180 GORSE COVERTS 



heavily for the cutting and removal of what was once 

 a marketable commodity. 



I have heard, and read also, that it is a good plan 

 to " lay " and peg down the gorse steins when they 

 grow high ; but this is not my experience, nor is it 

 recommended by one or two Masters of Foxhounds 

 who have tried it. It makes but a slovenly looking 

 job, after all. It is difficult to draw, and foxes are 

 apt to be left behind in it ; it sickens hounds, who 

 hate the stuff through which they can't hunt their 

 fox properly ; and for that reason, if for no other, 

 this treatment of a gorse covert is to be condemned. 



I have heard of a gorse covert, a small patch of 

 which is devoted to a perpetual stick or rubbish heap. 

 Some strong posts are driven into the ground a short 

 distance apart, the posts about eighteen inches above 

 ground; laths or poles are nailed from one post to the 

 other, forming a support for branches, thorn bushes, 

 hedge clippings, roots of trees, gorse, or any sort of 

 covering. This covert, I am told, is never drawn blank, 

 and if your covert is situated in a hairy country, I 

 am sure the plan is a good one ; but in a stone wall 

 or clear bank country I fear the material would be 

 difficult to find for this useful annexe. 



Where there is an artificial earth in the covert it 

 should have been very carefully examined before now. 

 The old grey badger has a way of establishing himself 

 in early winter in these artificial earths, and his 

 presence remains often unsuspected. If earths that 

 are in good order remain unused, or if the covert is 

 not a large one and fails to hold, suspect then the 

 presence of the badger, who is going to alter the 



