November, 1905 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



3 2 5 



Their food, which is placed in feeding 

 cups in the center of the cages, is not lack- 

 ing in variety. Now it consists of hard- 

 boiled eggs chopped fine (yolk, white and 

 shell together) with stale bread soaked in 

 milk, now of barley or maize flour with 

 chicory, again of grubs, flies or other small 

 insects, raw meat or boiled rice. Occa- 

 sionally they receive a dessert of pot cheese, 

 of which they are very fond. 



Artificial incubation is equally successful 

 with ducks, which, of all domestic animals, 

 are soonest able to take care of themselves. 

 Geese, on the other hand, are seldom 

 hatched artificially in France. Goslings, 

 like ducklings, appear after twenty-eight or 

 thirty days of incubation, and as they are 

 able to go afield at once they have no need 

 of brooders. Turkeys and guinea fowls 

 are far more difficult to raise. They hatch 

 perfectly in incubators, but become suscep- 

 tible to disease after what is called " the red 

 crisis" ("la crise rouge"). Then they 

 are put on a stimulating diet, with wine or 

 cider instead of water. Some French poultry farmers devote 

 themselves especially to the sale of eggs for hatching chicks 

 or specimens of pure breeds. In this case the fowls must be 

 carefully kept in separate pens. 



Without reviewing all the breeds to be found on French 

 poultry farms I will describe a few of them briefly. The 

 Crevecoeur, a breed of Norman origin, is very common in 

 the west of France. The cock is a splendid creature of pure 

 black plumage, with bluish or greenish metallic luster. The 

 chickens are very precocious and can be fattened for the 

 table in two weeks. Pullets five or six months old weigh 

 six or seven pounds each and their flesh is the finest delicacy 

 of the French markets. 



The Houdan, a cross between the Crevecoeur and the 

 Dorking, is a hardy breed of remarkable precocity and 

 fecundity. 



The La Fleche resembles the Breda in its majestic car- 



Turkeys and Guinea Fowls 



riage. A variety of it which grows and fattens rapidly is 

 sold in the Paris market under the name of Mans pullets. 



The Mans poultry farmers highly prize the crested Dutch 

 hen, a good layer though a poor setter, and the black Lang- 

 shan, which is a good winter layer and also an excellent 

 mother. 



I pass over the choice and carefully bred English game, 

 the Cochin China, of inferior flesh, the Black Spanish, intro- 

 duced long ago into England, but still little known in France, 

 and the choice fancy breed called the Silver Bantam, and pro- 

 ceed to consider breeds of ducks and geese. 



The Ailesbury duck is a serious competitor of our Rouen 

 duck, from which it differs only in color. Its plumage is 

 pure white, its bill a beautiful rose-pink and its flesh delicate 

 and of good flavor. The Ailesbury sometimes attains a 

 weight of ten pounds, while the Labrador duck, which has 

 a short, olive-green bill and glossy black plumage, with 



An Incubator Room in a French Establishment. The Walls are Studded with Prizes for 

 Exhibits of Fowls and Pate de Foies Gras, Won at Fairs 



Feeding by Hand with Soft Food, after 

 which the Fowl is Given a Drink 



