80 POULTBT FATTENING. 



acknowledge that milk or whey is better. In one case 

 I found that boiled potatoes are mixed with the food, 

 and from the nature of that tuber its addition must be 

 of great service. In some parts of Prance fat is added 

 to the mixture, and in others not. It is customary 

 when the older birds are to be fattened to divide them 

 in accordance with their sex and kind. 



Capons, cockerels, and pullets are placed into re- 

 spective pens, as there is less danger of interference 

 one with the other when this is done. Sometimes a 

 fourth class is made, namely,, whether the puUets have 

 laid or not. In the case of ordinary cockerels or 

 pullets, three weeks is suf&cient time for fattening; 

 but if capons or poulardes, they may be kept in the 

 cages a couple of months. 



First : Feeding upon flesh-forming foods under ordi- 

 jiary conditions. — This plan can never produce the 

 best, qualities of table poultry, as there is so much loss 

 by exercise, and the birds are not under those, con- 

 ditions to induce rapid flesh formation. As a rule, 

 this system is only adopted by those who soil tp 

 dealers, whose business it is to finish the birds off. 



Second : Cramming by boluses of food, or patons. — 

 This is practically the same method as, adopted by the 

 ancient Egyptians, four thousand years ago, as shown 

 in Pig. 1, and it is probably the most general to-day. 

 The food is made into a paste with sufficient consis- 

 tency for it to hold together. There are two ways in 

 which feeding takes place. In the one, a sufficient 

 number of the patons, or boluses, each about the size 

 of a little finger, are prepared, and the operator takes 

 hold of the bird's head, either in the pen or out of it — • 



