ii6 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



cally the same. A hundred years ago, so far as 

 we can learn, machine cramming was practically 

 unknown in the South-Eastern counties of Eng- 

 land. Arthur Young, in his 'General 

 Cramming View of the Agriculture of Sussex,' 

 Machines. published in 1808, mentions only 



cramming by hand. Later on, as 

 explained in the early editions of ' The Book 

 of Poultry,' an apparatus was introduced for the 

 expediting of this work. So far as I can learn, 

 such a machine was introduced in the 'sixties. 

 This old type of Sussex crammer (Fig. 63) was 



Fig. 63. — Old Sussex Cramming Machine. 



a very cumbersome affair, resembling a large 

 sausage machine, and was heavy to work. The 

 food was placed in a reservoir, and forced out 

 through a tube at one end. It required one 

 man to turn the crank handle, whilst another 

 actually crammed the bird. With both the 

 Hearson and the Neve one man only is re- 

 quired. The Hearson crammer consists of a 

 food reservoir, into which a supply sufficient 

 for 100 to 150 birds can be placed. Below is 

 a pump cylinder in which operates a piston 

 rod, worked by a foot lever. When this lever 

 is depressed the food already in the cylinder is 

 forced through the nozzle at one side, and as 

 the machine is fitted with a powerful spring, 

 when the pressure is withdrawn the piston 

 rod is drawn upwards again, allowing enough 

 food to pass into the cylinder from the reser- 

 voir for the next manipulation. Upon the 

 nozzle is fitted indiarubber tubing, which is 

 made in various sizes to suit different grades 

 of birds. Some of the fatters in Sussex use 

 tubes made of bed ticking, because they are 

 cheaper, and if carefully made they answer 

 the purpose, although the seam down one side 

 is rather liable to become hard and to graze 

 the throat of the bird. In the Neve crammer 

 the force pump is horizontal. 



" To operate with these machines the bird 

 is held first by the legs and wings as already 

 described for hand cramming, then placed under 

 the left or right arm, as the case may be, and 

 held firmly between the arm and the body so 

 that the bird cannot struggle. The operator 



has thus both hands at liberty. Taking the 

 head in the hand connected with the arm 

 holding the bird, the comb lying in the palm, 

 the mouth is opened by one finger, passing 

 between the upper and lower mandibles, and 

 the tongue held down. The other hand is now 

 free to insert the tube into the mouth. As 

 soon as it has passed into the throat, the head 

 is changed from one hand to the other, and the 

 neck being elongated, the head is drawn on to 

 the tube, really pulling the body after it, and 

 in this way the end passes down into the crop 

 speedily and easily. The slightest pressure of 

 the foot pedal forces food into the crop. 

 The relieved hand, before this is done, is passed 

 to the crop until the end of the tube is felt, 

 and thus the operator can tell how much food 

 is being forced therein, stopping the moment 

 that enough has been given. So soon as this 

 takes place the foot is slipped off the pedal, 

 which stops the supply, the bird being then 



Fig. 64. — Crammer at Work. 



drawn from the tube. The operation can be 

 carried out very rapidly indeed, and a skilful 

 fatter can cram by either of the machines 

 named 200 to 300 birds in an hour. For this 

 system the food is prepared about the con- 

 sistency of thick cream, so that it will just flow 

 and no more. The great points in cramming 



