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POULTRY 
 
 FOR 
 
 THE TABLE AND MARKET 
 
 VERSUS 
 
 FANCY FOWLS. 
 
 WITH AN EXPOSITION OF THE 
 
 FALLACIES OF POULTRY FARMING. 
 
 THE THIRD EDITION. REVISED AND ENLARGED. 
 
 W. B. TEGETMEIBR, F.Z.S.. 
 
 A^it/ior of " Projitdblc FoiiJii'ij;" '* The Poultry Book;" "Poultry," in the Encyclopaedia 
 
 B'.}('in,nca; "The Modern Breeds of Poultry," lii "Th>:Ihis," 1890; "FannPonltry" 
 
 in fhc Journals of Roijol AgricnUural Societtj, 1890, the Bath and West of 
 
 Enrjland, Society, and ihe TorksUire A'lricuHural Society. Editor of 
 
 the Poultry Depavtmcul of " Thi: Fiehl;" Davis Lecturer to 
 
 ihe Zoological Socicly. 
 
 fjixe of the Jndijcs at ihe Jloyal AoriciiUvral, Bath and. West of Eiiifland, thr 
 
 Binnin'jhanit Cryslal Palace, Dairy Show, and other Exhihition^. 
 
 London : 
 
 PIORAOE COX, 
 
 THE FIELD" OFFICE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS, E.G. 
 
 1898. 
 
 [All righU retervecl. 
 
E 
 
 6F 
 &1 
 
 LONDOM 
 PKINTEJD BT JIOEAC'E COX, BBEAm'S DUIIjBINOS, E.C. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In publishing this book I have had but one object in view, 
 and that iSj the increase of the quality of marketable poultry, 
 and the quantity of eggs produced ic this country. I wish it 
 to be distinctly understood that this work has not been 
 written in opposition to the keeping of ornamental and fancy 
 poultry as such. I am not opposed to the holding of flower 
 shows ; but I regard poultry shows, as ordinarily conducted, 
 as having no more to do with the produce of niarketable and 
 useful poultry than flower shows have to do with garden 
 or agricultural produce. I think it greatly to be lamented 
 that at our large agricultural exhibitions really useful poultry- 
 should have been entirely ignored in favoiir of feather varieties. 
 The production of poultry is the business of the small farmer 
 and small landed proprietor. As many birds can be kept 
 around the homestead of a farm of thirty or fifty acres, 
 as can be maintained about one of 500 or 1000. To the 
 small farmer the return of the poultry is of much more 
 importance than it is to the larger landed proprietor ; and 
 it is with a view of showing that ornamental poultry is not 
 adapted to the use of the breeder for the market that these 
 chapters have been written. 
 
 In order to prevent unnecessary correspondence, I may 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 state that I cannot undertake, either directly or indirectly^ 
 to procure birds or eggs for my readers, or to accept the 
 responsibility of recommending vendors. 
 
 W. B. Tecjetmeibe. 
 North Finchlet, 
 
 January, 1892. 
 
 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 In publishing the third edition of this book, I cannot but 
 express the pleasure that its continued circulation has afiorded 
 me. I have endeavoured to make it more useful by including 
 an account of the eminently satisfactory mode of raising 
 Turkeys in the open which is followed so successfully in the 
 colder climate of the United States. I have to express my 
 thanks to the authorities of the Khode Island College of 
 Agriculture for the valuable information I have from rime to 
 time received from them on the subject. 
 
 The reprint of certain of the practical pages of this work 
 by several of the County Councils has afforded me much 
 gratification, and it is hardly necessary for me to state that 
 such reproductions, with the loan of any blocks that may be 
 required, are freely placed at their disposal. 
 
 Miircli, 1898. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 Introductory page 1 
 
 Chapter II. 
 G-arae Towls 7 
 
 Chapter III. 
 Dorkings 10 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 Cochins 13 
 
 Chapter V. 
 Brahmas IG 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 Langshans, Orpingtons, Plymouth Eocks, and Wyandottes ... 19 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 Malays, Indian Game, and Azeel 23 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 French Table Breeds — Houdans, CreveccBur, La Fleche,&c. ... 26 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 Non-sitting Varieties — Spanish, Minorcas, Andalusian, and 
 
 Leghorn 31 
 
 Chapter X. 
 Non-sitting and other Varieties 38 
 
 Chapter XI. 
 Improving Farm Poultry 42 
 
 Chapter XII. 
 Housing 46 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chaptkk XIII. 
 Feeding page 48 
 
 Chapter XIV. 
 Hatching -51 
 
 CHArTEB, XV. 
 
 Eearing the Chickens 57 
 
 Ohapteb XVI. 
 Breeding for the Market. — Eggs 64 
 
 Chapter XVII. 
 Breeding for the Market. — Chickens 68 
 
 Chapter XVIII. 
 Fattening 76 
 
 Chapter XIX. 
 Showing and Trussing 82 
 
 Chapter XX. 
 
 Turkeys 88 
 
 Chapter XXI. 
 Guinea Fowl 94 
 
 Chapter XXTI. 
 Ducks 96 
 
 Chapter XXIII. 
 Greese 102 
 
 Chapter XXIV. 
 Diseases of Poultry 10,'i 
 
 Chapter XXV. 
 Fallacies of Poultry Farming 112 
 
 Chapter XXVI. 
 Fowls ia Small Runs 12.5 
 
 Chapter XXVII. 
 Caponising 129 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Pasu 
 Grame Fowls, Ancient and Modern Frohtispiece 
 
 Bewick's Farm Yard Fowl 4 
 
 Braquemond's Farm Yard Fowl 6 
 
 Cocliins 13 
 
 Bralimas 16 
 
 Indian Game Hen 24 
 
 Houdans '27 
 
 Crcvecceur 28 
 
 La Fleche Cock 29 
 
 LaFlecheHen 30 
 
 Spanish 32 
 
 Leghorns 36 
 
 Testing Eggs 63 
 
 Fatting Coop 76 
 
 Cramming Machine 79 
 
 Dead Fowl for Show 83 
 
 Fowl Trussed for Roasting 83 
 
 Fowl Trussed for Boiling 86 
 
 Orpington Poultry Disease 108 
 
 Scurf V Leg Parasite Ill 
 
POULTRY 
 
 FOR THE TABLE AND MARKET 
 
 VERSUS 
 
 FANCY AND EXHIBITION 
 FOWLS. 
 
 OHAPTEE I. 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 The subject of poultry, considered as profitable farm stock, has 
 been a matter of interest with me for a very long period Nearly 
 forty years ago I published a work on profitable, as distinguished 
 from fancy or ornamental poultry, which was exceedingly well 
 received. For more than the third of a century I have been engaged 
 in awarding prizes at the poultry shows, held by agricultural and 
 other societies, during which time I have never failed to bear 
 in mind the importance of poultry as yielding a valuable supply 
 of food, in the form of chickens and eggs, but year after year 
 I have seen, with regret, the steadily increasing tendency of 
 poultry shows to encourage mere fancy varieties, and to ignore 
 altogether the profitable value of the birds exhibited. This has 
 gone on to such an extent, that I do not hesitate to affirm, as 
 the result of my experience of half a century, that no one breed 
 of fowls has been taken in hand by the fancier that has not 
 been seriously depreciated as a useful variety of poultry. At 
 shows, as at present conducted, fancy points only have to be 
 considered by the judges. The result is that the economic value 
 of many breeds has been entirely lost. For example, Spanish, 
 from being abundant producers of large white eggs, have become 
 very indifferent layers, some of the most notorious prize-winners 
 being practically sterile. Cochins, that were formerly the best 
 
 B 
 
TABLE AND MARKET POULTRY. 
 
 layers of any sitting varieties, are now amongst the ' worst. 
 Dorkings, that formerly supplied the best fowls for the London 
 markets, are now bred as show birds, and are not equal to the 
 cross-bred Surrey fowls, that are chiefly valued by the higglers 
 and the feeders. The Game fowls, that were formerly bred for 
 the cockpit, and for their value as table fowl, are now elongated 
 out of all knowledge, and look more like the "stilt birds," or 
 waders, of the ornithologist, than a variety of poultry fitted for 
 any practical use, 
 
 Nor has the depreciative effect of competitive shows been 
 confined to fowls ; it influences to a greater or less degree all 
 animals that are exhibited in competition. At dog shows the 
 various breeds are shown exclusively for fancy points, which have 
 no reference whatever to the utility of the animals from a practical 
 point of view. A prize greyhound, for example, is not an animal 
 that would figure at a coursing meeting, and PuUerton, the winner 
 of four Waterloo Cups, would have been passed without a com- 
 mendation by the judges at a dog show, were they ignorant of his 
 unexampled performances. For example, no less an authority 
 than the editor of the Kennel Gazette, the recognised organ of the 
 Kennel Club, after speaking of the evil effects of the present 
 show system on other breeds, writes, in July, 1890 : " Turn to 
 the sheep dogs. How many collies of the present day who have 
 won prizes could clear a high hurdle, or scamper over the backs 
 of a flock of sheep to turn it ? " 
 
 In the case of pigs, useful varieties, such as the Berkshire,* 
 have been bred so " dish-faced," in accordance with the require- 
 ments of the fancy, that they have lost their profitable character, 
 and are now no longer in favour with the farmer who breeds for 
 the pig market; consequently, he has to fall back upon the 
 Tamworth and other coarser varieties, in order to make his pigs 
 pay their expenses. The same is the case with cattle, the 
 enormous sums of money given in premiums not going to the 
 great body of agriculturists, but into the hands of a few, who 
 breed solely in order to win prizes at the shows. 
 
 Some years since, the late secretary of the Royal Agricultural 
 Society, Mr. H. M. Jenkins, stated that the present show system 
 was merely the offering of enormous sums of money to be 
 scrambled for by a very few exhibitors. Mr. C. T. Dyke Ackland 
 has indorsed the opiuion, and has shown conclusively that the 
 large sums of money offered go into the hands of a very small 
 
INTBODUCTOBY. 
 
 section of the exMbitors, He has published a summary of the 
 prizes awarded for eleven years at the principal shows, from which 
 it appears that of the 17,2162. given as prizes to cattle, sheep, 
 and pigs, no less than 9391?., or considerably more than one half 
 of the total sum ofEered went into the pockets of sixty-two 
 exhibitors. 
 
 Believing as I do that the value of poultry as a source of food 
 would be largely increased by a different method of procedure, I 
 am induced to publish the present work. It is with considerable 
 regret that I find myself opposed to those poultry keepers 
 with whom I have acted so long, but my conviction as to the 
 inutility of fancy fowls as profitable poultry leaves me no alternative. 
 I have no objection to fancy poultry considered as such. A poultry 
 keeper has every right to breed ornamental fowls up to any pattern 
 that he thinks fit. I am perfectly conscious of the fact that the 
 breeding of fancy poultry is a source of great amusement and 
 interest to large numbers of people; it affords them pleasant 
 occupation, and is attended with a certain result, What I object 
 to is that fancy poultry should, in this country at least, take the 
 place of useful birds that are fitted to supply the markets with 
 poultry and eggs. At present, the aim of the poultry fancier and 
 exhibitor is not to breed fowls for any useful purpose, but to 
 produce them in accordance with the requirements of the fancier, 
 in order to win prizes, so as to sell the birds at enormous prices as 
 winners, which are likely to produce others in their turn. 
 
 The aim of the fancier always is, as was remarked by Darwin, to 
 go into extremes. He has not even a standard of beauty which he 
 regards as final. The greater the extent to which he can make the 
 specimens he produces excel others in fancy points, is the object 
 at which he aims ; consequently hideous monstrosities are not 
 unfrequently produced and exhibited, the only advantage of 
 which, from a scientific or practical point of view, is to prove the 
 extent to which living organisms are variable under the influence 
 of artificial as opposed to natural selection. Cochins are one mass 
 of useless feather. Game hens stand a foot or more from the 
 ground ; Houdans, Crevecoeurs, and Polish are bred with tufts so 
 large that they can scarcely see to feed ; and so on, more or less, 
 with every variety. 
 
 In the present work I propose to compare fowls as they were 
 when regarded as useful producers of meat and eggs for the 
 table with their present condition, after having been developed 
 
 B 2 
 
TABLE AND MARKET POULTBY. 
 
 by the aid of the fancier. The following engraving of a farmyard 
 fowl in the early part of the present century is an exact reproduc- 
 tion of a drawing by the celebrated Bewick, whose marvellous 
 accuracy in delineation of animals is well known. It shows a 
 fine-boned, short-legged, full-chested bird of great value as a 
 table fowl — one that is in strong contrast to the coarse-boned, 
 narrow-chested, feather-legged mongrels that have populated too 
 many of our own farmyards since the introduction of Cochins and 
 
 Parmtakd Fowl op 1800, Deawn and Engraved bt Bewick. 
 
 Brahmas into this country, the worthless character of which is 
 shown in the admirable drawing by Braquemond, reproduced 
 at the end of this chapter. I wish to show that for agricultural 
 and economical purposes, the modem fancy breeds are useless, as 
 contrasted with the older varieties. I consider it is absolutely 
 necessary that such views should be set forth, for at the present 
 
INTBODVCTOBY. 
 
 time ouv agricultural societies are doing wliat I conceive to be 
 considerable injury by giving prizes for useless birds, and ignoring, 
 at least to a very great extent, the breeds that would be of benefit 
 to the farmer and to the nation at large. 
 
 In a recent number of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural 
 Society, it was stated that " The main object of the society in 
 offering prizes for poultry is to encourage agriculturists to devote 
 greater attention to an industry which fits very well with ordinary 
 firm operations, and is often, under skilful management, a source 
 of considerable profit." In the prize list of the Plymouth show, 
 which was held the same year, there were eight classes for table 
 poultry (fowls and ducks), the prizes offered being 281., out of a 
 poultry prize list of 2761., which sum was devoted almost exclu- 
 sively to fancy poultry, and was offered as the reward of those who 
 could breed the prettiest feathers and largest combs, without the 
 slightest reference to the useful qualities of the birds. 14Z. was 
 offered for the longest foot-feathers and the greatest amount of 
 fluff in Cochins — useless birds to the farmer ; an equal amount to 
 laced feathers in Wyandottes, poultry valueless as market fowls ; 
 and so on throughout the entire prize list ; whilst the Surrey and 
 Sussex fowls, which constitute nine-tenths of the very best and 
 most remunerative birds coming to the London market, were 
 absolutely excluded from competition. 
 
 In the same number of the Journal, one of the judges in report- 
 ing the society's show of fancy and feathered poultry wrote : " Out 
 of every ten pure-bred chickens successfully reared, only one is 
 suitable for a ' fanciers' ' exhibition, whilst the remainder are 
 exclusively and admirably adapted for the market and the table." 
 That the ridiculous statement that fancy poultry are admirably 
 adapted for the market should have appeared in the Journal of 
 the Eoyal Agricultural Society is a circumstance much to be 
 regretted. 
 
 If the Council of the Society desire to know what birds have any 
 market value, let them inquire of the proprietors of any poultry 
 fattening establishment where the chickens are bought for the 
 purpose of being prepared for the London market ; or let them 
 ask any first-class West-end poulterer his opinion of " fanciers' " 
 fowls, as "exclusively and admirably adapted for the table," 
 and the answers they will receive will tend to convince them that 
 the publication of such statements in their Journal is exceedingly 
 undesirable. 
 
