HISTORY OF THE KILDARE HUNT 



landlord and tenant were much more agreeable 

 than they have since become, and all my father's 

 tenants of any standing used to walk puppies. Of 

 course it is a disadvantage to a pack not being able 

 to breed their own hounds, at any rate from a 

 spectacular point of view; but our inability to put 

 out a large number of puppies is not the only factor 

 that militates against killing foxes in Kildare. Mr 

 Osbaldestone's * Farrier ' was a draft hound, and 

 so were ' Lexicon,' * Nathan,' ' Hornet ' and 

 * Saladin,' the four best hounds I ever saw in Kil- 

 dare. Drainage, high farming, artificial manure, 

 stronger fences, larger fields, and the increased 

 use of wire all tend to make it more difficult to kill 

 a fox. Of the above, I think that drainage has more 

 to say to the difficulties of hunting than anything. 

 No land carries such scent as a rushy field, and an 

 enormous area of Kildare has been drained within 

 my memory by the Duke of Leinster, my father 

 and other landlords. Also the country was less 

 enclosed. I have often heard my father say that in 

 his time you could ride from Ballymore Eustace 

 to Dublin without jumping a fence." 



These seem to me very valuable comments on 

 Mr Kennedy's rather gloomy reflections and sug- 

 gest some very good reasons for the increased 

 difficulty in killing foxes during Sir Edward's 

 Mastership and since. As I have said, his huntsman 

 may have been a contributory factor during part 

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