298 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



for commission, I venture to say he will do far more 

 harm than good. 



The fact is, however, that the real benefit to agri- 

 culture from hunting is derived from the general 

 demand for high-class forage and the consequent 

 steady market and fair average of price that is main- 

 tained. It is not in the power of all hunting people 

 to deal with farmers. Theoretically, and judging by 

 what some writers say, you would suppose that people 

 who hunt always had command of money as a matter 

 of course. But not only do incomes vary greatly, but 

 their sources are sometimes more or less uncertain, 

 and credit always has been and always will be a 

 necessary factor in the dealings between buyer and 

 seller, customer and tradesman, whether in hunting 

 countries or elsewhere. 



There is yet another obstacle to buying forage of 

 farmers in a hunting country, and that is the danger 

 of a quarrel. I have found that, whereas in London 

 and other large towns any objection to the quality 

 of goods supplied is taken as a matter of business, 

 to complain in the country is regarded as a personal 

 offence. The seller in the village and the smaller 

 tradesman have a certain feeling of resentment if 

 you do not like what they have to sell. The farmer 

 often takes offence if you complain of the quality of 

 the forage he sells you. The offence too, is often 

 deep in proportion as he is sensible of the justice of 

 your complaint. I have known a quarrel over a load 

 of hay to cause the wire on a farm to remain up all 

 through the season. If, however, farmers would 

 combine and open a central forage store in hunting 

 towns, they might pocket the profits of the middle- 

 man. But, the conditions of things being what they 

 are, the failings of human nature being taken into 



