SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 225 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



** Hounds stout, and horses healthy, 

 Earths well stopped and foxes plenty." 



Earth-stoppers and keepers — Barring out for the season — A failure — 

 The earth-stopper and his pony of olden time — Gamekeepers — 

 Their perquisites and tricks — Game preservers and foxes — 

 Turning down cubs — Previous treatment — Mange in foxes — IVIain 

 earths in sandy soils — Yiper buried for ten days — Badgers and 

 their habits. 



Eaeth-STOPPERS are necessary appendages to every 

 foxhunting establishment, without whose assistance 

 huntsmen and hounds w^ould not be able to get on, 

 or show good sport. There are days when foxes 

 prefer basking in the sunshine to lying underground, 

 but rarely do we find such days ; during the depth 

 of winter, and in boisterous or rainy weather, they 

 will, if possible, hide themselves beneath the surface 

 of the soil somewhere, either in the regular head 

 of earths, large rabbit-burrows, or old drains. The 

 experiment has been tried by more than one master 

 to block up the earths entirely throughout the 

 season, directins^ those whom it ouojht to concern 

 to keep them thus closed until the end of the 

 campaign, when the doors were again to be thrown 

 open to the lawful tenants of the domicile, or any 

 other visitors. This had a twofold object, first, to 

 ensure the earths being properly stopped, since 



Q 



