THE KENNEL. 131 



put up just outside the range of buildings at a small cost. Every- 

 thing in these cases naturally depends upon the convenience to be 

 utilised, but the above will at least convey an idea. The only fault 

 of the arrangement is the meal house, F, being so far from the boil- 

 ing house, D.' 



The kennels having been so far considered, we turn to the 

 question of their occupants. A hound's life, for working pur- 

 poses, is short. He begins to hunt as a puppy of some eighteen 

 months ; if all goes well with him he is perhaps in the plenitude 

 of his power at the age of four, that is, in his third season ; he 

 may last two or three seasons longer. Hounds have been known 

 to run at the head of the pack even in their seventh season ; 

 the judgment of their breeders in such a case is amply proved. 

 After their fourth or fifth season hounds usually begin to fail. 

 They do not tire, if of a good sort, but the pace bothers them ; 

 they are not so forward as of yore, though they still keep with 

 the pack and trot home with their sterns up. Every pack 

 must, therefore, be recruited annually, in proportion, as nearly 

 as circumstances admit, to the strength of the establishment. 

 About six and a half couples are sufificient for one pack, but 

 ten or twelve couples should be put forward and drafted down 

 to six and a half of the best after cub hunting. How then 

 should hounds be bred so as to maintain the needful supply cf 

 puppies from which to replenish the pack ? 



The breeding of hounds, perhaps even more than the 

 breeding of horses, is a lottery. This is partly so because 

 more varied qualities are necessary in a hound than in a horse. 

 The latter — we are now speaking of thorough-bred horses, to 

 which in this consideration hounds can only be compared — • 

 fulfils the chief object of his being if he can gallop and is 

 sound \ but the hound must possess nose, stoutness, speed, 

 courage, and a number of valuable qualities which may be 

 briefly summed up under the head of intelligence. If a hound 



■ We are indebted for this information to the courtesy of Mr. Archibald 

 Ruggles-Brise, lately master of the East Essex hounds, the establishment here 

 described. With the one single exception noted, nothing could be more sei' 

 viceable and convenient than these kennels and stables, and very cheap. 



K 2 



