THE ART ITSELF 191 



I have still a few more words to say on the 

 subject of scent, from which we seem to have 

 drifted into a discussion on other things. The two 

 elements which have the greatest effect on scent 

 are atmosphere and soil, but in what way they 

 act for good or evil no one yet has been able 

 to determine. We know that a light, sandy, or 

 very porous soil is bad for scent, but we do 

 not know why. My idea is that these soils are, 

 unless flooded with wet, always absorbing mois- 

 ture from the air, and that they draw down scent 

 at the same time. A clay soil absorbs moisture 

 very slowly, except arable land that has no crop 

 and in exceptionally dry weather. I should say 

 that the most favourable time for hounds to run 

 is when the atmosphere is in such a state that it 

 is nearly of the same weight as scent, with just 

 a slight leaning to the light side. When the 

 fox or other animal starts off, his scent is left 

 in a little cloud behind him, which, when it and 

 the air are nearly of the same weight, sinks very 

 gradually to the ground. Then, if it falls on 

 grazing ground, it will cling for some time to 

 the herbage, whilst that falling on a dry, barren 

 surface will quickly disappear. Of course, when 



