THE GENESEE FARMER. 



A MAC111NE USED IN FRANCE FOR STUFFING FOWLS. 



A MACHINE FOR FATTENING FOWLS. 



It would be a great step gained if all fowls 

 brought to market were to a certain degree fat- 

 tened. Although the art of fattening has in some 

 countries been carried to a great extent, most of 

 the fowls brought to market are in a sadly meagre 

 state, notwithstanding the fat ones are more profit- 

 able, to those who raise them as well as to those 

 who consume them ; for although a higher price is 

 paid, there is still a larger gain in the quantity and 

 excellence of the flesh. 



It is a well known fact that fowls can digest 

 more food than they can eat. The old system of 

 cramming turkeys for " Thanksgiving" was a most 

 happy application of this principle. The process, 

 though so pleasant in its results, is a very tedious 

 one, and requires some skill in the operator. Of 

 course, farmers have no time for this; it should be 

 the occupation of a separate class, as it is in many 

 parts of Europe. 



The apparatus of which we give an engraving 

 facilitates this operation immensely. It is nothing 

 new. M. Gatot, from whose article in the Journal 

 (P Agriculture Pratigue this sketch is taken, says 

 that he saw it in 1837 in successful operation. It 

 explains itself. The operator sits by the machine, 



in which is placed the food, holding the fowl in hi q 

 hands, and with his foot works a treadle which 

 forces the corn through a tube into the bill of the 

 bird. When he finds by pressing the crop that it 

 is full, he hands the fowl to an assistant, who 

 places it in a small box, if not to laugh at least to 

 grow fat. It seems an invention worthy of our 

 Yankee genius, and ought to rank with the cow- 

 milker now so famous at the London Exhibition. 



In the same article there is an account of a 

 moveable hen house, so that the chickens can be 

 taken to any part of a farm where injects abound, 

 and there allowed to go at large. They will, of 

 course, return to roost at night, and can be taken 

 to the vicinity of the house, if that precaution is 

 necessary against thieves of any kind. Chickens 

 will not scratch if they can find enough to eat 

 without, and by not allowing them to stay long in 

 one place there will be enough food for them in the 

 insects which every farmer would be glad to be rid 

 of from his fields of grain. A gentleman who has 

 tried this experiment says that it has proved most 

 successful ; the fields in which the chickens had 

 been bore better crops, the eggs were larger, and 

 the flesh of the fowls themselves was much im- 

 proved in flavor. This method has certainly the 

 merit of being economical, both of food and labor. 



