Having succeeded, either by buying or breeding, in getting a pack, you will then have to keep your hounds up to a certain number. From about six to twelve couple will be all that you will want to take out, but this of course will mean that you want at least two couple more in reserve. You should breed a certain number of puppies every year, and in this you must be regulated to a great extent by the walks at your command. You might keep one couple at home, giving them a free run of the stables, yards and paddocks, and though you will find them troublesome and as mischievous as monkeys, their small size will prevent them being the unmitigated trouble that foxhound puppies undoubtedly are. Still, the infant beagle has a marvellous appetite for sponges, brushes, and all sorts of indigestible household requisites, and he will besides be credited by the servants with even more mischief than he really works. You will find some, or perhaps most of your field, ready to undertake the charge of a few couple--and those who come out regularly ought to look upon this as a duty--and for a small payment you can secure homes in cottages, with those who will look after the puppies carefully and intelligently, and who will, indeed, treat them so well that you will not improbably have a very sulky lot of little dogs to deal with, when they first come under kennel discipline. Perhaps it may be thought that I have touched too lightly on the very difficult question of breeding beagles true to a type, for except it be the Clumber Spaniel there is no dog more likely to give you trouble than the beagle. Still it can be done successfully, and if you choose your bitches in the first instance and are careful in you selection of the sires, constant care, scrupulous cleanliness, careful feeding and regular exercise will do the rest. The most charming and graceful type of hound, as well as the most likely to be useful in hunting, is one that corresponds in miniature to that of the foxhound. There should be the same alertness and good carriage, the good shoulders and straight legs of the larger hound, and any puppies that fall below the standard in any particular should be immediately drafted. To a certain extent you must be guided by the sort of country over which you are to hunt, for if this be fairly open, without thick coverts, stout fences or wide drains, then you will find a small lightly-built hound, of some fourteen or fifteen inches, the best, but if on the other hand, you have much plough and strong fences, you will require a beagle of the heavier and larger type, standing about sixteen or seventeen inches. With beagles as with other hounds, muteness is a fault which should immediately be met by drafting, and I would strongly advise the same even for great economy of tongue. Skirting or any suspicion of falsehood will meet with the same fate, as well as the very slightest symptom of jealousy, for the little hounds should score to cry at once.