701 



POULTRY. 



POWER. 



702 



number of hens allowed to the male is about the same as among the 

 gallinaceous family. The cock, little distinguished in appearance from 

 the female, is an attentive and affectionate mate, and even obtrusively 

 so to his favourites, whom he will attend to the nest, and remain with 

 until they have laid their eggs. 



Retaining sme of their original wildness, Guinea fowl dislike the 

 confinement of a house. For the purpose of laying, they prefer 

 shrubberies, clover-meadows, or corn-fields, in which they will deposit 

 their eggs, unless closely watched. The Guinea hen is fruitful during 

 the entire summer, but not earlier than May. On this account, and 

 the difficulty of rearing a late brood, it is more beneficial to keep her 

 entirely for laying, and to put the earlier eggs under a common hen or 

 capon, which will cover from twenty to twenty-five, than to encourage 

 the incubation of the natural parent, which is moreover indisposed to 

 it, especially if under cover. If left to her instinct, this bird would at 

 a late season, in the open air, sit for the natural period, which is 

 twenty-eight or twenty-nine days. 



The cock, having the same dislike to incubation which characterises 

 the male of pea-fowl, will destroy the eggs if he can discover them. 

 Though the shell is remarkably hard, the chicks break through it at 

 the proper moment, and are soon after as vigorous and ready to eat as 

 the young of any other tribe of poultry. 



The loud cry of these buds is not agreeable, but, like the scream of 

 the pea-fowl, it announces with certainty an approaching change of 

 weather. The hen utters a cry when she desires to roost, to call in her 

 companions, to summon assistance, or to give 1 notice of any of those 

 alarms which her sensibilities cause her to express with such energy of 

 voice, and in all which cases she is sure of receiving a ready sympathy. 



The same food which is suited to the young of gallinaceous fowls 

 and turkeys is good for the chicks of this kind ; but as they are not 

 often destined to the coops for fattening, a good deal of garden or field 

 green-food may be combined with their grits, &c., after the first month. 

 They have a great relish for insects of every kind, and thrive upon 

 them as well as upon hemp-seed. When designed for the table, they 

 ought to be killed at an early age, at which time the flesh ia more 

 juicy than that of other poultry of the same age, and very like that of 

 the pheasant, though when old it becomes exceedingly tough. 



!'. The white duck, being the largest of the common domesti- 

 cated kinds, i perhaps the best for the poulterer, though it is not 

 deemed so delicate in flavour as the dark-coloured, such as that bred 

 from intermixture with the Rhone duck, which is also large. The 

 Muscovy variety is said to be a good breeder. One drake is sufficient 

 for five females. It is generally believed that the duck lays no more 

 eggs than she can cover (from twelve to fifteen), but Mr. Moubray 

 states that, if well fed, some ducks will lay a great number, and he 

 gives an instance of one laying an egg every day for eighty-five days. 



For a fortnight after their birth ducklings should be kept from 

 rushing into water, to which their instinct soon leads them ; and with 

 this view the mother is frequently confined (where there is any pond 

 within her reach) to the rip, already described, which should be placed 

 on a field of short grass, with' a flat dish of water near it. The duck- 

 lings waddle about in search of insects, and at the maternal call return 

 to the coop. This restraint upon the liberty of the poor mother 

 should be avoided if circumstances permit, for to protract her close 

 confinement after more than four weeks' sitting is a cruel restraint. 

 It is very common to place duck-eggs under a hen, on account of her 

 excellent qualities as a nurse. 



Any kind of meal ia good for ducklings at first, and this may goon 

 be mixed with potatoes. The refuse of the kitchen will not only 

 support but fatten them; but to have them quickly and highly 

 fattened, they should have oatmeal made into paste. They will also 

 devour any animal offal, and have no fastidiousness whatever. If 

 allowed to follow a plough or attend on the gardener when his spade 

 is at work, their greediness and activity in picking up worms are 

 extreme ; and for gobbling up snails and slugs and other such delicacies 

 in the field or garden they are most useful, while they are at the same 

 time putting themselves into high condition. Having no fastidiousness 

 of appetite, they never require cramming, indeed they act as though 

 they considered it their duty to get fat as quickly as possible, and 

 therefore required no artificial aid. 



In a poultry-yard the ducks and geese are frequently lodged on the 

 lower floor of the fowl-houses, but it is better, if the locality will 

 permit, to give them distinct chambers, particularly where a good 

 pond (free from eels) is available ; on the margin of this their huts 

 may be placed with very trifling labour, and an invisible paling all 

 round the water, constructed at bottom on the principle of the cage- 

 trap, so as to prevent the ingress of rats or weasels, while it affords 

 them a ready outlet, renders this department of the poultry establish- 

 ment complete, though far too expensive for common adoption. 



" Many families in Bucks derive a comfortable living from breeding 

 and rearing ducks, the greater part of which, the early ones at all 

 events, are actually brought up by hand. The interior of the cottages 

 of those who follow the occupation presents a very curious appearance 

 to the stranger, being furnished with boxes, pens, &c., arranged round 

 the walls for the protection of the tender charge of the good wife, 

 whose whole time and attention are taken up with this branch of 

 domestic economy." (Moubray.) 



