404 HUNTING. 



cidedly good day's sport, than one found in an arti- 

 ficial cover, and for this reason : he slips away un- 

 perceived, eight times out of ten, and consequently 

 has time to look about him, and make his points, 

 ere the chase commences ; whereas, a fox viewed 

 away from a small gorse cover, within sight of a 

 hundred or two of horsemen, is bullied, frightened, 

 and soon blown, which occasions him to run short ; 

 and, of course, if the scent serves, and the hounds 

 are good, he cannot live long, half an hour being as 

 much as can be calculated upon under such circum- 

 stances. Gorse covers, however, if not too small 

 — not under three or four acres — are indispensable 

 in a hunting country, as foxes are very fond of them 

 for their security against anything but fox-hounds; 

 and another great advantage attending them is, 

 that they can be placed wherever it may be thought 

 desirable to place them. 



The making of gorse covers requires no small 

 attention, we had nearly said skill. The ground is 

 all the better for being trenched to the depth of 

 from a foot to a foot and a half, and it should be 

 made as clean and in as good condition as if it were 

 to be the seed-bed of turnips. The seed should be 

 minutely examined, as it often fails from having 

 lost its germinating properties ; and it should be 

 drilled in the ground, and hoed, after the manner 

 of a turnip crop. By keeping it clean by the hoe, 

 it will, if the seed be good, and the land dry^ often 

 hold a fox in the second year, and will seldom fail 

 in the third. Some writers. Colonel Cook among 

 the number, speak of broom being sown amongst 



