248 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



This is merely broken biscuit and dried flesh and 

 graves, and is for otterhounds, which have not, it 

 must be remembered, got to do fast and long work, 

 preferable to a diet of flesh and oatmeal. It fits them 

 for their slow and steady hunting, keeping them on the 

 big side and fortifying them against the cold waters 

 that would nip and "starve" a fine-drawn hound in 

 galloping trim. There are many makers, but, if I am 

 to give my own preference, I should name Pike and 

 Tucker of Bristol, who have given me every satisfaction 

 for years. The meal varies somewhat with the maker. 

 It is always apt to be a little heating and to scour 

 hounds as well, and it may be made more palatable 

 by the addition of a little broth from bullocks' or 

 sheep's heads, and now and then a little horseflesh. 

 Sheep's trotters, at sixpence a hundred, also make 

 excellent broth. Thev.rhole of last spring and summer 

 my hounds had no flesh, yet they kept hard and fit and 

 big, and during the whole winter they had but two 

 horses. Cabbage, mangolds (sparingly), and other 

 green stuff may be useful and necessary adjuncts, 

 particularly in the off-season, while sulphur and 

 Epsom Salts should be the staple physic. Hound- 

 meal, if bought by the ton for cash, costs ;^I2 ids. or 

 so, and it should be packed in hundredweight bags, 

 being convenient in that form for taking about when 

 hounds have to lie out, as you then know the exact 

 number of feeds per bag, and only boiling-water is 

 then required to make the hounds a warm meal after 

 each day's work. Let me impress on the beginner 

 that hounds should never be given a cold meal. They 



