THE FUTURE OF HARE-HUNTING 309 



often than not, where they are properly approached, 

 excellent friends to hare-hunting. It is certain that 

 many of them, thanks to the causes to which I have 

 referred heretofore, are, nowadays, even more in- 

 clined to be friendly to harrier-men than they are to 

 fox-hunters. 



The too great popularity of fox-hunting seems, at 

 the present time, in what are known as the fashionable 

 countries, to threaten the very existence of that sport. 

 Too many people now wish to hunt, and it is impossible 

 to accommodate them all. With every desire to be 

 friendly to the sport which they and their forefathers 

 have supported for generations, the tenantry of this 

 country cannot, in these hard times, be expected to 

 extend the same hospitality as of yore to hundreds 

 of strangers, the greater part of whom they scarcely 

 know by sight, and who care no more for the man, 

 over whose land they ride, than they do for his bullocks. 

 The thing is reaching an impossible development, 

 which, as all sensible men are aware, can end only in 

 one way. The tenant farmer will welcome fields of 

 a reasonable number, but he will not for long continue 

 to put up with the disorderly and often unmannerly 

 crowds that now ride in hundreds over his land, with- 

 out giving him so much as a thank-you, or a "by your 

 leave." The following letter, which appeared in the 

 Field, of February 21, 1903, very well illustrates the 

 scenes of disorder and lack of all hunting decorum 

 which now too often occur with foxhounds in favourite 

 hunting countries : 



" Sir, — The over-riding of hounds referred to by 

 your correspondent of the Warwickshire Hunt in the 

 issue of the 7th inst.is one which has, with some packs, 

 grown to such an extent as to render the hunting-field 

 almost a pandemonium. 



