FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 



couraged to work, and to really draw through 

 such coverts. If a fox or two can be kept ken- 

 nelled, the litter will afford the best material for a 

 drag, but in its default, anise-seed, or any of the 

 other combinations used, answer about as well. 

 The dragsman takes a small vial in his pocket, 

 and, armed with a walking-stick which has a rag 

 wrapped around the end, he pursues his way over 

 the selected course, touching the ground at every 

 step or two, as one would handle a cane, and re- 

 moistening the rag occasionally from his vial. In 

 dry weather he may find it better to drag his 

 stick along, as scent is apt to quickly evaporate 

 under these conditions, and due attention must 

 always be paid to such details, and also as to the 

 direction of the wind. Hounds do better "up 

 wind " on hot or muggy days, or, at all events, 

 across it ; down wind they get very much dis- 

 tressed, and it is also hard on horses and riders. 

 This, of course, has special reference to summer 

 hunting, which is as possible with drag hounds as 

 that at any other period of the year, checks with 

 more frequency being necessary, and fences, made 

 blind from thick foliage, being avoided when 

 possible. The dotting of the stick in spaces a 

 few feet apart makes hounds " pack " and work 



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