12 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



if they are silently hostile to a sport from which they 

 derive no immediate advantage. I am no advocate 

 for perpetually patting the small farmer on the back, 

 any more than I believe in the abuse to which 

 he is subjected by a certain clique of hunting men. 

 He is the necessary product of the agricultural 

 depression, which has prevailed since the seventies, 

 and it is only by tact and judicious expenditure that 

 he can be made a friend to hunting. 



This brings me to that part of my subject, which 

 deals with the direct personal influence of hunting 

 men on agriculture. It is often said that it is the 

 first duty of an M.F.H. to make himself popular 

 with the farmers, and this duty the history of fox- 

 hunting tells us that, without exception, M.F.H.'s 

 have diligently performed. But great as may be 

 the influence of the M.F.H., both through personal 

 popularity and through private generosity, its effect 

 becomes nugatory unless he meets with the support 

 of his followers. Till within the last few years 

 the majority of his followers had an interest in the 

 land over which they hunted, or at least were 

 residents in the country, and commanded respect, 

 even where their influence was small They spent 

 their money in the country, and, though the amount 

 might not be large, the local farmers knew that they 

 got a share of it. Moreover, they understood the 

 rudiments of agriculture. They did not ride helter- 

 skelter over the land, without any regard to the 

 damage which they might cause to the occupier ; 



