188 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



greaves, or any other nastiness, be found admissible in 

 place of good horse or cow-flesh. Good old meal, such 

 as may be bought at Cork, at an average of £15 per ton, 

 will boil into a consistency very much resembling good 

 rice pudding. This, broken up and thinned with broth, 

 to which is added flesh which has been boiled to shreds, 

 in quantities varying, of course, with the system of re- 

 spective kennels, and the exigencies of the pack at the 

 time being, forms the best and most nutritious diet for 

 hounds in work which has yet been discovered. During 

 summer months, some variety, and divers experiments, 

 may be made with impunity ; but, in the season, it is 

 not safe materially to alter the regimen which expe- 

 rience has proved to answer. Wheat flour may be 

 sparingly mixed with oatmeal, as a measure of eco- 

 nomy, being generally cheaper; but wheat, although 

 furnishing the ''staff of life" for man, will not afford 

 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 grain, there would be 



