THE PREPARATION, ETC., OF FOOD. 87 



an inverted boot-scraper, will be found a useful 

 adjunct, as will the sausage-grinding machine before 

 alluded to. This should be of the largest size ; 

 Kent's make are very good ones. 



A boiler, fuel, and a large-sized tin or bucket, to 

 float in the boiling water in the copper, should also be 

 in or near the same building, boiling up the in- 

 gredients in a vessel floating in boiling water being a 

 better way to prepare custard for the chicks rather 

 than the direct application of heat. Of course, a 

 wooden or iron hut upon the rearing field itself, fitted 

 with a boiler and bed for the keeper, is a convenience, 

 but not always attainable. 



The portable boilers on wheels, which can be 

 moved from field to field as required, would be 

 desirable ; but in all that I have seen the water is too 

 far away from the fire, and consequently too much 

 time is wasted before getting up a " boil." Possibly, 

 however, there may be newer and better sorts of 

 these portable boilers which I have not seen, but 

 which may answer admirably the purpose for which 

 they are required ; in fact, a pictorial representation 

 of one that appeared in the advertisement columns of 

 The Field, May 28, 1887, would be, judging from its 

 appearance in black and white, just the very thing. 



Some years ago we used to use a very old-fashioned 

 affair, an iron boiler swung from a tripod, and heated 

 by a fire of sticks underneath. This primitive gipsy plan 

 was all very well in fine weather, but a shower of rain 



