166 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 17, 1882. 
puts them on his knees, and by the light of a lamp begins by 
making them swallow a spoonful of water or whey—some do 
not give them anything to drink—then he puts a ball of meal into 
the mouth of each chicken by turn, and to aid its passage into the 
crop slides his thumb and two first fingers gently down from the 
neck to the crop, and so prevents its rejection. 
“ By thus attending to three chickens at once they give them 
time enough for digestion, and the birds are taken in proper and 
regular order. During the early days of cramming they think it 
enough to fill partially the crop of each chicken, but by degrees 
they increase the quantity of balls till they give them twelve or 
even fifteen at each feed. They must be dipped in water before 
they are administered to help them down the throat. There is 
no fixed duration for the process of fattening, it depends upon 
the disposition of the bird and its strength. Some chickens 
cannot be raised to perfection without danger of accidents; the 
experienced feeder knows the moment when to stop. No one 
can entirely escape losses ; they say that in spite of knowledge 
and pains there is such a thing as good and bad luck, seasons 
more or less favourable, the causes of which cannot be explained. 
Those who have for many years successfully carried on the 
process in one place experience heavy losses in another, though 
they pursue the same method, from being unable to bring their 
chickens to perfection. Some fowls are quite fat at the end of 
six weeks, others at two months. Sometimes if a bird still seems 
to take its food with avidity they continue to administer it as 
long as possible, and so attain marvels of weight. They calculate 
that some chickens consume gallons of meal, some as much 
as 3f.” 
The author proceeds to say that during this process no litter 
is placed under them and their pens are never cleaned, and that 
though the odours consequent on this are necessary (!) for the 
fattening process they are often baneful to the fatteners, who 
spend all their days and parts of the night in the places, the first 
meal beginning at 4 A.M., and barely terminating at noon ; the 
second beginning towards 3 P.M., and finishing towards 11. We 
should strongly object to this state of dirt, equally for the fowls 
and their breeders; however, as “ the proof of the pudding is 
in the eating,” so we suppose must the proof of the fowl be. 
' He continues, “ To conclude, when the feeder takes his chickens 
from the coop, he himself performs the work of bleeding and 
plucking them, and before they are cold presses them on their 
back on a flat board, and shapes them in the desired fashion by 
means of pieces of wood or stone to keep them in place; he 
then puts entirely over each a little damp linen cloth to refine 
the fat.” To sum up, the principal points to be observed in 
fattening are— 
“ 1. The finest young cocks and pullets of the year must be 
chosen, showing all the above-named good qualities. 
“ 2. They must not be caponised, as is the common practice in 
some places. 
“ 3. A dark place must be got ready where the air changes as 
little as possible, and where the chickens can be confined in their 
coop without being too much cramped. 
“ 4. The coops must not be cleaned during the whole time of 
fattening. 
“ 5. The chickens must be accustomed to forcible feeding for 
from eight to ten days before the regular system is begun. 
“ 6. They must be carefully and quickly made to swallow the 
balls of food. 
“ 7. They must have two feeds at regular times in the twenty- 
four hours. 
“ 8. Tbey must not be made to take a fixed number of balls, all 
alike ; it must depend upon an examination of their crops, which 
during the early days should be partially filled, and later on quite 
filled, but never gorged. 
“ 9. The food described must be their sole diet, without any 
change, save as to the proportion of the ingredients, which may 
be varied according to circumstances. 
“ 10. Discernment is necessary as to the time when fattening is 
finished, and watchfulness as to birds which require to be re¬ 
moved before they go off or die. If all these points are carefully 
observed the result must be good.” 
Such is one of the French methods of artificial fattening. We 
will endeavour soon to give the other method—viz., that of 
funnel-feeding.—C. 
HERTFORD POULTRY SHOW. 
The first Exhibition of poultry and Pigeons and dogs took place 
at Hertford on Wednesday and Thursday, August 9th and 10th, and 
was a decided success in every way, the arrangements were perfect 
and the weather fine. There was a most excellent Committee, all 
worked harmoniously, and the attendance was large. The Kennel 
Club and Poultry Club rules were in force. The Judges for Dogs 
were Edgar Hanbury, Esq., Rev. G. L. Hodson, Harry Jones, Esq., 
C. S. Lindsett, Esq., F. Redmond, Esq., J. H. Salter, Esq. The Judges 
for poultry were Messrs. T. Coke, Burnell, and M. Leno, Esqs. For 
Pigeons F. Esquilant, Esq., who was assisted by Major-General 
Hassard, C.B. We were glad to see this old and well-known fancier 
before the public again. 
