In 1854 my Barry I. was born in Lowenberg - short-haired, white, with red head. As he resembled neither in hair nor colour the preceding generation, the owners thought him a mongrel, and sold him as valueless to Mr. Klopfenstein of Neuenegg, from whom I acquired the dog in 1855, because so like the Barry of 1815 in the Berne Museum, and because I knew his pedigree. From Barry I bred magnificent pups, which were mostly sold to Russia, until Mr. Baron Judd, of Glockenthal, near Thun, bought Barry from me in 1858, on condition that pups should be given to me. Mr. Baron Judd experienced difficulty in finding females of similar breed. The Rev. Mr. Weyerman, Interlachen, possessed a large long-haired female, resulting from the crossing with a Hospice dog, which female, by Barry I., produced Sultan I., the only offspring from this pair. Favorita I. and Toni I. are from Sultan and Diana I. Mr. Judd gave up to me Sultan I. in 1862. From him I obtained Diana I. of the St. Bernard stock, from which I have received up to date, with the help of blood renewal, not only strong and pure, but improved dogs, of which my present breeding dogs, Apollo I., Bernice I., Apollo II., Bernice II., and Juno, testify.

The deterioration of the breed is not only the result of want of kynological skill, and of the difficulty in bringing up puppies, but also from financial causes. The majority of owners have made the breeding of these noble animals a trade, only considering profit. Moreover, foreign buyers desire long-haired animals, so that breeders cross the original breeds with long-haired dogs without making the right choice, only to meet the demand. I do not assert that long-haired animals have depreciated, but through unsuitable crossings depreciation has been facilitated. The long-haired animals are more imposing and handsomer than the short-haired, but the latter have the advantage of less perspiration, and are hardier. Besides, I adhere to the principle that the race ought to be reared parallel with the parents, so that it may acquire the same reputation. For this reason I have asked the St. Bernard Club section of the Swiss Kynological Society to make the pure breeding of short-haired dogs one of its features.

In conclusion, I give you explanations about the best-known dogs in England. From 1862 I sold puppies from Sultan I., Diana I, Leo I., Barry II., Favorita I., and Toni I. for England without registration. Before 1867 I learned that the dogs sold by me won the first prizes in the various dog shows, and I decided to exhibit my Sultan I., Favorita I., and Leo I. at the Paris Show in 1867, for which purpose the monks of St. Bernard gave me a certificate testifying to the purity of my breed, which contributed to my dogs winning first prize. In 1866 the Rev. J. C. Macdona bought his first three St. Bernard dogs from Mr. Schindler, Berne. Amongst these was a fine, long-haired specimen - red, with white marks, and double wolf-claws. With this dog the Rev. J. C. Macdona obtained his first success in England, and many of his offspring are considered the best in England. In 1865 I sold the Rev. Mr. Dillon, in Berne, the dog Tell and the female Hero. The Rev. Mr. Macdona bought Tell, and it is well known that he was considered the best short-haired dog. In 1871 I sold Mr. Murchison Thor and Jura. These two, up to recent date, were considered to be the best long-haired St. Bernards, and their offspring are well known in England. I sold Mr. Murchison, in 1882, Sirius and Bellona. Sultan and Medar are also great prize winners in England. This proves that Englishmen have drawn their St. Bernards from well-known Swiss breeders, and have not, as the Germans assert, manufactured the breed. To the English belongs the merit of first recognising and ennobling the breed, especially by new blood, by which they have contributed to the improvement of the race. In 1867 I started the register for my St. Bernards, and this contains the oldest pedigrees. There were many attempts to cross between German and Newfoundland dogs to produce a short-haired breed similar to St. Bernards, under the impression that the original breed has been thus obtained. These crossings gave no brilliant results. It must remain for later investigation whether the St. Bernard breed is not one which is still to be found in the isolated Rhone valleys, because the first peasants who took part in the wars of liberation five or six centuries ago took with them into battle a species of dog of enormous dimensions, probably of the same origin as the present St. Bernard; at least, this assumption is worthy of investigation.

Heinrich Schumacher.

HOLLIGEN, August 24th, 1886."

Here a further reference to Mr. Schumacher's Barry I., often styled the regenerator of the breed, may be made. Though modern St. Bernard breeders are ever ready to acknowledge their indebtedness to Barry I., yet few have any idea what the dog was like. Fig. 23 will, however, show present-day fanciers that massiveness and depth of head at least characterised this dog of other days. It was not until 1891 that the present generation of fanciers were enabled to see what manner of dog, as judged by head properties, Barry I. was like. In that year Mr. Schumacher came across, by accident, an old daguerreotype that had been taken of himself and his wife, with Barry I. lying at their feet, and that had been buried for thirty-five years. This Mr. Schumacher placed at the disposal of the late Mr. Hugh Dalziel, and the half-tone illustration (Fig. 23) is the result.

Fig. 23. - Head of St. Bernard Barry I.

Without entering into controversy as to the origin of the St. Bernard, or whether the breed had existed in its purity for five hundred years, as stated by H. Schumacher in 1886, his communication will always prove interesting to the true St. Bernard lover, for we have obtained our best English stock from the strains of Schumacher.