HERDS AND FLOCKS AND HORSES. 69 



as the number who hunt regularly and who keep anywhere 

 from three to a hundred horses or more for this purpose, while 

 between forty and fifty millions of dollars are spent annually 

 upon this sport alone. Even the great Irish breeders, to say 

 nothing of the English and Scotch, cannot supply these hunting 

 people with mounts, and they pay tremendous prices for them. 

 America, and particularly the East, is getting the hunting 

 habit badly, and the sport, though still in its infancy, is grow- 

 ing rapidly in public favor. It will not be long before America 

 will have its Leicestershires, Warwickshires and Northampton- 

 shires, and hunting centers, like Melton Mowbray, Market 

 Harborough and Rugby, will be established, and to which will 

 flock the wealth and fashion of the country during the hunting 

 months. The large numbers of Americans who have been go 

 ing to England and Ireland for years to hunt, and who are 

 maintaining large establishments in those countries for this 

 purpose, are beginning to ask themselves the question, "why 

 cannot we do this in our own country?" They will do it, and 

 as America never does things by halves, it will be done on such 

 a magnificent scale and on such an expensive one, that the wise 

 men who have hunters of the right kind for sale, will be able 

 to retire from business and take to hunting themselves for 

 amusement. Apart from this, there is a splendid market for 

 American hunters in England today if the American breeders 

 would only produce the right stamp. 



