54 FOX-HUNTING 



to try anything else, but cabbages should be 

 boiled with the flesh. The oatmeal is boiled until 

 it forms a thick pudding, and is then allowed to 

 get cold, when it is broken up and mixed with 

 the soup, flesh, and vegetables. After the hunt- 

 ing season you should give them a change of 

 food, and directly the young nettles appear 

 employ some one to gather them and boil them 

 for your hounds. Nettles are most valuable for 

 purifying the blood, and in the springtime when 

 hounds are changing their coats you will find 

 the eff^ect is marvellous. Be sparing with the 

 flesh in summer, but always give some and boil 

 it with the nettles. I do not know what are 

 the chemical changes which occur, but flesh is 

 perfectly good for use even though it smell a 

 trifle unpleasant to your nostrils ; when, however, 

 it reaches the rotten stage it should never be given 

 to hounds. Buy your horses alive, if possible, or 

 you may get some animal that has been dosed 

 with physic or that has had some disease. 



Feeding hounds is an art in itself and re- 

 quires the strictest attention. One hound will 

 fill himself with three gulps at the trough, whilst 

 another will pick and lap daintily. The latter 



