SUPERVISION OF GAMEKEEPERS 331 



tate rei seldom remain in one situation for long, so 

 that they take good care to make hay while the sun 

 shines. Now I am certain that if the shooting-tenant 

 were to take the trouble to call upon the neighbour- 

 ing farmers, he would not only gain valuable in- 

 formation, but by his courtesy would secure their 

 goodwill. As a class, tenant farmers respond 

 cordially to overtures of friendship, though the over- 

 tures must never be made in a patronising spirit. 

 Further, if the keeper knows that the farmers are 

 friendly disposed towards his employer, he will be 

 very careful about his behaviour in his employer's 

 absence. 



Now, although it has long been a recognised fact 

 that fox-hunting is dependent upon the goodwill of 

 the farmers, shooting-men rarely take the trouble to 

 propitiate the farmers, though the advantages of doing 

 so are obvious. I know a little shoot of between 400 

 and 500 acres some six miles out of a commercial 

 town in the Midlands, which for many years was 

 not worth the trouble of shooting over; so the 

 lessee refused to rent it any longer, and it was 

 let at a nominal rent to two of the directors of the 

 principal hotel in the town, which catered for the 

 farmers on market day. These gentlemen engaged 

 a keeper on the recommendation of the neighbouring 

 farmers, have always got a bag fully up to their 

 expectations, and their coverts are seldom drawn 

 blank. Within a short distance is another shoot of 

 about 1,200 acres, where game was scarce, and where 



