HUSBAND.R Y. 
52.1 
'brought tip In this way did not thrive upon the food I 
gave them, and many of them died, till I thought of 
getting coarle barley-meal, and {teaming it till quite foft: 
the boy feeds them with this and minced potatoes alter¬ 
nately; he is alfo employed rolling up pellets of dough, 
made of coarfe wheat-flour, which he throws to the 
chickens to excite them to eat, thereby caufing them to 
grow furprifingiy. I was making thel'e experiments in 
the fummer of 1806, for about two months; and during 
that time my hens produced me upwards of five hundred 
chickens, four hundred of which I reared fit for the table 
or market. I ufed a great many made into pies for the 
family, and found them cheaper than butchers’ meat. 
Were I fltuated in the neighbourhood of London, or any 
populous place, I am confident I could make an immenfe 
profit, by rearing different kinds of poultry in the above 
method for the markets, and felling them on an average 
at the price of butchers’ meat. Any perfon might bring 
up in a leafon fome tlioufands ; and with but little trouble. 
Hens kept as mine are, and having the fame conveniences, 
will readily fet four times in a leafon ; and, by fetting 
twice each time, they would produce, at the loweft calcu¬ 
lation, eighty chickens each, which would foon make 
them very plentiful. 
The molt convenient fize of an artificial mother for 
forty or fifty young chickens, is about fifteen inches 
long, ten deep, four high in front, and two at the back ; 
it is placed in a long wicker cage againft a warm wall, 
the heat at about eighty degrees of Fahrenheit’s thermo¬ 
meter, till the chickens are a few days old, and ufed to 
the comfort of it, after which time they run under when 
they want reft, and acquire warmth by crowding together. 
I find it advifeable to have two or three chickens among 
them of about a week old, to teach them to peck and eat. 
The meat and water are given them in fmall troughs fixed 
to the outfide of the cage, and a little is ftrewed along 
from the artificial mother, as a train to the main depolit. 
The whole of this apparatus is correftly delineated in the 
Hulbandry Plate III. Fig. 6, reprefents the wicker balket, 
four feet long, two feet broad, and fourteen inches high, 
with a lid to open, and a wooden Aiding bottom fimilar 
to a bird-cage: a fmall artificial mother is Ihown placed 
within it. 
Fig. 7. Another view of the artificial mother, but with¬ 
out the curtain, in order to Ihow its Hoping direftion, 
and interior lining of woolly Iheep-lkin, as above de- 
fc rib ed. 
Fig. 8. The apparatus called the artificial mother, com¬ 
plete, with a curtain of green baize in front and ends, 
and holes bored through the top to allow the circulation 
of air. 
For the above invention, Mrs. D'Oyley was voted the 
■filver medal by the Society of Arts and Manufactures, See. 
in 1807.—We will not fay whether Mrs. D’Oyley ever 
met with the ancient Egyptian method of hatching eggs 
by artificial means, and railing valt numbers of chickens; 
but certainly her procefs, though incubated under hens, 
as nature intended, inffead of the chickens being pro¬ 
duced in heated ovens, yields numbers that would almolt 
vie with the art that has been fo much celebrated and ad¬ 
mired. See the article Egg, vol. vi. p. 285. 
Of GRAZING and FATTENING CATTLE. 
This branch of the hufbandry-bulinefs is perhaps the 
moll interefting, and at the fame time the molt difficult, 
of any that calls for the (kill and judgment of the farmer. 
Indeed his fuccefs muff depend entirely on the extent of 
liis experience, and his knowledge of the nature of the 
different breeds of cattle in their tendency to fatten, on 
what parts they chiefly lay their fat, and whether marbly 
or not; a perfection that every butcher is lure to prefer. 
He has alfo to contemplate the quantity and richnefs of 
his paltures, if for hummer-fattening; and the refources 
he might have for a plentiful Hock of dry food, if his plan 
is for Itall-feedjng. It is from this (kilful knowledge and 
Von. X. No. 681. 
judicious management of the Britifh graziers alone, that 
the “Roast Beef of Old England” has for ages pait 
maintained the fuperiority over that of all other nations ; 
and we lincerely hope and trull it will long continue fo 
to do. 
