Agriculhtral Improvemcrits. 1 27 



with your sport, in every cover that I might run 

 into.* 



Mr. Mullens was firmly persuaded that the hares 

 in his country had become stouter, and could stand 

 longer before hounds, than when he had first begun to 

 hunt. On my expressing surprise at an opinion which 

 seemed to me so strange, and asking how he could 

 account for such a change, he said, ' Well, sir, I think 

 it can be sufficiently accounted for. You must remem- 

 ber that during those years the Swede turnip has 

 been introduced. Now the Swede is the heartiest food 

 that a hare can get ; and moreover she is so fond of 

 it that she will go a great distance for it. Well, there 

 you have at once the two things which improve con- 

 dition, better food and more exercise. At any rate, 

 whether this is the reason or not, I am sure of the fact : 

 my hounds are faster and more powerful, yet the hares 

 stand at least as long before them as they did when I 

 began to hunt' 



The dates of Agricultural Improvements are gene- 

 rally soon forgotten, or known only to a few scientific 

 men. It may be well, therefore, to take this opportu- 

 nity of recording what little I know on such subjects. 

 I can say a little from my own recollections, but I 

 have obtained my most accurate information from Mr. 

 Terry, the same gentleman whose extraordinary run 

 with a few harriers I mentioned in my second letter. 

 His experience in Hampshire farming goes back to 

 the end of the last century, when his father, though 

 possessing property of his own in Berkshire, lived at 

 Tunworth, and at one time farmed the whole of that 

 parish. Being a person of more capital, as well as 

 more intelligence, than most of his neighbours, he 

 seems to have taken the lead in making experiments. 



