HUNTING THE FOX 11 



If not, some officious person may think it his duty 

 to save them the trouble. 



A whole chapter might be written on the science 

 of earth-stopping. It is probably right to try to 

 proceed on the principle of putting permanent 

 grates to every drain, which, with periodical in- 

 spection, shall last for all time, and to stop securely 

 every earth at the beginning of Cub-hunting until 

 about February 1, when the earths may be opened 

 to allow the vixens access to them, and put to in 

 the morning and reopened at night. But much 

 will depend on the individual earth-stopper and 

 the nature of the country. Some earth-stoppers 

 seem to be born and not made, while in some 

 countries the badgers will play havoc with the 

 most elaborate defences. But there is one element 

 that has an important, if indirect, bearing on 

 earth-stopping which is within the orbit of the 

 Master's decision. This is the matter of digging. 

 During Cub-hunting the Cub should always be 

 dug out and eaten unless there are very obvious 

 reasons to the contrary. To take an extreme case, 

 a Cub may be marked to ground very early, before 

 the Hounds have done any work, in a place from 

 which it would obviously take a gang of navvies 

 at least two hours to get him out. By this time 

 the sun would be risen, and it might do the con- 

 dition of the Hounds more good to try to find 

 another Cub, not forgetting to stop the earth before 



