192 SELECTION OF DRAFTS. 



removed from the side, which will assuage the 

 pain, and induce the wound to heal more 

 readily. 



The number of young hounds to be put forward 

 as the entry for the season must depend on the 

 strength of the pack, wdiether intended to hunt 

 three or four days a w^eek ; but when there is a 

 promising lot of young hounds, clever and well- 

 bred, it is always the wisest plan to keep an extra 

 number, as two seasons in succession are seldom 

 equally fortunate in this respect. For three days 

 a week I should put forward from ten to twelve 

 couples of young hounds, when over the dis- 

 temper; and for four days, from fourteen to 

 eighteen couples. These should be worked hard 

 through the cub hunting, with the brood bitches 

 and others which require it, and the second draft 

 made in October. My usual number of brood 

 bitches was about seven couples, from which I 

 commenced breeding after the first week in No- 

 vember, when they were generally laid aside for 

 that purpose. After leaving the bitch-house, they 

 were, however, again hunted a few times, to keep 

 them in exercise, until they shoAved symptoms of 

 being in whelp, my object being to get as many 

 puppies as possible born in February, the early 

 bred always proving the strongest. Allowing four 



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