266 THE BOOK OP THE DOG. 



the room, when the hounds are out. and as one is to be kept shut, and the other hooked 

 back (allowing just room for a dog to pass), they are not liable to any objection. The great 

 window in the centre should have a folding shutter, half, or the whole of which, may be shut at 

 nights, according to the weather ; and your kennels, by that means, may be kept warm or cool, 

 just as you please to have them. The two great lodging-rooms are exactly alike, and as each 

 has a court belonging to it, are distinct kennels, and are at the opposite ends of the building ; in 

 the centre of which is the boiling-house and feeding-yard, and on each side a lesser kennel, either 

 for hounds that are drafted off, hounds that are sick or lame, or for any other purposes, as 

 occasion may require. At the back of which, as they are but half the depth of the two great 

 kennels, are places for coals, &c., for the use of the kennel. There is also a small building in the 

 rear for hot bitches. The floors of the inner courts, like to those of the lodging-rooms, are 

 bricked, and sloped to run to the centre, and a channel of water, brought in by a leaden pipe, 

 runs through the middle of them. In the centre of each court is a well, large enough to dip 

 a bucket to clean the kennels ; this must be faced with stone, or it will be often out of repair. 

 In the feeding-yard you must have a wooden cover. 



" The benches, which must be open to let the urine through, should have hinges and hooks 

 in the wall, that they may fold up, for the greater convenience of washing out the kennel ; and 

 they should be made as low as possible, that a tired hound may have no difficulty in jumping. 

 Let me add, that the boiler should be of cast-iron. 



"The rest of the kennel consists of a large court in front, which is also bricked, has a 

 grass-court adjoining, and a little brook running through the middle of it. The earth is taken 

 out of it, is thrown up into a mound, where the hounds in summer delight to sit. This court 

 is planted round with trees, and has besides a lime-tree, and some horse-chestnut-trees near 

 the middle of it, for the sake of shade. A high pale encloses the whole, part of which, to the 

 height of about four feet, is close, the other open ; the interstices are about two inches wide. 

 The grass-court is pitched near the pale, to prevent the hounds from scratching out. If you 

 cannot guess the intention of the posts I have in the court, they are to save the trees, to which the 

 urinary salts are prejudicial. If they are at first backward in coming to them, bind some straw 

 round the bottom, and rub it with galbanum. The brook in the grass-court may serve as a 

 stew; your fish will be very safe. 



" At the back of the kennel is a house, thatched and furzed up on both sides, big enough 

 to contain at least a load of straw. Here should be a pit ready to receive the dung, and a 

 gallows for the flesh. The gallows should have a thatched roof, and a circular board at the 

 posts of it, to prevent vermin from climbing up. 



" A stove, I believe, is made use of in some kennels ; but where the feeder is a good one, 

 a mop, properly used, will render it unnecessary. I have a little hay-rick in the grass-yard, 

 which I think is of use to keep the hounds clean and fine in their coats ; you will find them 

 frequently rubbing themselves against it ; the shade of it also is useful to them in summer. 

 If ticks at any time should be troublesome in your kennel let the walls of it be well washed. 

 If this does not destroy them, the walls should then be whitewashed. 



" In the summer, when you do not hunt, one kennel will be sufficient ; the other then may 

 be for the young hounds, who should also have the grass court adjoining to it. It is best at that 

 time of the year to keep them separate, and it prevents many accidents which otherwise 

 might happen ; nor should they be put together till the hunting season begins. If your 

 hounds are very quarrelsome the feeder may sleep in a cot in the kennel adjoining ; and if they 

 are well chastised at the first quarrel, his voice will be sufficient to settle all their differences after- 