TABLE AND MARKET POULTRY. 
 
 In the following chapters I shall, in the first instance, consider 
 the most important breeds of fowls, not merely as they formerly 
 existed, but also as they now are, after having been bred for fancy 
 points, and then proceed to treat of the management of profitable, 
 agricultural, and market stock, not from a fancier's, but from a 
 productive point of view, taking up successively the subjects of 
 housing, feeding, hatching (by hens, turkeys, and incubators), 
 rearing the chicken, cross breeding for the production of eggs and 
 chicken, fattening, killing, the causes of the failure of poultry 
 farming, and the profitable management of turkeys, ducks, and 
 geese for the table and market. 
 
 Farmyard Fowl of 1890, Drawn by BEAQtrEMOND. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 GAME FOWLS. 
 
 The alteration which has been effected in the various breeds of 
 fowls within the last twenty-five years, dnriag which time fancy 
 shows have been in the ascendant, has been in no case more evident 
 than in the G-ame breed. Formerly, when Game fowl were bred 
 for the coctpit, what was required was a close-feathered, vigorous 
 bird, possessed of great strength of leg and wing, the latter 
 necessitating the presence of large fleshy pectoral muscles, which 
 gave plumpness to the breast ; together with the absence of any- 
 thing which could be regarded as useless offal, such as super- 
 abundant feathers or comb. As there was no especial point to be 
 exaggerated in Game fowls, they remained for some considerable 
 time unaltered by the competitive shows ; but at last the fashion 
 turned strongly in favour of what were termed " reachy " birds, 
 with long necks and limbs, with the plumage reduced to the most 
 scanty proportions. The result may be seen in the present race of 
 show Game, in which the elongation of the neck, Umbs, and even 
 body is carried to a most extraordinary degree. Hens may now be 
 seen in the show pens standing with the keel of the breastbone 
 raised 12in. from the ground, and with necks correspondingly 
 elongated. The tail feathers are reduced to the smallest possible 
 proportions, a cock having no chance of success unless they are, in 
 the terms of the fancier, " whip-like." 
 
 Formerly Game hens were characterised by carrying the tail 
 feathers in a somewhat fan -like form; now these are so small, and 
 held so tightly together, that that characteristic has entirely dis- 
 appeared. It is needless to say that these alterations can only have 
 been effected by the loss of plumpness, and of the useful character 
 of the birds. The modern Game fowls are of little value on the 
 table. They have lost the character of good mothers which they 
 formerly possessed, have become delicate and difficult to rear, and 
 are despised by the cockers who breed fowls for practical purposes. 
 
8 TABLE AND MARKET POULTBY. 
 
 When writing of the English Game fowl a quarter of a century 
 ago, I stated that their superiority had been entirely due to the 
 practice of cock-fighting, which was extensively indulged in by all 
 classes until a comparatively recent legal enactment rendered its 
 practice punishable with heavy pecuniary penalties. 
 
 The practice of cock-fighting may be regarded as one which 
 carries out under man's supervision the principle of action which 
 has been so ably described by Darwin and Herbert Spencer as 
 " the survival of the fittest in the struggle for life." Those cocks 
 which have proved the strongest, most active, and courageous, and 
 have stricken down their antagonists in the pit, have been pre- 
 served by man as the progenitors of their kind. This process of 
 selection had been carried on for a long series of generations, with 
 the ultimate result that the English Game fowl was unequalled in 
 form, and was universally regarded as the highest type of gallina- 
 ceous beauty. 
 
 Since the era of competitive shows all this has been changed. 
 What Game fowl once were and what they now are may be seen 
 by reference to the illustrations of ancient and modern game fowl. 
 The drawings show a young cock of the modern show type, 
 belonging to Captain Heaton (reproduced by permission from 
 The Stock Keeper), as contrasted with a muscular full-bodied bird 
 as bred for the cockpit in the olden time. I have purposely 
 chosen to reproduce the latter as trimmed and heeled for fighting, 
 as the full-bodied muscular character of the old breed is more 
 apparent. It is needless to say that the modern show Game fowl is 
 of no use to the farmer, being unproductive, delicate, ill-adapted to 
 the table, and useless for the purpose of crossing to give plumpness 
 to table birds. The delicacy of the exhibition breed of Game 
 fowls, as compared with the old vigorous strain, was forcibly 
 illustrated in an account published in the Field, March 26, 1892, 
 by Mr. Metcher Moss, who stated that two years since he borrowed 
 a Lord Derby cock from a man who kept the breed for fighting 
 purposes. He put this cock to those of his hens that approximated 
 most closely to the old sort ; that is to say, were shorter legged 
 than the ordinary black-red hens. With another set of hens, 
 sisters to the first lot, he put a prize modern gamecock, and 
 compared the chickens from the two pens. They certainly 
 surprised him, as there was no comparison in the health or 
 hardihood of the chickens from the two cocks ; those bred from 
 the fighting cock feathered quickly and lived, those from the 
 
GAME FOWLS. 9 
 
 show bird feathered slowly and died. In one hatch a young 
 hen had nine chickens from the exhibition strain and one from 
 the fighting bird ; they were often in wet grass, and the latter 
 lived, while the former all died. Writing in February, 1893, after 
 another year's experience, Mr. Fletcher Moss, when publishing his 
 poultry balance sheet in the Field of Feb. 11, stated that he had 
 kept during the past year both old-fashioned and exhibition Game. 
 The former, he says, are certainly the most productive and profit- 
 able, for the old fighters must have had health and strength — very 
 desirable in all animals. The modern Game he describes as " Only 
 fit for show, languid swells in fact, without much hardihood." 
 
 If the old English Game fowl — not the mongrels often so 
 called and exhibited at some of our shows where classes for this 
 variety exist — can be obtained, it will be found of great use as a 
 cross, but it must be sought for, not in the show yards, but in 
 some of those districts where the illegal practice of cock-fighting 
 is still pursued " under the rose." 
 
 In making this statement I am not speaking without warrant. 
 It is quite true that I have never crossed the modern show Game 
 with Dorking, as I have the old-fashioned breed, but my friend 
 Mr Parlett, a well-known successful Dorking breeder, tried the 
 experiment, obtaining a bird for the purpose from one of the most 
 successful, if not the most successful, exhibitor of modern Game 
 fowls, whose birds are reared under every advantage of free range 
 and healthy appliances. Of the offspring thus obtained Mr Par- 
 lett sent me specimens, in order to test on the table. I preferred 
 keeping them in order to see what they would be when mature, 
 and I can only say that in size and plumpness they are very 
 inferior to such birds as would be produced by Mr Parlett's 
 excellent Dorking hens if these were run with an old-fashioned 
 Game cock. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 DORKINGS. 
 
 The Dorking may be regarded as pre-eminently the English fowl, 
 which, in conjunction with the large Surrey and Sussex fowls, has 
 for many years supplied the best specimens of table poultry for the 
 London markets. Before the era of competitive shows, the 
 speckled and cuckoo Dorkings were those most appreciated by the 
 higglers, who bought them for the purpose of fattening ; but with 
 the poultry exhibitions came the desire for increased size and 
 uniformity of marking. The first was effected mainly by the 
 action of Mr John Douglas, then poultry keeper to the late Duke 
 of Newcastle, who crossed the Dorkings with a large grey Kulm or 
 Malay cock obtained from the Zoological Gardens, and subse- 
 quently, by great attention to the selection of brood stock, 
 succeeded in perpetuating the required characteristics of comb and 
 feather. It was in this way that the present race of exhibition 
 Dorkings was made. It is hardly necessary to say that the desired 
 size was accompanied by a degree of coarseness, loss of table 
 qualities, and by greatly increased size of bone, particularly in the 
 shanks. This latter was so pronounced that it even came to be 
 looked upon as a merit, and Dorking exhibitors used to expatiate 
 on the excellence of their birds, concluding by directing attention 
 to their legs, and saying, " There's bone ! " But bone, unfortu- 
 nately, is not eatable, and can only be produced at a certain cost of 
 nutriment, which had better be expended in forming flesh. I have 
 always failed to see the merit of coarse bones in a table fowl, regard- 
 ing them with no greater favour than a breeder would coarse legs 
 in a Southdown. That the opinion now expressed is not a new 
 one as far as I am concerned, may be inferred from the fact that a 
 quarter of a century ago, when writing in " The Poultry Book," I 
 stated that " the alteration effected by Mr Douglas has influenced 
 nearly the whole stock of exhibition birds in Great Britain. In 
 place of the very compact, short-legged, fine-boned breed of twenty 
 
DORKINGS. 11 
 
 years ago, characterised generally hy a speckled plumage, we now 
 have exhibited a much larger breed, the hens being generally very 
 dark in colour, . . . The advantages gained by the cross have 
 been great increase of size and beauty of plumage. On the other 
 hand, the original Dorking breeders maintain, with great show of 
 justice, that the old strain are much superior as table fowl, 
 being compacter in form, with shorter limbs and less bone." 
 
 At the present time white Dorkings are greatly in favour as exhibi- 
 tion birds, but, as was remarked by as practical an authority as Mr 
 John Baily some thirty years ago, " white fowls have a tendency 
 to yellowness in the fat, which renders them less desirable as 
 market poultry." One of the best breeds of Dorkings has had its 
 merits overlooked in the present rage for fancy poultry. It is 
 that known as the Blue or Cuckoo Dorking, which was formerly 
 regarded as one of the best and earliest to fatten, but as it did 
 not reach the size of the modern Exhibition Dorking, and as it was 
 difficult to breed free from white feathers in the tail of the cocks 
 and a tinge of yellowness in the hackles, in spite of their economical 
 merits, they went out of fashion. They are still, however, to be 
 found in many of the districts in Sussex, where the fowls are 
 bred for the higglers. Mr. Burnell, one of the most successful 
 Dorking breeders and exhibitors, acknowledged their merits in his 
 little treatise on the Exhibition Dorking, saying : "The hens were 
 really wonderful layers, and though for the table they did not 
 reach the size of the Dark Dorking, their full breasts and juicy 
 flesh, combined with their early maturity, rendered them most 
 acceptable in the larder. They are decidedly," he remarks, "a 
 hardy breed." 
 
 The injurious influence of fancy shows has even extended to this 
 variety. The editor of the Stoch Keeper, writing on July 29, 1892, 
 regrets the fact that to produce exhibition Cuckoo Dorkings two 
 breeding pens are necessary, one to produce cockerels and the other 
 pullets, as is the case with show Brahm.as, Ham.burgs, &c. He 
 says, if Cuckoo Dorkings are once more to make their mark, they 
 must be managed so as to produce cockerels and pullets from the 
 same parents. 
 
 It is needless to say that the extra toe, which is supposed to 
 be an indispensable characteristic of the true Dorking, is a 
 considerable drawback from a utilitarian point of view. It is 
 an unquestionable deformity, the presence of which often leads to 
 lameness and bumble foot. Although the modern show Dorking 
 
12 TABLE AND MARKET POULTRY. 
 
 is not adapted to the requirements of the producer of fowls for the 
 table, it may, by judicious crossing, lead to the production of cross 
 breeds of very considerable value. Wliat is required as a market 
 fowl is increased plumpness of breast, greater hardihood of consti- 
 tution, and the power of producing a larger number of eggs than 
 it does at present. All these requirements, conjoined with a 
 less amount of useless offal, may be obtained by crossing the 
 birds judiciously. There is a breed of Dorking of somewhat 
 smaller size, known as silver-greys, which were originally called 
 Lord Hill's Dorkings, having been produced many years ago by 
 that nobleman by crossing with the Duckwing Game. They have 
 been so closely bred for feather that they have lost the hardihood 
 and plumpness they originally derived from the Grame. 
 
 In confirmation of the preceding statements respecting the 
 inferiority of the present show Dorking to the birds that it has 
 supplanted, I beg leave to quote the following passages from an 
 article by one of the best known and most successful exhibitors of 
 the breed, Mr. 0. E. Cresswell, who wrote as follows : 
 
 " The Dorking was formerly a more uniformly square-shaped, 
 short-legged, round, deep -breasted, and white-footed bird than it 
 now is. When exhibitions became frequent breeders found that 
 judges of poultry gave great weight to size and weight in Dorkings ; 
 indeed, at the Birmingham Show they used to weigh them, and in 
 spite of the well-known rule about ' purity of breed, &c.,' being 
 rather taken into account ' than mere weight,' seemed to ignore 
 many of the old points. Every tyro in breeding knows that a .first 
 cross gives increased size and weight ; naturally, therefore, breeders 
 — some through utter ignorance of the effects of crossing and of 
 the years it may take to eradicate a taint; others from mere 
 selfishness, caring alone for their own present success — ^began to 
 try crosses. Their birds so produced won prizes, were bought as 
 prize birds, and spread far over the country ; hence long legs, dark 
 feet, want of breast, and many defects which have long been the 
 trouble of the real Dorking fancier." — Journal of Horticulture, 
 Aug. 25, 1881. 
 
CO 
 
 (.'11 
 V- 
 
 
 X 
 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 
CHAPTER IT. 
 
 COCHINS. 
 
 The introduction of Cochins into England may be regarded as 
 having given the first strong impulse to the now prevalent pursuit 
 of poultry keeping. Previous to that time fowls were kept 
 mainly for profit ; but when the Cochins, the first specimens of 
 which were exhibited about the year 1850, were first imported from 
 Shanghai, their singular form attracted the taste of the public, 
 and a veritable " Cochin mania " was the result. 
 
 The birds as first introduced differed from the previously known 
 breeds of poultry in several characteristics. The feathers of the 
 wings and tails were short, and the birds hardly capable of flight, 
 being readily confined by a 3ft. or 4ft. fence. The feathers of the 
 thighs and those on the lower part of the back were more abundant 
 and fluffy than in any of the breeds known. The crow of the cock 
 was much deeper in tone than that of the male of the ordinary 
 varieties. There were certain peculiarities of structure, such as a 
 deep groove in the frontal bone, which leads me to suspect that 
 these fowls might not have had the same origin as our ordinary 
 breeds. The eggs were all a deep buff colour, and the hens were 
 the most prolific of any varieties that were prone to incubate ; in 
 fact, when first introduced, they were absurdly credited with the 
 power of laying two or even three eggs per day. I have now lying 
 before me the record of the laying of four young Cochin hens, bred 
 from the best of the imported birds ; these in 1856 laid 570 eggs, 
 and another set of four kept during the following year, 1856, under 
 the same most favourable circumstances, laid 599 eggs, showing an 
 average of 146 eggs per annum for each fowl. As each of these 
 hens was allowed to rear one brood, and as one half of the eggs 
 were produced during the six winter months, the result must be 
 regarded as much more satisfactory than any obtained from show 
 Cochins at the present time, whose food is employed in the 
 production of useless feathering. 
 
