THE YOUTHFUL BEGINNER. 



are not unknown. For a boy who is anxious to hunt, 

 the best course is to send him out on foot first, and if he 

 is of an observing turn he w411 notice all sorts of little 

 things which he would probably have no cognisance of 

 when riding. But youth is impetuous, and the boy 

 who knows how to ride will greatly object to trudging 

 the country on foot if there is a pony in the stable 

 which can carry him. The novice should be made to 

 understand that when he goes hunting he has three- 

 fold duties to bear in mind — duties to the Master and 

 hunt servants, duties to the field, and last, but not least, 

 duties to the farmers whose land he hunts over. And, 

 if possible, he should before he takes the field have some 

 knowledge of the various crops. He should know 

 growing corn and young beans when he sees them, and 

 he should be initiated into the mysteries of seeds. To 

 the townsman, and, indeed, to anyone who is in no way 

 bucolic, seeds are a terrible bugbear. When they 

 are coming up through stubble the man or woman 

 who is not well versed in such things recognises the 

 stubble, and at once thinks that he or she is on fair 

 galloping ground. The seed question is one to which 

 too much prominence cannot be given. It is in the eyes 

 of many farmers more heinous an offence to ride over seeds 

 than wheat, for it is a very common opinion that, under 

 certain conditions of weather, w^here the horse puts his 

 foot down on seeds he leaves a round mark, which, if rain 

 comes soon, holds the water and rots the young plants. 

 Even if this is not likely to occur often, it is certain 

 that young and tender plants must suffer in some 

 degree from being ridden over, for they have no strength 

 of root early in life, and are easily kicked out of the 



