118 POULTRY FATTENING. 



eating, they rapidly dispose of the food, to the mani- 

 fest advantage of both themselves and their owner. 

 Under such treatment it is not to be wondered at that 

 they turn out juicy and plump, and are rapidly ready 

 for market. The chief demand is from Manchester 

 during the spring, and Blackpool in the summer, that 

 favourite watering-place being able to absorb almost 

 anything in the way of food. 



All the birds fatted at Bourne Hall are killed on the 

 spot, and so rapid is the process that they can be 

 killed at noon, plucked and packed, and arrive in 

 Manchester, fifty miles away, at nine o'clock the same 

 evening. The cost of carriage to Manchester is by no 

 means so great as might be imagined, namely, one 

 penny per bird, the Eailway Company providing 

 hampers. "Whether there are special circumstances 

 bringing this low rate about or not we cannot say, but 

 it is evident that the Eailway Company are desirous of 

 encouraging the traffic. Prom what we were informed 

 by Mr. Walsh, he has met with no special difficulties 

 other than those incident from every business, and he 

 is satisfied with what he has already accomplished. 



Eecently an account was published in the ' ' Country 

 Gentleman," of Albany, N.Y., of a place in Penn- 

 sylvania, U.S.A., where 12,000 ducks are produced 

 annually. Here the eggs are hatched in incubators, 

 which are set in operation as soon as there is a com- 

 plement of eggs to fill a machine. On a well-managed 

 duck farm the ducklings should begin to peep about 

 the 1st of February, and the incubators are kept run- 

 ning until about the 1st of July. The ducks are 

 reared under artificial brooders in their houses and in 



