HORSES AND HOUNDS. 93 



is a very efficacious medicine with dogs, but they are differently 

 affected by it : with some, two grains will have a powerful 

 effect. I have, therefore, in these prescriptions followed the 

 middle course. No doctor would prescribe for a patient with- 

 out seeing him ; and, as so much depends upon the strength 

 and constitution of the patient, a good deal of discretion must 

 be left to the huntsman and feeder. With proper and judicious 

 treatment, ten out of a dozen hounds may be saved by using 

 the remedies I have prescribed. When a young hound is weak 

 and dainty, give him the yolk of a fresh egg in the morning 

 without the white. 



CHAPTER XV. 



Judgment to be exercised in feeding — Bleeding and dressing — Prejudices of 

 huntsmen — Beckford's remarks on dressing — Economy as to use of meal 

 — Inj udicious bleeding — Use of vegetables diu-ing the summer — Brushing, 

 swimming, and feeding — Babies canina, or hydrophobia — Fits occasion- 

 ally mistaken for it — Cures of hydrophobia mentioned by old writers. 



As I have before observed, prevention is better than cure ; and 

 where attention is paid to the diet of hounds, relaxing from the 

 high state of feeding which is required in the hunting season, as 

 soon as that season is over, the strong measures resorted to in 

 many kennels for keeping hounds free from mange, and other 

 maladies, may be rendered totally unnecessary. High feeding 

 is, with both old and young hounds, highly prejudicial to their 

 health, in the spring and during the summer months, but it is 

 rather a difficult thing to convince huntsmen of this fact, as 

 they all like to see their hounds fat and in high condition during 

 the idle months. It is the practice in some kennels to bleed 

 their hounds and dress them with some severe ointment, as soon 

 as the hunting season is over. 



Some few years since I paid a visit to a gentleman who has 

 been for many years a master of hounds, and is so still, and a 

 capital pack of hounds he has. Being at that time from home, 

 I went to the kennel to see the hounds, as a matter of course. 

 The huntsman appeared very reluctant to admit me, saying the 

 hounds had been dressed a day or two before, and were not fit 

 to be seen. All his excuses, however, would not avail ; for 

 having travelled some distance, I resolved to have a look at 

 them. Truly enough, they were not fit to be seen, for this 



