A MONMOUTHSHIRE FOX. 343 



it, but it seems to me hard to believe that the British 

 agriculturist whether, as now, large tenant farmer, or, 

 as our Radical friends would have him, small freeholder 

 or state tenant will ever be shortsighted enough to 

 wish to abolish one of the principal sources whence the 

 profits are derived. A farmer who tries to interfere 

 with hunting only reminds one of a pig swimming, 

 which cuts its own throat in its endeavours. 



Let us suppose him successful in his attempt. 

 Where will the market for his young horses be, then ? 

 Who will pay him top prices for the old hay and old 

 oats on which alone condition can be maintained ? 

 Even straw, which at recent prices has paid for the 

 cultivation of wheat, will be in little demand, for the 

 owners of " business horses" patronise moss-litter 

 more and more every day. Nearly five millions 

 are spent on hunting every year. How large a 

 share of this goes into the farmer's pocket is obvious. 

 Is he likely to interfere with this source of income ? 



No ; if fox-hunting is to decline, it will not be 

 to the wire fence or to the farmer's opposition that 

 it will succumb, but to the degeneracy of Reynard 

 himself. 



Who that has hunted both in the home and crack 

 counties, and also in those more remote from centres 

 of civilisation, can have failed to compare the foxes of 

 the former unfavourably with those of the latter ? 

 Nor are the causes of this degeneracy far to seek. As 

 surely as artificial earths and the hand-rearing of cubs 

 have introduced mange into the vulpine race, so surely 

 are high preserving and too much motherly coddling 



