CHAP. IX.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 217 



hen, although there can be no doubt that, if 

 the former be much more than a year old, 

 there ought to be considerable difference made 

 in the manner of their being fatted. In 

 France the common mode employed for both 

 one and the other is, to keep them separately 

 in the manner we have stated, and to feed 

 them for a full month with a paste formed of 

 bran and boiled corn, together with tonic 

 herbs of any sort minced up and all mixed 

 together with melted fat. This is left to them 

 at discretion, to peck at as they please during 

 the day, and if any part should be left at night, 

 it is given to the pigs. Along with this, how- 

 ever, quantities of potatoes are also given ; 

 and at the end of the month, or perhaps a 

 little more, they are crammed every night 

 with as many balls of barley-meal as they can 

 swallow : by which means, it is said, they 

 are so well fattened in the course of ten days 

 or a fortnight, that the cocks weigh from 20 to 

 25 pounds; and, when stuffed with truffles, 

 are sometimes sold in London for five guineas 

 each. 



After all that has been said and written 

 about the " unnatural cruelty" of cramming. 



