CHOICE OF FOWLS PLANS. 67 



alluded to might be on other important subjects, they 

 appear by this award, to have shown little information 

 in chickenology. 



In the choice of FULL-SIZED fowls for feeding, 

 the short-legged and early-hatched always deserve 

 a preference. The green linnet is an excellent mo- 

 del of form for the domestic fowl, and the true 

 Dorking breed approaches the nearest to such mo- 

 del. In course, the smaller breeds and the game 

 are the most delicate and soonest ripe. The London 

 chicken butchers, as they are termed, or poulterers, 

 are said to be of all others the most dexterous and 

 expeditious feeders, putting up a coop of fowls, and 

 making them thoroughly fat within the space of a 

 fortnight : using much grease, and that perhaps not 

 of the most delicate kind, in the food. In this way, 

 I have no boasts to make, having always found it 

 necessary to allow a considerable number of weeks 

 for the purpose of making fowls fat in coops. In 

 the common way, this business is often badly ma- 

 naged, fowls being huddled together in a small coop, 

 tearing each other to pieces, instead of enjoying that 

 repose which alone can ensure the wished for object ; 

 irregularly fed and cleaned, until they are so stenched 

 and poisoned in their own excrement, that their flesh 

 actually smells and tastes of it when smoking upon the 

 table. 



All practical and practicable plans have their pe- 

 culiar advantages ; among others that of leaving 



poultry to FORAGE AND SHIFT FOR THEMSELVES ; but 



where a steady and regular profit is required from 

 them, the best method, whether for domestic use or 



