406 HUNTING. 



When speaking of the disadvantages of large 

 woods, in which foxes are apt to hang or dwell, 

 Colonel Cook recommends killing a fox, and letting 

 the hounds eat him, in the middle of them ; which 

 we believe will generally have the desired effect. 

 On the other hand, should a fox be killed in a small 

 cover, he should, if possible, be carried out of it 

 before the hounds break him up, for reasons which 

 are obvious from the foregoing remark. 



The arrangement of earths, and the stopping of 

 them, are matters of no small importance in a hunt- 

 ing country. Artificial ones are sometimes made, 

 but they are reckoned unhealthy for foxes ; and 

 the best are those made by badgers, which can al- 

 ways be commanded at pleasure, by turning out 

 those animals in pairs. On the proper and careful 

 stopping of earths every thing depends ; for nothing 

 can be more annoying to sportsmen than to have 

 their fox get to ground, just as the hounds have 

 well settled to the scent of him, with every prospect 

 of a run. There are various methods of stopping 

 earths, but none more secure than by a bunch of 

 gorse, or furze, crammed well into the mouth of 

 them, with the stalks pushed inwards. When 

 earths are only slightly stopped, a fox will scratch 

 his way into them ; and as this very often happens, 

 it shows the necessity of a careful and experienced 

 earth-stopper ; and we agree with Colonel Cook in 

 thinking it better to pay for each day's stopping, 

 rather than annually in the lump, reserving the 

 power to withhold payment in case of evident 

 neglect. The expense of earth-stopping varies ac- 



