Premature Cubbing The other day in a hook about the
land and English rural life I came upon a glorious " howler,". The author, touching oh sport, explained that cub-hunting took place early in the morning in order to scatter. the foxes for the hunt proper Which took place later in the day I In these days cub- hunting often begins not a few hours but two months before the first advertised meet. The harvest was so early this year at any rate in its completion—that in some western and northern hunts tubbing began in the third week of August. The date is too early. Some hunts take pride in killing a May fox. If that is done the close time for the fox would last for little more than two months out of the twelve. This period is too short, biologically, for breeding cannot be completed in the time, and agriculturally, for the land is not really ready for the invasion. The early and rapid reduction of the litters may be desired by some poultry keepers ; but this year rabbits are such a plague that the s0-called vermin may do Inueh more good than harm, The balance of nature is a very real thing.
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