76 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



the pack, and prove a saving of oatmeal, mangel- 

 wurzel at that time being too bard and stringy, 

 although the liquor from the roots is still good. 

 The water in which cabbages or potatoes are boiled, 

 particularly that from the latter vegetable, ought 

 never to be given either to dogs or pigs ; in fact 

 the only method to dress potatoes, either for human 

 beings or animals, is by a steaming apparatus. 

 We tried the experiment one season of using pota- 

 toes thus cooked, but not answering our expecta- 

 tions, except as a relief to the meal bin, they were 

 discontinued, and young nettle-tops and cabbages 

 substituted in their stead. With these and occa- 

 sional alteratives, sulphur and cream of tartar, 

 Epsom salts, and regular exercise, hounds do not 

 require dressing as a general practice. If our re- 

 collection serves us, Beckford expressed an opinion 

 that " lie supposed the oftener hounds were dressed 

 the better they would look/' We are obliged to 

 differ with this great authority, and say, " We 

 know the oftener hounds are dressed the vjorse 

 the}^ will look;" and from several other observations 

 made by him, our impression is that he was a 

 better man in the field than in the kennel. His 

 feeder tells him that the best food for hounds is 

 part barley and part oatmeal ; but had he tried 

 the experiment for a few months only, he would 

 have made the discovery that good old oatmeal is 

 the thing, and the only thing, to feed foxhounds 

 with. No wonder that the use of barley meal 

 entailed upon his pack frequent dressings. 



Oats contain more nutritive and atrengthening 



