Kennels and Hound- Vans. 59 



by the President of the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries, under the chairmanship of Lord Midle- 

 ton, to inquire into the nature of distemper in dogs 

 in Great Britain, I feel sure that one of the con- 

 tributory causes to the continuance of this dread 

 disease will be discovered in the defective drainage of 

 the majority of even the finest kennels in the country. 

 A system of drainage that would be condemned at 

 sight were it applied to a row of almshouses or 

 artisans' dwellings is considered sufficiently good 

 for a pack of hounds valued at a couple of thousand 

 guineas or more. I have seen the drainage from 

 expensive and otherwise well-equipped kennels of 

 fox-hounds, some 45 couples strong, discharging into 

 a ditch running under the main road not fifty yards 

 from the lodging-rooms, and close to the entrance- 

 gates. This ditch was practically dry for half the 

 year, and all the hounds were in and out of it at 

 least twice a day, an occasional pail of carbolic 

 being perfunctorily slapped at the drain-exit if 

 complaints happened to be made in the hot weather 

 by regular frequenters of the road. Even where the 

 regular drainage of kennels is in fair order, it is 

 rare to find that there is any system of draining the 

 slaughter-house properly ; nor are arrangements for 

 the prompt removal or disposal of used straw from 

 the kennels usually efficient. In some kennels 

 thigh-bones and heads of horses are even allowed to 