There were 686 entries for the dog show, and 777 for poultry 
and Pigeons. The pieces of plate for the prizes were in good taste, 
and the cards to be sent to each noticed exhibitor well prepared. 
Messrs. Durrant and Mather were Secretaries for the Dog Show, 
and Messrs. Breeze and Brett for poultry, and Mr. Billett pro¬ 
vided the necessary poultry and Pigeon pens. The dogs were ex¬ 
ceedingly good, and fox terriers formed a very large class. Space 
will not allow our going into particulars of each class. The poultry 
and Pigeons were very superior. We particularly noticed a white 
Cochin cock shown by Mr. Darby, the grandest White we have seen. 
There were some very good Blacks, and the Buffs were excellent. 
In the Poland classes Mr. Beldon’s second prize delighted us, as a 
Chamois Poland is a thing of the past, and we are glad to see it is 
not quite lost, the crest of the cock was quite equal to the drawings 
in the poultry books. 
Messrs. Fowler showed Ducks well as usual. When we say Messrs. 
Fulton and Hammock were among the Pigeon exhibitors nothing 
more need be said as to the quality. Mr. Fulton winning the cup for 
best bird in Show, except in Classes 70 and 71, which was won by 
Mr. A. Allen. The county of Hertford has had such an auspicious 
beginning, we hope the Show will be continued annually. 
The Warwick Show Fraud. —The sentences passed in this case, 
the particulars of which we gave last week, were as follows :— 
Groutage fifteen months imprisonment, and Cockerill four months 
imprisonment. The Judge intimated his readiness to make an order 
for the restitution of the proceeds of the fraud to the rightful owners. 
Staffordshire Agricultural Society. —We would call the 
attention of our readers to the postponement of the date of the 
poultry Show to be held at Lichfield in connection with the Exhi¬ 
bition of the Staffordshire Agricultural Society on September 26th 
and 27th, instead of the 12th and 13th of that month as previously 
arranged. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Fowl’s Tail Crooked (F. G.). — The condition of your bird indicates 
that it is suffering from spinal curvature which causes the tail to be carried 
constantly on one side. It frequently arises from over-growth when young, 
caused usually by too high feeding and too much confinement. Nourishing 
but not animal food, a good run, and abundance of green food, are in such 
cases the best preventives. It is sometimes also the result of too much in- 
breeding or inherited. Such birds should be killed. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40' N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
date. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
1882. 
c3__, 
S 4-J JJ > 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
P . 
C T3 
£ fl 
O'* 
So 
o . 
s 'cS 
a) xi ^ 
Ch 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
August. 
$ ® 
P3 3 S3 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass. 
Sun. 6 
Mon. 7 
Tues. 8 
Wed. 9 
Thurs. 10 
Friday 11 
Satur. 12 
Inches. 
30.183 
30.173 
30.214 
30.245 
30.287 
30.22(1 
30.012 
deg. 
62.6 
65.2 
61.4 
57.4 
569 
62.7 
65.3 
deg. 
57.2 
58.4 
50.6 
52.9 
55.3 
57.7 
61.7 
N. 
N.W. 
N. 
N.E. 
N.E. 
E. 
E. 
deg. 
61.6 
63.0 
62.8 
62 2 
62.2 
61.6 
61.3 
deg 
80.8 
72.9 
72.8 
73.4 
65.7 
71.5 
80.4 
det?. 
50.9 
57.3 
53.8 
48.0 
54.4 
oG.'i 
51.2 
deg 
123.3 
122.1 
127.0 
117.5 
82.0 
1 4.4 
115.6 
dee. 
4!.2 
52.8 
48 2 
42.4 
50.7 
55.8 
41.4 
30.191 
61.6 
57.1 
62.1 
73.9 
53.1 
113.8 
48.6 
REMARKS. 
6th.—Fine, bright, hot day ; bright starlight night. 
7th.—Cloudy first part of day, afterwards fine and warm ; cloudy evening. 
8th.—Very dull at first, afterwards fine and bright; evening starlight and cool. 
9th.—Cloudy morning, afterwards fine and bright; warm misty evening. 
10th.—Dull and overcast throughout, very slight rain after 9 p.M. 
11th.—Generally cloudy, but bright in the latter part of the day ; many shoot¬ 
ing stars at night. 
12th.—Fog in early morning, fine, hot, but rather oppressive day ; lightning 
and a slight shower in late evening. 
Temperature about the average, and a little below that of the preceding week. 
The barometer continued high, and, as is frequently the case with a high 
barometer, the weather was inclined to be cloudy and dull, though no measurable 
quantity of rain fell.—G. J. SYMONS. 
