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good condition will achieve better results than a better 

 one only half fit. Long and very slow exercise is the 

 best foundation for fast work in the last week or two. 

 The subject of exercise was gone into rather thoroughly 

 in these pages last year. 



In the larger establishments where there is hunting 

 four and six days a week, it is customary to keep a 

 feeder, whose chief duty is to cook and prepare the food, 

 but however good this man may be the huntsman is 

 very unwise not to superintend the feeding himself. 

 It is only the man hunting hounds who can gauge the 

 quantity that each may consume to give the best results. 

 Some appear to digest quicker than others and con- 

 sequently can be allowed rather longer at the trough. 

 A huntsman will watch his hounds at the beginning of 

 a day, in the middle and at the end, making mental 

 notes the while as to their ability to run up either from 

 an over-loaded stomach or debihty. It is impossible 

 for a hound to use his nose if his sides are heaving 

 and he is panting for breath, which is more often than 

 not the cause of checks after a ten or fifteen minute 

 sharp burst. A pack out of condition may hunt well 

 enough at a slow pace, but when there is scent enough 

 to go really fast, it will soon come to a stop. You 

 bear someone say on those occasions : " What a funny 

 thing hounds should have checked, because after a few 

 minutes' interval they picked up the line exactly where 

 they stopped." 



A pack of hounds kept in a kennel require unremitting 

 attention to ensure them being in good health, and the 

 slightest slackness or neglect will soon become apparent 

 in their appearance. Parasites that can be seen and 

 others that are invisible multiply very rapidly if not 

 scotched at any early stage. In even the best regulated 



