202 STAG-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



feeder, whom I have quoted so often in the course of these 

 pages, declares to me that he has seen hounds taken away in 

 the kennel cart, unable to move, to farmhouses where their 

 kennel might be a pigsty, but in about three weeks they 

 would return, permanently and effectually cured. A curious 

 fact which Bartlett also brings to my notice is this. The 

 same lameness was rife at Cumberland Lodge in the harrier 

 kennels ; the suffering harriers, brought to the Ascot kennels, 

 got well in about three weeks, and the change to Cumber- 

 land Lodge had the same effect upon the impotent staghounds. 

 Bartlett sticks to it that the cure was permanent. But it 

 is difficult to reconcile these statements with the Sharpe and 

 Davis view of the malady. 



Under Harry King, things were no better ; he had to 

 some extent imbibed the paralysing conviction of his chief 

 that there was nothing to be done. But thanks to Lord 

 Cork, the Ascot kennel is now free from ' the cursed torment.' 

 When he took over in 1866, the lameness was very prevalent. 

 He had all the kennel yards and houses laid with con- 

 crete over a thick layer of dry rubbish, and on the top a 

 layer of asphalte. These practical means succeeded, a 

 further improvement being made by Goodall, who, when he 

 was appointed huntsman, raised the benches nearly two feet. 



There was no symptom of kennel lameness during my 

 Mastership, and I imagine — although on this point my 

 opinion is not worth much, seeing that I was not brought up 

 to hounds — the plan and general arrangements of the kennels 

 and premises are favourable to health. The drainage is ex- 

 cellent, all sewage being carried on to a small sewage farm 

 by a well -planned and rigorously inspected system of pipes 

 and sympathetic manholes. The water supply is pure and 

 abundant, and the kennels and whelping houses face south- 

 east by east, which I understand is a desirable aspect. 

 Large grass yards inside the precincts make famous play- 



