j 
• THE 
Agriculture is the most healthful, the most useful, and the most 
noble employment of Man.— Washington. 
VOL. II. NEW YORK, DECEMBER, 1843. NO-XL 
A. B. Allen, Editor. 
FATTENING POULTRY. 
As Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, 
are fast approaching, when the demand for poultry 
is at its greatest height, and the quality of it is 
more curiously considered than at other seasons 
of the year, in order to obtain something choice 
for the festive days, we have thought a few words 
upon the fattening and preparation of it for market 
might now very appropriately be given, and per¬ 
haps interest our readers more than at another time. 
The fowls being in good condition a fortnight to 
one month previous to the time they are wanted 
for killing, shut them up in a roomy, dry, well- 
ventilated, and warm building, with either a 
ground, stone, or plank floor, as is most convenient. 
This should be cleaned every day, and straw sev¬ 
eral inches thick spread over a part of it, espe¬ 
cially where geese and ducks are shut up, for the 
purpose of giving them good beds to sit in. As 
often as the litter gets soiled, remove it, and put 
clean straw in its place. A constant supply of 
food and water should now be kept before them, 
allowing the fowls to eat and drink as often and 
as much as they please. Gravel is indispensable 
for their health, and charcoal, together with a lit¬ 
tle lime or ground bones, is beneficial. Fowls 
fat better when they can get at their food as often 
Saxton & Miles, Publishers, 205 Broadway. 
as they please, and are not so apt to gorge them¬ 
selves and become surfeited. 
For feed we prefer corn mostly; a little wheat, 
rye, or barley, is also very well as a change; oats 
have rather too much husk about them. In addi¬ 
tion to these, boiled potatoes, sweet apples, pump¬ 
kins, and sugar beet, are excellent food, especially 
when mixed with a due proportion of mush or 
hasty pudding. Where sweet potatoes abound, 
they are an excellent substitute for the last. 
To the above, add daily a little lean meat, that 
which is cooked is preferred; and the last week 
of their fattening, for a finishing process, rice boil¬ 
ed in milk and sweetened with molasses, is very 
excellent. This may be called an expensive 
method; but our readers may be assured that the 
fowls will be enough better to pay for it Meat 
derives much of its taste from the kind and quality 
of food that the animals consume; hence gross, 
fatty substances, fish, or anything that is disagree¬ 
able to the taste should be avoided in the food 
given to fowls during the fattening process, as 
these invariably impart more or less of their disa¬ 
greeable flavor to the flesh of the poultry fed upon 
them. It is well known that the celebrated can- 
vass-back duck derives its delicacy of taste from 
feeding on the bulbous roots of a peculiar grass 
