FOOD OF POULTRY. 161 



by any new sort. In a word, similar eccentricities of taste 

 appear amongst fowls, with respect to particular sorts of food, 

 as amongst ourselves. It is very certain, at least, that it is not 

 because one sort of grain is larger, heavier, or more plump, 

 than another, that they eat more or less of it, or prefer it to 

 others. It is probable that the grain of which they consume 

 the least furnishes the greater proportion of chyle the fluid 

 which is prepared by digestion, to mix with the blood, for pro- 

 moting the growth and repairing the waste of the body in a 

 word, that which supplies the most nourishment. 



Experiments which will be given elsewhere proved that 

 the sorts of food most easily digested by fowls are those of 

 which they eat the greatest quantity. Of the several kinds of 

 grain already mentioned, they evidently became soonest tired 

 of, and least partial to, rye. 



DIFFERENT SORTS OF FOOD. 



It is a general opinion, that grain when boiled so as to burst 

 is better for fattening poultry than when used in its dry or 

 natural state. The French method is to boil the grain given 

 to fowls intended to be fatted until it is soft enough to be 

 bruised between the fingers. By boiling, the grain is caused 

 to swell till the farina burst the envelope by which it is con- 

 fined. But the opinion alluded to has not probably been 

 grounded on a sufficient number of accurate experiments to 

 give it an established authority. It is important, at any rate, 

 on economical considerations, to discover whether there is any 

 difference of expense in feeding poultry on dry or boiled grain, 

 or, in other words, whether fowls will eat more or less of the 

 one or the other. M. Reaumur's patient endeavors are again 

 valuable on this point. To ascertain this, he caused four pint 

 14* 



