MODERN CONDITIONS OF HUNTING 55 



what wire there is, and that when a farm changes 

 hands, posts and rails will, as a rule, be provided for 

 any new fencing, or mending of old fences which the 

 new tenant requires. 



Then, again, there are the numerous advantages to be 

 gained by farmers who do not use wire ; and these 

 cannot be too often or too forcibly pointed out. In 

 this connection we do not include the public collections 

 which are annually (or sometimes bi-annually) made 

 by the various hunts for the funds of the Royal Agri- 

 cultural Benevolent Institution, but may mention that 

 the society in question is in a very large degree sup- 

 ported by the contributions of hunting men and 

 women. There are, however, the hedge-cutting compe- 

 titions, which are immensely popular in the Midlands, 

 and the many prizes offered by masters of hounds, 

 and hunting people generally, at the local agricul- 

 tural shows, in which the competition is only open 

 to farmers residing within the confines of a certain 

 hunt, or hunts. In many cases it is now the custom 

 to bar all competitors whose farms are wired, and 

 this has been found to answer well, there being a 

 very strong feeling amongst farmers that those of 

 their calling who do not favour the hunt in some 

 degree should not be eligible to win a prize which 

 has been given by the master of hounds, or by his 

 followers. It is also in some cases the custom to 

 omit farmers who use barbed wire from the list of 

 puppy walkers, and when — as sometimes happens — a 

 farmer, whose farm is wired, does get a prize his 

 neighbours have plenty to say about it. But, after 

 all, goodwill and friendly feeling are the keynote to 

 a pleasant state of affairs between any hunt and the 

 tenant farmers within its boundaries, and this, we are 



