CARE IN DRAFTING. 235 



sport ; take, therefore, considerably more than 

 your usual number of hounds, and throw them 

 into the largest cover that you have: if any foxes 

 are in the country, it is there you will find 

 them. After once or twice going out in this 

 manner, you should reduce your number.* 



Before a huntsman goes into the kennel to 

 draft his hounds, let him determine within 

 himself the number of hounds he intends to 

 take out; as likewise the number of young 

 hounds that he can venture in the country 

 where he is going to hunt. Different coun- 

 tries may require different hounds : some may 

 require more hounds than others. It is not 

 an easy matter to draft hounds properly ; nor 

 can any expedition be made in it without some 

 method. -|- 



* During a frost , hounds may be exercised on downs, or 

 the turnpike-roads; nor will it do any material injury to 

 their feet. Prevented from hunting, they should be fed 

 sparingly ; and such as can do without Hesh should have 

 none given them ; a course of vegetables, sulphur, and thin 

 meat, is the likeliest means to keep them healthy. 



•\ No hound ought to be left at home, unless there be a 

 reason for it ; it is therefore that I say, great nicety is re- 

 quired to draft hounds properly Many huntsmen, I be- 

 lieve, think it of no great consequence which they take out 

 and which they leave, provided they have the number 

 requisite. A perfect knowledge in feeding and drafting 

 hounds are the two most essential parts of fox-hunting: 



