14 INTBODUCTION. 



question- that 4,000 yeajra ago the ancient Egyp- 

 tians crammed their geese, and probably were the 

 originators of the cramming system, as they appear to 

 have been in respect to artificial incubation. The 

 drawing given on page 13 (Mg. 1), copied from one 

 of the tablets in the Pyramid of Sakkara, represents a 

 man engaged in the work of cramming geese by means 

 of patons, or boluses, of food, practically identical with 

 the system adopted in some parts of Erance to-day. 

 Eeferences could be given innumerable proving that 

 this system is by no means new, but we need not dwell 

 on them at any length. It is enough to show that the 

 principle involved is recognised in nearly all branches 

 of animal and plant life, utilised as food for man, and 

 it is, as a matter of fact, as sensible to kill lean poultry 

 as it would be to slaughter lean cattle or sheep. Even 

 those who state their preference for taking a bird out 

 of the farmyard, killing and eating it without any 

 preparation, believe in feeding off cattle, sheep, and 

 pigs, and would never think of selling to the butcher 

 these animals in store condition. We simply ask 

 them, therefore, to apply the same principles to poultry 

 as to larger stock. It will be our object in this work 

 to explain as fully as possible the methods adopted 

 both at home and abroad, in the hope that the know- 

 ledge thus imparted may lead to an extension of the 

 system. 



At the outset it will be well to inquire what are the 

 direct results of fattening fowls, and, as the matter 

 must necessarily be one of £ s. d., how far success can 

 be measured between those who fatten and those who 

 do not adopt this system. Taking the London and 