14 TABLE AND MARKET POULTBY. 
 
 As useful fowls, the strong points of Cochins on their 
 first introduction were the early laying of the pullets, which 
 produced their eggs in winter irrespective of temperature ; the 
 hardihood of the chickens ; the ease with which they could be kept 
 within bounds ; and their rapid growth to a large size. These 
 advantages led to their value being greatly over-estimated. A 
 great amount of nonsense was written about them, and it was even 
 stated by one well-known writer that a Cochia hen would be as 
 valuable to a cottager as an ewe lamb. But the drawbacks to the 
 advantages they possess are most decided. Their small wings 
 and incapacity for flight are accompanied by a very slight develop- 
 ment of the pectoral muscles ; consequently there is little meat 
 upon the breast, and when dressed the keel of the bone is prominent 
 and ugly. It is true they make up, in the amount of flesh on the 
 legs, what is wanting on the breast ; but it is no recommendation to 
 a table fowl to develop largely the inferior portions to the detriment 
 of the finer parts. In the improved breeds of cattle the best joints 
 are developed and the inferior lessened in size ; there is small bone 
 and very little offal. The same characteristics should distinguish 
 a table fowl — it should be as nearly as possible all breast, with short 
 limbs and fine bones. Again, the coarseness and yellowness of the 
 skin and fat is a serious drawback to the saleable value of Cochins, 
 and unfortunately they accumulate large quantities of fat internally, 
 where it is useless, and scarcely fatten on the breast at all. 
 
 Nevertheless, from their large size, hardihood, and prolificacy 
 many persons were induced, when they were first introduced, to 
 turn Cochin cocks into their poultry yards with a view to the 
 improvement of the ordinary farmyard stock. Never was there a 
 more fallacious idea ; half breeds between the Cochin and the 
 common barndoor fowl are about the least useful variety of poultry 
 that can be imagined — they are gaunt, weedy, big-boned, angular, 
 yellow-legged birds, as accurately represented by Braquemond on 
 page 6 ; and it is only requisite to ask the opinion of the poultry 
 salesmen, and of the higglers who collect and fatten the fowls for 
 them from the country, to know the estimation in which such birds 
 are held. At the present time the value of Cochins chiefly depends 
 upon the hens being good sitters. Whatever merit they possessed 
 as profitable layers at the period of their introduction has been 
 entirely bred out by those who have reared them for the poultry 
 shows. Cochins are now perhaps the worst layers of any incubating 
 variety. As inhabitants of a farmyard, the present race of show 
 
COCHINS. 15 
 
 Cochins is utterly useless. The alterations that have been effected 
 in the breed may be inferred from the illustration, which shows the 
 birds as they were when first introduced as contrasted with the 
 prize winners at the present time. 
 
 I stated in the introductory chapter that Cochins, as at present 
 exhibited, are a mass of useless feathers. Feathers consist of dry 
 animal matter, having very closely the same constituents as the 
 dry animal matter of flesh. Flesh, on the other hand, is animal 
 or nitrogenous matter united with three times its weight of water. 
 As far as feeding is concerned, it costs, therfef ore, as much in corn to 
 produce lib. of feathers as 41b. of meat, and if the plumage of a 
 Cochin weighs jlb. more than is necessary, or in excess of the 
 weight of the plumage of other varieties, the materials that would 
 have made lib. of flesh have been wasted. And this waste is repeated 
 at every annual moult. Is it surprising that poultry keepers who 
 do not breed for the show pen complain of the enormous appetite 
 of Cochins, the small amount of flesh, and the sm.all numbers and 
 size of eggs that there are to show for the food they consume ? 
 
 A writer in the Feathered World, May 15, 1891, published a long 
 critique on an article on " Farm Poultry," written by me and 
 published in the journal of the Eoyal Agricultural Society. In 
 this letter the Cochin is thus described : " The Cochin, a great, 
 lumbering, clumsy bird, is about the worst stamp of a bird a 
 farmer or cottager could have about the place, as far as profit goes. 
 As table fowls when and where did they ever beat in a table-fowl 
 class the cross-bred birds of the present day, specially reared for 
 the table ? As soon as they have laid about a dozen or a dozen 
 and a half of eggs, do they not show signs of becoming broody ? 
 As brooders they are certainly safe sitters, and as safe to squash 
 the chicks as they hatch out. And what of their eating propen- 
 sities ? I am sure they will give any other variety of fowl a long 
 start for the small comparative returns they give in eggs." 
 
 It is equally amusing and instructive to notice the energy with 
 which each fancier denounces the uselessness of those breeds that are 
 not to his liking. The " black sheep " of this writer are Cochins and 
 Spanish, " neither of which varieties," he truly says, " are good all 
 round fowls for general purposes, viz., egg producers and fit for 
 table." 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 BRAHMAS. 
 
 As regards practical purposes, Brahmas may be regarded as 
 identical with Cochins, from which they differ only in slight fancy 
 characteristics, chiefly those of colour and marking. The breed 
 was manufactured in America, there is no evidence whatever that 
 they came from the banks of the river from whence they derived 
 their name, no such birds being known in the locality. The qualities 
 of the Brahma as a profitable fowl, whether for the purpose of pro- 
 ducing food, eggs, or for crossing with other breeds, are identical with 
 those of the Cochin. Like the latter breed, it has since the time of 
 its first introduction been largely influenced by being reared as a 
 fancy fowl._ Exactness of colour and marking has been secured, 
 abundant fluffy plumage has been obtained, and this in conjunc- 
 tion with greatly increased size. My friend the late Richard Teebay^ 
 well and favourably known as a judge of poultry, had a Brahma 
 cock in his possession that was brought over from the United States, 
 where the breed originated, in an egg, which was afterwards 
 hatched in this country ; this bird attained the remarkable weight 
 of upwards of 171b. 
 
 As a market fowl, the Brahma cannot be recommended. It is 
 deficient of meat on the breast, has large, coarse legs, and is not of 
 high quality. The public are beginning to tire of these large and 
 comparatively useless breeds, and in the poultry journals of the 
 day there are loud lamentations over " The decadence of the large 
 breeds." In these letters, however, there is no assertion of any 
 value that they possess as useful poultry, they are mourned over 
 only as fancy fowl, bred for the purpose of obtaining prizes. One 
 of the largest breeders, writing of them, laments that they will 
 be less and less shown until larger prizes are offered and corre- 
 sponding higher entry fees resorted to. 
 
 The alteration which has been effected in this breed since its 
 first introduction in 1850, is shown in the engraving. From the 
 

BBAHMAS. 17 
 
 original fowl of the Cochin type, slightly modified by crossing with 
 an American variety, the birds have been altered into the form 
 shown in the other two figures. The effect that has been produced 
 has been most disastrous as far as regards any practical merits 
 that the birds ever possessed. Mr. Norris-Ely, one of the strongest 
 advocates of this breed, writing in The Feathered World of July 3rd, 
 1891, speaks of the alteration of the birds as being most effective in 
 the show pen as far as appearance is concerned, but adds that this 
 has been produced by sacrificing the laying power and fertility of 
 the strain, and the Stockkeeper, in some articles on this variety, 
 states as follows : 
 
 " The Brahma used to be considered the farmer's fowl, because 
 of its immense size and good laying properties in the winter months, 
 when eggs are scarce, but now under altered conditions it is no 
 longer regarded as such. A few years ago 141b. to 161b. was no 
 uncommon weight for a Brahma cock, but now 121b. is very rarely 
 attained, and is the exception rather than the rule ; one other craze 
 has tended to detract from the useful properties of the Brahma for 
 farm purposes, and that is the quantity of feather on its legs and 
 feet. The present requirements of these two characteristics in the 
 show pen, viz., colour and feather, have transformed the Brahma 
 from the farmer's into the gentleman's fowl, making it now chiefly 
 to be regarded as purely a fancy bird." 
 
 Another point which renders the Brahmas and several other 
 show varieties utterly unfitted for practical use is the fact that in 
 order to breed birds that are successful at shows two distinct 
 breeding studs are required, one for the purpose of providing show 
 cockerels and the other for breeding pullets. Of course this point 
 is not generally known to the public at large. Amateurs think 
 that like will always produce like, and that chickens will resemble 
 their parents. They go to a show, buy prize or commended 
 cocks and hens, mate them together, and are surprised that 
 they can neither breed show cockerels nor show pullets from the 
 pair, being ignorant of the fact that separate studs are required to 
 produce birds of different sexes in order to win. In confirmation 
 of this statement I would quote again from the Stoch Keeper, the 
 editor of which, in writing on Brahmas, says : 
 
 "Another point that has perhaps had some influence on the' 
 seeming decrease of the popularity of the breed is, that separate 
 pens are required for the breeding of show cocks and hens, which 
 refers more especially to the dark variety, where it may be said 
 
18 POULTRY FOR TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 there are two distinct sections, and need to be kept as distinct as 
 even darks and lights themsel'ves. It is here that the amateur is 
 at sea. He naturally thinks that by mating the best exhibition 
 cock with the best exhibition hen he is likely to get offspring of 
 the best kind. Suffice it to say this is an entirely erroneous 
 impression. The proper mate for the best exhibition cock is never 
 seen in the show pen. Her modest garb and cloudy markings 
 would not grace the wire cage of the show bench ; nor would, on 
 the other hand, the proper mate of the best exhibition hen satisfy 
 the judges in their requirements for a typical show cock." 
 
 The uselessness of such breeds for practical purposes need not 
 be insisted upon. 
 
 Unfortunately this inutility is not confined to Brahmas, but 
 extends to nearly every variety bred for the show pen. That this 
 is recognised by all intelligent fanciers may be regarded as proved 
 by the following quotation from the treatise on " The Leghorn 
 Fowl," by Mr. L. C. Verrey, Honorary Secretary of the Leghorn, 
 Plymouth Eock, and Andalusian Club. In this the author states 
 that 
 
 " It would be tolerably easy to mate a pen for breeding purposes 
 if it were possible to get cockerels and pullets of equal quality 
 from the same parents, but it is the same with Leghorns as with 
 all other kinds of fancy poultry where colour and markings are the 
 primary points. It is necessary to have two pens, one for breeding 
 males and the other for females." 
 
OHAPTEE YI. 
 
 LANG8HANS, ORPINGTONS, PLYMOUTH ROCKS, 
 AND WYANDOTTES. 
 
 Langshans. 
 
 The Langshans are another recently introduced Asiatic breed. 
 These, when first imported, were so closely similar as to be almost 
 identical with black Cochins, with which they were generally con- 
 founded. The latter were not unfrequently exhibited in the classes 
 for Langshans, and won prizes. The breeders of the latter variety, 
 however, maintained their distinction and bred for different points, 
 selecting their stock for hardness and brilliancy of plumage, and 
 claiming for the birds the possession of useful qualities as table 
 fowl. The result has been that the birds have considerably altered 
 in type since the time of their first introduction, and may now be 
 regarded as the most profitable fowls of any of the recently 
 introduced Asiatic breeds. They have larger wings, and consequently 
 require larger breast muscles to move them, than either Brahmas 
 or Cochins, and, not having been bred for superabundant and 
 fluffy feather, they are better layers ; but with all these advantages 
 they fail to be a first-class market fowl, and, in the numerous 
 opportunities I have had of contrasting the birds at shows of dead 
 poultry, I have never seen Langshans exhibited that could be 
 regarded as of high quality as market or table fowl, although I 
 have had to give prizes to some in classes where the competition 
 was limited. The qualities in which the Langshan excels the 
 Cochin have, in the opinion of some of its admirers, been produced 
 by crossing with the Game. Miss Croad, writing in Poultry, April 3, 
 1891, states that the best proof we have of this is the account Mr 
 Housman gives of the strain he favours as a Judge. He says, " I find 
 as a rule that those birds that are tall and tight-feathered have a 
 much better breast of full solid meat than those that are short and 
 fluffy ; the flesh of the latter is much more spongy in character, 
 
 c 2- 
 
20 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MABKET. 
 
 and the tight-feathered birds I always find are much more hardy 
 and healthy than the soft-feathered ones." Any more satisfactory 
 opinion of the inutility of heavily-feathered fluffy fowls for table 
 or market purposes could hardly he required. 
 
 Oepingtons. 
 
 Under this title, a variety closely allied to, if not identical with, 
 the Langshan, has been largely exhibited. In some instances, 
 however, the breed has been altered by crossing with other varieties, 
 and the feathering on the legs has been entirely got rid of. At 
 first Orpingtons were bred exclusively of a black colour, but, 
 latterly, a most ridiculous craze has pervaded the breeders of 
 fancy fowls, of raising many varieties of a buff colour. This has 
 extended to the Orpingtons, and vendors have crossed them with, 
 the Cochins and with a well-known Lincolnshire breed, called Boston 
 Buffs, and exhibited them as Orpingtons. As useful " all-round " 
 fowls Orpingtons may be regarded as equal to the Langshans, from 
 which they were derived. 
 
 PLTMOrTH EOCKS. 
 
 The tendency of the present system of exhibiting poultry is to 
 lead to the production of new breeds, obtained by crossing the older 
 varieties. When these have been so far established as to breed 
 tolerably true to the desired form and colour, which may be 
 accomplished in the course of three or four generations, they are 
 exhibited, and, if well puffed, command high prices as fancy stock, 
 are lauded far beyond their merits, and become for a time the rage. 
 The introduction of the breed called Plymouth Eocks is a good 
 example of this method of procedure. The present Plymouth Eock 
 is a cross between some of the Asiatic varieties and the cuckoo- 
 coloured fowls which are common in America, and are known as 
 Dominiques. ' Like all breeds that have been recently produced 
 by crossing, the Plymouth Eock is hardy and a good layer for a 
 sitting variety. Its recent origin is shown by the fact that a large 
 portion of the chickens do not breed true to colour, but come black 
 in place of being cuckoo-coloured. As a prolific bird for rough 
 household purposes the Plymouth Eock is not without its use; but 
 as a fowl for the market it is only necessary to ask the opinion of 
 the Surrey fatteners to learn its real value. I have only seen at the 
 shows of dead poultry one first-class couple of Plymouth Eock 
 chickens, and as their legs were white in place of being yellow— 
 
WYANDOTTES. 21 
 
 the normal colour of the breed — their purity was doubtful. One 
 great characteristic of the Plymouth Rock is the brilliant yellow 
 colour of its skin. This is regarded as objectionable in a market 
 fowl in this country. In America, where the breed originated, 
 fowls are much more frequently used as " broilers " (viz., chickens 
 split down the back and grilled) than in this country, and the 
 colovir of the skin is not regarded as objectionable. It is singular 
 that the fashion should have set in so strongly in favour of this 
 breed, when a far superior variety, with the same markings, but 
 with white skin and legs and better breasts — namely, the Scotch 
 Grey — was already known in this country, and is a bird much 
 superior as a table fowl. The Plymouth Rock, though a useful 
 " all round " fowl, cannot be recommended to those who breed for 
 the market. 
 
 Wtandottes. 
 
 At present another recently manufactured variety is coming 
 rapidly to the front, which, like the Plymouth Rock, has its very 
 distinctive markings to recommend it. This breed is known as the 
 Wyandotte, which has been made by crossing the Brahma witL 
 some of the varieties of fowls that possess what is called the laced 
 plumage — that is to say, having the feathers margined by a black 
 band, like a mourning envelope. As a table fowl, the Wyandotte 
 possesses the characteristics of the Brahma, but as an egg producer 
 it is superior to that breed in consequence of the vigour imparted 
 by the recent cross; but statements that have been recently 
 circulated as to its extreme prolificacy are such as no practical 
 poultry keeper can accept. It is doubtful whether any experienced 
 breeder for the table or the market would attempt to utilise such 
 a strain ; but it is only fair to state that the Wyandotte fanciers 
 are strenuously endeavouring to breed good birds for the market, 
 and are offering prizes for the best dead Wyandottes; but why 
 they should hamper themselves with breeding for feather if they 
 desire to raise market fowl it is difScult to perceive. 
 
