CONCERNING KENNELS 175 



also makes a point of shade and a stream of running 

 water. Beckford, who devotes an excellent chapter 

 to the subject of kennels, speaks of a little brook run- 

 ning through the middle of his grass court. A running 

 stream naturally indicates damp, and a majority of 

 modern masters of hounds would, I am convinced, be 

 against the practice of including a running brook as 

 part of the kennel equipment. A well and pump, or, 

 better still, a water-pipe system and taps, if water- 

 works are adjacent, are far better. 



Soil is a very serious consideration. Nothing is 

 more troublesome or more difficult to eradicate than 

 hound lameness, which, after all, is only another name 

 for rheumatism. Hound lameness depends in very 

 many instances, though perhaps not in all, upon the 

 nature of the soil upon which kennels are fixed. This 

 should not be porous ; gravel and sand are above all 

 things to be avoided. Clay is far preferable to either, 

 and marl or chalk are, perhaps, the best of all. Mr. 

 Otho Paget, whose beagles are well known, in an in- 

 teresting note to the edition of Beckford which he edited, 

 says : " Kennels should never be built on gravel. 

 Clay certainly holds moisture, but at the same time 

 it prevents any moisture rising from below. There 

 is always water beneath gravel, and the heat of the 

 hounds' bodies will draw it up from any depth. . . . 

 If kennels are already built on gravel, the floor should 

 be taken up, the ground excavated and three feet of 

 clay puddled in. Of course spouting should be attended 

 to, and if there is any high ground above the kennel 

 floor, drains should be made to carry off surface water." 

 In place of puddling in clay, as thus suggested, I think 

 a good foundation of concrete would be even better. 

 Above this, again, would be a cement or asphalt floor- 

 ing. As to the buildings, brick or timber are prefer- 



