THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 201 



the nutriment to hounds which they derive from the 

 best old oatmeal. The better it is in quality, the more 

 it increases in boiling, and the farther it goes. The 

 best time for laying in a stock is a little before harvest, 

 when none but old meal can be had in the market. In- 

 stead of being thrown loose, as is frequently the case, 

 like a heap of ashes in a dust-hole, it should be packed in 

 large bins, secured, by tin or iron bindings, from attacks 

 of rats and mice, and trodden down into a solid mass, 

 in which its qualities will be preserved during the whole 

 of its consumption. If oat meal could be managed like 

 that of wheat, barley, or other gi'ain, there would be 

 little difficulty in obtaining it in perfection ; but, as 

 particular grinding stones are necessary, in the first 

 instance, and the meal has then to be submitted to a 

 delicate process of kiln-drying, there are few places 

 in England to be depended upon for a supply. The 

 Scotch is said to be excellent; and I can speak, not 

 only from my own experience of the last seven years, 

 but from the report of at least a dozen different kennels, 

 as to the merits of the Irish. The great difference 

 which diet will effect, in the appearance and condition 

 of homids, renders this point worthy of consideration. 

 The Roman gladiators imagined themselves injured by 

 the slightest deviation, in one meal, from the regimen 

 prescribed; feeders of fighting cocks are no less strict 

 in their notions of the qualities of food ; and let any 

 2d 



