202 HOW TO TREAT YOUNG BLOOD. 



loose they should run after the first object they 

 catch sight of. Highly bred and highly fed, their 

 exuberant spirits must find vent somewhere; but if 

 taken out to exercise in couples, from the day of 

 entering the kennel, they would never think of 

 running donkeys and sheep-dogs. I might, how- 

 ever, as well attempt to turn the kennel upside 

 down as to turn an old huntsman from his old 

 practice of keeping young hounds stewed up in 

 their prison house until the finest are destroyed 

 by distemper year after year, although it must be 

 obvious that the treatment I recommend is most 

 rational, but I believe it will never be adopted 

 unless the Master interferes. There is a great 

 drawback where fox-hunting countries are so con- 

 tinually changing hands, in the Master possessing 

 this title only nominally, particularly if young in 

 years or knowledge of the business, and he dare 

 not interfere with the huntsman. Want of expe- 

 rience in such matters keeps him silent, and it is 

 not unusual to find the groom as much master in 

 the stable as the huntsman is in the kennel. 



Now, without in the least wishing to disparage 

 these high functionaries, or detract from their 

 merit, I hold it highly necessary for a Master of 

 fox-hounds, or the owner of a good stud of horses, 

 to know something more about their treatment 



