FATTENING OF FOWLS. 179 



and that will also fat as well ye shall have her fatte about 

 the twentieth daye. Also, in the meane time, if she doe refuse 

 her meate, ye must then diminish or give her lesse so many 

 days as ye have fed her ; the full tyme that ye should fatte her 

 is but twenty-five dayes." (Husbandlie Ordering of Poultrie, 

 c. 27, black letter, 1581.) 



MARKHAM'S MODE OF FATTENING. 



Chickens. " If you will have fat crammed chickens," says 

 Markham, " you shall coope them up when the dame forsaketh 

 them ; and the best crammes for them are wheate-meale and 

 milke, made into dough, and then the crammes steeped in 

 milke, and so thrust down their throats ; but in any case let the 

 crams be small and well wet, for choaking. Fourteen days 

 willfeede a chicken sufficiently." ( Good and cheape Husband- 

 rie, p. 142.) 



BRADLEY'S MODE OF FATTENING. 



Chickens. " To fatten chickens," says Bradley, " the best 

 way and quickly, is to put them into coops as usual, and feed 

 them with barley-meal : but in particular to put a small quan- 

 tity of brick-dust in their water, which they should never be 

 without. This last will give them an appetite for their meat, 

 and fatten them very soon." He thinks the brick-dust acts, as 

 gravel is so universally supposed to do, in bruising the food in 

 the gizzard ; an opinion experimentally investigated in a pre- 

 ceding part of this work. " This receipt," he adds, "I had 

 from Mrs. Whaley, of Loftes, in Essex, a lady of great curi- 

 osity and ingenuity." (Country Gentleman's Director, p. 7.) 



MODERN ENGLISH METHODS OF FATTENING. 



Mr. Wakefield's. In his extensive establishment near Liv- 

 erpool, Mr. Wakefield fattened with steamed or roasted pota- 



. 



