128 The Hunting Field With Horse and Hound 



in England who "never had money enough," as they say in 

 Michigan, "to wad a gun," but who are never without a hunter 

 to ride, a yacht to sail, and a gun for big game or small. 



Owing to the decline in agriculture in England, there is 

 comparatively little land under the plough. Hay and grazing 

 are the chief source of agricultural revenue. Especially is this 

 the case in the principal hunting centres already referred to 

 as the "Grass Countries." There one may gallop from morn- 

 ing until night over fields that have been in turf for 100 

 to 200 years, possibly more, and seldom meet with a bit of 

 plough land outside of a garden patch. The INIidlands are 

 therefore very attractive to the hard riding and racing men 

 who congregate there by the thousands, many of them to hunt 

 five or even six days during the week. 



In the first place, the damp moist climate is just suited to 

 the laying of scent and the great grass fields afford the best 

 possible conditions for holding the same. This makes it possible 

 for hounds to race away to the line with heads up and at a 

 rate that only the very highest class horses can follow. 



As above intimated, the "Midlands" attract largely the men 

 who hunt to ride, and for that same reason are quite as repelling 

 to many men who ride to hunt. It is unnecessary to say the 

 writer has a most decided preference for the latter school ; he 

 holds that hunting the fox is one tiling, racing him to death 

 quite another. If, for instance, these racing packs of hounds 

 are hard pressed by a racing crowd of riders, which often num- 

 ber from one to three hundred, and there is a check, and Rey- 

 nard has turned back, there is no recovering the line. It is, there- 

 fore, largely a huntsman's game. Instead of giving the hounds 

 a chance to hunt their fox, they are generally lifted smartly on 

 with a gamble on the chance of recovering the line or picking 

 up another line for another race. Still, every hunting man 

 ^ho visits England should at least have a fling with a Grass 

 Country pack ; they do the thing up proper and smart, and on 



