344 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
best restorative; and that is the only time when I approve of 
straw for a bed, as it is heating, and has a strong tendency to 
harbor vermin. To curry a dog, or comb him with a horse’s 
mane comb, and then brush him thoroughly, will be found to 
contribute to his cleanliness, comfort, and health, in a far higher 
degree, than the trouble of seeing it done will incommode the 
sportsman. A little method, and the regular observance of 
hours, will render all these things easy, and they will soon come 
to be regarded by the servant as matters of every day occur¬ 
rence, and as such to be done, and the trouble disregarded. 
With regard to feeding, a question on w T hich very much of the 
condition, and not a little of the olfactory powers of the dog, 
Mr. Blaine in his great work on Canine Pathology, asks the fol¬ 
lowing question, and proceeds forthwith to answer it. 
“ What is the best foodfor dogs ? An examination of this ani¬ 
mal must end in determining that he is neither wholly carnivo¬ 
rous, nor wholly herbivorous, but of a mixed kind ; intended to 
take in as well vegetable as animal matter, and formed to re¬ 
ceive nourishment from either. He is furnished with sharp cut¬ 
ting teeth for tearing flesh, and he has also tolerably broad sur¬ 
faces on other of his teeth, capable of grinding farinaceous sub¬ 
stances : his stomach and intestines likewise hold a middle place 
between those of the carnivorous and herbivorous tribes. At 
the same time, both his dental and his digestive organs appear 
rather more adapted to the mastication and assimilation of ani 
mal than vegetable matter; to which also his habits and partia¬ 
lities evidently tend. He is by nature predacious, and intended 
to live on other animals; the stronger he hunts in troops, the 
weaker he conquers singly. Yet still it is clear that his organs 
fit him, when necessary, for receiving nutriment from vegetable 
matter also, and we likewise see that he voluntarily seeks it, 
probably as a necessary mixture, to prevent that tendency to 
putridity, which too great a quantity of animal food begets. It 
is a received opinion among many sportsmen, that flesh-feeding 
injures the scent; but it cannot do it naturally : for the fox, one 
of the caninae, which is known to be by choice wholly camivo- 
