BOOK VIII. V. 25-vii. 2 



the time when the hens cease to lay, that is, from the 

 13th of November, the more expensive food must be 

 withheld and grape-husks be supplied, which form 

 quite a suitable diet, if refuse from wheat is added 

 from time to time. 



VI. The keeping of eggs over a longer period is also Of eggs. 

 germane to the subject which we are now considei*- 



ing. In winter they are conveniently preserved if 

 you bury them in chaff, in summer if you put them 

 in bran. Some people cover them first for six hours 

 with pounded salt ; next they wash them and then 

 bury them in chaff or bran. Some people cover them 

 with a heap of whole beans, many with a heap of 

 bruised beans ; others bury them in unpounded salt : 

 others harden them in lukewarm brine. But salt in 2 

 any form, although it does not allow the eggs to rot, 

 shrinks them and prevents them from remaining 

 full : and this is a deterrent to the purchaser. Thus 

 even those who plunge the eggs in brine do not com- 

 pletely preserve their original condition. 



VII. Although it is the business of the poulterer On fattening 

 rather than of the farmer to fatten hens, yet, since it *"*' 



is not a difficult task, I thought that I ought to give 

 directions on the subject. A spot is required for this 

 purpose which is very warm and has very little light, 

 where the birds may be hung, shut up each separately 

 in rather narrow coops or plaited cages and confined 

 in so close a space that they cannot turn round. 

 They should, however, have holes on either side, one 2 

 through which they can put out their head and the 

 other through which they can put out their tail and 

 hind-quarters, so that they may be able both to take 

 their food and also get rid of it when it has been 

 digested and so may not be befouled with dung. 



357 



