5 
rearing horses. Accordingly, in 1894, the 
stud was dispersed * 
This tainting or staling of land is not 
peculiar to horses. The domestic fowl, 
where kept in large numbers, does the same 
thing to such a degree that poultry-farming 
on any considerable scale has always failed 
owing to the disease which the birds have 
contracted thereby 
Pheasants are even more liable to maladies 
brought about in the same way, but the 
breeders of pheasants are careful to provide 
them with a sufficiently large area of land to 
afford the birds frequent changes to fresh soil 
In the days of cock-fighting those who 
devoted themselves to the sport knew well 
that fresh ground was essential to the rearing 
of strong and hardy birds. It was, therefore, 
the practice in those times to insert in 
leases a clause to the effect that the tenant 
farmer should ‘trun a game cock” for his 
landlord ; and it was always understood that 
the bird was to occupy ground upon which 
fowls had not been previously kept 
The system of walking puppies for the 
* I do not forget that a few very good horses were 
bred at Hampton Court during the later days of the 
stud’s existence. The Earl, Springfield and La 
Fléche were produced there; but the failures due to 
unsoundness were numerous and out ofall proportion 
