NOTITIA VENATICA. 131 



quired than cured by such a practice. Some countries arc so extensive, 

 and the foxes so Avell preserved, that the two packs necessary for four 

 days a week may be divided from the very outset, which is a most ex- 

 cellent plan, and some masters of hounds arc in the habit of so arrang- 

 ing matters from the very commencement of the season. When the 

 young liounds begin to show an inclination to Avork and to enjoy a scent, 

 and to bo tolerably steady, about a fortnight before the regular season 

 the two packs should be formed ; they may then be allowed to work over 

 the open, and such as arc noisy or cannot go the jiace, or are guilty of 

 any flagrant vices, shoidd be immediately put back ; at this time it is 

 the custom in some kennels to rest for a week, dress, and give a mild 

 dose of physic. I should consider a week spent in hard work to have a 

 much more salutary effect, as nothing is so prejudicial as too much rest, 

 particularly during the autumn ; and by hunting three days instead of 

 four it is a very easy thing to give each pack a mild dose, which is all 

 that is requisite. It is an excellent practice to stir up every cover be- 

 fore November, except where the foxes arc very shy of lying, and where 

 " the find" is always uncertain ; it teaches them to break sooner Avhen 

 they are regularly hunted ; and by this means better runs will be ob- 

 tained previous to Christmas than by nursing them, as is too frequently 

 the case in some favourite covers until the end of November, when they 

 show but little or no sport. There arc very few districts of large and 

 deep woocUands but where the foxes might be made to fly, by continually 

 hunting them for three or four days in succession ; however, very few 

 huntsmen have courage or inclination to go through with so arduous an 

 undertaking if they can possibly find cubs and get a sufficiency of blood 

 in smaller and more handy covers. Some years ago Mr. Assheton 

 Smith adopted the folloAving plan for instilling terror into the foxes 

 in the great Collingbourne Woods, which are situated on the borders 

 of Hampshire, on the Berkshire side : he caused large fires to be 

 lighted and kept up all night at certain places, so that the foxes shoidd 

 be rendered more shy and inclined to fly their country, which seemed 

 to be all up in arms against them Avhen found in the day time by the 

 hounds. Where proper persons can be employed to keep an eye to 

 the preservation of foxes from fox stealers, main heads of earth are in- 

 dispensable, not only as sure and safe places for vixens to lay up their 

 cubs in, but also as inducements for good old travelling foxes to come 

 long distances home, and by that means afi'ord better and straightcr 

 chases than by ringing about a district of countiy and covers without 

 any particular object to allure them to a distance. If the stopping of 

 such places may be found expensive and inconvenient, they can very 

 easily be Avell smoked and stopped up in October for the season, taking 

 care to have them well opened by the first week in March. No head 

 of breeding earths ought to be stopped after the first week in March, 

 but merely put-to when the hounds are in the neighbourhood. The 

 difference between stopping and putting-to is, the former being stopping 

 the earths in the middle of the night, and putting-to only placing the 

 kid or faggot in the mouth of the earth late in the morning, to prevent 

 a fox getting in after he is found by the hounds. The earth-stopper 



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