184 THE POULTRY-BOOK. 



which does not avail anything in the process of fattening. 

 They should be fed regularly, with suitable food, and that 

 properly prepared, and as much should be given them as they 

 are able to convert into flesh and fat, without waste. It should 

 be remembered, as was stated in the early part of this chapter, 

 that in the animal economy the accumulation of fat Rid extra 

 flesh is only a deposit of superfluous nutrimen*, which, not 

 being required by the system at one time, is laid by for future 

 emergencies ; and it must be obvious that the larger the quan- 

 tity of food which a fattening animal can be made to consume 

 daily, with a good appetite, or to digest thoroughly, the greater 

 will be the amount of flesh and fat gained in proportion to the 

 whole quantity of food consumed. 



Fowls will not thrive with any amount of food where they 

 are uneasy and discontented, even if they were so closely con- 

 fined that they cannot wear off their flesh by exercise ; it is, 

 therefore, important that they should be fed regularly, and thai 

 there should be nothing to disturb them, or excite fear or dis- 

 content. 



The following hints on this subject, from that valuable agri- 

 cultural journal, the Albany Cultivator, will be found of 

 interest : 



" Substances in which the nutriment is much concentrated 

 should be fed with care. There is danger, especially when the 

 animal is first put to feed, that more may be eaten at once than 

 the digestive organs can manage. Meal of Indian corn is highly 

 nutritive, and when properly fed causes fowls to fatten faster 

 than almost any other food. They will not, however, bear to 

 be exclusively kept on this article for a great length of time. 

 Meal mads from the heaviest varieties of corn, especially that 

 made from the hard flinty kinds grown in the northern and 

 eastern States, is quite too strong food for fowls to be full-fed 

 upon." 



