MILD SEASONS KEEP BIEDS FROM CLOVER. 31 



wheat, by which he gains more straw and leaves little or 

 no cover for the partridges, and probably in a very short 

 time he ploughs up the field for a fresh crop. No short 

 cover is left near the hedgerows, and almost every inch 

 of land is brought under the plough. But to -balance 

 these disadvantages as regards game, he is enabled to 

 pay his landlord the worth of the land. A bad farmer 

 is the best friend to the sportsman ; he allows his crop 

 of corn to be foul with weeds, he reaps his wheat, leaves 

 a long stubble with abundance of weeds, which affords 

 excellent covers for the partridges, where they lie close 

 to the dog, and give you good shooting. These long 

 stubbles he seldom mows before the month of October, 

 which gives you a few weeks' better sport. If the 

 hedgerows on the estate are in general double, with a 

 ditch on each side, the tenant should not be allowed to 

 make them single, for these large hedgerows afford 

 excellent places for the pheasants and partridges to 

 make their nests, and where they have nothing to fear 

 except ground vermin. 



Should the spring prove mild, and the artificial 

 grasses, such as sainfoin, clover, and trefoil, be very 

 forward, then the gamekeeper should frequently disturb 

 these fields with a dog to prevent the partridges and 

 pheasants making their nests ; for as the mowing will 

 commence early, the chances are that many of the 

 nests will be mown out. When this is the case, it mil 

 be advisable to give the men a small reward for bringing 

 the eggs to the gamekeeper or to the house, where 

 bantams should be in readiness to hatch them. I must 

 say I think it is very wrong for gentlemen to purchase 

 the eggs of pheasants and partridges from poachers, and 

 thus encourage them frequently to take the nests of 



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