WHAT MIGHT BE AND WHAT IS 271 



Sport and society are great temptations to the 

 young, which only those of unusual grit and determi- 

 nation find themselves able to resist. Also that pro- 

 longed scientific training in the business they have 

 chosen, without which success is improbable in a 

 settled land, is generally lacking. I may add that on 

 these matters I do not speak without my book, as I 

 have myself some experience of the risks and hard- 

 ships of colonial farming. 



However these things may be, save for the pur- 

 poses of agriculture and one other which I will men- 

 tion presently, no individual can really need a large 

 extent of land. A few hundred acres about his house, 

 with a wall built round it, will keep him as private 

 as even the most exclusive person could desire. 

 That other reason, ruling out those of pomp and social 

 advantage, is sport. Good shooting can only be 

 obtained on a large property, either owned or hired. 

 Indeed I believe that from the time of the Normans, 

 when William the Conqueror and other tyrants 

 destroyed the villages and drove out their inhabi- 

 tants to make room for deer, one of the principal 

 causes of the creation of large domains has been the 

 desire for sport. 



This in itself is innocent enough, but the question 

 will arise whether a country may not be asked to pay 

 too high a price for its gratification. The fact is that 

 the pheasant, which Mr. Kipling has truly called " the 

 lord of many a shire," is an obstacle to any signal 

 alteration of landed conditions in certain parts of 

 Great Britain. As I have already remarked, small 

 farmers and pheasants do not get on well together, 

 and the same may be said of such folk and partridges 

 or foxes, or of crofters and deer in the Highlands. 



