172 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



on its course between Hertford and Broxbourne. 

 Bricks and mortar have driven all these packs back, 

 but, curiously enough, when once a certain limit is 

 passed many of the metropolitan countries are fairly 

 wild, and by no means populous. Indeed, nowhere 

 in the Midlands is there a country of so small a popula- 

 tion as that to be found right across the northern part 

 of the Puckeridge Hunt, and a similar remark applies 

 to the extreme north of the Essex country. 



Excessive woodland is the weak point of both 

 divisions of the Old Berkeley country, there being a 

 great deal of it, with light plough and a little pasture 

 as well. The plough carries a moderate scent, but, as 

 has been stated, part of the famous vale of Aylesbury 

 is within the confines of this hunt, and between them 

 the two packs are out on four different days of the week. 

 Amersham is near the centre of the Old Berkeley West, 

 and Rickmansworth is a handy spot for the eastern 

 side of the country. The recently made Great Central 

 Railway has opened out the western portion of this hunt 

 very much of late years, and a good deal of building is 

 being done in districts that were rural and primitive to a 

 degree less than a dozen years ago. The Hertfordshire 

 is a plough country, and mostly cold scenting land ; 

 there are considerable woodlands, and a little pasture, 

 but the country is a big one, hunted by a four-days-a- 

 week pack, and when the land is wet sport is often 

 first-rate. 



Indeed, this is the case in the adjoining Puckeridge 

 country, and to some extent in the Essex country also, 

 but if one may write from personal observation the 

 Essex country carries a better scent when the land 

 is dry than does the Puckeridge or the Hertfordshire. 

 Like the Hertfordshire, the Essex and Puckeridge 



