FENCES. 351 



foxhunters." Although fences can be dispensed with in fox- 

 hunting, they are an immense advantage from a riding point 

 of view, on account of reducing the pace, providing variety 

 which is always charming, and giving one an opportunity of 

 pounding one's best friends. Besides, any fence that hides 

 a fox will help him. A bad fox runs under cover of the 

 fences ; a bold one crosses the middle of the fields for, say, 

 thirty minutes sharp, and then, when hounds run up one fence 



Fig. 234. Posts and rails. 



and down another, we may be certain that he is beaten 

 or is looking for a hole. Although foxes may sprint as well 

 as hounds, they do not stay as well. Hence, for good runs 

 it is necessary that hounds should hunt as much as possible 

 by scent and not by view. Hounds when going straight, 

 can always beat horses. 



Fences to a great extent are the product of stock farming. 

 On arable ground they are needed chiefly to mark out 

 boundaries, and for this purpose they may be of the flimsiest 

 nature. In a dairy farming country, like Cheshire, they will 