 In a letter which appeared in the Field of October 24th, 1891, 
 respecting this effort, I stated that : 
 
 " By dint of careful selection for the last few years, Wyandottes 
 have been bred very closely up to the required standard of feather ; 
 and, having done this, it is much to the credit of the fanciers who 
 constitute the North of England Wyandotte Association, that they 
 have turned their attention to improving the breed as a table fowl. 
 
22 POULTRY FOR TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 They resolved that classes for table fowl should be prf>vided at 
 their next show; and in their report they have recognised the 
 truth of the remarks that I have made about fancy poultry, as 
 hitherto exhibited, and establish these classes for the purpose of 
 doing, as they say, good service to the breed. 
 
 " The Countess of Bective, the president, supports the Wyandotte 
 as an all-round fowl, and considers that if the useful qualities of 
 the breed are not cultivated, and too much attention is paid soleiy 
 to fancy points, its popularity will soon be on the decline ; hence 
 the establishment of these table-fowl classes, for Wyandottea 
 only. 
 
 " I was much gratified at the fact that the hon. secretary, Mr. 
 W. H. Midgley, wrote to me requesting to be allowed to reprint an 
 article of mine for circulation amongst the members, so that all 
 those intending to compete might be placed on an equality as to 
 the instructions for preparing and killing their fowls. I shall be 
 greatly interested in the result, as the object of the society is not 
 to advance the Wyatidotte as a show bird only, but to cultivate the 
 useful properties which they believe it to possess. 
 
 " I believe this to be distinctly a step in the right direction with 
 regard to fancy fowls, and it is a source of gratification to me that 
 even one class of fanciers has recognised the value of the views I 
 have advocated for so many years." 
 
 This meritorious attempt on the part of the Committee of the 
 Association only resulted in showing how difficult it is to unite the 
 aims of the fancier, who breeds for show points, with those of 
 the rearer for the table and the market. The classes of Wyandottes 
 shown as dead table fowl did not receive the support anticipated. 
 The members said that all their time was occupied in the prepara- 
 tion of their liv« birds for show, and that they had no time to 
 devote to the production of birds for the table. Consequently out 
 of 237 entries in the Wyandotte classes at York, only seven entries 
 were made in the table class for cockerels, and the class for pullets 
 was cancelled. As I have said before, Wyandottes are evidently 
 becoming exceedingly popular amongst the breeders of fancy 
 fowls, but whether the breeding for laced feathers is compatible 
 with rearing good table birds, is a point on which I entertain 
 no doubt. 
 
CHAPTER YIl. 
 MALAYS, INDIAN GAME, AND ASEELS. 
 
 Malays. 
 
 Before the introduction of the Cochins and the Brahmas, the 
 Malay breed had long been known in this country. Birds were 
 frequently brought home by the ships arriving from Further India, 
 and sold to the dealers in the neighbourhood of the docks of both 
 Liverpool and London. Although not remarkable as prolific 
 layers, Malays were of great use in increasing the size of some of 
 our breeds. I have already spoken of the introduction of a grey 
 Malay or Kulm cock strain into our modern breed of coloured 
 Dorkings ; but this size was accompanied "with a considerably 
 increased length of leg and coarseness of bone, which can only be 
 regarded as objectionable in fowls bred for the table. 
 
 Unfortunately for the practical value of the Malay breed, the 
 fanciers demanded long-legged birds, and instead of the extreme 
 length of leg being diminished, it was exaggerated by the influence 
 of poultry shows, the points aimed at being along, closely feathered 
 snake-like neck, and extremely elongated legs, with very scanty, hard 
 plumage, which rendered these attributes more evident. 
 
 Indian Game. 
 
 In the south-west counties of England another very useful breed 
 allied to the Malay has long been known. It was formerly termed 
 the Pheasant Malay, but is now known as the Indian Game, which 
 is an unfortunate name, as the bird is not a Game cock, nor even 
 the fighting cock of India ; but it has been largely exhibited under 
 this title, which is not now likely to be altered. 
 
 The Indian Game may be described as a short-legged Malay, very 
 plump and meaty on the breast, with close, hard plumage, an 
 absence of any offal in the shape of comb or superfluous feather, 
 and altogether a most valuable table fowl, wanting, however, the 
 
24 
 
 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 white skin of the Surrey fowl, which is so highly esteemed in the 
 best tahle poultry. Its fault is a tendency to length of leg and 
 neck, which is rendered more evident by the closeness of its 
 plumage. I have advocated for several years the crossing of 
 this breed with the Dorking, the Surrey, and ordinary farmyard 
 fowls to produce birds for table purposes. It has recently come 
 into fashion as an exhibition fowl, and in consequence has become 
 better known ; but the circumstance has not been without its most 
 
 Indian Gahe Hen. 
 
 serious drawbacks. Indian Grame as now exhibited are judged, 
 not from their economic value, their short legs, plump hreasts with 
 abundant meat, but from their markings. To win prizes at competi- 
 tive shows, the hens must have laced or margined feathers, like 
 those alluded to in speaking of the Wyandotte. The result of this 
 attention to fancy points is that the show Indian Game are now 
 bred for their laced feathers, their plumpness and valuable table 
 qualities beiag in great part ignored, but good Indian Game not 
 
A8EEL. 25 
 
 bred for this particular marking of feather are very generally 
 distributed in Devonshire and Cornwall, and may be obtained of 
 many of the small farmers and cottagers in those counties. In 
 selecting Indian Game for crossing laced feathers should be 
 ignored, and birds with tight, hard plumage and very plump, 
 broad, meaty breasts should alone be chosen. 
 
 The engraving shows an Indian Game hen of very good form, 
 having the scanty plumage and prominent breast characteristic of 
 the variety. As an indication of the effect of competitive shows 
 on the breeds of poultry, I may state that on showing this 
 engraving to one of the best known of our poultry judges (the 
 late Mr. Nichols), he remarked that it was one of the best repre- 
 sentations of an Indian Gtame hen that he had ever seen, but 
 that the fanciers would object to it as being too prominent in 
 the breast and not sufficiently feathered in the neck, these points 
 being those that are indicative of its merits as a table fowl. The 
 outline of the bird was copied from one by Mr. Ludlow, which 
 was published in the Feathtred World. 
 
 ASEEL. 
 
 The true Indian fighting cocks, known as Aseel, have been for 
 some years introduced into this country, and have been carefully 
 bred by a few amateurs. They differ considerably from what are 
 termed the Indian Game, being smaller in size, and even more 
 prominent in breast. In proportion to their apparent bulk, they are 
 the heaviest fowls I have ever handled ; the amount of meat upon 
 the breast exceeds that of any other breed. But as profitable 
 poultry they have important drawbacks. The hens lay very few 
 eggs before they desire to sit, and the cocks are more combative 
 than any other known variety. Their courage and obstinacy in 
 fighting know no bounds. The young cocks will fight while little 
 chicken, and when they can no longer stand will lie upon the ground 
 and peck at one another. These qualities greatly interfere with 
 their value as profitable poultry ; but an Aseel cock crossed with 
 Surrey or Dorking hens produces chickens, the quality of which as 
 table fowls cannot be surpassed, although in size they do not equal 
 the cross-bred Indian Game and Dorking. 
 
OHAPTEE Till. 
 THE FRENCH TABLE BREEDS. 
 
 HOUDANS, CEEVBCCEirBS, AND La FLicHB, &C. 
 
 In France much greater attention is paid to tlie value of poultry as 
 furnishing a supply of chickens and eggs for the table than is done 
 in this country. The more recent Asiatic breeds are not in demand. 
 The favourite French races are the Houdan, the Crevecoeur, and 
 the La Fleche. These are aU characterised by good quality of flesh, 
 plumpness of breast, and absence of offal. The Houdans and 
 Crevecoeurs have been rather extensively cultivated in England, 
 while the La Fleche, which furnishes the finest table pullets that 
 are seen at the shows of dead poultry in Paris and London, has been 
 much more rarely kept in this country, where it is regarded as 
 somewhat delicate. 
 
 HOITDANS. 
 
 The Houdan, since its introduction into England, has been 
 largely exhibited, classes for it being found at most poultry shows, 
 and it has become to a greater or less extent a fancy fowl, being 
 bred for size of crest and regularity of marking. The original 
 French Houdan would at the present time have no chance whatever 
 in a show of fancy poultry in this country. 
 
 The engraving shows the original Houdan figured twenty- 
 five years since by the celebrated painter Jacque, an experienced 
 poultry keeper, and the author of "Le Poulailler," as a full 
 chested, moderately close-feathered, useful fowl for the table 
 and market, in contrast with the full crested, loose feathered 
 English show birds that are almost unable to see to feed. 
 Having been bred for some years solely for fancy points, the 
 size and good qualities of the Houdan have been greatly 
 lessened, and it is not now in the favour in which it used to 
 be held in this country. As a farmyard fowl, the modem 
 Houdan, with its huge crest, is useless. In addition to being 
 
cbSjvecceubs. 27 
 
 good table fowls, the Houdans in France are regarded as good 
 layers of large white eggs ; like the Dorking, it has an additional 
 toe, which is not of the slightest recommendation to it from a 
 practical or economic point of view. 
 
 CBilVBCCETJBS. 
 
 Closely allied to the Houdan, but entirely black in plumage, and 
 of somewhat larger size, is the Crfevecoeur, which is regarded as 
 furnishing some of the best table fowls that appear in the markets 
 of France. The Crevecoeur is said by M. Jacque to be the best 
 race in France for the delicacy of flesh, rapidity of fattening, and 
 early maturity. The injurious effect on useful varieties, that is the 
 result of breeding for points which are appreciated in the show pen, 
 is admirably instanced in the following statement by the late Mx. 
 Nichols, the editor of the Stock Keeper, well known as a most 
 practical and reliable authority. Writing in that journal for 
 July 10, 1891, he states : " We have often felt that Creves are 
 hardly as appreciated as they should be. Many years ago, at the 
 break up of the National Poultry Company at Bromley, several 
 specimens of this variety fell into our possession, and we found 
 them very excelleut and free layers of large eggs, but these 
 specimens, we should say, were not very heavily crested, and 
 as soon as we bred them for larger and more globular crests, 
 we lost much of the laying virtue. The other day at the farm of 
 the Aylesbury Dairy Company, Horsham, we saw a large flock of 
 these handsome fowls, which, although possessing good heads, had 
 nothing out of the way in the fashion of ' top-knots.' As this 
 company goes in for profit only, we should suppose that the 
 managers have also experienced the same results that we did, and 
 we should be glad to see the breed more largely cultivated for its 
 profitable merits apart from its exhibition points." 
 
 I do not desire any stronger confirmation of the correctness of 
 the views I have long maintakied regarding the influence of breed- 
 ing for the show pen than is in this very important quotation. 
 
 Those who are acquaiated with the value of the Crevecceurs as 
 table fowls in France, may possibly have been surprised at their 
 want of appreciation in this country. Had they been bred, how- 
 ever, as useful poultry, they would not have been so slightly 
 appreciated ; but the object of the English fancier who breeds for 
 the show pen has not been the supply of large plump-chested table 
 fowls, which are also layers of exceedingly large eggs, but the 
 
28 
 
 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 production of large globular crests perfectly free from white 
 feathers, and to this crest has been sacrificed the useful qualities 
 that on the other side of the Channel characterise this valuable 
 breed, which has been described by M. Jacque as being the best 
 race in France for delicacy of flesh and early maturity. 
 
 About thirty-five years since, when I was first experimenting 
 with cross-bred table fowl, I entered some Crevecoeurs in the 
 variety class at the original Crystal Palace Show, in the delusive 
 
 ^._ — ' "'■'^ 
 
 The Oeioinal Fbench Cbevecceue, aetbb M. Jacque. 
 
 hope that their size, plumpness, and good qualities as table 
 poultry might commend them to the notice of the adjudicators. It 
 was, I think, the first intimation I received in the lesson I have 
 since learned so perfectly, namely, that the useful and edible 
 qualities of fowls are altogether ignored at poultry shows. 
 
 La Flbche. 
 
 The La Tleche differs from the two previous breeds in having 
 but few crest feathers on the hdad, and even these are frequently 
 
LA FLECHE. 
 
 29 
 
 absent. The comb consists of two pointed homs, which should be 
 but small. In the La Fleche bred in this country, exhibitors have 
 ignorantly tried to increase the size of the combs, apparently not 
 being aware that large combs, although they show that the birds 
 possessing them, are good layers, also indicate that they are not 
 readily fattened. In this country the La Mfeche are generally 
 regarded as being difficult to rear, and, although repeatedly 
 introduced, the breed has not maintained its ground. In France, 
 
 La ELicHE Cock, after M. Jacque. 
 
 on the contrary, the pullets of this breed generally take the highest 
 prizes at the annual show of dead poultry at Paris, and when 
 fatted on buckwheat meal and milk they are of the highest 
 possible excellence. 
 
 The form of the La Fleche, as will be seen by the engravings, 
 which are accurately copied from those of M. Jacque, differs 
 considerably from that of the Houdan or Crevecoeur. The fowls 
 are larger, much closer in plumage, and consequently appear 
 longer on their legs. When dressed the skin is exceedingly white 
 
30 
 
 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 and of fine quality, and the breasts are very plump and meaty. 
 Prom the experiments I made in cross-breeding I am inclined 
 to attribute the origin of the La Fleche to a cross between 
 some of the older feather-crested breeds and a Malay. The 
 peculiar structure of the nasal bones and the two-horned comb 
 showing the crested parentage, and the plumage and general form 
 the Malay blood. There would be no difficulty in producing a 
 most valuable and hardy table fowl on the same lines by crossing 
 
 La TLiicHE Hen, ajteb M. Jacque. 
 
 Indian Game or Malay with a good useful French Crevecoeur, and 
 carefully selecting the chicken for a few years. 
 
 Under the titles of La Bresse, FaveroUes, and Gascogne, a 
 considerable number of French poultry have been exhibited at the 
 Dead Table Poultry Show, held in conjunction with the Smithfield 
 Club Show. These, however, have not been of any very distinctive 
 breed, but may be described as being good specimens of what 
 may be termed farmyard table poultry, many of them being in fact 
 what maybe regarded as equivalent to the indefinite breed known 
 as Siurrey and Sussex fowls in England. 
 
OHAPTEE IX. 
 NON-SITTING VARIETIES. 
 
 Spanish, Minorca, Andalitsian, and Leghorn. 
 
 In those situations where the production of eggs is more remune- 
 rative than the rearing of table chickens, it will be found 
 advantageous to keep varieties that are non-incubating, as in these 
 the continuous production of eggs is not interfered with by the 
 hens becoming broody, and losing time in sitting, or in the desire 
 to do so. The most profitable non-incubating varieties of fowls 
 are unquestionably those that have been introduced into this 
 country from the shores of the Mediterranean. They are known 
 under the names of Minorcas, Leghorns, Andalusians, and Spanish, 
 and are all birds of one well-marked type, though varying much in 
 colour and minor peculiarities. They are characterised by large, 
 flat, indented single combs, which are upright in the cocks, but, 
 from their thinness, fold over to one side in the hens. They are 
 all apt to be somewhat long on the leg, and very deficient of flesh 
 on the breast, hence they are not of high excellence as table fowl. 
 They are distinguished by the presence of white fleshy lobes of 
 skin under the ears (the ear-lobes as they are called by fanciers) . 
 La the Spanish, the oldest of the races known in this country, this 
 white extends up to the comb over the whole face, which in the 
 other breeds is red. 
 
