192 FOX-HUNTING 



the air is the heaviest, your scent will disappear 

 skywards, and your only chance of a run is to 

 keep near your fox. On those days, which occur 

 once in two or three seasons, when hounds can 

 race over every kind of country and every variety 

 of soil, I believe that air and scent have just 

 happened to be evenly balanced. It is quite 

 easy to understand that the chance cannot occur 

 often, as with two such light materials, the 

 slightest difference must turn the scales either 

 way. 



Sheep, cattle, and horses all destroy scent, or 

 rather, I should say, they confuse the hounds 

 by mixing up their own strong smell with that 

 of the fox. I think it does hounds good to 

 occasionally let them hunt out a cold line, but 

 not when there are other scents combined with 

 that of the fox. Manure, artificial and other- 

 wise, is strong enough for us to smell, and it 

 therefore must get in the hound's nostrils and 

 overpower the faint scent of an animal. When 

 you see that any of the above causes have brought 

 the pack to a check, do not wait for them to cast 

 themselves or puzzle it out, but lift them forward 

 at once beyond the affected area. When, how- 



