IN THE FIELD. 307 



expense, subscriptions being accepted only for Covert, 

 Wire, Poultry, or Damage Funds, as the case may 

 be. The Vale of White Horse (Cirencester) requires 

 a subscription from ladies of " $ per day, per 

 week." Strangers who hunt occasionally with a sub- 

 scription pack where capping is not practised, are 

 expected to contribute towards the Poultry or Damage 

 Fund. In some hunts a cap is taken from non-sub- 

 scribers, from whom a certain fixed sum is expected ; 

 the Essex and Suffolk requires five shillings a day, 

 the Burstow a sovereign, and the Pytchley and 

 Warwickshire two pounds. The usual "field money" 

 in Ireland is half-a-crown. The Blackmore Vale, 

 although a subscription pack, does not fix any sum, 

 but sensibly expects people to subscribe according to 

 the number of horses they keep, and the amount of 

 hunting they do. An old and sound rule is ^"5 for 

 each horse; As subscriptions vary in different hunts, 

 the best plan for a lady who has to arrange her own 

 business matters, is to write to the secretary of the 

 hunt which she desires to join, and obtain from him 

 the required information. She will find Bailey's 

 Hunting Directory a most useful book of reference. 



IN THE FIELD. 



Under this heading, I shall try to give practical 

 advice to those who are commencing their hunting 

 career, and explain several things that I would have 

 liked to have known myself when I first rode to hounds. 

 As we may learn something from the failings of others 



20* 



