The Worcestershire, 225 



. THE WORCESTERSHIRE.* 



Not an easy country to hunt is the Worcestershire, 

 with its cold-scenting plough and its numberless 

 coverts. But a good pack of hounds work their way 

 about it three days a week ; and all that keen manage- 

 ment can do to attain sport is at work with that 

 object. 



The Severn runs directly down its centre, from 

 Kidderminster to Worcester ; and these two points 

 may be taken as denoting the whereabouts of the 

 country. The northern half of the country, in fact, 

 retains the title of The Worcestershire — the lower half 

 having, for the last nine years, borne the denomina- 

 tion of Lord Coventry's — now The Croome. The 

 Ludlow touches it on the west, the Albrighton — or 

 rather Bewdley — on the north ; while the Warwick- 

 shire countries border it on the east. 



The meadows along the Severn bank are, perhaps, 

 the only grass in the country : the rest (where wood- 

 lands leave room) is altogether plough — varying from 

 deep clay to light sand. West of the river, for 

 instance, the district of which Wichenford is about the 



* Vide Stanford's " Hunting Map," Sheets 14 and 15, and 

 Hobson's Foxhunting Atlas. 



