156 FOX-HUNTING 



I must digress here for a moment to refer to 

 a matter which I overlooked in discussing the 

 subject under the heading of ' The Hound.' In 

 a two -days -a- week country, which is all the 

 amateur beginner should aspire to at first, you 

 will want only one pack ; and if you like to see 

 your hounds level, you will not run twenty-four- 

 inch dogs with twenty-two-inch bitches. My 

 advice would be to limit your standard to twenty- 

 two inches, have nearly all bitches, and go to 

 other kennels for stallion hounds. Most kennels 

 draft some small dogs every year, and you would 

 often be able to get very smart hounds in this 

 way: though you would not use them as stallions, 

 they would very materially increase the strength of 

 the pack. Twenty-six couple are quite sufficient 

 for two days a week ; and out of that number 

 I would have at least seven couple of dog-hounds, 

 so that you would not be short in the spring. I 

 am supposing that you have to consider economy 

 in your establishment, and, of course, the more 

 hounds you keep the greater the expense. 



There have been sufficient rains to lay the 

 summer dust, and there is a slight yielding on 

 the surface of the turf, as a horse canters along. 



