66 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



there is scarcely any portion of southern England now 

 where a grand charge of cavalry could take place — 

 scarcely any open champaign country fit for operations 

 of that kind with horse. In the Civil War even, how 

 constantly we read of ' lining the hedge with match/ 

 and now with enclosures everywhere the difficulty 

 would apparently be great, despite good roads. 



Park-fed beef is thought by many to be superior, 

 because the cattle run free — almost wild — the entire 

 year through, winter and summer, and have nothing 

 but their natural food, grass and hay : in strong con- 

 trast with the bullocks shut up in stalls and forced 

 forward with artificial food. A great number of parks 

 have been curtailed in size as land became more valu- 

 able — the best ground being selected and hedged off 

 for purely agricultural purposes ; so that it not un- 

 commonly happens that the actual park is the poorest 

 soil in the district, having for that reason remained 

 longest in a condition nearly resembling the original 

 state of the country. So that when agitators of 

 Communistic views lay stress upon the waste of land 

 used for pleasure purposes they frequently declaim in 

 utter ignorance of the facts, which are in exact oppo- 

 sition to their theories. 



Like animals and birds, plants have their favourite 

 haunts : violets love a bank with a southern aspect, 



