pleasures only that the country is adapted; apart from the obvious fact that study in fresh air and tranquility can be actually enjoyed by persons to whom under other circumstances it would be distasteful and a burden, there are intellectual and semi-intellectual pursuits, which though possible elsewhere, can be best carried on in the immediate neighbourhood of a country home. Besides botany, geology, and natural science generally, to which allusion has been made, there is that fittest study of mankind, man himself. Whether it is the country gentleman who seeks to raise the intellectual standard of his humble brethren, or a "Lady Bountiful" who wins love for herself and for those whom she is bringing up to follow in her footsteps, it is among the poor in country districts that they find most abundant scope for their energies; it is there they can expend them on a simpler and more lovable population, and on one less shifting than that to be found in the slums of our cities. There may be some to whom the vastness of such work in the metropolis may be a recommendation. There must be more, however, who prefer dealing with numbers that they can grasp and appreciate, and with those whose attachment to them becomes personal, and who look up in gratitude to benefactors who live among them.

But to conclude. Young men without domestic ties, and with occupations in which they are obliged to continue, for the sake of earning their living, are not likely to become landowners in the country; they, however, whenever a holiday comes are the first to enjoy its pleasures, while young men independent of others, and in wealthy circumstances, certainly do not live in cities; they visit them, and spend in the country the greater part of their time in those pursuits to which their inclinations lead them. For others, whether their cir

cumstances permit them to do so for the whole or for part only of the year, whether they are of the stronger or the weaker sex, it has been abundantly proved that country life in a country home has pleasures, physical, moral, and intellectual, such as no other life possesses or can possess.

E. A. ARMSTRONG.

CHAPTER XX.

HUNTING.

BY JOHN WALKER,

Author of "The Cow and Calf," "The Sheep and the Lamb," Farming to Profit in Modern Times," "Cattle: Their Management in Dairy, Field, and Stall," "The Botfly of the Ox, Its Destruction," &c.

FOX-HUNTING is the oldest sport enjoyed in England at the present time. My views upon it differ from many, still I write as an agriculturist, and one who has followed the chase over the most celebrated of all hunting grounds --the shires. Fox-hunting is becoming less popular in many parts year by year. Why? Because too many hunting men look upon it as a selfish way of enjoying themselves. Indeed, there are those who ride regardless of doing damage to crops, stock and fences. Possibly one-half of the horsemen are not aware that they ride over fields on sufferance, hence upon a word of reproof from farmers are as likely as not to return angry words. This must not be if hunting is still to go on. Regard must be paid to rights of property, and kind words should ever be on the lips of those who follow hounds at the expense of owners and occupiers of land.

Hunting conducted as follows would shortly again become a popular sport :-Firstly, all damage done should be paid for, and that without a murmur, for surely those who can afford to keep from a half-dozen to a dozen horses at Melton, Market Harborough, or Rugby, can pay farmers for losses sustained. If

every hunting man would keep one horse less in his stud he could save sufficient money to pay twice over for all damage done. A polite note should be sent to those whose land is likely to be ridden over at the beginning of each season, to ask permission for hounds to cross the fields, and at the end of each, a call from the master of hounds, or a substitute, to thank farmers or land-owners for allowing sport over the district. Secondly, hunting should be made useful in improving breeds of horses, for it is quite certain that the horse which can carry fourteen stone across Leicestershire would be most valuable for any work where spirit, activity and endurance were required. Thirdly, as owners and occupiers of land find the ground for hounds to run over, it is only right that whatever food hunters require should be got from neighbouring agriculturists. English oats are much more wholesome than foreign ones. Wheat straw will keep a horse's coat in far nicer condition than moss litter; then why not encourage home trade, and discard foreign articles of diet? Hunting in England leads to millions of pounds being spent yearly among servants and different classes of traders. It would not be wise to stop a sport which causes all this outlay in the country, for it is certain that those who can afford sport will have it somewhere, and if it is not to be got at home-why, it will be sought abroad, and money will be spent among tribes in other lands.

I write upon hunting with a very impartial spirit. I have hunted largely and farmed widely, so that I am justified in giving an opinion upon the merits and demerits of the sport. There is no rural attraction better calculated to induce capitalists to invest money in land than hunting. It makes farming popular in spite of hard times. If the sport is in high repute, hundreds of the

wealthy will invest in estates-farm a portion themselves perhaps—and enjoy a country life and its sports, and prove good men to their country.

What can be more enjoyable than keeping a good stud of hunters, breeding high-class nags, rearing herds of short-horned cattle or whatever breed might be fancied, and establishing flocks of Shropshire sheep or other celebrated kinds? Indeed, the cultivation of soil and hunting should go together, and thus a race of men would grow up who would soon turn up the furrow in parts of the country now uncultivated, and thus find work for peasantry who at present are clamouring for what they will never get and what they never would have thought about had it not been for agitators, who should and do know better than stir up strife among employers and employed. Finally, England would appear like an alien land, if the sound of horn, the cry of hounds, and the merry cheers of those who follow the chase were no longer heard o'er hill and dale in autumn and winter seasons, when a little sport is so welcome.

JOHN WALKER.