24 THE ESSEX FOXHOUNDS. 



are divided by dry ditches, wide and deep, so deep, indeed, 

 that should a horse sHp to the bottom, his rider, though 

 retaining his seat, is sometimes invisible from a short 

 distance, and a horse from the plough is needed to ex- 

 tricate the engulfed hunter. 



Seventy years ago, when the country was better worth 

 the farmer's care, these ditches were described by Colonel 

 John Cook as " rather wide but not blind." In the present 

 day they are often sufficiently overgrown to bring disaster 

 to horses and riders, who would sail away in safety across 

 a country intersected with upstanding fences. In one re- 

 spect, however, the country has become easier to ride 

 over. In former times it was customary to cut a small 

 trench, parallel to the big ditch and about a yard from 

 it, for the purpose of cutting the roots of the under- 

 growth, and preventing them from spreading into the 

 fields. It is now more than thirty years since these " root 

 ditches " were in general use, but traces of them may 

 still be found in the district. Mr. C. E. Ridley, of 

 Chelmsford, states he cannot discover that any of these 

 " root ditches " have been cut within the last eighty years. 

 It is easy to understand the statement of the late General 

 Mark Wood that the necessity of negotiating "root 

 ditches " in addition to the main ditch made the country 



