270 HUNTING TOURS. 



Melton, Leicester, Market Harborough, be- 

 sides almost every village within the county 

 in which there is a residence of fair preten- 

 sions, is evidence incontestable of the benefits 

 the farmers in the neighbourhood derive from 

 foxhunting, and surely they cannot be so 

 blind to their own interests as not to be 

 convinced of the bad policy of opposing 

 such impediments to their best friends. In 

 Mr. Tailby's country, as it is well known, 

 there are many fences formidable enough to 

 stop any man or any horse, but they are 

 visible and therefore legitimate. Wire fences, 

 not visible, are not only illegitimate, but, in 

 a sporting sense, they convey by their use 

 a deficiency of that kindly feeling which 

 it is the boast of every true-hearted farmer 

 to display. The progress that has been 

 made in the art of draining is manifest in 

 the greater soundness of the land, contri- 

 buting vastly to the convenience of horses; 

 this refers to the country generally. The 

 pasture fields are greatly improved, though 

 occasionally you come to some arable land 

 deep and distressing ; but the old system of 

 ridge and furrow on those soils appears to 

 be gradually decreasing, from the modern 



