212 HUNTING IN MANY COUNTRIES. 



certain amount of grass, especially in the valley of the river 

 Stort. The upshot was that I rode through a considerable 

 part of the country on a bicycle one summer, and after a 

 time took an old farmhouse, which was not far from the centre 

 of the hunt. From these quarters I had two- thirds of one 

 season and a portion of the next, but 1 went to the north 

 for the latter part of each season, and I am not going to say 

 that I did not prefer the north from a riding point of view, 

 cfrass being always pleasanter to hunt over than plough. But 

 for all that Puckeridge is a great hunt, happy under the 

 mastership of one of the best Masters in the kingdom, who has 

 made a big name for himself a? a hoimd breeder, and who has 

 had for many years a veiry grand pack. Mr. Barclay's hounds 

 are workers, and Peterborough hounds to boot, and th.ey show 

 rare sport over what is, except in very wet weather, generally 

 admitted to be a poor scenting country; and here, I may 

 state, scenting conditions vary just as much in a plough 

 country as they do where the land is chiefly grass. How 

 to understand this one does not know ; I think it is either 

 the foxes which vary or the atmosphere, but I do not know 

 Vv'hich, and I can only say that I have seen the Puckeridge run 

 hard all day, and have heard afterwards that the Essex a 

 few miles away could do nothing. I have also heard of the 

 reverse side of the case, when the Essex had good hunts and 

 the Puckeridge could not run a yard. But, as I dare say many 

 of my readers know, there are at various times all sorts of 

 conditions which govern scent, and very little evidence as to 

 their why and wherefore. For example, I remember one long 

 hunt in the north only five or six years ago, which lasted 

 some three hours, when scent was never really good. Hounds 

 kept driving on, at no great pace, and always on grass. At 

 one period of the hunt, after they had been going for quite 

 an hour, they reached a long, narrow strip of ploughed land, 

 and though they had only just been able to own the line in 

 the preceding grass field, they shot away the moment they 

 touched the plough, and fairly raced to the end of the field. 

 Beyond they were on grass again, and they quickly slowed 

 down, and a quarter of an hour later the same thing 

 occurred when a second ploughed field was crossed. 



Probably about five-sixths of the Puckeridge country is 



