HAnRTEBS.] 



FOR MOUNTAIX, FIELD, AND FARM. 



[11AERIBB8. 



witlj a sniiiU boilinR-houso attacliod, may be 

 built, with nocvsjiary coiiveiiitMict', for about 

 £70. And lioro I woulil nialco 11 roinark. Lot 

 the keinicl ami vanl bo plaeoil on \vi;li-clnilneil 

 p«ound, and the lloor laid ou at least twelve 

 iuches of chalk, or stono of sonio sort, as 

 uothini» brings about kennel lameness so 

 much as damp lloors ; and, if once amoiic: your 

 bounds, the trouble is incalculable, as it hangs 

 about like a plai,Mie. In conclusion, I strongly 

 recommend the purchasing of a pack that have 

 been accustomed to work together, oven if the 

 Grst outlav seem large. I recommend this, as 

 I am fullv convinced that no plan is so unsatis- 

 factory, and, in the long run, so expensive, as 

 getting draughts from different lots. It en- 

 tails on you the faults of every pack you pro- 

 cure them from ; and you will bo years before 

 vou have anything like a useful lot." 



These estimates, especially the last, are, in 

 the opinions of some, too high, for it is said 

 dogs do not require palaces. Perfectly dry 

 and well-aired barns, byres, or outhouses, and 

 plenty of sweet straw, are all the requisites for 

 amateur packs. Twenty couple of small bea- 

 gles, to a man who has the ordinary number 

 of servants about him, will cost but a trifle, 

 if he can aflbrd at all to have the luxury 

 of a small sporting establishment. Extrava- 

 gance, display, and want of care and know- 

 ledge to be economical, and overdoing things, 

 are the great causes of things remaining un- 

 done, and why we have not half the sport 

 which, with economy, we might have. Like 

 the frog in the table, we swell ourselves out 

 till we burst; hence most of our failures, and 

 the constant annual abandonment of mansions 

 and manors, horses and hounds, dogs, guns, 

 and field sports, and, often, of our country and 

 home. ^No one would find fault with well- 

 spent liberality ; but it is the tomfooleries and 

 need-nots that are at the root of the mischief, 

 and not liberality and just expenses. Besides, 

 how true it is that extreme selfishness and 

 extreme prodigality often meet in the same 

 person. Where money ought to be judiciously 

 and liberally expended, how irequeuUy is it 

 withheld. Underpaid keepers ; no food allowed 

 for pheasants in the winter ; no proper quantity 

 of traps ; no watchers in the egg and breeding 

 season, and at other important times; no proper 

 allowances or food for dogs, or of powder, siiot. 



Sic. ; shepherds and farm-lnbourer« looked upon 

 as rascals — ungenerous and »uspicioua eHpio- 

 nago exercised over them ; no litllo douceurs 

 of money, tea, or clothing to thoin and their 

 wives and families; in fact, we miglit enume- 

 rate a whole catalogue of petty omissions which 

 are made by men who pretend to havo money 

 and to sport, and of wliich they oiiglit to bo 

 ashamed. Whore is the tenant-farmer's remu- 

 neration and compliments of the season? 

 Too often in the river Lethe. You may havo 

 palaces for stables and kennols, expensive shoot- 

 ing-boxes, a useless staff of idle and ineflicient 

 servants, and great general personal expendi- 

 ture, and the sport — the hobby — which should 

 be the first consideration, becomes the last. 



But back to the beagles, which we will assume 

 you have, and tiiat you have already dry hous- 

 ing convenience for them, and an active and in- 

 telligent man (partially employed on other 

 things, because the beagles will not fill up his 

 time), who can ride or run well, and has a good 

 notion of hunting — you need not go to any 

 expense on those heads, except a gratuity at 

 Christmas of £5 in addition to his wages ; 

 and your dog-keep will cost you fourpence a 

 week each. Then there will be straw, travel- 

 ling expenses if you leave home, gratuities, dog- 

 tax, &c., in addition ; but we feel satisfied 

 that we could, if close at home, keep and hunt 

 a pack of small beagles for a mere trifle. By 

 the way, larch and red-deal sawdust, well dried, 

 and used as beds for dogs, is an efluctual remedy 

 against fleas and ticks. 



Perhaps one of the most extraordinary 

 instances of cheap dog-keeping is furnished in 

 the case of a Mr. Osbaldeston ; and although 

 it was not harriers he kept, but fox-hounds, it 

 may be that some humble, but enthusiastic 

 lover of sport may take a hint from it, and 

 become a keeper of dogs, even in the centre of 

 the great metropolis. " With half-a-dozen of 

 children," says the Sporting Anecdotes, "as 

 many couples of hounds, and two hunters, this 

 ]\[r. Osbaldeston, clerk to an attorney, kept 

 himself, family, and these dogs and horses, upon 

 a salary of £00 per annum. Tiiis, also, was 

 efl'ected in London, without running into debt, 

 and with always a good coat on his back. To 

 explain this seeming impossibility, it should 

 be observed that, after the expiration of the 

 ofiice hours, ]\Ir. Osbaldeston acted as an 



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