350 Home ProdiicLion of Poultry. 



paste, with whicli the fowls are fed twice a day, namely, at 

 sunrise and sunset. This diet is given indiscriminately to old 

 and young. In some farms, where the poultry have not the run 

 of meadows, they are provided with a certain amount of animal 

 and vegetable food." At one establishment, all the waste of 

 butchers' shops is obtained at the expense of collecting it ; this 

 is boiled, the fat skimmed off, and when coagulated, finely mixed 

 with the waste, and mixed with the meal food. The liquid is 

 utilised by boiling in it cabbage-stalks and other kitchen-garden 

 waste, mixing it with bran, sour poultry-food, &c., and then 

 giving it to pigs, which " thrive admirably on it." Buckwheat 

 is considered preferable to all other grain as a stimulant to egg- 

 laying, and in winter a certain amount is given whole. 



" Whilst the rearing is carried on by farmers, the fattening 

 forms quite a special trade, chiefly in the hands of cottagers, 

 who purchase the chickens either from farmers or in the market; 

 moreover, it is the exclusive trade of a iew villages in each 

 poultry-breeding district, such as Goussainville, Saint Lubin, 

 La Haye, &c., near Houdan ; Villaine and Boce, near La 

 Fleche au Mans ; also some hamlets near St. Pierre Dive, 

 Lizieux, Calvados. In these localities, however, the system 

 of fattening differs. The one consists of liquid-cramming with 

 barley-meal and milk, given by means of a funnel introduced 

 into the throat of the fowl three times a day. This process is 

 exceedingly expeditious, as one person can easily cram at the 

 rate of sixty fowls per hour ; and the fattening lasts from fourteen 

 days to three weeks, according to the disposition of the chicken 

 to take fat. The selection of the stock requires some judgment, 

 as some chickens are constitutionally too weak, and others have 

 not the frame to receive fat. This system of liquid-cramming 

 is principally adopted in the neighbourhood of Houdan." The 

 use of fat for fattening purposes is deprecated, as it deteriorates 

 the fineness and flavour of the flesh. " In the districts of Le 

 Mans and Normandy, the fattening is performed by dr^'-cramming, 

 (as described in Mr. Frere's paper on the ' Poultry of France,' in 

 the last Part of the Journal), namely, the meal of barley and 

 buckwheat is made into a stiff paste with milk and water, then 

 formed into pills two inches long and half-an-inch in diameter ; 

 these are dipped into water and forced into the throat of the fowl 

 until the crop is filled, twice a day. It is, however, of import- 

 ance not to cram a fowl until she has digested the previous meal, 

 as otherwise it might produce inflammation and death." 



The French fatteners have a notion that fowls feed much 

 quicker without light or ventilation, and without ever removing 

 the excrements, from which cause their places are most offensive 

 and unhealthy. They told Mr. Geyelin, "they were quite sure 



