^ CONDITIONING THE COAT. 173 



must be thorough, otherwise the hair will be left in a 

 very sticky state. 



Notwithstanding the injunction to use only the best 

 soaps on dogs, and the natural desire of all to comply with 

 it, many are likely to stumble at this point since so large 

 a proportion of the brands reputed to be of the highest 

 qualities are of cheap ingredients and therefore practically 

 worthless as well as injurious to the skin and coat. Con- 

 sequently the reader should be provided with a formula 

 for preparing his own soap for kennel use. 



Mr. Charles H. Mason, a breeder and exhibitor of long 

 experience, and now known to the kennel world as 

 America's foremost judge, informs the writer that the 

 best kennel soap of which he knows is made as follows : — 



I pound of " Crown soap," 



I ounce of "mild" mercurial ointment, 



I ounce of powdered camphor. 



These ingredients must be thoroughly mixed. 



Mr. Mason used this soap for at least ten years, and 

 with the best results, as proved by the many reports of the 

 English papers praising the condition of his dogs. 



" Crown soap," as it is called in this country, is a soft 

 soap which is extensively used for various purposes in 

 England, often by ladies in washing their hair, and many 

 of them have asserted that no other soap leaves it so soft 

 and silken. But here the use to which it is largely de- 

 voted is cleaning fine harness, the leather of which it 

 leaves in good color, glossy and "kind." And from har- 

 ness dealers it can be obtained in jars or barrels. 



It is presumably made of seed oils, and differs vastly in 

 value as well as composition from the common soft soaps 

 of America, which are very generally manufactured from 

 refuse fat and grease, and are so strongly alkaline that 



