NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



rate of 6d. to is. per acre, have already been discussed 

 at one or two meetings of agriculturists. On the face 

 of it, this is not a very outrageous proposition. Sports- 

 men pay gladly for the right to shoot partridges and 

 other game. A hunting rent of 6d., or even is. per 

 acre is not ruinous, and many a small farmer would be 

 made well content by ;£"5 or ;^io for the winter use of 

 his land, plus compensation for serious damage to crops 

 or fences. Large tracts of land, farmed by gentlemen 

 and even by the large agriculturists, would be no doubt 

 exempt from this tax. 



Masters of hounds and farmers are now, very rightly, 

 directing their attention to the thinning of overgrown 

 fields. It is abundantly clear, not only that hunting 

 men will have to be more careful of crops, stock, ewes 

 in the lambing season, and other matters, but that 

 strangers who do not or will not contribute to the cost 

 of hunting will not be tolerated. Already the galloping 

 of irresponsible second horsemen across fields and 

 fences has been prohibited by various masters in the 

 more fashionable countries. That is an excellent ex- 

 ample, which will no doubt be followed in many hunts. 

 The stranger difficulty is a serious one to grapple with, 

 but there can be no doubt of its ending. The stranger 

 will have to go, unless he contributes for his day's 

 sport. Various systems have been suggested. Capping 

 is but a clumsy shift at best. The idea of selling 

 tickets, as for fishing, is not a bad one. But one thing 

 is certain, the days of the stranger and pilgrim who 

 declines to pay for his sport are absolutely doomed, and 

 not very long hence he will have rightly vanished from 

 the scenes of his former joys. In fine, it may be pre- 

 dicted that, if hunting is to continue, in fashionable 

 countries every hunt subscriber will have to pay much 

 more for his sport and pleasure. It seems only fair that 



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