56 ON THE BREEDING 



breed may be rectified in another ; and if this is 

 properly attended to, I see no reason why the 

 breeding of hounds may not improve, till im- 

 provement can go no farther. If ever you find 

 a cross hit, always pursue it.* Never put an 

 old dog to an old bitch. Be careful that they 

 are healthy wliich you breed from, or you are 

 not likely to have a healthy off^spring. Should a 

 favourite dog skirt a little, put him to a thorough 

 line -hunting bitch, and such a cross may succeed : 

 my objection to the breeding from such a hound 

 is, that as skirting is what most fox-hounds 

 acquire from practice, you had better not make 

 it natural to them. A very famous sportsman 

 has told me, that he frequently breeds from 

 brothers and sisters : as I should be very un- 

 willing to urge any thing in opposition to such 

 authority, you had better try it ; and if it suc- 

 ceeds in hounds, it is more, I believe, than it 

 usually does in other animals. A famous cocker 

 assured a friend of mine, that the third genera- 

 te tire soon. The experiment has not succeeded : the cross 

 most likelj' to be of service to a fox-hound is the beagle. I 

 am well convinced, that a handsome, bony, tender-nosed, 

 stout beagle, would, occasionally, be no improper cross for 

 a high-bred pack of fox-hounds. 



* After the first season, I breed fi-om all my young dog- 

 hounds who have beauty and goodness to recommend them 

 to see what whelps they get. 



