Hunting with Hounds 189 



wild red fox put on a more genuine and 

 healthy basis than in the Genesee Valley, in 

 central New York. There has always been 

 fox-hunting in this valley, the farmers having 

 good horses and being fond of sport; but it 

 was conducted in a very irregular, primitive 

 manner, until some twenty years ago Mr. Aus- 

 tin Wadsworth turned his attention to it. He 

 has been master of fox-hounds ever since, and 

 no pack in the country has yielded better 

 sport than his, or has brought out harder rid- 

 ers among the men and stronger jumpers 

 among the horses. Mr. Wadsworth began his 

 hunting by picking up some of the various 

 trencher-fed hounds of the neighborhood, the 

 hunting of that period being managed on the 

 principle of each farmer bringing to the meet 

 the hound or hounds he happened to possess, 

 and appearing on foot or horseback as his 

 fancy dictated. Having gotten together some 

 of these native hounds and started fox-hunting 

 in localities where the ground was so open as 

 to necessitate following the chase on horse- 

 back, Mr. Wadsworth imported a number of 

 dogs from the best English kennels. He found 

 these to be much faster than the American 

 dogs and more accustomed to work together, 

 but less enduring, and without such good 