 Spanish. 
 
 The Spanish fowl is a remarkable example of the effect of 
 competitive shows, on what was formerly a most useful breed of 
 poultry. For many years the fanciers have bred this variety for 
 perfection of face, which, in the exhibition birds, must be purely 
 white, without the smallest speck of redness visible on its surface. 
 The white ear-lobe has also been enormously developed so as to 
 become Sin. or 4in. in length, and capable of being extended 
 
32 
 
 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 laterally almost to the same width. The comb is of preter- 
 natural size, deeply indented with large serrations, perfectly 
 upright on the head ia the cocks ; whilst in the hens it is corre- 
 spondingly enlarged, but folds over one side of the face, hiding 
 the eye. In order to obtaiu these results the birds are most 
 artificially treated. They are not allowed to go into the sunshine, 
 lest it spoil the whiteness of the face. They are kept in a high 
 temperature in order to develop the facial appendages to the 
 greatest possible degree, and to prevent the combs being frost- 
 bitten. The result has been, as far as regards the useful properties 
 of the bird, that it has become stilted, small in size, weakly in con- 
 
 Spanish Cock, aftek M. Jacque. Spanish Fowl as now Exhibited. 
 
 stitution, and almost useless as a layer. The most prolific black 
 Spanish, that were formerly to be found in many farm and stable 
 yards, are things of the past. The show birds are so useless that 
 no one but fanciers will keep them, and as profitable poultry the 
 breed has passed out of existence ; in fact, so few are now kept 
 that in many of the poultry shows no classes are inserted for them 
 in the schedules. The extraordinary development of this breed in 
 fancy characteristics, combined with its extinction as a useful fowl, 
 is the natural outcome of the present system of competitive shows 
 for fancy poultry. This opinion of mine regarding the influence of 
 
MINOBCAS. 33 
 
 shows on the Spanish as useful fowls is one that I have long main- 
 tained. Writing in the year 1869 I stated " Whatever competitive 
 shows may have done for other breeds, they have certainly materi- 
 ally lessened the value of Spanish as useful fowls. In the place of 
 the large, prolific, hardy breed which was formerly known under 
 that name, we have a smaller race, very leggy, and feathering 
 with such slowness that chickens are often seen in prize pens 
 that have not produced their tail feathers. In fact, the useful 
 qualities of the race have been neglected in breeding for face 
 and ear-lobe." 
 
 In commenting upon my remarks on this breed in my introduc- 
 tory chapter, the late Mr Nichols, a trustworthy authority, writing 
 in the Stochkeeper, maintained that I had overstated the case against 
 the present race of Spanish fowls, that the prize winner that I had 
 described as being absolutely sterile had really laid one egg, and 
 that the breed was not as delicate as I alleged, as he had kept high 
 class show birds in an open shed during the past winter, the cock 
 having suffered no further injury than the loss of part of his comb 
 and the ends of his toes. I expressed my thanks to the writer 
 for his correction of my statements ; but whether a hen lays one 
 egg or none, is not of great importance' as regards profitable 
 poultry. Nor can I regard the hardihood of a breed as demon- 
 strated by the fact that a cock only loses part of his comb and the 
 ends of his toes during the winter. 
 
 MiNOECAS. 
 
 In the south-west of England, particularly in the counties of 
 Cornwall and Devonshire, a black fowl related to the Spanish is 
 very frequently to be seen in the farmyards and around the home- 
 steads. This is the Minorca, a larger and more profitable fowl 
 than its more aristocratic relative. The Minorca, as it existed a 
 few years ago, was a larger, more compact, shorter legged bird 
 than the Spanish, infinitely more robust and hardy. The face, 
 unlike that of the last-named breed, was red, the ear-lobe only 
 being white. The Minorca is a non-incubating variety, laying an 
 abundance of large white eggs. The hens rarely, if ever, sit ; and 
 the pullets, if hatched early and well fed during the winter months, 
 can be depended upon for a supply of eggs during the cold weather. 
 As egg producers, as distinguished from table birds (for as market 
 
34 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 fowls they have slight value, though, of course, useful for home 
 consumption), it is doubtful whether any breed would excel the 
 old farmyard Minorca. At the present time it has, unfortunately 
 for its economic value, got into the hands of the poultry fanciers, 
 and at the shows classes for Minorcas are large and well filled. 
 It is needless to say that the egg-producing qualities cannot be 
 recognised in the show pen. What is bred for is, first and fore- 
 most, an unnaturally large, regularly toothed, and upright comb, 
 which is 3in. or 4in. high in the cocks, and immaculate white ear- 
 lobes in both sexes. The elevation of the Minorca into the dignity 
 of an exhibition breed is, in the interests of profitable poultry 
 keeping, much to be regretted, for in the course of a few years they 
 will probably have rivalled the Spanish in their sterility and use- 
 lessness, and we may hear of Minorca hens like those of the 
 Spanish breed, taking first prizes that have never laid more than a 
 single egg. The eifect of the show system on this most useful 
 breed was very plainly set forth at a recent meeting of the Exeter 
 Poultry Society, when Mr. J. Physick gave his experience of 
 eighteen years with the Minorcas, and showed how they had been 
 changed from short-legged, square-bodied useful birds, into 
 others which possessed, to use his own words, " the long shanky 
 legs of the modern show game fow;l," with large ear-lobes and 
 enormous combs. 
 
 Andaltjsians. 
 
 Another breed of the Mediterranean type, differing mainly in 
 colour from the Minorca, is that known as the Andalusian. It was 
 formerly of a slatey-grey, blueish tint ; but as now exhibited it is 
 required to be shown with a dark lacing or edging round each of 
 the breast and body feathers. Allowed a free range, and bred 
 from parents that have not been reared in close confinement, as is 
 the case with large numbers of show fowls, Andalusians are most 
 profitable layers of large white eggs, rivalling the Minorca in 
 this respect. The pullets when hatched early are good winter 
 layers, and had as much trouble been taken in breeding from the 
 most prolific instead of from the best-feathered hens, it is doubtful 
 if any breed would have been more advantageous as egg-pro- 
 ducing fowl. 
 
D 2 
 
m 
 
 H 
 B 
 
 o 
 
 W 
 
 I 
 
LEGHORNS. 37 
 
 Leghorns. 
 
 Another breed, which obviously originated on the shores of the 
 Mediterranean, is the Leghorn, which was first known as a yellow- 
 legged, white-plumaged variety. The Leghorn is also a non-sitter, 
 and a most prolific layer of white eggs. It has lately come 
 into greater fashion as a show fowl, and various colours have 
 been developed in the plumage. The so-called brown Leghorns 
 have been made by crossing with black-red game, and recently a 
 breed, with much white in its composition, called Pile Leghorns, 
 and other colours, such as Buff and Cuckoo, have been produced. 
 Leghorns are generally smaller than the Minorcas or Andalusians. 
 
 The engraving is a very accurate representation of the first 
 trio of White Leghorns which were imported to this country by 
 myself in 1869. Not having been bred for show points, they were 
 most prolific, and promised to become a very useful addition to 
 our egg-producing breeds ; but, having been raised to the dignity 
 of an exhibition fowl, more attention has been paid to their white 
 ear lobes and serrated combs than to their prolificacy. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 NON-SITTING AND OTHER VARIETIES. 
 
 Hambtogs. 
 Under the general name of Hamburgs, several distinct, though, 
 allied, varieties of fowls are now exhibited. They are called the 
 gold and silver pencilled, the gold and silver spangled, and 
 black Hamburgs. The pencilled birds were originally imported 
 from Holland, and were called pencilled Dutch, or Dutch every- 
 day layers ; they were also known as Chitteprats, and by various 
 other local names. On the Continent they are known as Campines. 
 In this breed each feather is marked by several transverse bars of 
 black on a lighter ground, which is white in the silver and bay in 
 the golden pencilled breed. The pencilled Hamburgs are small 
 fowls, and, when young, the hens lay so well as to merit their title 
 of " every-day layers." Nevertheless, they are hardly adapted for 
 use as profitable poultry, inasmuch as their eggs are too small to 
 have good market value, and the birds, though plump, are not 
 large enough to furnish first-rate market poultry. Both breeds are 
 deUcate, and subject to colds and roup, which delicacy has been 
 greatly increased by close inter-breeding for exhibition purposes. 
 
 The birds now termed spangled Hamburgs were formerly known 
 in the North of England under two distract names — ^Lancashire 
 Moonies, from the large moon-shaped marks on the ends of the 
 feathers of the hens, and Pheasant Fowl, from their supposed 
 derivation from a cross with the pheasant — a theory which has no 
 foundation in fact, the hybrid between the pheasant and the fowl 
 being sterile. Spangled Hamburgs were formerly extensively kept 
 in Lancashire and Yorkshire ; they are larger and hardier than the 
 pencilled varieties, and much less subject to roup. They used to be 
 regarded as possessing great merit as egg-producers, although 
 their eggs are not as large as those of the Mediterranean breeds ; 
 but for many years they have been exhibited solely for accuracy 
 of marking in the plumage and correctness of form in the comb ; 
 
POLISH. 39 
 
 in the exhibition birds no account has been taken of their egg- 
 producing properties, which have consequently greatly deteriorated. 
 Beautiful as the breeds unquestionably are, it is doubtful whether 
 they equal the best of the Mediterranean varieties as profitable 
 fowls. The breed which is termed the black Hamburg has 
 probably been made by crossing with the Minorca or Spanish ; it 
 is now an established exhibition variety, and is bred for fancy 
 points. It is, however, larger, more hardy, and a producer of 
 larger eggs than the spangled varieties. 
 
 Polish. 
 
 The title of Polish as applied to fowls is another misnomer — 
 at least, if it is used in a geographical sense — as no such birds 
 are known in Poland. The birds which are so designated are 
 distinguished by large tufts of feathers on the head, the presence 
 of which is always accompanied by a remarkable alteration in the 
 structure of the skull, and a deficiency of the bones of the nose. 
 These so-called Polish are old breeds, the ancestors of which may 
 be seen in the paintings of the older Dutch animal painters, 
 such as Hondoketer and others. Doubtless the frugal Dutch 
 selected the most prolific egg-producers for stock ; but when the 
 Polish became exhibition fowls in England, the selection of 
 the largest-crested birds for brood stock, those that would be most 
 successful in the show pen, was always followed. Hence the size, 
 stamina, and egg-producing properties of these breeds have been 
 very greatly deteriorated. The black Polish with white crests are 
 now so delicate as to be absolutely worthless, and the large spangled 
 varieties have lost for the most part their size and prolificacy. As 
 farmers' fowls the Pohsh have never been regarded as of high 
 value, their feathered crests interfering with their sight, and 
 rendering them liable to run under the heels of horses and cattle, 
 and fall into danger of all kinds. Moreover, from the deficiency of 
 the bones of the skull, the slightest blow on the top of the head 
 is fatal. One advantage certainly the Polish possessed, that of 
 exceeding plumpness ; and there is no doubt that the best French 
 table breeds, viz., Houdans, Crevecceur, and La Fleche, owe their 
 good qualities in great part to their having' been derived from the 
 old crested breeds that so often figured in the paintings of the 
 old Dutch artists, and then to being bred by the frugal French 
 housewives for their market value alone. In this country, where 
 
40 FOVLTBY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 the show Polish have been bred solely for fancy points, they have 
 become utterly worthless as farm poultry. 
 
 Other Vabibties. 
 
 There remain several varieties of fowls known to the fancier, and 
 more or less frequently exhibited at our shows, which hardly call 
 for any detailed notice in a work devoted exclusively to market 
 and egg-producing poultry. Such are the black-skinned, black- 
 boned Silky fowls, characterised by a white downy plumage, 
 which contrasts strongly with the black combs and skin. These 
 birds are not without their value, as furnishing the best of all 
 possible mothers for rearing pheasants and other small game 
 birds ; but as farmers' fowls they are infinitely worse than useless, 
 as the introduction of a single bird into a farmyard will lead to 
 the production of cross-breeds, which, although perhaps neither 
 black in the skiii nor silky in the plumage, have black bones and 
 layers of black tissue between the muscles, rendering them unsale- 
 able as table poultry. It is true that these birds are exceedingly 
 good eating ; but if a purchaser unexpectedly finds a streak of 
 black in the meat on the breast, and black bones in the bird he is 
 carving, he is apt to attribute it to disease, and to send away the 
 fowl untasted. 
 
 Frizzled fowls, in which the feathers curl away from the body, 
 "onstitute a most unprofitable breed, inasmuch as the rain, instead 
 of running off the plumage, passes down to the skin ; and the birds 
 thus exposed to the influence of the weather are bad layers and 
 exceedingly delicate. 
 
 Eumpless or tailless fowls are curious varieties, which are not 
 valuable as market birds, and which have a disposition to lay 
 unfertilized eggs. 
 
 Eed-Caps may be regarded as Spangled Hamburgs in which the 
 combs have been developed to an enormous size, so that they do 
 not balance on the skull, but fall over to one side. This develop- 
 ment of comb can only be secured by the expenditure of a certain 
 amount of nourishment ; and as combs are not valued as food in 
 England, the production of so much animal matter, which is not 
 appreciated, is a useless waste. 
 
 Bantams of all kinds are so purely fancy fowls that they may be 
 dismissed without further notice. 
 
 Some few remarks should be made on the exceedingly mixed 
 
OTHEB VAlilETIES. 41 
 
 assemWage of birds which are called barndoor fowls; In many 
 parts of the country these were formerly characterised by a strong 
 infusion of game blood, arising from the general habit of breeding 
 Game cocks, and the fact that in many of the old leases that were 
 drawn up, when cock fighting was not an illegal amusement, a 
 clause was inserted that each tenant should '' walk " a cock for the 
 proprietor of the soil. 
 
 In the south-western counties of England, the common fowls 
 show the effect of the introduction of birds from the Mediterranean, 
 and others from India, which were introduced by the ships from 
 those countries touching at the seaports, or being wrecked upon 
 the shore. Before the era of poultry shows, farmyard birds were 
 generally selected for their profitable characteristics. The figure 
 of the domestic cock in the " British Birds " of the inimitable 
 Bewick, which is reproduced on page 4, shows what these birds 
 were before they were deteriorated by crossing with fancy varieties. 
 In some instances the introduction of good breeds, such as 
 Dorkings and Indian Game, amongst the small farmers and 
 cottagers, by the landed proprietors, has resulted in the farm- 
 yard birds being greatly improved. In other cases much injury 
 has been done by the introduction of fancy varieties ; and it is 
 difficult to imagine a proceeding more ridiculous, or which has 
 proved a greater failure, than the collection of show breeds for 
 the improvement of the poultry of the Irish peasants that was 
 carried into effect some few years siace by one of the Irish news- 
 papers. 
 
OHAPTEE XI. 
 IMPROVING PARM POULTRY. 
 