Geae. The proportion of females to the males is the same as hi the 



duck tribe, and the period of incubation and the number of eggs that 

 may be set correspond exactly. The goose lays in a mild spring very 

 early, and on this account (but only with high corn-feeding in the 

 previous winter, and stimulating food during the entire breeding 

 season) two broods may be had in the same year. Unlike the peacock 

 and the Guinea cock, the gander is not only indisposed to do any 

 mischief to the nests, but is very attentive to the hatching birds, whom 

 he vigilantly protects as he sits patiently by ; nor is his protection, as 

 he accompanies the goslings in due course, less creditable to his parental 

 character. The goose is a very steady sitter, but usually rises often 

 enough to drink and take sustenance, without its being necessary to 

 remove her from the nest for the purpose. 



The early treatment of the goslings is similar to that of ducklings. 

 The mother should be penned up for some days upon dry grass, but 

 neither too early nor very late in the day ; beet leaves or other green 

 food may be mixed even with the early diet, if immediate fattening be 

 not the object. 



Green geese are brought very early to the London market, and arc 

 worth at first from Ss. to 12s. each ; they can be made quite fat with 

 oatmeal and peas, and skimmed milk or butter-milk, when from four 

 to six months old : many prefer oats alone. 



The management of them in the vicinity of London is thus detailed 

 in a communication to Mr. Moubray : 



" Cleanliness, punctuality, and regularity prevail ; the business is 

 conducted as it were by machinery, rivalling the vibrations of the pen- 

 dulum in uniformity of movement. The grand object of preparing, 

 not geese only, but poultry in general, for market, in as short a time 

 as possible, is effected solely by paying unremitting attention to their 

 wants; in keeping them thoroughly clean; in supplying them with 

 proper food (diy, soft, and green), water, exercise ground, &c. On 

 arriving at the feeder's, they are classed according to condition, &c. : 

 they soon become reconciled to their new abode, and to each other. 

 They are fed three times a day ; and it is truly astonishing how soon 

 they acquire the knowledge of the precise time ; marching from the 

 exercise ground to the pens like soldiers in close column. Goslings, or 

 young geese, come to hand generally about the month of March, after 

 which a regular and constant supply arrives weekly throughout the 

 season. At first they are fed on soft meat, consisting of prime 

 barley or oat meal, afterwards on dry corn. An idea prevails with 

 many that any sort of corn will do for poultry : this is a grand mistake. 

 Those who feed largely know better, and invariably make it a rule to 

 buy the best. The Messrs. Boyce, of Stratford, whose pens are capable 

 of holding the extraordinary number of four thousand geese, inde- 

 pendent of ducks, turkeys, &c., consume twenty coombs of oats daily, 

 exclusive of other food." 



But though green geese bring an enormous price in the spring, if 

 thoroughly fat, farmers generally find it more profitable to feed 

 goslings on the stubbles, where they supply themselves with the best 

 food without cost, and become sxifficiently fat at Michaelmas, when 

 ancient custom renders them a favourite dish. In the neighbourhood 

 of the extensive commons in England great numbers of geese are 

 kept. 



Though young geese are subject to a disease called the cramp, the 

 greater number of those which die in summer are destroyed by star- 

 vation, and the change from corn, and other nutritive food, to the 

 miserable herbage which the fields and commons yield ; and this con- 

 stitutes their chief diet until the harvest season. Cold and wet weather 

 are often fatal to them in the earlier months, if they be neglected. 

 Much mortality also prevails amongst grown geese, wherever the 

 horrible system of plucking them alive prevails, as in Lincolnshire and 

 hi Ireland. It is generally urged in excuse for this barbarity, that 

 feathers are most elastic and valuable before the period of moulting, 

 and that geese have been thus treated ever since feather-beds came 

 into fashion. The offence carries some punishment with it; for it 

 renders the flesh very tough, and in many respects deteriorates the 

 value of a bird, if it does not destroy it altogether ; but the immediate 

 gain from the feathers counterbalances this and every humane con- 

 sideration. 



The cramming system is practised in France, when the object is to 

 render the liver unnaturally enlarged by disease, with circumstances of 

 great cruelty. We do not intend to give any information upon practices 

 which we cannot recommend, and which we strongly condemn. 



EIJIJS. The most certain way of preserving eggs fresh is by greasing 

 them with some unctuous matter, or immersing them in a strong 

 solution of lime. In packing, they should be laid on end ; for other- 

 wise the yolks, preserving their centre of gravity, fall to the lowest 

 side, and by adhesion to it become tainted sooner than if they were 

 suspended in the centre. [Eao TRADE.] 



The only management, besides warmth and high feeding, by which 

 a perpetual succession of eggs can be obtained in winter, is by having 

 pullets and hens of different ages, which, moulting at different periods, 

 are not all incapacitated from laying contemporaneously. 



POUND. [STANDARD OP WEIGHT.] 



POUNDAGE. [SUBSIDY.] 



POWER. In FACTORIALS, the manner in which the term power was 

 introduced into arithmetic is seen. By definition, the fourth power of 

 x means the product of four a:es, or xxxxxxx; and the same of 

 other powers. But it is far more symmetrical to begin from unity ; 



