196 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



must depend upon the caprice of their owner. A mixed 

 pack is now generally supposed to answer best. The 

 largest of each may be sized, so as to form two com- 

 plete packs, suitable to all parts of the country. Dogs 

 are apt to be less flashy, and wdll add to the steadiness 

 of the bitches, and the lively little ladies will contribute 

 to the dash of the dogs. Such division of the young 

 hounds need not, at all events, be made before the com- 

 mencement of regular hunting. But we have, as yet, 

 only just got all the young hounds for the year's entry 

 into kennel. The master has now to determine which 

 are to be put forward, and make his first draft. If he 

 can afibrd to be fastidious, there will, in all probability, 

 be not more than one hound out of every five submitted 

 to inspection, on coming in from walk, that he will wish 

 to put forward, even supposing the breeding to have 

 been successful. The distemper will make sad havoc 

 with the litters. A huntsman should attend to any that 

 are within his reach ; but the majority must take their 

 chance. No specific has yet been discovered, and the 

 treatment must be adapted to the difierent stages of the 

 disorder. Vaccination was, at one time, pronounced 

 infallible, and was tried, I believe, with great success, 

 one year, by Sir John Cope ; but after- experiments 

 served only to prove its fallacy. Like other epidemics, 

 its ravages are more generally felt in some seasons than 

 in others. In one spring, out of thirty-five couples of 

 puppies sent to walk, I had only thirteen returned to 

 kennel, and this fatality was almost universal. In 



