FOX-HUNTING IN AMERICA Fox-hunting in America dates from a very early period, though just how early it is difficult to ascertain. We find indefinite state ments of early settlers from England who brought hounds, horses and even foxes over with them, but nothing definite until we find that Lord Fairfax, who settled on the Northern Neck in Virginia, in 1739, imported hounds in 1742, and kept up a regular estab lishment for fox-hunting at his country seat.
In 1766, the Gloucester Fox Hunting Club was organized by a number of gentlemen of Philadelphia, and a pack, which was said to have sprung from imported English blood, was maintained until 1818, when the club disbanded. At the initial meeting, held Dec. 13, 1766, the membership of the club was about 125, among them a great number of well-known historical personages. Capt. Samuel Morris was president, and his negro slave, "Old Natty," served the club as kennel-man and huntsman from 1769 until the Revolution. In '775 the pack consisted of 141 couples of hounds, and in 1778, when the kennels were on the Delaware, near Gloucester Point, of 16 couples. It seems probable that these hounds were very similar to those used in England for fox-hunting at that time. If this was the case, it is curious to note the development in the two coun tries, for the Rose Tree hounds, which now hunt over a neighbour ing territory, are of the so-called American type, which is vastly different from the existing English type, and yet both could probably trace back to the same parent stock.
The half-dozen packs which hunt the country about Philadel phia are all prone to claim their origin from this club, and it is certain that it is very easy to trace the gradual development of fox-hunting in and about the Quaker city along these lines. Going further south, we find in that oldest of American sporting jour nals, The American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine, that there were many private packs owned and hunted about Balti more, and even much farther south, and although there was no organized hunting at that time, these packs were the nucleus from which the southern hunt clubs have sprung.
Almost contemporaneous with the Gloucester Fox Hunting Club was the Brooklyn Hunt, founded 1789. Previously, in 177o, one John Evers maintained and hunted a pack of fox-hounds at Hemp stead, Long Island. Hound, horses and hunt servants were said to have been brought from England, and among the subscribers to the pack was George Washington, Esquire. The Revolutionary War put an end to these pioneer efforts, and as was the case with the hunting about Philadelphia, there was a period of inactivity among the fox-hunters ; but we can trace the origin of many of the northern packs directly to the ante-Revolution organization.
Going still further north, to Canada, we find that the Montreal Hunt, founded in 1826, is the oldest organized hunt on the con tinent which can show a continuous record of sport. Of course, England maintained garrisons in all the principal Canadian cities, and it was natural that these military organizations should bring with them their national sport. Looking through the records of the Montreal Hunt, and also those of its somewhat younger sister, the Toronto Hunt, founded in 1843, we find that both have been largely supported in this way.
Fox-hunting in America is almost contemporary with fox-hunt ing in England, but the development in England has been much more rapid, and the whole game has been carried out on a much more scientific basis than in the United States and Canada. Con ditions in England differ widely from those in America in the fol lowing particulars : First, in the climate, which makes a consider able difference in the scenting conditions; second, in the con formation of the country hunted over—it :s much easier to stay with hounds in England than in America; third, the nature of the quarry—in England foxes are protected by popular feeling, whereas in America, or at any rate the greater portion of it, the fox is considered vermin and has to shift for himself from the first ; and finally, the method of pursuing the sport. The diversity of these conditions, and for that matter, the diversity which exists among the hunting countries in America—which, it must be realized, cover an area comprising nearly the whole of the United States and southern Canada—is so great that it is impossible for any one type of hound to show the best sport under these widely varying conditions. The result has been the development of hounds which differ in type and conformation to a marked degree.
During the last 3o years there has been a tremendous growth of hunting. Organizations have sprung up all over the United States and Canada and particularly in the West, where a great interest is being shown in the sport. The scale on which hunting is carried on in America as compared to England will seem very small, but it must be remembered that hunting in America, while not in its infancy, is at least in its adolescence.
There were in 1928 over ioo packs of hounds in America which are officially "recognized" by the Hunts Committee of the Na tional Steeplechase and Hunt Association, and by the Masters of Foxhounds Association of America; which latter body has juris diction over all hunting matters. Each hunt is required to file with the secretary of the Masters of Foxhounds Association of America a map showing the area hunted, and any disputes as to the boun daries between hunts is settled by the executive committee of this association, whose decision is final. This executive committee is composed of the president, vice-president and secretary of the association, ex officio, and also representatives from the middle West, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, New England and Canada; thus giving a full representa tion to the entire area. The Hunts Committee, on the other hand, which is composed of delegates from the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association, and also from the areas described, has jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to hunt race meetings, and working in conjunction with the Masters of Foxhounds Asso ciation, with whom there is a reciprocal agreement, forms what might be termed a complete tribunal for the government of hunting.
Of the i oo packs mentioned, some 25 are used for drag-hunting. There is in America a very large class of sportsmen—good sports men they are, too:---who cannot give up two, or even one whole day a week to fox-hunting. These men get through their business at two or three in the afternoon, hasten into the country, jump on their horses and want their gallop. With the drag they can get it, and in no other way. The fences at most of the places where drag packs flourish are big and stiff, and certainly they have chosen no child's game as a substitute for the real thing.
But to get back to fox-hunting proper. Starting at the north, in Canada, we find (1928) two hunts, mentioned above, in exist ence. Working south to New England, we find 23 packs of hounds. New York and New Jersey have 13, among them the Meadow Brook, which is a direct descendant of the Brooklyn Hunt. Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland contain 27 packs of recognized hounds, while Virginia and the Carolinas have 26. In the middle West, we find a group, for the most part newly organ ized, of 17, and these are on the increase steadily. Finally, it will be interesting to note that there is an organized pack of hounds for each arm of the service in the United States army—the Cavalry School Hunt, with kennels at Ft. Riley, Kan. ; the Ar tillery Hunt, with kennels at Ft. Sill, Okla. ; and the Infantry School Hunt, at Ft. Benning, Georgia.
Some of these packs are composed of American hounds, hunted in the American way, by American huntsmen ; some are half bred hounds, hunted by both American and English huntsmen; and some are composed of hounds either imported from the best English kennels or bred from stock so imported, and hunted by English hunt servants. Each organization has developed hunting along methods which for the period of years of its existence have seemed to produce the best results.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--A. Henry Higginson and Julian Ingersoll ChamberBibliography.--A. Henry Higginson and Julian Ingersoll Chamber- lain, The Hunts of the United States and Canada (1908), and Hunting in the United States and Canada (1928) ; Ernest Gee, Memoirs of the Gloucester Fox Hunting Club (1927). In addition to the above, much information can be gleaned from the files of the American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine, copies of which can be found in some of the principal public libraries in America, although the work is almost unobtainable to-day ; and Baily's Hunting Directory, which receives its information annually from the Masters of Foxhounds Association of America. (A. H. HI.)