Hunting-Kennels.
It is time, however, to speak of the kennel, whether we regard the sporting architecture of Mr.G. Tattersall, or the scientific inquiries of Mr. Vyner, or a sketch of the noble buildings at Goodwood.
The lodging-rooms should be ceiled, but not plastered, with ventilators above and a large airy window on either side. The floors should be laid with flags or paved with bricks. Cement may be used instead of mortar, and the kennels will then be found wholesome and dry. The doorways of the lodging-houses will generally be four feet and a half wide, in the clear. The posts are rounded, to prevent the hounds from being injured when they rush out. The benches may be made of cast-iron or wood; those composed of iron being most durable, but the hounds are more frequently lamed in getting to them. The wooden benches must be bound with iron, or the hounds will gnaw or destroy them. A question has arisen, whether the benches should be placed round the kennel, or be in the centre of it, allowing a free passage by the side. There is least danger of the latter being affected by the damp. The walls should be wainscoted to the height of three feet at least. This will tend very considerably to their comfort.
The floors of all the courts should be arranged in nearly the same way; the partition walls being closed at the bottom, but with some iron work above. The doorways should also be so contrived, that the huntsman may be able to enter whenever he pleases. The boiling-house should be at as great a distance from the hunting-kennel as can be managed, continuing to give warmth to the infirmary for distempered puppies, and at ihe same time being out of the way of the other courts.
Mr. Vyner gives an interesting account of the young hounds' kennel:
"This building," he says, "should be as far from the other lodging-rooms as the arrangements of the structure will allow. There is also an additional court, or grass-yard, an indispensable requisite in the puppies' kennel. The size must be regulated according to the waste land at the end of the building; but the longer it is, the better. At the farther end of the grass-court is a hospital for such young hounds as are distempered, so contrived as to be remote from the other kennels, and, at the same time, within an easy distance of the boiling-house, whence it is apparently approached by an outside door, through which the feeder can constantly pass to attend to the sick hounds without disturbing the healthy lots. Although this lodging room is warmed by the chimney of the boiling-house, it must be well ventilated by two windows, to which shutters must be attached; ventilation and good air being quite as necessary to the cure of distemper as warmth."
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