82 SECOND DIVISION OF THE 



ation. Of this there can be no doubt : the comfort and almost the exist- 

 ence of the dog depend upon it. To this he adds that it must not be 

 placed on a gravelly or porous soil, over which vapours more or less dense 

 are frequently or continually travelling, and thus causing a destructive ex- 

 halation over the whole of the building. There must be no fluid oozing 

 through the walls or the floor of the kennel, and producing damp and 

 unhealthy vapours. When we have not a deep supersoil of clay, one or 

 two layers of bricks or of stone may line the floor, and then, not even the 

 most subtile vapour can penetrate through the floor. A clean bed of straw 

 should be allowed every second day, or oftener when the weather is wet. 

 The lodging-houses should be ceiled, and there should be shutters to the 

 windows. A thatched roof is preferable to tiles, being warmer in winter 

 and cooler in summer. 



Stoves in the kennels are not necessary : probably they are best avoided ; 

 for, if dogs are accustomed to any considerable degree of artificial heat, 

 they are more easily chilled by a long exposure to cold. Their teeth and 

 the setting-up of their backs will confirm this. 



Hounds, when they feel cold, naturally seek each other for warmth, and 

 they may be seen lying upon the straw and licking each other ; and that is 

 by far the most wholesome way of procuring comfort and warmth. 



On returning from hunting, their feet should be washed with some warm 

 fluid, and especially the eyes should be examined, and their food got ready 

 for them as soon as possible. The feeding in the morning should be an hour, 

 or an hour and a half, before they start for the field. 



It is truly observed by the noble writer to whom we have referred, that 

 there is no part of an establishment of this kind that merits more attention 

 than the boiling and feeding house. The hounds cannot perform their 

 work well unless judiciously fed. Each hound requires particular and 

 constitutional care. No more than five of them should be let in to feed 

 together, and often not more than one or two. The feeder should have 

 each hound under his immediate observation, or they may get too much or 

 too little of the food. 



Some hounds cannot run if they carry much flesh ; others are all the 

 better for having plenty about them. The boilers should be of iron, two 

 in number, one for meal and the smaller one for flesh. The large boiler 

 should render it necessary to be used not more than once in four days or a 

 week. The food should be stirred for two hours, then transferred to flat 

 coolers, until sufficiently gelatinous to be cut with a kind of spade. By 

 the admixture of some portion of soups it may be brought to any thick- 

 ness requisite. The flesh to be mixed with it should be cut very small, 

 that the greedy hounds may not be able to obtain more than their share. 

 Four bushels and a half of genuine old oatmeal should be boiled with a 

 hundred gallons of water. The flesh should be boiled every second or third 

 day. Too great a proportion of soup would render the mixture of a heat- 

 ing nature. 



Mr. Delink Radcliffe very truly observes that the feeding of hounds, as 

 regards their condition, is one of the most essential proofs of a huntsman's 

 skill in the management of the kennel. To preserve that even state of 

 condition throughout the pack which is so desirable, he must be well 

 acquainted with the appetite of every hound ; for some will feed with a 

 voracity scarcely credible, and others will require every kind of enticement 

 to induce them to feed. 