 Iw our farmyards and homesteads may be seen, not unfrequently, 
 a very considerable number of ordinary fowls of no particular 
 breed, that have neither been selected as prolific egg layers nor 
 carefully bred as poultry for the market. They are of all ages 
 aad sizes, having been not unfrequently seriously deteriorated 
 by the introduction of two or three bantams, which have been kept 
 for the amusement of the mistress or children. It is needless to 
 sa,y that these poultry do not pay, and, even if they have the waste 
 food of the farmyard, are hardly to be regarded as remunerative. 
 The question which presents itself is whether this stock is capable 
 of improvement without going to the expense and trouble of 
 clearing off all the birds and beginning afresh. 
 
 A short time since I had the following letter sent me, which 
 expresses the requirements of many besides the writer. Speaking 
 on behalf of himself and others, he says : " We want to know how to 
 improve our poultry without being obliged to clear out, and we wish 
 to know whether pure or cross-bred are the best all-round fowls for 
 heavy land farms ? The birds we require must lay well, kill well, 
 be very hardy, and range well, be good mothers, and sit well, as we 
 waat them to hatch ducks and guinea fowls as well as chickens. 
 What cockerels had better be turned down with seventy to eighty 
 hens, which originally were Brahma-Dorkings, but for the last few 
 yeirs have been bred in and in, and before then crossed twice 
 with Dorkings — as feathered legs won't do on cold wet clay land. 
 We want good winter layers, not very early chickens." 
 
 To improve the stock of an ordinary farmyard, where the fowls 
 have deteriorated from in and in breeding often carried on for 
 s )me years in succession, a very remorseless sacrifice of the waste 
 birds must be made. In the first place, all the male birds, young 
 and old — more especially the latter — must be got rid of, sold, 
 eaten, or even given away, for not one of the males should be 
 
IMPROVING FARM POULTRY. 43 
 
 allowed to remain. The hens should then be all caught, carefully 
 
 sorted, and only those hatched in the last season and the season 
 
 before being retained, as they are the only prolific layers. It is 
 
 all very well for those who are breeding for feather or fancy points 
 
 to keep, for stock purposes, old hens in which these qualities 
 
 are well marked, but for farmers and others who breed for eggs 
 
 and chicken for the market to do so is unadvisable. In addition 
 
 to the old birds, any small hens that were hatched either Tcry late 
 
 or very early in the season should be remorselessly killed and 
 
 eaten, as they are never good layers, nor will they produce 
 
 vigorous chicken. In this way all the cocks and the worst of the 
 
 hens should be weeded out. Now comes the question as to the 
 
 breed of the new cocks that are to be introduced. Generally 
 
 speaking, a short-legged, square-bodied Dorking will be found to 
 
 answer the purpose very well, but in some cases — as that of the 
 
 correspondent whose letter appears above — ^Dorking blood chiefly 
 
 prevails, and then it would be desirable to cross with a totally 
 
 different strain. Let me caution all farmers to avoid introducing 
 
 either Cochins or Brahmas. It is true a large increase in size will 
 
 result, but coarseness of bone, and scarcity of meat on the breast, 
 
 wiU be inevitable. A good close-feathered Indian Game, or an 
 
 old-fashioned short-legged fighting Game, furnishes a very good 
 
 cross, or a good Surrey or Sussex cockerel, such as are reared 
 
 for the higglers, would be most useful. 
 
 Three or four cockerels would be amply sufficient for seventy or 
 eighty hens ; but in such a case it would be better, if it could be 
 conveniently managed, to place in a large separate grass run some 
 half dozen or dozen of the best short-legged, fine-boned, close- 
 feathered hens with one of the cocks, and hatch all their eggs, 
 thus ensuring breeding from the best. G-reat care must be taken 
 that the birds are all in the most vigorous condition. The cross- 
 breeds will be hardy, good layers, good sitters and mothers — 
 qualities possessed by most cross-breeds, but certainly by those 
 bred from Indian game and farmyard fowls. To utilise these 
 birds in the best manner, all the cockerels should be killed off 
 when ready for the table, not one being left ; and the old cocks 
 should also be got rid of, sold, or exchanged— which they may be 
 if tbere are any other farmers in the neighbourhood who rear 
 their fowls on common-sense principles. 
 
 If the old cocks are retained they must necessarily breed with 
 their own pullets, and loss of size and strength is the result. 
 
44 POULTRY FOB. TABLE AND MABEET. 
 
 It may be said that this changing of stock birds is a trouble. 
 Grranted ; but I do not know any good results in any pursuit that 
 are to be obtained without trouble. 
 
 It may be asked, are not the young cross-bred cockerels worth 
 breeding from ? They most certainly are, but not with their own 
 sisters and mothers. If it is wanted to breed from the cross-breds, 
 there must be an exchange with another farmer, or two distinct 
 lots must be kept on different parts of the same farm. 
 
 I fully believe in the desirability of setting aside a cock and 
 eight or ten of the best hens to lay eggs for hatching, either in a 
 large inclosed grass run or at a neighbouring cottage. I also 
 think it desirable to vary the breed of the stock of birds year after 
 year, as the continual crossing has the effect of giving not only 
 increased size, but great vigour and fertility. 
 
 The utility of this plan is recognised by all practical breeders for 
 the , markets, and I have much pleasnre in quoting from a recent 
 volimie of the "Agricultural Book of Scotland," in which the 
 editor controverts the suggestion of one of his contributors, who 
 recommended the introduction of fancy stock into farmyards, and 
 writes: "Brahmas and Cochins are miserable birds for the table, 
 and a cock of either breed will spoil a whole farmyard — coarse 
 legs, coarse bones, coarse skin, and, in proportion to the large coarse 
 legs, shallow breasts. But great improvements in the stock of 
 birds ordiaarily found in homesteads may be effected by turning 
 down every year a full-chested, meaty cock, which may be a Surrey 
 fowl, Dorking, Indian Game, or tke old-fashioned English breed ; 
 but the young half-bred cockerels should all be killed, and a fresh 
 old bird introduced every year, the breed being altered from that 
 of the last season." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 HOUSING. 
 
 The first consideration in keeping poultry is the accommodation that 
 has to be afforded them. Where they are bred for market it is 
 obvious that expensive poultry-houses, fitted with the requirements 
 of the fancier for keeping his birds distinct, are inapplicable. 
 What is really required in a poultry-house is a sufficient space for 
 the perches and the nests. As poultry-houses are usually con- 
 structed, the perches run from side to side, each one being higher 
 than the preceding, the back one reaching nearly to the roof. The 
 perches are put in this position because persons have observed that 
 the fowls always prefer ascending to the highest level — a habit 
 which is obviously derived from the instinct which leads them to 
 ascend to the higher branches of the trees, so as to escape their 
 natural enemies, such as foxes, jackals, and other terrestrial beasts 
 of prey. A fowl roosting a considerable height in a tree descends 
 by flying down in a very oblique line, so as to alight at some con- 
 siderable distance, consequently its fall is not rapid, and it does 
 not strike the ground with violence ; but when it roosts on a high 
 perch in a house, it cannot fly down, but has to drop nearly per- 
 pendicularly, and consequently comes with great violence to the 
 ground, not unfrequently, in heavy specimens, breaking the keel of 
 the breast bone, and inducing disease of the feet by the force with 
 which they strike the earth. These are not the only evUs that 
 arise from this absurd, though exceedingly common, arrangement 
 of the perches. All the fowls wish to go to the top perch, and 
 fight for the possession of it, the weaker being knocked off aad 
 often injured. These evils may be entirely avoided by placing 
 all the perches on one height, which should not be more than 4ft. 
 from the ground. The fowls can then descend without injury ; 
 and any individual one that may be required is easily captured 
 at night, after they have gone to roost. 
 
 When low perches are used, care must be taken that there are 
 no beams or rafters above, on to which the fowls can fly, or they 
 will invariably try to do so. In case these exist and cannot be got 
 
46 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 rid of, access to them must be prevented by the use of coarse wire 
 ■work or lathing. 
 
 In small narrow poultry-houses it is customary to make the 
 perches reach from side to side, so that it is difficult to gain access 
 to those at the back. If they are all placed on one level, a much 
 better arrangement is to leave a broad passage up one side, the 
 ends of the perches next to it resting on a horizontal bar, which is 
 supported by one upright in front and by the back of the house 
 behind. This leaves a path up one side, along which the laying- 
 boxes or nests can be placed upon the ground, in a position that does 
 not expose them to be soiled by the birds that are perching above. 
 
 When fowls are weakly bred they often become crooked in the 
 breast. Most persons imagine this to arise from the use of small 
 perches ; no idea can be more fallacious. If fowls are allowed to 
 roost in the trees like pheasants, they will always be observed to 
 select the smaller branches on which to rest. These they can 
 grasp securely by the toes, and are not ia danger of being blown 
 ofE by the wind. In fact, as a fowl sinks down upon its breast 
 bone to roost, the toes close around the branch, which is thus held 
 securely — an action which anyone may imitate by extending the 
 legs of a dead fowl, placing the toes around the finger, and then 
 pressing it towards the body, when they will be found to close 
 around and grasp the finger. Boosting in this way, the fowls rest 
 upon the feet quite as much as upon the breast bone ; but placed 
 on a broad, flat perch, such as is frequently employed, this is 
 prevented. The whole weight of the bird comes upon the keel of 
 the breast bone, which, if the fowl is weakly, is apt to be rendered 
 crooked by the pressure. 
 
 In many farmyards and homesteads it will be found much more 
 advantageous to allow the birds to roost where they like, in cart- 
 sheds, unused barns, trees, &c., if in these places they are safe from 
 pilferers. Roosting out in the open air gives them much finer 
 health and condition than when shut up in the close, stifling, foetid 
 atmosphere of an ill-ventUated, dirty poultry house. But, as these 
 conditions are not always available, it is necessary in the majority 
 of cases to form a house of some kind or other ; an unused stall 
 in a stable makes a very good house for a small number of fowls. 
 A sheK formed of loose flat boards may be placed over the manger, 
 and the perches put a few inches above them. The manger itself 
 may be divided into two or three nesting places, being filled with 
 moist earth, covered with a little short, soft straw; the boards 
 
HOUSING. 47 
 
 above receiTe tlie droppings from the perching fowls, and these 
 can be removed daily with a small short-handled hoe. 
 
 If fowls are to be kept in health, they must have sweet, wholesome 
 places to roost, in. Eggs hatch very badly in a foetid atmosphere ; 
 and those which are hatched in a house do not, on the average, 
 produce so large a number of chickens as those under hens that 
 nest out in the open air, nor are the chickens so vigorous. 
 
 Cleanliness — without which there can be no purity of the air — 
 is an absolute necessity in a well-managed poultry house. The 
 surface beneath the perches should be covered with some material 
 that can be removed at least twice a week ; dry mould will answer 
 the purpose very well, or ashes from the house. Some of the most 
 successful poultry keepers have adopted the use of peat moss litter. 
 Whatever is employed, the manure should be removed frequently, 
 so as to keep the house perfectly sweet and wholesome. For this 
 purpose also openings for ventilation should be made; but care 
 should be taken that a direct draught does not blow upon the birds. 
 They can stand the cold and wind in winter, when roosting in the 
 open air, as well as pheasants and peacocks ; but they are amenable 
 to the Spanish proverb, which says : 
 
 If the wind reach yon throngh a hole, 
 Go make your will, and mind yonr sonl. 
 
 A poultry house, to keep it clean from vermin, should be lime- 
 whitened, once or twice a year, with wash made with freshly slaked 
 lime — to which it is desirable to add carbolic acid, which will be 
 found most destructive to the insects. This lime wash should not 
 merely be spread on the external surface, but directed, as far as 
 possible, into the cracks and joints of the perches, nest boxes, &c. 
 
 "Unless there is ample provision for the fowls to dust themselves 
 under some dry shed, a dusting bath may be placed in the house, 
 although it is preferable outside ; but wherever it is put it should 
 be kept dry. Any shallow box open at the top answers the purpose 
 very well, and it should be filled with fine ashes from the house. 
 The fowls will not be slow to avail themselves of the advantages 
 it offers to throw dust in between their feathers to get rid of the 
 vermin which naturally infest them ; although it is only badly fed, 
 badly managed fowls that live in dirty houses, where the fleas and 
 lice breed in myriads in the unchanged nests, that become badly 
 infested. A fowl swarming with vermin is an indubitable proof of 
 the bad management to which it has been subjected. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 FEEDING. 
 
 The cost of maintaining fowls that have a free run in a farmyard 
 of mixed husbandry is very small, for they supply themselves 
 with a considerable j)roportion of their food — not merely without cost, 
 but with advantage to the owner, inasmuch as they pick up grain 
 and seeds, which, if carried into fields with the manure, produce 
 plants that can only be regarded as weeds. The amount of food 
 that fowls gain in this way cannot be accurately estimated ; it 
 depends entirely on the character of the farm. If thrashing is 
 going on continuously, very little food is required to be given ; at 
 other times it must be supplied with a more liberal hand. Those 
 fowls which require to be supported entirely by hand (excepting 
 the food that they obtain for themselves in the fields or orchards) 
 should be fed at least twice a day. This feeding is generally very 
 badly managed. A measure of com is taken out and thrown down day 
 after day in the same spot. The fowls scramble for it, the stronger 
 drive away the weaker, the old cocks chase the young ones, and the 
 food is picked up off ground covered with fowl dung, and is eaten 
 in a filthy, unwholesome state. When I see fowls fed in this way, 
 it reminds me of the mode of feeding human beings in some Oriental 
 prisons, where the food is thrown down on the floor reeking with 
 unutterable abominations. Jail fever amongst the human, and 
 disease among the feathered bipeds, are results not to be surprised 
 at. The idea of causing fowls to eat corn defiled with their own 
 excrement is to me repulsive in the highest degree ; and it is, I know 
 from experience, most injurious to the health of the birds. 
 To feed fowls properly with grain, they should not be fed at the 
 house door, but out in the open, and the corn scattered among the 
 grass as widely as possible. Not a single grain will be lost ; the 
 fowls will search for it until every one has been found; and, instead 
 of filling their crops in an unnatural manner and to an undue 
 fulness, they will have had exercise in collecting their food, which 
 
FEEDING. 49 
 
 is taken gradually and in an advantageous mode, much more in 
 accordance with nature. 
 
 Fowls, if they are to jDroduce eggs or to get in high condition, 
 should he well fed. They should twice a day have nearly, hut not 
 quite, as much as they can eat. No intermediate feeding should 
 be allowed — no throwing out of waste house scraps at uncertain 
 times; for if this is done and the fowls are accustomed to it 
 they will hang about the house, and run after anyone they 
 see emerge from the doorway, in place of wandering about the 
 fields seeking and gaining a considerable quantity of food for 
 themselves. 
 
