COVERS. 405 



gorse. This should never be, as all huntsmen who 

 draw, or run through, broom covers, can vouch for 

 their being decidedly inimical to scent. A novel 

 description of fox-cover came into fashion a few 

 years back in Leicestershire, but is not highly ap- 

 proved of, from the difficulty hounds experience in 

 drawing it. Strong black thorn stakes are driven 

 into the ground endways, at a small distance apart, 

 and the rank grass and weeds growing rapidly over, 

 and entwining with them, form a strong cover the 

 first year ; and it is found proof against a fall of 

 snow, which gorse covers are not, and are often for- 

 saken by foxes on that account. All artificially- 

 made covers should be not nearer than half a mile 

 at the least to any house or village ; and if on a 

 gently sloping bank, facing the south, foxes will 

 like them better. 



Some sportsmen object to many rides being cut 

 through woodland covers, as they are so often the 

 cause of foxes being headed by the horsemen. The 

 objection in part holds good ; but a certain number 

 of rides are necessary in all large covers, to enable 

 the servants to get near their hounds, who might 

 otherwise be disposed to run riot, as they soon dis- 

 cover when they are out of the reach of either rate 

 or whip. Woodlands, with rides in them, are es- 

 sential to the making of young hounds in all coun- 

 tries ; and the finest in England are those of the 

 Duke of Buccleuch, near Keltering in Northamp- 

 tonshire, within the limits of the Pytchley Hunt, 

 with rides, or, speaking more properly, avenues in 

 them, to the extent of upwards of fifty miles. 



