114 POULTRY BREEDING IN 



noticed. All the waste of butchers' shops are obtained 

 at the expense of collecting them ; these are boiled, the 

 fat skimmed off, which, when coagulated, is with the 

 waste finely minced, and mixed with the meal ; after 

 which the waste of the kitchen garden, such as cabbage- 

 stalks, are boiled in the liquid, and mixed with bran, sour 

 poultry food, &c., which is then given to the pigs, who 

 thrive admirably on it. Buckwheat is considered prefer- 

 able to all other grains as a stimulant to laying eggs, and 

 in winter a certain amount is given whole. The chickens, 

 for the first week after being hatched, and in winter for a 

 much longer time, are fed by hand on barley-meal mixed 

 with milk, stale bread soaked in water, and green food 

 finely chopped. 



The Fattening of Poultry 



Whilst the rearing is carried on by farmers, the fatten- 

 ing forms quite a special trade, and chiefly in the hands 

 of cottagers, who purchase the chickens either from farm- 

 ers or in the market ; moreover, it is the exclusive trade 

 of a few villages in each poultry breeding district, such as 

 Goussainville, de Saint Lubin, de la Haye, &c., near 

 Houdan, Villaine, and Boce, near La Fleche au Mans ; 

 also some hamlets near Saint Pierre Dive, Lizieux, Cal- 

 vados. In these localities the system of fattening differs, 

 however ; the one consists of liquid cramming with bar- 

 ley-meal and milk, given by means of a funnel introduced 

 into the throat of the fowl three times a day ; this process 

 is exceedingly expeditious, as one person can easily cram 

 at the rate of sixty fowls per hour, and the fattening lasts 

 from fourteen days to three weeks, according to the dis- 



