SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 149 



as they can within the allotted time, somewhere 

 about two or three minutes, in which they are con- 

 sidered to have filled their stomachs, or sufficiently 

 so to keep them in tolerable condition. Then 

 " pop goes the whip/' instead of the " weasel/' and 

 the satisfied as well as unsatisfied are alike hustled 

 away from the troughs out into the greenyard. 

 Now this practice is bad and slovenly, and although 

 adopted by huntsmen of high standing in large 

 establishments, not less on that account deserving 

 censure. It is done to save time ; but what is 

 done hastily can never be well done. The excuse 

 condemns the act. More than five or six couples 

 cannot be fed properly at the same time, and those 

 should be drawn off first together which are light 

 feeders, and have rather delicate appetites. The 

 gluttons follow after, by whom the troughs will be 

 quickly cleared. One of the greatest difficulties in 

 kennel management is to maintain the entire pack 

 in even condition, not some fat and others lean, and 

 by this we know how to judge of a man's merits 

 or demerits as kennel huntsman. Such knowledge 

 cannot be acquired except by practical experience ; 

 and here a young huntsman will most probably 

 find himself on slippery ground, since whippers-in 

 &re rarely admitted to the canine dining-room, 

 where the feeder assists the huntsman. Some 

 hounds require feeding twice a day on the daintiest 

 food the boiling-house can produce, and, even then, 

 can never be persuaded to eat enough to keep pace 

 with their work. Others, if left to themselves, 

 would eat too much, and thus, from over-depletion, 



