HORSES AND HOUNDS. 115 



easily brought to hand. Moreover, he has killed more foxes, 

 and enjoyed better sport, than any of his neighbours. 



CHAPTER XIX 



Eounding and education of young hounds — How to avoid their nin- 

 nint^ deer — Mr. Ward's practice — Severity not necessary — Good 

 behaviour of the author's own pack through a preserve — Exercise highly 

 essential — Cub-hunting — A noisy whipper-in of no use — Earth-stopping 

 — Wages to earth-stoppers in different parts of the country — Different 

 breeds of foxes in England, France, and Germany. 



The young hounds should be well over the distemper, and ac- 

 customed to go without couples, before they are rounded ; the 

 loss of blood from this operation is sometimes excessive, and I 

 once lost several young hounds from their being rounded before 

 thoroughly recovered from the effects of distemper. It should 

 not be deferred too long, however, and a cool day should be 

 chosen for the purpose. The hounds should be fed early in the 

 morning, or they will become sick and faint from loss of blood, 

 and perhaps eat nothing afterwards on that day. 



Preparation for the hunting season now commences. The 

 young hounds will be kept separate from the pack until about 

 a month before the campaign opens. In the meantime they 

 are supposed to have received their proper education. When 

 for the first time taken among deer, it is safer to have them in 

 couples, to prevent mischief. If you have no deer yourself, 

 permission may be easily obtained from your neighbours to al- 

 low your young hounds to exercise an hour or two once or twice 

 a week in their parks. They will soon become accustomed to 

 them ; and the huntsman, by crossing them over the scent, will 

 instruct them not to stoop to it. The scent of the deer is the 

 sweetest of all game, and I have often seen young hounds, even 

 so late as March, when they ought to be quite steady, flash 

 away at a wild deer, although they would never think of run- 

 ning them in a park. It was a general rule with the late Mr. 

 Ward, whose hounds were proverbially steady, never to allow, 

 even in the hunting season, more than four or five couples of 

 young hounds to go into the forest at a time, or into any coverts 

 where deer were known to resort. Prevention is better than 

 cure, and every precaution should be taken to keep a pack of 

 fox-hounds steady to their own game. I remember seeing a 

 tame doe in Mr. Ward's kennel, which fed out of the same 



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