A COMMERCIAL POINT OF VIEW. Ill 



keys hatching at the same time ; here, also, we witnessed 

 the rearing and fattening, wliich will be alluded to here- 

 after. In another place, — that of Mr. Auchi^, of Gambais, 

 a hatcher by trade, — we observed sixty turkeys hatching 

 at tlie same time ; and we were informed that, during 

 winter and early spring, he had sometimes upwards of 

 one hundred hatching at the same time, and that each 

 turkey continued hatching for at least three months. At 

 the farm of Mr. Louis Mary, at St. Julien de Faucon, 

 near Lizieux, in Calvados, I saw a turkey that was then 

 sitting, and had been so upwards of six months ; and as I 

 considered it rather cruel, the hatcher, to prove the con- 

 trary, took her off the nest, and put her in the meadow, 

 and also removed the eggs ; the turkey, however, to my 

 surprise, returned immediately to her nest, and called in 

 a most plaintive voice for her eggs ; then some eggs were 

 placed in a corner of the box, which she instantly drew 

 under her with her beak, and seemed quite delighted. 

 Moreover, I was informed that it was of great economical 

 advantage to employ turkeys to hatch, as they eat very 

 little, and get very fat in their state of confinement, and 

 therefore fit for the market any day. 



3. The Rjearing of Poultry. 



It seems strange that although in all countries the great 

 difficulty of poultry breeding is the successful rearing, 

 that no adequate means have ever been devised to coun- 

 teract the influence of climates. In France, like here, a 

 cold or wet spring is equivalent to a great loss in poultry, 

 and it seems to be admitted everywhere that cold and wet 



