66 POULTRY FATTENING. 



be made in a later chapter, buys scraps from pork 

 butchers at Blackpool, for which he pays a penny a 

 pound, and these he boils down, giving him a cheap 

 and good supply of pure fat. Similar arrangements 

 could be made in the neighbourhood of other large 

 towns and watering-places. Where dairying is carried 

 on to a large extent there is usually a plentiful supply 

 of skim milk, and it is sometimes difficult to dispose 

 of the surplus. In fact the manager of a large dairy 

 in the North of England told me that he could dispose 

 of a much greater quantity of fresh cream than at 

 present if they could find an outlet for the separated 

 milk. Under these conditions a fattening establish- 

 ment would be of great service, as skim milk which 

 has soured is just as good if a somewhat greater 

 amount of fat is added to the meal and milk mixture. 

 During warm weather some fatteners use boiled nettles 

 mixed with the food, as they aver that this weed has 

 the effect of keeping the blood cool. 



The system of cramming is universally adopted in 

 Sussex. As a nlle the birds are first fed from troughs 

 fitted in front of the pens, as shown in the previous 

 chapter, and this is done for about a week or ten days, 

 after which, when the appetite begins to fail some- 

 what, they are crammed by means of a machine. 

 The old type of Sussex crammer was a very cumber- 

 some affair, similar to a sausage machine, and requiring 

 two men to work. It is illustrated in the chapter on 

 fattening in my work " Poultry Keeping as an Industry 

 for Farmers and Cottagers." With this machine very 

 good work was done, but it was cumbersome, and 

 Messrs. Neve Bros,, of Heathfield, some time ago 



