The Park in Muskau 187 



much, becoming smaller, leaner, and less tasty, 

 and also too tame, almost like the fallow deer 

 which in England resemble flocks of sheep. Be- 

 sides, game can be kept together in certain dis- 

 tricts without fencing, by appropriate fodder and 

 other practical means without hermetically seal- 

 ing them from other pastures, and letting them 

 pine and deteriorate in depressing captivity. An 

 experience of fifteen years has quite convinced me 

 on this point.' 



It was singular that two of my most opulent 

 neighbors began to lay out fenced deer parks at 

 the very time when I had my own fences pulled 

 down. They had taken fifteen years to make up 

 their minds to imitate me. I have no doubt that 

 fifteen years later they will again follow me, for 

 every one likes to become wise by his own expe- 

 rience. 



The park lies quite in the plain, and presents 

 merely an endless wooded tract with very few 

 elevations, but is remarkable for its very fine old 

 timber, mostly oaks, spruces, and pines of unusual 

 size. The latter, with their tall, smooth trunks, 

 sometimes one hundred and fifty feet high, are 

 more like the pines of Italy than our common 

 and picturesque kinds. 



But what makes this wood so fresh and de- 



' To prevent the liberals from falling on me on account of this, I may 

 inform them that out of consideration for the farmers I hold only a third 

 of the game which the law permits, in proportion to the area, which 

 contains one hundred and thirty thousand acres, and that I let them 

 have wood free besides, to enable them to fence their own fields wher- 

 ever there are gaps. 



