LETTER IV. 37 



cally acquainted with all that related to the management 

 of hounds and horses in the field, he was only theoreti- 

 cally so with regard to the kennel regime. On dressing 

 hounds he remarks — "The oftener hounds are dressed 

 I suppose the better they will look ;" he does not say 

 that he either thinks or considers they would look better, 

 but merely supposes. In another case his feeder gives 

 him information about boiling oatmeal and merely scald- 

 ing barley meal. You may say such knowledge is only 

 necessary for the feeder and huntsman, and I quite agree 

 with you, if you have your ten thousand a year, and care 

 little about the expenses of your hunting establishment. 



I am not writing (as I stated at the commencement) 

 for great men, who can afford to keep up great establish- 

 ments, and who are not supposed to condescend to such 

 trifling matters, but to a man of moderate means, and to 

 one who has the management of a subscription pack, it 

 will make some little difference whether his meal bill 

 amounts to £250 or £500 in the course of the year. 



As to dressing hounds, then, systematically and perio- 

 dically, I merely state my own opinion, and that arrived 

 at, after many years' experience and observation of all 

 such matters. A pack of foxhounds ought never to 

 require dressing at all a.^ ^ general practice. 



As to periodical bleeding, or, correctly speaking, as it 

 used to be called, blood-letting, the practice is, I hope, 

 nearly, if not quite, exploded. I never shall forget 

 witnessing an exhibition of this blood-letting on a great 

 scale by a huntsman, who was considered A 1 in his pro- 

 fession. He was standing in a small yard, well littered 

 with straw, lancet in hand, with two assistants holding 

 the hounds, a couple at a time, with the blood pouring 



