HOW TO FEED " TO GO THE PACE." 67 



kennel-man and most judicious feeder of liis day ; he 

 had no doubt a quick and discerning understand- 

 ing, and a most retentive memory, or he never could 

 have fed them with the exactness which he did, capa- 

 bihties of a mind worthy of a higher walk in life. 

 " The Squire's" hounds have always been considered 

 amongst the stoutest in the world, and no doubt the 

 goodness of their nature must have been one great 

 cause of their strikingly lasting qualities, yet I firmly 

 believe, had they been fed by an ignorant or inatten- 

 tive person, or one of the common stamp of feeders, 

 that they never could have gone through the labour 

 which they did in so workmanlike and superior a 

 manner. The great art of feeding consists in adminis- 

 tering that quantity of food which will produce the 

 greatest powers of exertion, without impairing their 

 constitution ; over feeding or giving too much at once 

 is equally as injurious as giving too little ; food intro- 

 duced into the stomach in too great a quantity does 

 not digest, and totally defeats the object for which 

 it is given, which may be seen in any dogs that have 

 gorged too much, always purging. Hounds at all 

 seasons of the year, in my humble opinion, ought to 

 be rather high in condition, particularly in wet wea- 

 ther, and as long as two ribs are visible, the muscles 

 on their backs and thio;hs cannot be too exuberant. 

 The greatest mistake in most huntsmen, is, that they 

 do not begin sufficiently early in the summer to give 

 strong exercise; they content themselves with crawling 

 out at six or seven o'clock, and because it is hot, and 

 the hounds seem distressed (which no doubt they are), 

 bring them in at nine; whereas they ought never 



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