594 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



1 



Ah, happy hills ! ah, pleasing shade ! 



Ah, fields beloved in vain ! 

 Where once nay careless childhood strayed, 



A stranger yet to pain ! 



W^e can jtist remember when her party fends, 

 beginning on account of devotion to certain dis- 

 tinctive principles of government, but, alas, too 

 soon degenerating into devotion to — other things: 

 when her Kents and her Taneys, her Fitz- 

 jameses, and her Roderick Dhus, headed each 

 his clan, and fought as for life or death ; but, in 

 the hottest of their contests for principle, both 

 ■w'Otild have united, by a sort of moral crystaliza- 

 tion, to heap infamy on any one who should 

 have dared to advocate repud — no ! sir ; no ! I 

 will not write the shameful word as connected 

 with old Calvert County, where once lived a 

 race of gentlemen of as good manners and high 

 honor as any that ever " trod shoe-leather ! " 

 but revenons a nos Capons ! 



The great value of the art, as it is exercised 

 in Paris, and in a/e?r places in the United States, 

 consists in its effect in disposing the fowl to 

 fatten more quickly and more perfectly, and in 

 its tendency to improve the flavor, as every one 

 wiU tell you who 'has eaten fat Capons in Paris 

 or elsewhere. 



'•He hath bid me to a calf's-head and capon." 



In Philadelphia, too. Capons are getting more 

 into vogue. In New-Orleans, among tlie Cre- 

 oles — honest, quiet, hospitable good-livers and 

 brave people, who know "what 's what" — they 

 have a genius both for making and for eating 

 Capons. 



At the table of Col. H. near Columbia, I have 

 lately something more than seen tliem, in the 

 greatest perfection ; and in hia poultrj'-yard, 

 which includes acres, and is " a sight to see," 

 you may see not only the barn-door fowl, but 

 turkeys also, that have been caponized. His 

 gardener performs the operation with infalUble 

 success, going about it in the simplest manner, 

 and putting aside as useless the instruments we 

 have seen figured in agricultural papers, as com- 

 plicated and polished as if they were intended for 

 the most critical and delicate of all surgical per- 

 formances. His poultry-yard sometimes con- 

 tains more than 500 chickens, purchased by him 

 from his own slaves, at a fair market price, after 

 being fed and fattened on his own corn, of which 

 last year he made only 2.'),000 bushels ! 



As, according to all accounts, the table of the 

 Parisian epicure is for nothing more distin- 

 guished than for the excellent quality of the 

 poultry, %nd the art with which it is cooked, 

 (roasted with cresses, not a bad way,) I have 

 snppoeed that you might be inclined to give 

 place to the following description of theFRE.vcH 

 Method of Fattesikg Poultry, as laid down 

 in a late number of the "Journal d' Agriculture 

 Pratique et de Jardinage." Will the reader 

 - (1254) 



who may amuse himself by making the experi- 

 ment, substituting Indian com for barley meal, 

 be good enough to communicate the result to 

 the Farmers' Library ? Small things are not 

 to be despised, for it is of such things, in a great 

 measure, that the world is made up. Besides, 

 we have good authority for asserting the meli- 

 orating influence of emasculation on the flavor 

 of meat ; for you recollect the great inspired 

 Psalmist says it is only "Jf I were hunery I 

 will eat the flesh of bulls, and drink the blood 

 of goals ; " and why not apply the same condi- 

 tion to poultry ? 



FRE^"CH METHOD OF FATTENIXG POULTRY. 



The fowls to be fatted are placed in boxes IJ 

 foot square or more, frequently in second-hand 

 barrels provided with rude wicker-work tops, 

 which are kept covered with mats to exclude 

 the light. The barrels are half filled with clean 

 straw, and wiU each accommodate four fowls ; 

 the straw to be removed from time to time, as 

 cleanliness may require. 



The chickens are to be fed three times a day — 

 at six in the morning, at noon, and at 8 at night 

 — on the following mixture : 5| oz. of barley 

 meal (Indian meal might be as good), and the 

 third of a pint of sweet milk, u-artned. This is 

 the allowance for each fowl ; but as it is essen- 

 tial that the food should be warm, it must be 

 prepared at each feeding. 



To administer this broth to the fowls, a small 

 funnel is requisite. The chicken is taken from 

 the barrel with the left hand, its feet are placed 

 upon a mat and are secured there by the pres- 

 sure of the operator's left foot, which had better 

 be unshod for the purpose ; the head is held 

 firmly in the left hand, the bill held open with 

 the thumb and fore finger, the funnel introduced 

 and the food poured in it with the right hand. 

 This done, return the fowl to another barrel (it 

 is most convenient to have duplicate barrels), in 

 which the straw^ has been renewed. One per- 

 son, accustomed to it, can feed Jift y fowls in an 

 hour. The milk may be substituted by lard and 

 warm water, but the fowls do not look so 

 white. t 



It is better the first day not to give more than 

 a third of a full allowance, the next day half, 

 and the third day a full ration. Some of the 

 larger fowls may require more, but this may 

 readily be ascertained by the crop. 



The time required to fatten a pullet is from 18 

 to 20 days — average 18. In this time she wiU 

 gain in weight, if well fatted, 27 oz. having con- 

 .sumed in barley flour or meal 5 Ib.s. 10 oz., in 

 milk 13 lbs. 6 oz. — in all, 19 lbs. of food. 



The best age at which to fatten pullets is be- 

 tween ten weeks and three months. At six 

 months they are tough. For a capon the best 

 age is six months. A young hen lays the first 

 year about 1.^0 egg.s, the second 120, the third 

 100 — diminishing every year as she grows older 

 and should " go to pot" after the fourth. 



Balls for removi.ng Grease and Paint 

 Spots from Cloth, &;c. — Fuller's earth, 30 

 parts ; French chalk. 1 part ; yellow soap, 20 

 parts; pearl-ash, 15 parts. Make into a paste 

 with spirit of turpentine, and give it a eUght 

 color with a little yellow ochre, then cut it into 

 cakes. 



