FOX-HOUNDS 239 



being past before it can be well known enough to 

 repeat it ; for even if it nicks the first time, the 

 produce will be three years old before they can be 

 depended on ; even if they then show their quahties, 

 the sire must be five or six years old, as he must 

 have been most likely three when the bitch was 

 put to him, as no man hkes to breed from an un- 

 tried dog in general, particularly with a valuable 

 bitch. In addition to this difficulty of repeating the 

 cross when it nicks, it is ten to one but that some 

 accident happens to either one or the other ; no 

 sort of difficulties should prevent the repetition 

 whilst it is possible, — that is, if the dog and bitch 

 are in any part of the kingdom. 



If a man is determined in breeding to attend to 

 nose and stoutness, he will be sure to succeed in 

 getting a good pack, and one which will go faster, 

 take the season through, than those men who bred 

 for beauty and pace ; and he need not fear of also 

 getting a pack clever in shape too. 



The writer has made many experiments in the 

 breeding of fox-hounds ; and, in consequence of the 

 circumstance that most clever men who have 

 distinguished themselves have been the offspring 

 of clever mothers, the following plan was tried, 

 more than once, in order to discover whether young 



