CHAPTER XIV 



The Expenses of a Hunting Establishment. — Arithmetic applied to 

 Horses and Hounds. — The old Grey-hound Fox. — A little bit of a 

 Frolic. — Young Blood, and how to treat it. — A few Remarks on 

 Practical Knowledge. — The proper Number of Hounds in a Pack. — 

 Some Sanitary Considerations with respect to Food and Warmth. — 

 Preparations for Cub-hunting. — How to test the Condition of a 

 Fox-hound. — Qualities of Setters and Pointers crossed with the 

 Fox-hound. — The Battue System. — The Day's Work of a Setter and 

 Fox-hound compared. — Distinctive Features of the Rough and 

 Smooth Haired Hound. — The Kennels at Belvoir and Cottesmere 

 thirty years ago. — Lord Fitzwilliam's Pack. 



The expenses of a hunting establishment will vary 

 according to country, and the rank held by the Master ; 

 but I cannot forbear again remarking that the lavish 

 expenditure in these times debars country gentlemen of 

 moderate income from aspiring to that position ; and 

 although agreeing " that what is worth doing at all 

 should be well done," yet fox-hunting establishments 

 are now conducted on a scale far beyond moderation or 

 expediency. 



The number of hounds generally kept is not only 

 excessive, but that very excess prevents their being used 

 so often in the field as they ought to be. From forty to 

 fifty couples are quite sufiicient to hunt four days a 

 week, as the hunting pack need not exceed eighteen or 

 twenty couples, and they must undergo unusually severe 

 work to render them unfit to hunt two days a week 

 during the season. The same observation will apply to 



horses, as a hunter which cannot go two days a week, or 



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