88 The Poultry of France. 



" The Poularde should be (1) five or six months old ; (2) 

 virgin; (o) never have laid an egg; (4) have white ficsh under 

 the wings ; (5) the eyes under the lid should be circled with 

 red ; (6) the claws should be short, the rump and shoulders large ; 

 (7) it should be in fair condition when put up to fat." 



Since Mdlle. Robinet considers " cramming " the most efTcctual 

 and economical means of fattening, that alone is described. 



This involves having sparred coops, in which each fowl has its 

 own compartment. The coop is a long narrow box in white wood, 

 set on legs Ih foot high : the outer walls and partitions are close 

 boarded, and the bottom only is made with rounded spars 1^ in. in 

 diameter, running lengthways of the coop, on which the fowls 

 perch, their dung falling through the bars. The top consists of 

 a sliding door, nearly as wide as the compartment, by which the 

 chickens are taken in or out. The partitions are 8 inches apart, 

 so that the fowl cannot turn itself round. The length of each 

 box may be regulated by circumstances, care being taken that 

 the attendant has room to pass along and to sit down ; and 

 furthermore, that cocks, capons, and poulets, or the lean and the fat 

 lots be not mixed up indiscriminately. If fowls of different sexes 

 are in close proximity, though nothing beyond vocal relations be 

 established between them, the fattening process will be delayed : 

 or again, fowls of different degrees of fatness should not inhabit 

 the same box, because their rations will differ, and the new 

 comers will disturb the older settlers by their noise. 



Young cocks will fatten, though not so readily as capons ; their 

 flesh is somewhat inferior in delicacy to that of capons, and yet 

 more so to that of pullets. 



The floor below the boxes is covered with ashes or dry earth 

 to catch the droppings, which are removed every two days with 

 a scraper. The dung is equal in value to guano, and should be 

 preserved from waste and moisture in old casks. 



Fcedinr/. * 



The best food for fatting fowls is buckwheat meal, " bolted " 

 quite fine. This is kneaded up with sweet milk till it gets the 

 consistency of baker's dough ; it is then cut up into rations about 

 the size of two eggs, which are made up into " rolls " about the 

 thickness of a woman's finger, but varying with the sizes of the 

 fowls ; these are subdivided by a sloping cut into " patons," 

 pellets, 2^ inches long. 



A board is used for mixing the flour with the milk, which in 

 winter should be lukewarm ; it is poured into a hole made in the 

 heap of flour, and mixed up little by little with a wooden spoon 

 so long as it is taken up ; the dough is then kneaded by the 

 hands till it no longer adheres to them. 



