97 



I HOLD all artificial fattening and cramming of 

 fowls to be an utter abomination, unless at the 

 hands of the regular poultry salesman, who buys 

 up country birds, and treats them on a system. 



In an amateur establishment, poultry should 

 always be fat, and fit for table, the difiBculty 

 being to prevent them becoming too much so. 

 It may not be amiss, however, to shut up fowls, 

 and especially ducks, for a short time, and restrict 

 them in diet to rice and milk or porridge. 



The Brahma, crossed with the Dorking, makes 

 certainly the earliest spring chickens : the white 

 leg and fuU straight breast will generally appear. 



The Sussex breed is large, and a cross between 

 it and the Dorking will give increased bone to 

 the progeny ; but the chickens are not so early 

 as those of the above-named cross, and I do not 

 think the shape or flesh improved by it. 



