T90 THE HORSE: ITS TAMING, 



of argument. I spend ^^3000 on my hounds and their 

 equipment. Many masters spend more, but a good 

 deal of this goes for little better than show ; and 

 therefore, wishing not to overstate my case, I put the 

 cost at £7^0 a day per season. By the latest returns 

 of packs of hounds we have in England and Wales, I 

 find 160 packs. Taking my calculation throughout, 

 according to the days a week each pack is advertised 

 to hunt, brings the actual cost of foxhounds, when 

 brought into the field, to ^^347,2 50 a year. There are 

 12 packs of staghounds, taken at the same calculation, 

 coming to ;^20,ooo or thereabouts. The hunters, 

 which may be fairly said to be kept solely for the 

 purpose of being ridden with these 172 packs of 

 hounds, other than those of the hunt-servants (alread}' 

 taken into account) cannot be less than 200 horses in 

 each hunt, although it is very difficult to average them 

 correctly. The cost of these 34,000 horses, if grooms' 

 wages are considered, cannot be less than £^0 a horse. 

 This is what I always reckon as the right sum per 

 head for my hunters, and we find in this item a total 

 of ^^2,752,000. We must not lose sight of what is 

 annually paid by hunting men for the rent of coverts, 

 poultry claims, fees to keepers, and damage to farmers. 

 On the figures I have got together on this head I can- 

 not put it less than i^200 a hunt, or ^32,000 a year. 

 Now, under these four items you will find an annual 

 expenditure of i^3, 15 1,250 ; upwards of three millions 



