler, Mr. Askins, advances several other criticisms and one good suggestion. He condemns the waste from the breakfast food factories, and other prepared dog foods. He is mistaken again there. For purposes of digestion and nutrition these substances should be flavored or mixed with meat, but they are excellent foods, especially in summer, and for idle dogs at any time. It is important to know this fact, because they are ready to use and save the labor of preparing food. In fact, to reduce inconvenience to a minimum, you can do very well with your dogs

by using the baker's bread, corn bread or whatever other cereal you can get most easily pouring boiling water over cracklings (chopped up) or whatever meat substance comes handy, and mixing the two. It is well to remember the old story that the stomach requires "filling" as well as nutriment. If the bread or cereal is not rich in protein it helps out wonderfully all the same.

Mr. Askins' good suggestion is that dog men should invent some way of using beans and peas. Six or seven years ago I advocated that food. In a droughty summer and autumn the farmer who had some of my dogs found himself without corn and without money but with an abundance of cowpeas. He presented the case to me and I told him to use the peas, with care as to thorough cooking. For two months he fed almost nothing else. The dogs never thrived better. Peas and beans are theoretically rich in protein, but they must be boiled long to be assimilable. My friend, the farmer, boiled a bit of pork with his supply, and the dogs ate eagerly. I should not ask a better regimen for any kind of dogs than this: One day beans boiled with pork, one day dry corn bread or manufactured dog biscuit, one day meat, either raw or cooked; then back to the beans.

But all this calls for trouble and special effort. What is the minimum for the amateur who has something on his hands beside dogs? He will usually have a servant to help if he keeps his dogs at home, or somebody whose business it is to feed if he boards them out. The chances are that the servant or other person is good-natured enough about it, but will not have much zeal in the occupation; will throw out food every day if it calls for nothing more, but will not carry out detailed instructions. The best resort is the manufacturer or the cannery. Canned beef or even salmon will do as the meat ingredient, and a very little will do for each dog. Waste breakfast food, baker's bread or dog biscuit will furnish the rest. If your nearest butcher will supply some of his refuse lean meat, chopped up with the cleaver, it will be an improvement twice a week.

Let him throw in a few big bones to be gnawed. In this way cooking can be avoided altogether. The dog which gets sick will nearly always eat raw eggs stirred up with broken bread.

It is odd that all the books have a hard word for corn bread, while all the country owners use nothing else. And the country dogs are strong and healthy. I have no doubt at all that corn bread is all right, after the dog stomach gets used to it. man who fancies bird dogs or hounds must have them kept in the country, unless he has his own kennel or country place. He can be quite contented if they are fed on corn bread.

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How often should a dog be fed? Theoretically, a small feed twice a day is better

than a big one once a day. In practice once a day will turn out better. With the inattentive service you are most likely to get, the once-a-day will be the only regular feeding you can rely upon, and regularity is important. In the working season for bird dogs and hounds, you like to begin early in the morning at your sport. A dog works better on an empty stomach. It is his nature to get along best with digestion not too frequent. Let him be fed well at night. For other dogs, which seldom work hard enough for exercise, much less for fatigue, the one-time method is plenty.

No other animal, perhaps, is as "notional" about eating as a sporting dog.

It

is common to see a hound or setter refuse to eat for two or three days after he reaches a new home. You need not be anxious, unless he is evidently sick. Let him alone, don't leave food lying around, and he will be himself shortly. In kennels where there are a number of dogs it is always the case that some eat ravenously and some hold off, picking indifferently at the food. It is best for each dog to be fed separately in all kennels where two or more are kept. But there, again, is the amateur's question of time and trouble. At least he must charge himself with seeing that one dog does not gorge while another starves. The easiest plan, perhaps, is to hold out part of the food until the greedy ones get their allowance, send them back to the kennel and supply the slow feeders at their leisure.

Individuality in dogs must be considered when using meat. The cranky ones will often refuse other food if they get meat separately. This is the more to be expected if the meat is fed raw. Raw meat is so distinctly the natural food of the dog kind that an appetite once indulged will not be altogether contented with other supplies. The habit often causes anxiety because it may be that, for reasons of health to the dog or convenience to the owner, feeding raw scraps is advisable. Nobody likes to see a dumb animal apparently starving, but sometimes the voluntary starving may do as much good as harm. Gradually the dog will learn to take his rations of biscuit or corn bread; but you will now and then see one which will wait two days for his meat, while bread lies in front of him. All this can be obviated by serving the meat daily in a stew, mixed with cereal or bread. instead of on separate days. At times it works well to leave out the meat entirely and compel the dog to adjust himself to bread. Compassion need not be excited when a canine misses a meal or two. He is not to be judged by mankind's habits. Abstinence is rather in his line.

A principle is that when at daily hard work in the field, and the feed comes once a day, a dog can hardly eat too much; when doing nothing in a kennel, certainly in summer, he cannot eat too little voluntarily.

Sloppy, soupy stews and mashes should