SOCIAL AND ECONOMICAL ASPECTS 191 



the actual stalking season, though I not only commit 

 this extravagance myself without much injury, but 

 have persuaded most of my shooting tenants to allow 

 it to be done once in the season on a convenient day 

 and with proper precautions. Still, this could hardly 

 be expected where the neighbour is a farmer on 

 an adjacent estate, and where strange shepherds are 

 employed to gather the sheep. 



But it so happens that the time of year when a 

 gathering is most required by the farmers is just when 

 it does the least injury to the forest. Twice in the 

 year is quite enough to ask for the first at the 

 beginning of June, long before the stalking begins, 

 when the lambs should be marked, and again as soon 

 as the last stag has been shot, so that they may be 

 sent off to the low country in good time for wintering. 

 Then that is, the middle of October any old sheep 

 would come in which had been missed at the gather- 

 ing on the farm itself, and would be still in good 

 marketable condition, while the earlier operation in 

 June would also serve for the clipping which takes 

 place very soon after. 



In bringing these remarks on deer-stalking to a 

 conclusion, I feel that an apology is perhaps due to 

 my readers for the introduction, especially in the 

 present chapter, of so much of the personal element. 



