INTRODUCTION 19 



decade the daily Press has found it to be to its interest 

 to pubhsh fox-hunting reports : therefore it must 

 also be to its interest to defend fox-hunting from its 

 enemies, and to brand with infamy the names of 

 peripatetic fox-poachers who are found guilty in 

 those actions for trespass which I have advocated. 

 To those who disagree with me my opinions may 

 appear to savour of blackmailing, since I insist that 

 a hunting man who does not subscribe to hounds 

 should not only be forced by a court of law to pay a 

 subscription, but should also be paraded in the pillory 

 of the Press as an example of unsportsmanlike mean- 

 ness. But my opinions are expressed upon the con- 

 viction that strong diseases require strong remedies, 

 and when I find a discordant element in fox-hunting 

 influence I feel it to be my duty to do my utmost to 

 eradicate it. 



I must now allude to another matter which may 

 occasion a decline in the influence of fox-hunting 

 upon agriculture. Let it be clearly understood, how- 

 ever, that I do not admit that there has been any 

 decline during the past decade, and that I am urging 

 pessimistic arguments with the sole motive of avert- 

 ing any decline in the future. This explanation is 

 necessary, as it is my purpose to draw attention to 

 the customs of shooting -tenants and syndicates of 

 shooting-tenants. Agricultural depression has affected 

 the large landowners in the same degree as it has 

 affected the tenant farmers, with the result that many 

 of them have been tempted to accept the big rents 



