THE POULTRY COOK. 
195 
the mincemeat never becomes sour or offensive. The fowls eat it with avidity ; 
they are ever in good condition, and they lay an egg almost daily in all weathers 
and in all seasons. The sheds, offices, and other buildings are built around 
a quadrangle, enclosing about twenty acres — the general feeding ground. This 
latter is subdivided by fences of open paling, so that only a limited number of 
fowls are allowed to herd together; and these are ranged into different apartments, 
according to their age, no bird being allowed to exceed the duration of four 
years of life. At the end of the fourth year they are placed in the fattening-coops 
for about three weeks, fed entirely on crushed grain, and then sent alive to the 
city of Paris. 
As one item alone in this immense business, it may be mentioned that in the 
months of September, October, and November last, M. de Sora sent nearly 1,000 
dozens of capons to the metropolis. He never allo^vs a hen to sit. The breeding- 
rooms are w^armed by steam, and the heat is kept up with remarkable uniformity 
to that evolved by the fowl during the process of incubation, which is knowm to 
then mark higher on the thermometer than at any other period. A series of 
shelves, one above the other, form the nests, while blankets are spread over the 
eggs to exclude any accidental light. The hatched chicks are removed to the 
nursery every morning, and fresh eggs laid in to supply the place of empty shells. 
A constant succession of chickens is thus ensured, and, moreover, the feathers 
are free from vermin. M. de Sora permits the males and females to mingle 
freely at all seasons, and after a fair trial of all the various breeds, has cleared 
his establishment of every Shanghai and Cochin-China, breeding only from the 
old-fashioned barn-yard chanticleers. He contends that the extra size of the 
body and eggs pertaining to these foreign breeds can only be produced and sus- 
tained by extra food, while for capon-raising the flesh is neither so delicate nor 
juicy as that of the native breed. The manure produced in this French esta- 
blishment is no small item, and since it forms the very best fertilizer for many 
descriptions of plants, it is eagerly sought for at very high prices by the market- 
gardeners in the vicinity. The proprietor estimates the 3 ncld of this j’oar at about 
100 cords. [A cord of wood in England is equal to 128 cubic feet.] He employs 
nearly 100 persons in different departments ; three -fourths of whom, however, arc 
females. The sale of eggs during the past winter has averaged about 40,000 
dozen per week, at the rate of six dozen for four francs. 
“ These details are well worthy of our serious attention. That the demand for 
poultry and eggs in this country far exceeds the native supply is evinced by the 
large amount of poultry and foreign eggs annually supplied to us. In 1802, 
235,230,800 eggs were imported. It does indeed seem probable that in certain of 
our localities, where animal food unfit for human consumption can be procured 
at a reasonable rate, we might profitably imitate the great establishments cf 
M. de Sora. Has the effect of giving a considerable portion of fish in the food of 
poultry been ascertained? Why not devote the spoilt meat of London, and other 
populous places, which is now largely condemned as unfit for human food, to a 
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