THE RATIONALE OF HUNTING 



27 



These columns were under the personal revision 

 of Lord Lonsdale, whose theory is, that the money of 

 the hunting man should go direct into the pocket of 

 the farmer. Some people doubt the utility of any 

 registration of provender in the hands of farmers, on 

 the ground that many hunting men have no knowledge 

 of the quality of corn and hay, and of the value of it ; 

 but the doubt to our mind seems foolish, as the ignorant 

 hunting man has only to direct his dealer to buy 

 direct from a farmer resident in the country in which 

 he hunts. However, we hope that the chapter in this 

 volume on " Stables and Stable Management," may 

 cure some of this ignorance which certainly is not bliss 

 to the huntinor man. 



Passing now to the circulation of money by hunting 

 men in the country in which they hunt, it is impossible 

 to estimate the amount with any degree of accuracy, 

 but it certainly amounts to more thousands per annum 

 than outsiders think it does hundreds. Some writers 

 assert, and we are inclined to agree with them, that 

 the abolition of hunting would involve the ruin 

 of the rural population of England, already harassed 

 by low prices and general agricultural depression. If 

 there be a single particle of truth in the assertion, 

 that particle of truth is alone a sufficient reason for 

 the existence of fox-hunting, since it proves that fox- 

 huntinf? affords a channel through which the money of 



