144 PRACTICE v. THEORY 



however, 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 continually 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 

 experience 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 than he can learn from a huntsman 

 or a groom, and to devote a spare hour occasionally to 

 the perusal of some of those numerous works which have 

 been written on those subjects. Knowledge is power ; 

 and theoretical knowledge has many advantages, although 

 practical has more. But to return to my subject at the 

 beginning of this chapter, I will give verbatim a quotation 

 from Mr. Delme Radcliffe's work on Hunting, as to the 

 number of the pack in the field : — 



" Taking one of the most complete, if not the most 

 perfect in the whole world for an example of what is 

 right, you will find it is oftener with less than with more 

 than eighteen couples that Lord Forrester and Mr. Goosey 

 thread the Vale of Bel voir." 



And the practice of taking a large body of hounds to 



