70 MR, WARDE AND HIS "STOPPING BALLS." 



thick, proportioning the quantity to the work, and 

 never later than nine o'clock in the forenoon, even 

 eight o'clock is better. Some wiseacres fancy that a 

 hound fed at three or four in the evening will be 

 stouter at the end of the day, but it is ridiculous 

 to suppose that a carnivorous animal, like a foxhound, 

 can ever feel distress from want of food during thirty- 

 six hours, provided he is well fed at other regular and 

 stated periods. Mr. Warde was a great advocate for 

 a little afternoon feeding ; and when inspecting the 

 pack for thefollowing day's work, would frequently 

 draw such as he considered too fast for the rest at 

 three o'clock and give them what he termed " stop- 

 ping balls," composed of oatmeal and barley-flour 

 mixed with flesh and rolled up ; but Berkshire was a 

 slow and cold scenting country, and the pace was not 

 expected to be quite so good as it is upon grass. His 

 huntsman, William Neverd, was quite of a different 

 opinion on the subject, and told me he thought they 

 would have done much better if his master had given 

 the others some "quicksilver balls" instead. In 

 looking over hounds some four or five hours after they 

 have been fed, it is impossible to form a correct judg- 

 ment of the quantity of food they may have eaten, or 

 what their appearance and condition may be at ten 

 o'clock the next morning ; some digest quicker than 

 others do ; Rallywood whose sides appear as if he 

 were only just fed, at two o'clock, may not have eaten 

 any more than Vanquisher who looks at that hour 

 almost fit to run a burst, yet by the cover side the 

 next morning they will both look as " level as dice," 

 and the food of both of them will be upon their backs 



