250 Hunting Countries of England. 



THE VINE.* 



Hants is a county^ over every acre of which the fox 

 is hunted, as he has been uninterruptedly for at least 

 the whole of the present century. The Vine, on the 

 best authority, claim a continued existence of quite 

 eighty-five years, during which time there have been 

 many variations in the limits of the country hunted 

 under that denomination. 



Almost the whole of Hampshire lies upon chalk — 

 the depth at which the chalk is found below the 

 surface constituting the only variety in the face of the 

 country. Between Basingstoke and Winchester and 

 across the breadth of the county it almost reaches the 

 top of the ground, and, with a sprinkling of light 

 soil above it, forms a wide stretch of wold. Formerly 

 all this district was a rough down — the process of 

 subduing it to agriculture bringing about also the 

 change of definition. Beyond this wold tract, on 

 either side, we find a surface bed of deep clay, and of 

 these two varieties the surface of Hants may be said 

 exclusively to consist. The Vine Country contains 

 both samples, and in itself bears no other divisions 



* Vide "Stanford's Large Scale Map," Sheet 21 ; also " Hobson's 

 Foxhunting Atlas." 



