CONCERNING KENNELS 177 



to the yard. Air must be given according to the 

 season of year and the state of the temperature, and 

 it is necessary to plan the building accordingly ; but 

 draught on the benches must be avoided. For fenc- 

 ing in a good space (the grass yard), where hounds can 

 be let out for exercise every day while the kennel is being 

 cleaned, I prefer stout wire netting, six feet high, to 

 any other, as it does not obstruct the air or light." 



To these remarks I should add that the lower part 

 of the Hailsham kennel-yard fencing is protected by 

 corrugated iron, which prevents gnawing, and is useful 

 as affording more privacy to hounds and sheltering 

 them from wet and wind. I append a plan of these 

 kennels, which I may say are in every way suitable 

 for a pack of twenty couples of harriers, managed in 

 the modest and inexpensive, but perfectly effective, 

 manner required for foot-hunting. 



It is a good thing to have a spare kennel, into which 

 hounds can be turned while the other kennels are being 

 cleaned. The benches should, of course, be open — 

 i.e., made of spars — for greater cleanliness, and it is 

 recommended, and I think rightly, that they should 

 be sparred down to the ground, so that hounds, and 

 especially nervous hounds, shall not be able to creep 

 under the beds of their fellows. The benches should 

 be raised twenty or twenty-four inches from the floor. 

 When the washing of the kennel is performed, it is 

 advisable, after sluicing and brushing, to use a mop, 

 so as to leave as little damp behind as possible. 



The grass yard is a great feature of the kennel 

 system. In this hounds take air and exercise when 

 they are not out for road work, and it is, therefore, 

 highly desirable that it should be as large as possible. 

 It should be protected by six-feet railings, prefer- 

 ably open, or, as Mr. Southerden suggests, by strong 



M 



