144 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. vi. 



It must, however, be too expensive for any 

 but amateurs, and we recommend, in pre- 

 ference, a long trough with wires across, just 

 wide enough apart to admit the head of a 

 fowl, and containing a drawer for the reception 

 of the corn, in precisely the same manner as a 

 common bird-cage. 



The French authors have written more 

 largely, and more scientifically, than any 

 others upon poultry ; and no one more prac- 

 tically than M. de Reaumur, who, having 

 usually kept a regular stock of 300 head of 

 all sorts for the supply of his table, had the 

 means of making constant experiments, which 

 he continued for several years, and commu- 

 nicated the details to the public with great 

 accuracy. They have, indeed, been trans- 

 lated into English, and so copied and re- 

 copied by all our writers on the subject, as 

 to be more or less known to every one who 

 has read anything about it : we shall, there- 

 fore, content ourselves with making only a 

 few extracts from the information which they 

 contain. 



In order to ascertain the average consump- 

 tion of the common species of fowls, M. Re'au- 