From what has been obfefved, it becomes evident that 
the flocking of grazingjlands with a promiling kind of 
cattle, is probably one of the moil precarious points the 
farmer has to contend with. In the natural date, fuchani- 
mals are in general produced on the lands as are fuited 
to the Hate and nature of their herbage; thus, in the 
mountainous diffrifts, where the grafs is Ihort and light, 
the fmall breeds of both cattle and (heep prevail ; while 
in the low, rich, rnarfhy, or other paltures, where the grafs 
is more full and fuceulent, we have the larger breeds of 
theie different animals. It will therefore be neceffary, in 
this bufinefs, for the farmer to conlider two things: firlt, 
what fort of flock may be the moft proper for the parti¬ 
cular kind of pafture on which they are to be, grazed ; 
and, in the fecond place, what forts may afford the great- 
eft profit in the confumption of the herbage. It will pro¬ 
bably in moft cafes be found, that upon the llrong and 
more dry rich paltures, the larger forts of cattle and lheep 
will be the moft proper, and turn out to the greateft advan¬ 
tage ; but that on fuch as are lefs dry and luxuriant, the 
different fmaller breeds of cattle, as well as lheep, may be 
found to anfvver bell. This is in fome degree proved hv 
the pradice of the graziers in different diftriCls. On the 
rich lands in Suflex and Lincolnlhire, as well as other 
grazing counties, they prefer the large breeds of cattle as 
well as lheep for the purpoie ; while in many others that 
are lefs fertile, the fmaller forts are found more to the ad¬ 
vantage of the grazing farmer. In paltures where the 
grafs is Ihort and fweet, lheep are the proper fort of flock. 
It has been well obferved, that where the grazier lias 
fine and rich paltures, he may choofe his bealls as large 
as he can find them, provided they are of the right breed 
and fhape ; but let him always prefer lhape to fize; for 
it will afl'uredly pay him better. And it is added, that 
thofe who are upon indifferent grafs, mult take care to 
proportion the fize of their bealls to the goodnefs of their 
paltures ; their cattle had much better be too fmall than 
too large; there are valt traCts of land that will anfwer 
well in grazing, which are not good enough to l'upport 
large breeds. 
Where the flock is bred upon the land, there will be 
little difficulty in fixing upon fuch animals as are the molt 
fuitable in theie different intentions; but, as it will fre¬ 
quently be neceffary for the fanner to purchafe his fat¬ 
ting flock at fairs and other places, much care and atten¬ 
tion, as well as knowledge, will be requifite for him to 
do it in the moft advantageous manner. It is of great 
importance in this bufinefs to provide fuch as appear to 
have been kept in a proper manner, and are in thriving 
condition; as, where the contrary is the cafe, they are 
difficult, and require a much greater length of time to he 
brought into the ftate proper for late than would other- 
wife have been neceffary. It is perhaps experience alone, 
that can qualify the grazier to form a correct judgment 
ia thefe relpefts; in general, however, he is led to the 
choice of flock by no fixed principles, but by the impref- 
lion the appearances of the animals have upon him. It 
has been obferved, that the experienced grazier who has- 
been accullomed to attend fairs and markets, knows at 
light, or by the afliftance of the flighted touch, whether 
the animals he is about to purchafe will fuit him. Their 
general form and looks pleafe him. They are everywhere 
clean ; have little offal about them; their eyes are full 
and vivid ; their countenances brill:; their Heins alive, 
and their fiefh mellow. On the whole, they have the re- 
femblance of thole which have been grazed before with 
fuccefs. Others are rejected, from the grazier not having 
found any fuch as they refemble to have done well, but. 
many to have turned out in an unprofitable manner. 
In different fituations, different forts of both cattle and 
6 R lheep 
