176 GORSE COVERTS 



grow up into long cane-like sticks, bearing no under- 

 growth, in a very few years ; and, unless gorse grows 

 really strong an exceptionally heavy fall of snow will 

 often break down and ruin the whole covert. It seems 

 a good plan in situations which do not appear to be 

 favourable to the growth of gorse, to plough the land 

 in broad furrows and sow the seed in drills ; but this 

 system is said to have its attendant disadvantages, for 

 foxes get into the habit of travelling only in the 

 furrows, and are liable to be chopped by hounds. 



Happy the hunting country that is not dependent 

 on artificial coverts to harbour its foxes, but has plenty 

 of good woodlands, spinnies wherein grow lots of 

 strong under-covert, sheltered dingles, and wild, scrub- 

 clad glens. In such a country all that coverts require 

 in spring is repairs of the fences, which must be taken 

 in hand as soon as "the last card" has been worked 

 through, and is usually not a very heavy job. It is 

 very different where the " evergreen plant," immor- 

 talised by the poet laureate of the Tarporley Hunt, 

 forms almost the only shelter for the fox, for now 

 is the time that these coverts require most careful 

 attention — attention, too, which in these days has 

 become very costly. 



No hard-and-fast rules can be laid down for the care 

 of a gorse covert, for so very much depends upon the 

 nature of the soil. Where the ground is good the 

 covert will require unremitting attention from 

 the first, for the grasses in very rich soil will in- 

 evitably choke the young gorse if the sod be not 

 skimmed off before the sowing is done, and the labour 

 will be in vain. In the country from which I write 



