HOPwSES AND HOUNDS. 207 



being able to kill their foxes. Some reference was made in 

 BelVs Life of December 28th, 1850, to the bad sport attending 

 the Durham Hunt, and a subscriber adds, that " perhaps some 

 other gentleman connected with the hunt may suggest some 

 remedy for the improvement of their sport." It just occurred to 

 me upon reading this account, that it might possibly be the case 

 — I do not say it is — that the suggestion of remedies to the 

 master of their pack may, by the barest possibility, have pro- 

 duced this very state of things so much to be deprecated. 



The manager of a subscription pack has no sinecure at any 

 time ; but if he allows all or any of his subscribers to interfere 

 in the management, he is only attempting that which many 

 more, like himself, have before attempted, with one inevitable 

 result : that in trying to please all, he will fail to please any. 

 The fable of the old man and his ass over again. The master 

 of a pack of foxhounds should exercise his own discretion, and if 

 his own abilities are not sufficient to produce sport, without the 

 interference of others, he had much better resign his post. I 

 would also suggest to subscribers to leave their master un- 

 shackled, and independent of any restrictions. For liis own 

 credit he will do the best he can to afford sport, but it is out of 

 his power at all times to command success. Patience and per- 

 severance will, however, prevail in the long run. A course of 

 ill luck will sometimes set in even with a good pack of hounds, 

 without any fault either in them, the master, or the men. 



How to overcome it is the next question. When hounds are 

 out of blood, as the term is, they become dispirited and lack 

 that energy and perseverance in the chase which are indispen- 

 sable requisites to effect that desideratum in fox-hunting — a 

 successful issue in the death of the fox. In such a case the 

 hounds should be highly fed to begin with, and long days par- 

 ticularly avoided. The best plan to blood them is to leave some 

 of the lesser earths open, and if you can mark a fox to ground, 

 dig him out and give him to the hounds upon the spot. They 

 should then be taken home immediately, no m.atter what the 

 day or hour. They should not hunt again for three days ; if in 

 low condition a week would not be too long a rest. By selecting 

 upon the next occasion the most favourite place for killing a fox, 

 and where there is little chance of changing, you may probably 

 succeed in catching another. Should this be the case, the 

 hounds ought to return to the kennel. Do not let them draw 

 again if tliey are ever so eager. To keep them in spirits they 

 must be above their work, and you must not allow them to draw 

 for a second fox after two o'clock. Long and unsatisfactory days 

 are exceedingly prejudicial to hounds, even when in high 



