XOTITIA VEXATICA. 65 



Tvell for fattening pigs or cows, or for pointers or harriers which did not 

 work very hard ; but for foxhounds, whose powers of exertion arc taxed 

 to a much greater degree, such succulent food would never answer. 1 

 have used at vai-ious times many different kinds of meal, but am tho- 

 roughly convinced, by experience, that nothing will answer to feed fox- 

 hounds on but the best old oatmeal. Beckford has no objection to 

 barley-flour mixed with the oatmeal, and gives the following method for 

 mixing and preparing it. In speaking of the preparation of food for 

 hounds, he says — " I have inquired of my feeder, who is a good one 

 (and has had more experience in these matters than any one you may 

 perhaps get), how he mixes up his meat. He tells mc that, in his opi- 

 nion, oatmeal and barley mixed, an equal quantity of each, make the 

 best meat for hounds. The oatmeal he boils for half an hour, and then 

 puts out the fire, puts the barley into the copper, and mixes both to- 

 gether. I asked him why he boiled one and not the other ; he told mo 

 boiling, which made oatmeal thick, made barley thin ; and that when 

 you feed with barley only, it should not be put into the copper, but be 

 scalded with the liquor and mixed up in a bucket. I find there is in my 

 kennel a large tub on piu-pose, which contains about half a hogshead.'' 

 And in a few pages before the lines quoted, he says — " Oatmeal, I be- 

 lieve, makes the best meat for hoimds ; barley is certainly the cheapest, 

 and in many kennels they give barley on that account ; but it is heat- 

 ing, does not mix up so well, nor is there so much proof in it as in oat- 

 meal. If mixed, an equal quantity of each, it will do very well ; but 

 barley alone will not." Thus we see that, although Beckford has no 

 objection to the occasional use of it, yet he by no means advises it for 

 constant consumption. In the summer of 1834, when wheat was doAvn 

 at 15s. per bag (of three bushels), I tried that for some considerable 

 time ; but the hounds by no means did so well upon it as upon oatmeal. 

 The only time that barley -flour can be recommended is in case of hounds 

 being obhged to use new meal ; a little, imder such circumstances, w^ell 

 scalded (not boiled) and mixed in the trough with the oatmeal, will pre- 

 vent the new meal from purging them, which it otherwise would do. 

 The meal for the day's consumption should be brought immediately 

 from the meal-house, instead of having a quantity put into a bin made 

 to hold sufficient for a week or a fortnight, to save trouble ; as old 

 meal, as well as new, Avhich has been lately moved, undergoes a process 

 of fermentation, and invariably causes purging. It is highly reprehen- 

 sible for any one to subject himself to such an inconvenience, particu- 

 larly in the hunting season ; and if any experiments are to be tried in 

 feeding on different kinds of meal, it should be done during the summer 

 months, as there would be a considerable risk in tampering with the 

 constitutions of a pack of foxhounds during work. Care should always 

 be taken to have a stock of old oatmeal on hand, and to lay it in at a 

 proper time. When the late Sir Harry Goodricke died, he had at his 

 kennel at Thrussington (between Leicester and Melton) sufficient old 

 oatmeal for three years' consumption, all from his own estates in Ireland. 

 Sir Harry had nearly a hundred couples of hounds to feed, hunting five 

 and six days a week, with a separate establishment of unentered 



