THE POULTRY BOOK, 
199 
the following manner : — Some addled eggs are emptied, then filled with plaster of 
Paris, then placed into a nest ; after which a turkey is fetched from the yard and 
placed on the eggs, and covered over with lattice. For the first forty-eight hours 
she will endeavour to get out of her confinement, but soon becomes reconciled to 
it, when fresh eggs are substituted for those of plaster of Paris : the hens will 
continue to hatch, without intermission, from three to six months, and even longer ; 
the chickens being withdrawn as ^oon as hatched, and fresh eggs substituted. 
After the third day the eggs are examined, and the clear eggs withdrawn, — which 
are then sold in the market for new-laid ; but, as they may be soiled or discoloured 
from having been sat upon, they clean them with water and silver-sand to restore 
their original whiteness. 
The turkeys are taken off their nest once a day to feed and to remove their 
excrements from the nest ; but after a while they cease self-feeding, when it is 
necessary to cram them, and give them some water once a day. 
“ In some parts of France, where poultry-breeding is carried on as a trade, they 
seldom allow a hen to lead the chickens after being hatched, as the hen is more 
valuable for laying eggs ; but they entrust this office either to capons or turkeys, 
who are said to be far better protectors to the chickens than hens. They require, 
however, a certain amount of schooling preparatory to being entrusted with their 
charge, which consists in this : When a turkey has been hatching for some 
months and shows a disposition to leave off, a glassful of wine is given her in the 
evening, and a number of chickens are substituted for the eggs ; on waking in the 
morning she kindly takes to them, and leads them about, strutting amidst a troop 
of seventy to one hundred chickens with a dignity of a drum-major. When, how- 
ever, a troop leader is required that has not been hatching, such as a capon or a 
turkey, then it is usual to pluck some of their feathers from the breasts, and to give 
them a glass of wine, and whilst in a state of inebriation to place some chickens 
under them ; on getting sober the next morning they feel that some sudden change 
has come over them, and as the denuded part is kept warm by the chickens they 
take also kindly to them. 
‘‘ In conclusion, I feel in justice bound to say, that these artificial living pro- 
tectors are most efficient to shelter chickens in the day-time ; and in the evening 
they are placed with their charge in a shallow box filled with hay, from which 
they do not move till the door of the room is opened next morning. I must not 
omit to mention that the chickens are not entrusted to the mother or a leader 
before they are a week old, and then only in fine weather.” 
The importance of poultry-keeping as a branch of rural economy in France did 
not need the absurd exaggeration of the De Sora hoax to call attention to the 
subject. In this country we have, perhaps, been too much in the habit of looking 
at poultry from a fancy point of view. If we set aside the awards in our Dorking 
classes, the prizes at the various poultry-shows have always been bestowed in 
accordance with the value of the fowls as ornamental, rather than as profitable 