 The kind of food that should be given to the stock birds in a 
 farmyard will depend upon the grain which is cheapest at the time 
 and most easily obtained by the proprietor. Small tail com, small 
 barley, cannot be utilised better than by giving it to the birds. 
 Foul and musty corn, however, should not be used, inasmuch as it 
 imparts a bad taste to the eggs, and to the flesh of the growing 
 chicken. Green food should hardly ever require to be given, 
 because the fowls should only be kept under such conditions that 
 they can obtain it for themselves. Small potatoes, boiled and 
 mixed with a certain proportion of bran, or, still better, sharps, 
 pollard, or middlings, so as to be able to be formed into balls of a 
 friable character, furnish very admirable food for the stock, and 
 may advantageously form the whole of one of the everyday meals. 
 If light oats are given to fowls they are much better relished if 
 previously soaked in water, when the lightest are eaten. I am 
 convinced that the practice of always giving dry hard corn is not 
 advantageous, for neither pheasants nor fowls could obtain such 
 food in a state of nature. The seeds that they would get would 
 be almost always more or less moist; and the closer we can imitate 
 the natural condition of things the better. Fowls would progress 
 more advantageously if, instead of giving them hard, dry com, 
 which frequently swells in the crop, and produces " crop bound," 
 they were given moist corn, scattered so widely that they could 
 only obtain it grain by grain. 
 
 At the piresent price of maize, it is often advantageous to use it as 
 a portion of the food for fowls ; but it contains a larger percentage 
 of fatty matter than any other grain, and, if given abundantly, is 
 far too fattening for laying hens. It may, however, be used 
 partially in winter with very great advantage. It is not adapted 
 for fattening for the table, inasmuch as it produces a soft, yellow, 
 
 E 
 
50 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 oily fat, in place of the firm, whitened flesh that is required by the 
 first-class poulterer. 
 
 As the conditions under which fowls are kept are so Tariable, it is 
 impossible to give an accurate estimate of their cost. It may vary 
 from even less than half-a-crown a head per annum in farmyards 
 of mixed husbandry, where thrashing and horse-teeping is going 
 on, to 5s. or 6s. a head where they are entirely hand-fed. Nor 
 can the quantity of food to be given be definitely stated, as when 
 laying or moulting fowls require extra food to supply the materia 1 
 for the production of eggs and feathers. Laying hens may be 
 observed after rain walking about the fields late in the day to 
 obtain the large earth worms which then come to the surface, 
 these they refuse at other times. The best rule is to feed the 
 stock twice a day with nearly, but not quite, as much as they wil 1 
 eat. Soft food, except for utilising small potatoes or roots, is not 
 required for the ordinary stock. 
 
CHAPTER XIT. 
 HATCHING. 
 
 In the majority of poultry Louses the nests are made in boxes, 
 raised from, the ground in rows placed on shelves, and packed as 
 closely as possible in tiers one above the other. These nest boxes 
 are furnished with straw or hay. It is difficult to conceive a more 
 unsatisfactory arrangement ; the nests are so dry that the eggs fail 
 to hatch. The sitting hens are packed so closely together that in 
 a short time they swarm with fleas and vermin. As in all other 
 circumstances connected with stock, the nearer we can imitate the 
 perfect arrangements of nature the better. The nest of a hen or 
 pheasant is naturally placed on the damp ground, where the eggs 
 are exposed to the changes of the weather previous to the hen 
 sitting upon them ; yet, unless inundated by water arising from 
 the rainfall, they rarely fail to hatch. The frosts of early spring, 
 the showers of April, the alternations of temperature in day and 
 night have no evil effect upon them. They hatch much more success- 
 fully and produce much more vigorous chickens than the eggs of 
 the poultry-fancier that are carefully packed away in drawers filled 
 with bran, and kept at an even temperature until placed under the 
 hen. The closer we follow nature the better. Our nests, like hers, 
 should be upon moist ground. If the hen is not liable to be dis- 
 turbed, and we want early and vigorous chickens, the best plan is 
 to leave the eggs untouched in the nest, and let the hen warm 
 them up every time she deposits a fresh one — in plain words, to 
 leave her alone altogether. But this, unfortunately, is not often 
 practicable. Hens are fond of laying where others have laid before, 
 and consequently we are compelled to alter the natural mode of 
 procedure. Our artificial nests, however, should always be made 
 on the damp ground. A bushel of ordinary mould thrown into a 
 corner or against the wall, and surrounded with a few bricks to keep 
 it in position, or placed in a shallow box or half-sieve market basket, 
 forms the best foundation for a nest for poultry. A handful of 
 
 B 2 
 
52 POULTRY FOR TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 short straw can then be taken, and with it the mould rubhed 
 round into a slight hole, which, with the straw, constitutes an 
 admirable nest. 
 
 If many hens are set in the same house, some contrivance is 
 necessary for the purpose of preventing their being intruded upon 
 when sitting ; for a strange hen trying to force her way into the 
 nest of a sitting hen is almost certain to result in the breaking of 
 the eggs, and consequent loss of chickens. 
 
 When it is ascertained that a hen has become decidedly broody, 
 the eggs can be given to her at night, each one being marked with 
 a ring made round it, or by crosses on the opposite sides, so that 
 if, by any accident, another egg is laid in the nest, it may at once 
 be seen and removed. If the hens are confined in the nests by 
 coops or wire work, they should be taken off at a regular hour 
 every day, abundantly supplied with food and water, and watched 
 until they return to the nests — a proceeding which it is necessary 
 to do to avoid two hens going on one nest, and breaking the eggs. 
 Most poultry rearers have the erroneous idea that the chickens will 
 be killed if the hens are absent so long a time that the eggs 
 become cold, and are very fidgety as to the return of the hens on to 
 the nest after a short period. This anxiety is entirely misplaced, 
 as the eggs may be allowed to become cold vsdthout injury to the 
 vitality of the chickens. This is especially the case in the early 
 stages of incubation. 
 
 The fresher the eggs that are used for hatching the better. None 
 should have been laid more than ten days, or a fortnight at the 
 outside. The number of eggs placed under a hen usually varies 
 from ten to fifteen. In cold weather it is exceedingly desirable not 
 to put so large a number under the hen that the outer are merely 
 covered with the feathers. When only a proper number are given 
 they are actually in contact with the naked skin of the breast of 
 the hen, and not with the feathers alone. This fact may readily 
 be ascertained by putting the hand on the eggs under a quiet hen, 
 when the warm skin of the breast will be found in contact with 
 them. 
 
 Should the hen on coming ofE the nest not be allowed to go out 
 into the open and dust herself, a box filled with dry ashes should 
 be provided in the hatching house. 
 
 On the seventh day after setting the hen, the eggs should be 
 tested, and those that do not contain chickens removed. The most 
 simple egg-tester is made out of a piece of cardboard ; the cover of 
 
HATCHma. 
 
 53 
 
 an old book answers very well. An oval hole should be cut in it, 
 not quite large enough to allow an egg to pass through, and if the 
 cardboard is white, one side should be inked or painted black. 
 The eggs are more con- 
 veniently removed from 
 the hen at night, or if in 
 day they should be taken 
 into a room from which 
 daylight is excluded. A 
 single lamp only should 
 be used. The cardboard, 
 with the darkened side 
 towards the nbserver, 
 should be held near the 
 chimney of the lamp, 
 and the eggs one after 
 another, should be held 
 against the hole. Those 
 that contain chickens 
 will be observed to be 
 quite dark and opaque, 
 except at the larger end, 
 where theair-space exists. ' 
 These should be replaced 
 under the hen. Those 
 that have not been fer- 
 tilised, and are consequently sterile, are sufficiently transparent 
 to allow the light to pass through, and look as fresh eggs 
 would if examined in the same manner. Such eggs are usually 
 termed "clear." These clear eggs are perfectly good to eat 
 but it is preferable to save them for the food of the chickens 
 when hatched. Throwing them away is a wasteful proceeding. 
 
 If two or three hens are set upon the same day, and all the eggs 
 examined at the end of a week, it will be found advantageous, if 
 many are clear, to give all the fertile eggs to one or two of the 
 hens, when a fresh batch of new-laid eggs may be placed under the 
 other. It is a most uneconomical mode of proceeding to set a 
 single hen in the early spring, when perhaps a considerable number 
 of the eggs will be clear, and allow her efforts at hatching to be 
 rewarded with one or two chickens, when by setting several together 
 full clutches may always be ensured. 
 
 Method of Testing Eaas. 
 
54 potjltry fob table and market. 
 
 In placing eggs tinder hens, very foolish mistakes are often made 
 as to their selection. The eggs taken should be of the average size, 
 neither too large nor too small. The largest eggs often contain 
 two yolks, and rarely hatch, or, when they do so, produce deformed 
 chickens, or birds with extra wings or legs ; and the smaller eggs 
 show that the vitality of the hen is lessened during the time they 
 are being formed. Eggs with thin shells — which can often be 
 detected by their external appearance — should never be placed 
 under- a hen; they are certain to be broken and soil the others. 
 Those with any irregularity of shell should invariably be rejected. 
 I do not think in all my experience that I have ever known an egg 
 with an irregular shell — such as a ridge round the centre, or any 
 other irregularity — to hatch ; although I confess to having tried 
 the experiment many times when breeding from birds that were 
 valuable. 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances, the eggs hatch on the same day 
 three weeks as they were placed under the hen. No interference 
 with them during the period of hatching is desirable. Poultry 
 keepers, especially breeders of valuable fancy birds, are very apt 
 to be meddlesome with the eggs at hatching time ; they cannot 
 resist the temptation of taking them out from under the hen, 
 seeing how they are hatching, removing the empty egg shells, 
 enlarging the openings which the chick makes for itself, when 
 they generally wound some of the blood vessels of the skin, which 
 are not yet closed, and do far more harm than good. I am firmly 
 convinced that the lives of many chickens are sacrificed by undue 
 interference for every one that is saved by any aid that is given. 
 The chicken has on the tip of its bill a little hardened point, by 
 which it cuts off the top of the shell by blows from the inside, and 
 thus liberates itself. If it is too weakly to do this, it is not likely 
 to be of much value, or ever to develop into a good bird. When 
 hens and pheasants hatch out in the open, it is rare, as I have said 
 before, that they do not bring off a fuU strong clutch, without any 
 interference on the part of their owners. 
 
 At the present time many persons are ia the habit of employing 
 incubators in the place of broody hens. There is no doubt that 
 good incubators are valuable additions to a poultry yard where 
 many chickens are raised. I have used them myself with very great 
 success and advantage. In a well- constructed incubator fully as 
 many chickens can be hatched from a given number of eggs as 
 under the best sitting hens ; but it must be one in which the 
 
HATCHING. 55 
 
 natural conditions of hatching are fully observed. These are — a 
 lower temperature below than above, as the ground on which the 
 nest of a hen is naturally made is colder than the breast of the 
 bird ; a moist atmosphere, similar to that arising from the damp 
 ground ; pure air, such as the hen is surrounded with when 
 hatching in the open; and a well regulated heat above, which 
 never under any circumstances exceeds the requisite temperature. 
 I have only seen one incubator that fulfils all these conditions, 
 and that is the one known as Hearson's. I have carefully tested 
 it for some years in work, and have found it perfectly successful. 
 It is so ingeniously constructed, that a rise of temperature over 
 the amount at which it is set cannot possibly occur, however high 
 the flame of the gas or lamp may be turned. Its reliability may be 
 inferred from the' fact that a modification of it is used in the 
 maternity hospitals for delicate newly born infants, and another in 
 pathological laboratories for developing bacteria and microbes. 
 
 Incubators in which the hot air from the lamp, charged with 
 carbonic acid, and the deleterious products of combustion, is 
 allowed to pass over the eggs, are necessarily injurious. In these 
 the impurity of the atmosphere is most detrimental to the young 
 unhatched chick, which breathes through the pores of the shell 
 In other contrivances the heat is supplied intermittently by means 
 of boiling water, added twice or thrice every twenty-four hours, 
 In these the temperature varies so greatly as to be fatal to success. 
 
 A very interesting description of the system pursued in Trance, 
 of hatching ordinary fowls by hen turkeys, was given a few 
 years ago by Mr. G. L. Sutherland in his report to the Eoyal 
 Commission on Agriculture. In this he says : " At Houdan, in 
 the Seine-et-Oise, which I visited on the 26th of March, 1880, the 
 poultry-breeding industry may be seen in full force. Houdan 
 fowls alone are kept, and it is calculated that the pullets, when 
 well fed, will commence to lay at five months old. The majority 
 of breeders adopt the plan of placing twenty-five fowl's eggs under 
 a young turkey hen. When it is desired that the turkey hen shall 
 commence to sit, be it in January or June, she is placed in a 
 suitable box almost entirely covered by a board, and some dummy 
 eggs are put under her. She is generally kept in the dark. She 
 soon takes to the dummy eggs, which are then removed, and 
 twenty-five fowls' eggs are placed beneath her. She is taken off 
 the eggs once a day to feed, and carefully replaced, not on the eggs 
 but in front of them, and she then, after the manner of turkeys. 
 
56 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MABKET. 
 
 carefully hooks them underneath her with her beak. When the 
 chicks are hatched they are removed from under her, to be sold or 
 sent off at once, or to be brought up by another turkey hen, which 
 is perhaps an indifferent sitter, and which, in lieu of sitting, has 
 from eighty to a hundred chicks given her to bring up. Orders 
 are kept on hand for these chicks (jpoussins) , which, within twelve 
 hours of being hatched, are despatched all over France in well 
 ventilated boxes holding from twelve to twenty each, and at the 
 following prices, viz. : One dozen, 12«. ; twenty-five, 22s. bd. ; fifty, 
 44s. ; one hundred, 80s. The hen turkey which hatches out the 
 chicks is then provided with twenty-five more eggs, upon which she 
 at once sits, and this process I was assured was carried on six, 
 seven, and eight times in succession. Toung turkey hens are 
 preferred to old ones for the purpose. Such a thing as a coop is 
 rarely to be seen. In the morning, as soon as it is light, the doors 
 of the sheds in which the young chicks with their foster-mothers — 
 indifferently sitting turkey hens — have passed the night are thrown 
 open. The inmates are driven out mostly by old women with long 
 poles, who conduct the whole lot gently into some covert, or along 
 the country lanes, where the chicks can find plenty of insect life, 
 the old ladies sitting with their work and keeping careful watch 
 over their charges." 
 
 The poultry-breeders who have adopted the same system in this 
 country, speak in unqualified approval thereof. They claim that 
 not only can a turkey hen cover twice as many eggs as an ordinary 
 hen, and care for three times the number of chickens, but that 
 they are more reliable both as hatchers and brooders, and that they 
 are less affected by the weather. 
 
 In France chickens are hatched in large numbers by incubators, 
 and also by turkey hens, for the purpose of being sold within 
 a few hours of their hatching, as they travel very fairly in small 
 boxes, with air holes for ventilation. When we remember that 
 during the natural hatching months of April, May and June a 
 hen can take charge of a much larger number of chickens than she 
 usually hatches, the sale of young chickens for making up the 
 deficiency of small broods appears a plan that could be usefully 
 followed in this country with advantage to both sellers and 
 purchasers. 
 
OHAPTEE XT. 
 REARING THE CHICKENS. 
 
 The cMckens, when hatched, should be allowed to remain undis- 
 turbed under the hen until the following day. Some persons 
 remove them as fast as they are hatched, putting them in a flannel- 
 lined basket near the fire. No plan can be more injurious. It is 
 impossible to supply the exact temperature of the hen which is 
 natural to the chickens, and the continued chirping of the young 
 birds when removed^ — suffering, as they do, from a temperature 
 either too cold or too hot — may be regarded as an indignant 
 protest against the unnatural ti'eatment they are receiving. When 
 returned under the hen, they will be found to rest perfectly quiet. 
 
