Can Poultry he made to Pay 



los 



coop-fci,!, or IS. Sd. for a running fowl, weighing on 

 an average 3>< lb. I see no reason why poultry 

 should not be sold by weight ; I think it would be a 

 very great improvement if all provisions were required 

 by law to be sold by weight. The size and weight of 

 the eggs from a Spanish and a Hambro' fowl, are ver}' 

 different, but they are all sold at so many for a shilling ; 

 and a retail dealer told me that he allowed a good 

 customer to pick out which he liked. I have used 

 Indian corn for fowls, and it answers very ^vell, but 

 just at present it is very dear. You cannot always 

 keep to the same kind of food, whatever it is. In 

 Sussex they may use a good deal of bmised oats ; I 

 have used a mixtme of bruised oats, rice, and top- 

 pings, with success. I doubt the advantage of 

 feeding fowls with meat ; the kind of flesh which a 

 fowl picks up naturally, is very different to anything 

 we could give them. I have seen the reports of the 

 large poultiy farm in France, and I know them to 

 be v.holly untrae. I am certain that no experi- 

 ments have been made on a large scale in this 

 country to feed poultry on horseflesh mixed with fari- 

 naceous food, but I cannot say what has been done 

 abroad. Greaves and other animal food have been 

 given to force the laying of hens, but I believe the 

 tendency is to ■s\',ear out the hen very quickly. I keep 

 breeding fowls about three years, then I sell or eat 

 them. The eggs are not so good for breeding from 

 the first year as the second and third ; in the fourth 

 year they begin to fail again, according to the consti- 

 tution of the bird. The best breed for cold clay soils 

 is Brahmapootra or the French sort, the Houdan. I 

 think a cross between the Brahmapootra and the 

 Dorking gives the most useful bird for farm-yard pur- 

 poses. The Brahma has a good deal of the Cochin 

 China in it ; it lacks breast a little, but not so much as 

 the Cochin ; and when crossed with the Dorking it 

 produces a very fine bird, with all the hardihood of the 

 Brahmapootra and the meat properties of the Dorking. 

 If the soil is good, no bird would answer better for a 

 cottage than the Dorking. Lime must be supplied, 

 of course, if it is not naturally present in the soil 

 where birds are in confinement. I have had 

 no experience with ducks, geese, or turkeys. I think 

 poultry keeping would be carried on more successfully 

 on a large scale than by individual cottagers. 

 On a light soil I should prefer a pure Dorking, 

 taking care not to be in-bred ; if it were not a light 

 soil I would have a cross between the Brahmapootra 

 and the Dorking ; in all cases I would have the 

 Dorking, either pure or crossed. If you require only 

 eggs, you may dispense with a cock-bird altogether ; 

 for breeding you should not have more than eight hens 

 to a cock, and if breeding for exhibition or fancy pur- 

 poses the number should be still further reduced. I 



don't think the eggs are quite so palatable where the 

 hens run alone. I think it would be well if in poultry 

 exhibitions there were more classes for farm-yard 

 poultry, and if, as has been done at Chelmsford, dead 

 poultry were included. The Hamburgh, Spanish, and 

 French varieties produce most eggs, but they never sit. 

 I believe the most delicate-flavoured bird of any for the 

 table is the Dorking. I can quite imagine that there 

 may be an impression in France that the Houdan is 

 superior, but I should attribute that to a national feel- 

 ing. The Houdan produces very early chickens ; but 

 the earliest are the Cochins ; they are very hardy, and 

 can be reared even in the snow. I cannot say exactly 

 why cheap poultry are always bad, but a fowl that has 

 been fattened will keep longer than one that has not. I 

 have not experimented on artificial hatching, and speak 

 only from observation and information on that question. 

 The difficulty is in rearing the chickens. I believe Mr 

 Schroeder, at Rickmansworth, is trying it on a large 

 scale. Colonel Stuart Wortley has invented a new- 

 incubator. The great difficulty is in rearing chickens 

 from them fit for the market. This is the opinion of 

 the salesmen. 



The following letter bearing on the preceding sul> 

 ject has been sent to the secretary of the Sociey uf 

 Arts : — 



' ' Tiptree Hall, near Kelvedon, Essex, 

 March 21, 1S68. 



" Mj Dear Mr Foster, — I am not often in town, 

 but hope to be so in a week or ten days, and v,-ill en- 

 deavour to meet the committee. ily experience 

 teaches me — 1st, that there is an abundant demand for 

 poultry in our markets, even at the present extravagant 

 prices ; that while poultry sells at fully gd. per lb. 

 live weight, the best beef and mutton only sell at 4^d. 

 per lb. live weight (5s. per stone of 8 lb. net dead 

 weight) ; that it costs no more to produce i lb. of 

 poultry than I lb. of meat ; that poultry are the far- 

 mers' best friends, consuming no end of insects, and 

 utilizing and economizing all waste grain ; that they 

 should have free access to pasture and to our other 

 fields near the homestead ; that care should be taken 

 as to their breeds, as in sheep, bullocks, and pigs ; 

 that first crosses, having regard to the demand in the 

 market, are advantageous ; that the manure from 

 poultiy is of first-rate quality. My poultry (about 

 300) have free access to my corn fields at almost eveiy 

 period of the year. Of course, poultry, like sheep, 

 bullocks, or pigs, must be well and properly fed if 

 they are to be well and properly developed in size and 

 condition. I don't know that I could say more than 

 this to the committee. — Yours faithfully, 



J. J. Mechi. 



"P. Le Neve Foster, Esq." 



