00 The Poullrij of France. 



after this the creature becomes choked with accumulated fat, 

 wastes awaj, and dies. 



To judg^e of the fatness of the fowl, handle it at the upper part 

 of the back, between the wings, or just under the Avings, or again 

 on cither side of the tail, below the rump. 



When a fowl is to be killed, it should first be fasted for twelve 

 to fifteen hours, and then held carefully (not hung up by the 

 heels, which would suffocate it), the mouth opened, and either 

 the under side of the tongue cut with sharp scissors, or the 

 pointed blade of a knife thrust into the palate till it pierces the 

 brain ; or thirdly, a few feathers may be plucked from the left 

 side of the head, just f below the ear, and a good incision made 

 at the spot. In any case it must be fastened up by the heels 

 immediately afterwards, that it may bleed freely, for on this the 

 whiteness of the flesh depends ; but during the death-struggle 

 let it be held by the head. 



Directions are further given for drawing and trussing which 

 it is hardly necessary to record. The chicken is bandaged, till 

 cold, to mould its form ; and if the weather is warm it is plunged 

 for a moment into very cold water. An average fowl takes about 

 ly\y peck of buck-wheat to fat it. The fat of fowls so managed is 

 of a dull white colour ; their flesh is as it were transparent beneath 

 a delicate skin. 



Such is the management recommended by Mdlle. Millet, who 

 is a Corresponding Member of the Imperial and Central Agri- 

 cultural Society of France. 



Poultry in a Suburban Houseliold. 



Another aspect of the subject is presented by M. de Chavannes, 

 who discusses the question whether fowls reared in confinement 

 can yield a profit for the benefit of those who, by increasing house- 

 rents, are disseminated, "like mushrooms, in widening circles" 

 around large towns. Such persons cannot abandon the garden 

 to the beak and claws of a dozen " cacklers," so restraint is in- 

 dispensable. 



The author himself occupies a house six miles from Paris, 

 with no ground attached to it but " a modest garden," and has 

 to buy all his poultry-food : if he can make both ends meet, no 

 one need despair. Now, his account-book (in which receipts 

 and expenses are entered to a centime) shows that he has had 

 a supply of eggs and fowls at a cheaper rate than that at which 

 he could have bought them, though, on the other hand, he would 

 have sold these proceeds at a loss, for the price at which a poul- 

 terer will buy of a " bourgeois " is ludicrously low. 



But a poultry -yard which is to pay must be \ccll kept ; for all 



