CHAP. XIII.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 271 



to lay early in February. Many of the 

 breeders about Oakingham, Aylesbury, and 

 other parts of Berks and Buckinghamshire, 

 who fat young ducklings for the London 

 market, bring the old ones to lay sooner, by 

 keeping them in their cottages, and feeding 

 them chiefly upon raw flesh : then getting 

 the eggs hatched by hens or turkeys, which 

 must also have similar food to stimulate 

 them for incubation. These ducklings, when 

 hatched, are kept warm, w ithout any mother, 

 by the fire-side, or under the bed of the 

 peasant who breeds them, and fed at first 

 upon the flour of malt, mixed up with new 

 milk and curds, but afterwards upon barley- 

 meal and mutton suet made into a paste 

 with broth or treacle, with which they are 

 crammed in the same manner as chickens ; 

 some also give them minced meat, and it is 

 astonishing to what weight and fatness they 

 are brought at six weeks old. It may, in- 

 deed, be imagined that it occasions not a 

 little trouble, and that the odour of the room 

 in which they are reared is not very agree- 

 able ; but the birds are sold at large prices, 

 which pay well for the inconvenience. 



