which will not be a small item in your outlay.
As you can expend fifteen shillings or five
hundred pounds on a dressing-case according
to the style of article you require, so will
the cost of the erection of your kennel depend
entirely on your taste and the contents of your
purse. The Duke of Richmond's kennel cost
ten thousand pounds, the Duke of Bedford's is
four hundred and fifty feet in length. You will
probably be satisfied with something less
magnificent than either of these, but there are,
nevertheless, certain necessaries which it is incumbent
on a kennel-builder to provide. Among these
are a boiling-house for the meat, lodging-rooms
for the hounds, a grass or gravel court into
which to turn the dogs while the lodging-rooms
are being aired, a plentiful supply of good water,
and a lodging-room for either your huntsman,
whipper-in, or kennel attendant, who must be
so close to the hounds that, should any quarrelling
take place, they can hear his voice, or the
crack of his whip, or the sound of a bell, which
he could pull, and which should hang over
where the dogs sleep. Hounds are very savage
in kennel, and after a fight in which a dog has
been killed, his body is sometimes devoured by
the rest. Old sportsmen have an anecdote, too,
of a whipper-in being torn to pieces on going
into the kennel at night, in his shirt, in which
dress the hounds did not recognise him, and
without first calling to them. The best food
for hounds is oatmeal and horse-flesh, boiled,
vegetables, after hunting, boiled with the meat,
greaves, mashed potatoes, and skim-milk.
Biscuits and greaves, also boiled, form excellent
food in the summer or off-season. All food
should be given cold, and it should be boiled
into pudding one day and given the next day.
The cost of feeding hounds depends on the price
of oatmeal, but about twelve pounds per annum
per couple may be looked upon as an average,
perhaps a low-average sum. Hounds are called
by name, and, as it is termed, " drawn," to be
fed in three, four, or five couples at a time.
The door is wide open, and the meat-trough is
in view of the hungry pack, but, until called out,
not one attempts to stir. Says Mr. Dryden:

Abra was ready ere he named her name,
And when he called another, Abra came.

It is very lucky that Abra was a lady and not a
hound. *A hound thrusting in or coming out of
his turn, not when his name is called, is sent
back with a flea in his ear. This is to make
them know their own names, and is the only
way of teaching them. The late Mr. Apperley
(the celebrated " Nimrod") gives a remarkable
instance of the discipline at feeding-time, which
occurred at Sir Bellingham Graham's. " Vulcan,
the crowning ornament of the pack, was standing
near the door waiting for his name to be
called. I happened to mention it, though in
rather an under tone; then in he came and
licked Sir Bellingham's hand; but though his
head was close to the trough, and the grateful
viands smoking 'under his nose, he never
attempted to eat; but on his master saying to
him, ' Go back, Vulcan, you have no business
here.' he immediately retreated, and mixed with
the hungry crowd." Hounds should be fed
once a day, with delicate exceptions; that is to
say, a hound with a delicate constitution will
require a few minutes longer at the trough, and
may require to be fed twice in the course of the
day. Before quitting this branch of the subject,
let us give two important cautions. Build
your kennel in a dry spot, thoroughly well
drained, and so avoid rheumatism, kennel lameness,
and nine-tenths of the ills to which dogflesh
is heir; and feed your hounds late at night, and
so ensure a comfortable rest for them, their
keepers, and you and your guests, if the kennel
be at all near the house.

And now of the staff and the stud. Foremost
and most important among the former is
the huntsman, who should be in the prime of
life, combining vigour and experience. Too
young a man is apt to be fussy, self-opinionated,
and wanting in judgment; too old a man to be
slow and incapable of sufficient bodily
exertion. Your huntsman should think of hunting
and nothing else; should be submissive to no
cap-ribbon, no slave to drink, which would be
fatal, no gadabout, taproom loiterer, pothouse
frequenter. During the season his exercise will
prevent anything he takes doing him any harm;
during the off-season he will find plenty to do in
drilling his pack, and acquainting himself with
their various peculiarities. He must ride well
always, sometimes desperately, and he must be
firm yet courteous with those terrific strangers
who crop up occasionally at all meets, and who
will over-ride the hounds. Your cockney sportsman,
and your over-excitable enthusiast, who,
the one from ignorance, the other from
irrepressible impulse, ride close upon hounds, are
the good huntsman's direst foes. Hounds may
be driven miles before the scent by the pursuance
of such a practice, and it is not to be wondered
at if the huntsman sometimes loses his temper.
He is a servant, however, and must moderate
his language, but he may safely leave the
unhappy transgressor to the remarks of his master,
which are generally very full flavoured. Sometimes
the victim declines to bear such language.

The breeding, rearing, and training of the
young hounds is entirely to be done by the
huntsman, and in the field he is master of the
situation, and directs every step in progress by
his voice or his horn, in the blowing of which he
must be really scientific. There will be one or
two whippers-in, according to the size or status
of the pack. If there be two, the first is but
little inferior to the huntsman, and should be
qualified to take his place in his absence. One
of the whips should always remain with the
pack, to prevent the younger dogs from running
riot, and giving tongue heedlessly. The padgroom
is also an essential adjunct to a hunting
establishment, for it is his duty to follow to
cover with the second horse, and he requires
either a thorough knowledge of the country, or
an innate appreciation of topography, to enable
him to keep the hounds within view, to be able