TIic Poidtnj of France. 89 



Some say that barley, or even oatmeal, is a good substitute 

 for buckwheat-meal, but Mdlle. Millet is not of that opinion. 

 Indian corn, the white variety, may do, but it is dear, and makes 

 " short " paste, unless mixed with buckwheat, when it answers 

 well if cheap enough ; but buckwheat is a hardy plant, which 

 may be grown anywhere at small cost. 



The food is thus administered : — The attendant puts on an 

 apron which will stand being soiled or torn, and takes the pellets 

 on a board with a bowl of clear water. She takes the first fowl 

 from its cage gently and carefully, not by the wings or the legs, 

 but with both hands under the breast. She then seats herself with 

 the fowl upon her knees, putting its rump under her left arm, by 

 which she supports it; the left hand then opens its mouth (a little 

 practice makes this very easy), and the right hand takes up a 

 pellet, soaks it well in the water {this is essential), shakes it on 

 its way to the open mouth, puts it straight down, and carefully 

 crams it with the forefinger well into the gullet ; when it is so 

 far settled down that the fowl cannot eject it, she presses it 

 down gently with thumb and forefinger into the crop, taking 

 care not to fracture the pellet ; for if some scraps of it remained 

 in the gullet they might cause inflammation. 



Other pellets follow the first, till the feeding is finished, in 

 less time than one would imagine. It sometimes happens, par- 

 ticularly in the early stage of fatting, that the tracheal artery is 

 compressed together with the gullet ; this makes the poor creature 

 cough, but is not of any serious consequence, and with a little 

 experience this mishap is easily avoided. The fowl when fed is 

 again held with both hands under its breast, and replaced in its 

 cage without Jiuttering it ; and so on with each fowl. 



The chicken should have two meals in twenty-four hours 

 twelve hours apart, provided with the utmost punctuality ; if it 

 has to wait it becomes uneasy, if fed too soon it has an indi- 

 gestion, and in either case loses weight. On the first day of 

 cramming only two or three pellets are given at each meal ; the 

 allowance is daily increased by one at a time till it reaches 

 twelve to fifteen pellets. The stomach may he filled, but at each 

 meal you must make sure that the last is duly digested, Avhich is 

 easily ascertained by gently handling the crop. If there be any 

 dough in it, digestion has not gone on properly ; the fowl must 

 miss a meal, and have rather a smaller allowance next time ; if 

 too much food be forced upon the animal at first it will get out 

 of health and have to be set at liberty. 



The fatting process ought to be complete in two or three 

 weeks, but for extra fat poultry twenty-five or twenty-six days are 

 required ; with good management you may go on for thirty days ; 



