27 



CHAP. XXXIII. 



HINTS FROM AN OLD SPORTSMAN. — BE ON GOOD TERMS "WITH TOUR 

 TENANTS. — MILD SEASONS KEEP BIRDS FROM CLOVER. — SET DOG- 

 SPIKES FOR AVILD DOGS. — PLANTING ON POOR LANDS. — ENCOUNTER 

 AVITH POACHERS. — WONDERFUL BREEDING SEASON. — GAMEKEEPER 

 TO KEEP GOOD ATATCH AT NIGHT. — A PILL FOR THE POACHER. — 

 SCREEN^NG A POACHER. 



PERiiArs a few hints from an old sportsman how to 

 get up a stock of game in two or three years, may 

 prove of some service to gentlemen who have recently 

 come into possession of an estate, more especially if 

 they should not have resided in the country. The 

 quality of the soil is of essential importance in the 

 breeding of game, for it is in vain to expect to have a 

 good stock of pheasants and partridges, and even hares 

 and rabbits, on a cold white clayey ungrateful soil. 

 In Norfolk we find the great advantage of a gravell}^, 

 sandy, or light loamy earth, for in most parts of this 

 county every sort of game is found in great abundance, 

 particularly partridges ; and the extensive cultivation of 

 turnips affords good sport during the greater pai't of the 

 winter. Suffolk and some parts of Cambridgeshire are 

 well stocked with game in consequence of their having 

 good breeding soil; and in some parts of the high grounds 

 of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, where the soil is 



