HUNTING THE FOX 8 



and enter a certain number of young Hounds each 

 year. In the last resort this was the only thing 

 that really mattered. Had the great governing 

 Kennels of England ceased to produce the Fox- 

 hound, the end would not have been far distant. 

 All else can be re-created except the Hounds. The 

 " raw material " will breed itself fast enough. 

 All the rest is well within the range of British 

 genius. So far indeed from making Fox-hunting 

 more difficult, the revival of agricultural prosperity 

 is calculated to make it easier than it has been for 

 many years. When prices were high in the Early 

 and Middle Victorian Age, a large proportion of 

 farmers could afford to hunt, and did hunt, while 

 farmers generally enjoyed such a degree of affluence 

 that they did not trouble very much about claims. 

 Moreover, they could afford to look after their 

 fences in the proper way, instead of mending them 

 with wire. When prices fell in the early 'eighties 

 and agricultural depression looked as if it had come 

 to stay, the hunting farmer became rarer ; Hunt 

 Committees had to spend more money on claims ; 

 fences were neglected for lack of funds and labour, 

 and wire was used in some countries to save trouble. 

 In fact, owing to the low prices, a general hand-to- 

 mouth state of things prevailed on the land that 

 did not make the management of a hunting country 

 quite so easy as it had been in the golden age. 

 On the other hand, as we have lately realized to 



