186 POULTKY REAKING AND FATTENING IN SUSSEX. [Dec. 1894. 



XL— POULTRY REARING AND FATTENING IN 

 SUSSEX. 



An interesting report en the poultry industry of the Heath- 

 field district of Sussex has been presented to the Royal 

 Commission on Agriculture by Mr. R. H. Rew, Assistant 

 Commissioner. 



The Heathfield district of Sussex is well wooded and hilly, 

 with deep valleys between the hills, while the land is naturally 

 light and sandy. It is suggested that these physical charac- 

 teristics, the sandy soil and the sheltered hollows, may have 

 favoured the rearing of early chickens, and thus conduced to 

 the establishment of the industry for which the district has 

 gained some reputation. Long before the introduction of 

 railways, the rearing and fattening of poultry in this neighbour- 

 hood was carried on to such an extent as to maintain a 

 regular service of four-horse waggons running two or three 

 times a week to carry the dead poultry to London. The 

 development of the trade appears to have been progressive. 

 Ten years ago the consignments of dead poultry from Heathfield 

 station were of the estimated value of 60,000Z. per annum, as 

 compared with a despatch to-day representing an annual value 

 of about 140,000^. The increasing output of poultry in recent 

 years is attributed partly to the circumstance that farmers have 

 gone in for it because other things don't pay," and partly to 

 the arrival within the last seven years of considerable numbers 

 of live fowls from Ireland for fattening in the district. 



The rearing and the fattening of the chickens are, it appears, 

 two absolutely distinct branches. Usually the chickens are 

 reared by one man and fattened by another. Rearing is carried 

 on to some extent by almost every one in the district, from the 

 large farmer to the cottager. The " fatters " or " higglers " 

 collect cliickens two or three times a week from the farms and 

 cottages. They usually call on each customer about once a 

 fortnight and purchase, at the market price of the day, all the 

 chickens which are sufficiently forward for their purpose. 



It seems that little or no attempt is made to keep a pure 

 breed of fowls in the district. Most of the birds are cross-bred, 

 though the original strain was probably the Dorking. Some 

 1 earers keep Brahma-Dorkings. The old Sussex fowl, the high 

 qualities of which as a table bird are alleged to have gained for 

 Sussex its reputation for good chickens in the London market, 

 is dying out. Recently, however, more attention has been 

 devoted to the maintenance of a good class of fowls ; and the 

 cottagers are said to show considerable keenness when investing 

 in a " rooster " suitable to maintain their stock, and to guard 

 against the evil of in-breeding, A cottager with a dozen hens 



