FARMERS AND FOX-HUNTING. 277 



which he has no control to the same extent as the unfortu- 

 nate farmer ? 



If he should by perseverance and good luck grow 

 excellent crops of corn or other produce in any year, he 

 never has the certainty that he can safely reap or store 

 either the one or the other. A wet July, or August, or 

 September, may, without any fault whatever on the part 

 of the farmer, shatter and ruin the best-founded hopes of 

 a thoroughly successful harvest which the hard work of 

 the early spring months, or the propitious weather in the 

 months of May or June, may have reasonably led him to 

 anticipate ; or probably he may find that the bountiful 

 harvests over the seas and the abundant importation of 

 foreign corn from our cousins on the other side of the 

 Atlantic have brought down the price of his ever-so-well 

 harvested corn and produce to an altogether unremunera- 

 tive figure, and this without the slightest fault on his 

 own part, and from circumstances altogether beyond his 

 control. 



No wonder, then, if the British farmer does occasion- 

 ally indulge in a growl ; no wonder that he^ is not always 

 to be found, like Mark Tapley, "jolly" whatever happens. 

 Even under the most favourable circumstances farming 

 can never be a very lucrative business. Far be it from 

 us, then, to withhold from our farmers the meed of 

 sympathy and good- will which, although it may often 

 cost little or nothing to the giver, is generally more or 

 less welcome to the recipient. Applying these principles 

 to the relations between fox-hunters and tenant farmers, 

 let us see how we stand. Nothing can be more certain 

 than this proposition: That it is entirely owing to the 

 courtesy of the farmer that we are able to hunt at all, 

 and are allowed to ride over his land. The least we can 

 do in return for this is to treat him, on our part, with 

 every possible courtesy and consideration ; and there are, 

 we submit, many tangible and solid ways in which fox- 

 hunters, without entailing any appreciable loss or doing 

 any harm to the sportsman, can do this, and in doing it 



