508 THE STOCK owner's ADVISER. 



much meat ; they require some, but it is safer to give principally 

 a vegetable diet. The puppy should be fed four times a day 

 until he is four or five months old. He may then be fed twice a 

 day, receiving very little in the morning. The largest feed 

 should be at night. When the puppy is two or three months old 

 his condition should be carefully watched. His food at this time 

 should be limited, for two reasons — first, that his body may not 

 become too heavy for his legs, causing rickets; and, secondly, 

 lest derangement of the digestive organs lead to distemper and 

 various other diseases. Proper exercise and nourishing diet are 

 all that is required to keep the dog strong and healthy. The 

 various prepared dog foods should not be used except for con- 

 venience, where other food cannot be procured. 



Hunting dogs should receive abundant food, with plenty of 

 meat. They cannot do their work well unless judiciously fed. 

 Each dog of the kennel requires particular and constitutional 

 care. Not more than four or five hounds should be let into the 

 eating apartment at a tiiue, so that the feeder may have each 

 hound under observation. Some hounds cannot run if they carry 

 luuch flesh; others are improved by it. Much depends upon the 

 management of the kennel. The keeper must be thoroughly ac- 

 quainted with the appetite of every hound, for some will eat too 

 much, and others will require inducement to feed. The food 

 should be boiled in two iron kettles — the oatmeal in one, the 

 flesh in another. The flesh should be cut in very small pieces 

 and mixed with meal. It should be stirred for two hours and 

 then transferred to flat coolers. 



Delicate hounds succeed well on dry, unboiled oatmeal. When 

 once induced to take it, they will eat it readily. Other hounds of 

 delicate constitution may be tempted with a little additional 

 flesh. In summer an extra cow or two should be kept in the 

 dairy. The skimmed milk may be used instead of flesh. About 

 Christmas is the proper time to arrange the breeding establish- 

 ment. The bitch should not breed before she has hunted two 

 seasons, for before that time it will be scarcely possible to ascer- 



