80 RIOTOUS BEST IN THE END. 



You ask, at what time you shall begin to 

 enter your young hounds? That question is 

 easily answered ; for you certainly should begin 

 with them as soon as you can. The time must 

 vary in different countries. In corn countries it 

 may not be possible to hunt till after the corn is 

 cut ; in grass countries you may begin sooner ; 

 and in woodlands you may hunt as soon as you 

 please. If you have plenty of foxes, and can 

 afford to make a sacrifice of some of them for 

 the sake of making your young hounds steady, 

 take them first where you have least riot, put- 

 ting some of the steadiest of your old hounds 

 amongst them. If in such a place you are for- 

 tunate enough to find a litter of foxes, you may 

 assure yourself you will have but little trouble 

 with your young hounds afterwards. 



Such young hounds as are most riotous at 

 first, generally speaking, I think, are best in the 

 end. A gentleman in my neighbourhood was so 

 thoroughly convinced of this, that he complained 

 bitterly of a young pointer to the person who 

 gave it him, because he had done no mischief. 

 However, meeting the same person some time 

 after, he told him the dog, he believed, would 

 prove a good one at last. — " How so ?" replied 

 his friend ; " it was but the other day that you 



