WOODLANDS, GAME, AND SPORT 305 



netting and posts alone comes to sixpence a yard, 

 and usually more ; but even this low estimate 

 means ^22, or ^2, 2s. per acre, for fencing even 

 an absolutely square ten-acre plot. It is, however, 

 not only in the woods themselves that damage 

 is done by rabbits. They likewise ravage the 

 fields surrounding the woodlands, and there, in- 

 deed, very frequently commit havoc to such an 

 extent as to affect the rental obtained from the 

 farming tenants. And even besides this reduction 

 in the true agricultural value of the land, there is 

 sometimes a heavy bill to pay for specially severe 

 damage occasioned in cases where the farmer is 

 persuaded, or induced, not to avail himself of the 

 only true means of protection, namely, that which 

 is afforded by the Ground Game Act, empowering 

 him to shoot down the rabbits on the land of 

 which he is the tenant. I know a case in which 

 a Gloucestershire landowner had to pay 100 

 a few years ago for damage done to fields round 

 a wood of 46^ acres, although there was no in- 

 tention of preserving the ground game. Inside 

 this wood there is much ground ivy, bracken, 

 blackberries, and other weeds now occupying the 

 soil which should be producing a good growth 



