LETTER V. 55 



well washed, and afterwards boiled until quite tender, 

 are not only a good substitute for horseflesh, but better 

 and more nutritious food than half the horses which are 

 used in the kennel. 



The huntsmen or feeders in large establishments having 

 the perquisite of the dog horses, i. e., skin, bones, &c., 

 are often induced to take in horses unfit for food, and in 

 greater numbers than necessary. The skin of a horse is 

 worth from six to eight shillings, the bones from two 

 shillings to half-a-crown, and the hair something also. 

 The huntsman of a scratch pack of harriers once told me 

 he kept his hounds for next to nothing. Living in the 

 neighbourhood of two large towns, in a coal district, he 

 could buy a dog horse for about ten shillings. The skin 

 he sold himself in the market, for which he got from 7s. 

 to 8s. and the bones and hair made 2s. more, so that the 

 flesh cost him nothing, and upon this alone, during the 

 greater part of the year, his hounds subsisted. This was 

 a very economical way of keeping a pack of hounds, but 

 my brother fox hunters will hardly agree that a pack of 

 foxhounds should be similarly managed. Raw flesh, it 

 is well known, will soon make a very poor hound fat, but 

 you cannot work upon it in the hunting season. 1 have, 

 however, often given it to bad feeders and old hounds to 

 improve their condition, when not required to work. 



In the summer the feeding hour should be rather late, 

 say four or five o'clock; hounds will then be more likely 

 to remain quiet during the night. I have before re- 

 marked that I always gave my hounds a little thin lap in 

 the morning about eight o'clock. When feeding, there 

 is no necessity for either huntsman or whipper-in using 

 a whip. I have often seen huntsmen, and I believe it is 



