(_a_) Freedom from damp. (_b_) Freedom from draughts. (_c_) Good ventilation overhead.
Then the hounds must on no account sleep on the floor, but have the usual benches provided, and there should be a palisaded or walled-in run, into which they can go from their sleeping room. If these points are attended to, the workmanship of the buildings may be almost as rough as you please, but above all things you must not let the use of the limewash brush be spared.
The scraps from the house boiled up with vegetables--with care that everything is perfectly sweet and fresh--and any good dog biscuit, will be found to answer for their food. No hounds will do well on biscuit only, and it should be remembered that rice is not nourishing food. Meat and vegetables are needed, and of the latter I should advise a certain amount of cabbage to be given. The amount of food, and this specially applies to meat, should be carefully proportioned to the number of days you hunt in the week, and the length of days you make.
It is a great mistake to feed hounds either too high, or too low. If you have not an experienced and trustworthy kennel-man, you should see the hounds fed yourself, and then observe the appetite and needs of each hound in the pack.
Hounds should have plenty of exercise before hunting, and as much on the road as you can give them when they are not hunting. They should be trotted out with horses if possible, and out of the season eight miles a day or even ten, will be found necessary to keep them in condition.
Since the establishment of the Association of Masters of Harriers and Beagles--which body I would strongly advise any woman interested in hound-breeding to join--and the foundation of Stud Books for both classes of hounds, immense strides have been made towards the perfection of the respective types. The competition for the prizes at Peterborough consequently becomes keener every year, and the glory of success is proportionately greater.
No one has done more for the improvement of the Beagle than Sir Marteine Lloyd, whose pack known as the Bronwydd Beagles, is the best, as it is one of the oldest packs in the land. A feature of this hunt, specially interesting to women, is that Miss Lloyd, Sir Marteine's daughter, takes an active part in the management of the hounds, and in the field acts as whipper in to her father. Miss Lloyd has been kind enough to write the following short account of her father's hounds, in which all beagle lovers will be interested.