 They require neither food nor drink at the period of hatching, at 
 which time the remains of the yolk are drawn into the body of the 
 chick, and pass into the intestines, constituting the first food of the 
 young bird ; and any interference with its due digestion by putting 
 other food into the crop is injurious. The custom formerly j)re- 
 valent, of cramming a few grains of large corn, barley or wheat, 
 down the throat of a newly-hatched chicken, is as absurd and 
 irrational as it is possible to conceive. On the day after the 
 chickens are hatched they will be found to be perfectly dry, 
 strong, and vigorous. They should then be removed from the 
 nest with the hen, and placed in some dry, sunny, warm situation ; 
 and the contents of the nest, which is certain to contain some fleas, 
 should be immediately removed from the hatching house and 
 destroyed. 
 
 Cooping is generally had recourse to, and where many fowls are 
 present it may be necessary ; but, there can be no doubt that the 
 use of coops is far from being an unmixed benefit : a cooped hen 
 has no power of scratching for the food for her young ones, and 
 they have to depend altogether upon "what is given them by the 
 owners ; moreover, the ground under the coop becomes foul and 
 tainted, and during the night the chickens are breathing air which 
 
58 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 is contaminated with the odour of the excrement of the hen and 
 of themselves. If the coops are closely shut up, as is often the 
 case, the atmosphere before morning becomes positively foetid. To 
 rear strong, healthy chickens tinder the circumstances is difficult, 
 if aot impossible. Then, again, the coops that are constantly to be 
 seen in farmyards are as ill-contrived as it is possible to imagine. 
 They are often made like the roof of a house — two ends and one 
 side being closed, and the other with horizontal bars. It is difficult 
 to imagine a worse prison in which a hen and chickens could be 
 confined ; it affords but little protection from the weather, is heavy 
 to move, and gives the hen no opportunity of scratching. A much 
 better plan of cooping the hen is to place her in the first instance 
 in a small movable run. Contrivances of this sort are sold by all 
 the poultry appliance makers, but they are too expensive for the 
 ordinary rearer. They can, however, be quickly extemporised by 
 putting a box or coop in the middle of an unrolled coil of wire- 
 work, which can readily be moved on to fresh ground day after 
 day. If put out on grass, it will be found particularly desirable to 
 imitate the practice adopted so advantageously in pheasant rearmg, 
 namely, to mow the grass for some little distance round the coop, 
 so that the young chickens are not wetted by the dew before it is 
 ofE in the early morning. This should be done some short time 
 previously, so that the young leaves of grass and tender clover may 
 be growing for the use of the young birds. 
 
 It is frequently, however, inconvenient to use wirework in this 
 manner, in which case I can strongly recommend the plan of 
 tethering the hens with chickens, as adopted in many instances by 
 pheasant rearers. The hen should be fastened by a piece of string 
 to a peg driven into the ground, and an open, sheltered coop should 
 be placed near her, under which she can retreat at night and during 
 rain. The coop should not be put so close to the peg to which 
 the hen is attached that she can walk round it, but near the limit 
 of her cord, so that she can pass in and out, but not round the 
 back. There are very few gardens where vacant spots do not exist 
 on which hens with chickens may be tethered. Not the slightest 
 injury would arise from placing one over newly-planted potatoes 
 which have not yet come up, on spots where beds will be made for 
 vegetable marrows, or between the gooseberry or currant bushes or 
 raspberry canes. In fact, there is no large garden without many 
 open spots where a hen could be pegged down from day to day 
 without doing the slightest injury to the vegetation. Under these 
 
BEARING THE CHICKENS 59 
 
 circumstances she will be able to scratch the surface of the ground, 
 and supply her young with the seeds, grubs, worms, and natural 
 food which is so much more advantageous to them than any 
 artificial substitute that can be given. The little chickens, even 
 when two or three days old, will be observed scratching for them- 
 selves, and the progress that they make when reared under these 
 conditions is out of all proportion to that made when the hen is 
 kept cooped up, and the birds are fed on the hard, soiled, dirty 
 ground. 
 
 But there is a right way and a wrong way of doing everything. 
 If the hen is simply secured by a piece of string tied round her 
 leg, she will pull against it, and the leg or upper part of the foot 
 may be injured. She should be secured by a proper jess, such as 
 is used by falconers. A piece of thin, flexible leather, about Sin. 
 or 9in. long by lin. broad, should be taken, and two short 
 slits and a hole cut in it, as shown in the diagram, which is 
 one-half the required size. The part between A and B should be 
 placed roimd the leg of the hen, the slit A being brought over B, 
 ^hen the end C should be passed through both slits, care being 
 taken that it goes through A first. It should be pulled right 
 through, when it will be found to make a secure loop round the leg 
 of the hen, which she can neither undo by picking nor tighten by 
 pulling. The cord of the requisite length is then tied to C, and 
 fastened to a peg driven in the ground, which, as I have said 
 before, should be put a suflBcient distance from the coop to allow 
 
 the hen to take shelter in it in case of need. A hen pegged down 
 in this manner will become perfectly accustomed to the circum- 
 stances, and will proceed to scratch for her chickens in a very few 
 minutes. The advantages to the young birds from being on fresh, 
 sweet ground and obtaining natural food cannot be over-stated. 
 The hen commands a sufficient space of ground to prevent it 
 becoming soiled, and she can be shifted day after day as often as 
 required. 
 
 When it is noticed how securely the hen is confined to the place 
 where she is tethered, the most fastidious gardener will hardly 
 
60 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MABKET. 
 
 object to her being temporarily located in his domain. The fact 
 is that the hen and chickens will do much more good than harm, 
 as the destruction of grubs, insects' eggs and larvae, far more than 
 counterbalances any evil that the birds could possibly do. 
 
 Placing chickens under these circumstances on garden ground is 
 iax better than putting then in coops out on the grass, as, although 
 they get fresh air under these conditions, they are not supplied 
 with any great amount of insect food. 
 
 The first food that is usually given to a young chicken is chopped 
 hard-boiled eggs. This is a very wasteful method of procedure. 
 The yolk, it is true, is eaten, but the white in this hard-boiled 
 condition is not relished, and is consequently allowed to remain 
 exposed to the sun and air until it gets quite horny. A much 
 better plan is to take an egg (one a day will be found quite 
 sufficient for each brood, unless it be a very large one), beat it up 
 with a wineglassful of milk, and set it into a soft custard, either 
 by putting it into the oven or stirring it in a saucepan over the 
 fire. This is the most advantageous artificial food that can be 
 given to young chickens, and is certainly preferable to any other 
 that can be employed. It contains all the nutritive matter of the 
 egg, in addition to that of the milk, and is infinitely superior to 
 curd, which is often recommended, as that does not even contain all 
 the nutritive principles of the milk. I am confident that, by the 
 use of custard for the first few days, a larger number of chickens 
 can be reared than by employing any other substance. It is easily 
 prepared and easily given ; and if the clear eggs that have been 
 removed in testing those under the sitting hens are used it may be 
 said to be almost without cost. 
 
 At the experimental farm at-Ottawa, in the Dominion of Canada, 
 poultry are reared and made the subject of close observation ; in 
 the report for 1889 we are informed that experiments were made 
 as to two methods of feeding the young chickens — one with dry 
 food composed of hard-boiled egg and breadcrumbs, the other 
 with bread put into milk and squeezed nearly dry before being 
 used. This latter, as might be expected, was found by far the 
 better of the two ; but I doubt whether it supplies sufficient animal 
 food for the very young birds, and should add to it an egg beaten 
 up vrith an equal quantity of milk, and stirred till set over the fire, 
 or cooked in the oven. The clear eggs removed from the nests 
 answer well for this purpose. 
 
 In situations where ants' eggs can be obtained in quantity, they 
 
BEARING THE CHICKENS. 61 
 
 may be used, and will be found most advantageous. Gentles, or 
 flesb maggots, are not unfrequently employed, but unless they liave 
 been well cleansed they are apt to purge the young birds. The 
 best mode of utilising the dead bodies of any animals is not to 
 hang them up in the fowl run and allow the maggots to drop on 
 the ground — an exceedingly offensive as well as undesirable pro- 
 ceeding — ^but to allow the animal matter to become thoroughly fly 
 blown (which it will in two or three days in summer), and then 
 to bury it in the ground in some situation to which the hens with 
 their broods have access. The maggots, on arriving at maturity, 
 endeavour to reach the surface of the ground in order to change 
 into flies ; the hens discover this, and by continued scratching find 
 a constant supply of insect food for their young. 
 
 In addition to custard, made as above described, bread and milk 
 may be given to the young chicks, or some of the best sweet oat- 
 meal mixed with milk; but I am strongly in favour of using small 
 whole seeds for the chicks in preference to, or at all events in 
 conjunction with, meal or grits. In whole seed, such as canary, 
 millet, dari, or small wheat, the vitality remains, and the seed does 
 not become rancid or pungent; but, when crushed, the germ is 
 killed, and the meal, being exposed to the air, becomes rancid, 
 unless it is kept exceedingly dry, and in this rancid condition it does 
 not furnish good food. All those who use that most wholesome 
 food, oatmeal, for porridge know the difference between freshly- 
 ground meal and such as has been prepared for any length of time, 
 even a few weeks. Then, again, a large proportion of the 
 most nutritive and bone-forming materials exists in the husk of 
 the seed, which are got rid of when ground into meal. The 
 objection is sometimes made that meal is more easily digested than 
 the seeds ; but those persons who say so overlook the fact that the 
 young chicken is provided with a most efficient mill, in the form of 
 its gizzard, for grinding up its natural food, and it is more desirable 
 that this organ should be properly exercised than that it should be 
 inactive. Untouched grain or seeds have their contents protected 
 from the air, and the embryo is in a fresh, living, and growing 
 condition. If these seeds are moistened and exposed to the air, 
 they do not become rancid like meal or grits, but commence to 
 grow. The starch of the seed is converted into sugar, and becomes 
 soluble and in the best possible condition to support the growth of 
 the young plant or of the young chicken that eats it. These facts 
 induce me to believe that the use of small seeds, such as canary 
 
62 POULTRY FOE TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 seeds, millet, and dari, is more advantageous than the employment 
 of oatmeal, often pungent from age, or grits, which were possibly 
 decorticated some months before, would be. Pheasants and fowls 
 in a wild state are not supplied with ground seeds for food, and 
 they are more healthy than such as are reared artificially. 
 
 Mr. Bevington, one of the most sucaessful rearers of table fowl, 
 writes to me as follows : "I give you the greatest credit for putting 
 me up to using canary seed for rearing my chickens ; I never had 
 such strong healthy chicks as I had this year. I can safely say I 
 have not lost 3 per cent, of my chickens hatched under hens. I 
 have only lost one young turkey, and that broke its leg." 
 
 In place of the ordiaary oatmeal, which is not always fresh, 
 Mr. Bevington prefers fresh ground oats mixed with milk, both for 
 his young stock and for fattening. 
 
 I have tried the experiment of rearing chickens without giving 
 them meal or ground corn at any period of their lives. They had 
 from the first a little custard for a day or two, with canary seed, 
 which I regard as a most valuable food ; then dari, which is much 
 relishted, and equally valuable ; and small wheat. The hens were 
 allowed, as mine always were when practicable, a free range ; and 
 I never had a finer set of healthy, vigorous chickens, which grew to 
 a large size, and were most admirable table fowl. 
 
 I need not say anything about the supply of green food for the 
 chickens, for if they are reared under circumstances such as I have 
 described, they obtain that for themselves, and I cannot conceive 
 anyone rearing poultry for the" markets who would find it desirable 
 to do so in situations where green food could not be obtained by 
 the birds when at large. 
 
 The keeping of poultry in confined runs may answer very well as 
 an amusement, and may be so condu,cted as to furnish an advan- 
 tageous supply of eggs for home consumption ; but as a mode 
 of raising fowls, even for the house, let alone for the market, 
 the idea of chicken.rearing in a limited space is not to -be 
 entertained. 
 
 It is needless to say that the young chickens must be well fed, 
 and at much shorter intervals than the old birds. If chickens are 
 allowed to run in the open, the attempt to feed them' by throwing 
 down food will attract the other fowls, and they will be trampled 
 on if the old birds are numerous, and will get a very small share of 
 the food. This evil may be easUy obviated by making a sort of 
 cage of wirework, or laths two or three inches apart, according to 
 
BEARING THE CHICKENS. 63 
 
 the age of the chicks, and throwing the food for the young chickens 
 under this. In this way they obtain a due supply of food without 
 being interfered with by the older birds. A circular wicker coop 
 will answer the purpose, but it is not large enough. I much prefer 
 a large wooden cage, with wirework on all sides. This should be 
 sufficiently light to be moved on to a fresh place each day, so 
 as to avoid the very objectional though too common practice 
 of making the birds pick up food off ground soiled by their own 
 excrement. 
 
 When chickens are reared in numbers and kept together at 
 different ages it will be found very advantageous to assort them 
 at feeding time, this is easily done by having two rolls of hexagonal 
 wire netting, one of 2in. mesh, the other of 3in., each of these is coiled 
 into a ring and the food for the young chickens thrown inside, the 
 ybungest only can get through the smaller meshed ring and feed 
 undisturbed by the older fowls, whilst the half-grown can pass 
 through the Sin. mesh ; these feeding rings can be of any required 
 size, and can be moved on to fresh ground as often as desired. In 
 using the two together the food for the youngest chicken should 
 be thrown into their wire inclosure first, then that for the half- 
 grown birds, and the old fowls fed outside. 
 
CHAPTEE XTI. 
 BREEDING EOR THE MARKET.-EG&S. 
 
 It is doubtful wlietlier a greater amount of nonsense has e^er been 
 written about any particular subject than that respecting the 
 supply of eggs to the English market. The large amount of 
 money that is paid annually to foreign countries for the eggs 
 consumed in England is simply a matter of ordinary supply and 
 demand. We buy eggs from the foreigner because we can obtain 
 them from him cheaper than we can produce them at home under 
 existing conditions. 
 
 In countries where laud is divided up into small holdings, and 
 there are hundreds and thousands of peasant proprietors and small 
 farmers, each of whom can keep a moderate number of fowls almost 
 without any cost at all, eggs are produced in great quantity, and 
 consequently are sold by the producer at a very low price. These 
 are brought by the wives of the producers into the weekly markets, 
 or are collected by the agents of the egg merchants, and are packed 
 in chests and shipped to England at prices lower than they can be 
 produced in this country. It is as senseless to bemoan the amount 
 that is paid to the Eussian and American for the whetit which is 
 absolutely necessary for the support of our population, as to bewail 
 the cost of the eggs which are imported into this countiy. 
 
 Short-sighted persons, regarding only the cost of fresh eggs 
 which the consumer living in large towns must pay, and not 
 recognising the small sums paid to producers in distant localities, 
 come to the conclusion that fortunes may be made by keeping 
 poultry on a large scale. How fallacious such a mode of 
 reasoning may be is proved by reading the returns of our 
 markets. In the Western Morning News of March 9, 1891, the 
 prices of English eggs in the market at Totnes were 7d. to 8d. a 
 dozen ; at Ashburton, 8d. a dozen ; at Kingsbridge, 9d. ; and at 
 Launceston, Bodmin, and Padstow, they were stated to be twenty 
 to twenty-two a shilling. In March, eggs are necessarily getting 
 
BliEEDING FOR THE MARKET— EGGS. 65 
 
 cheaper, as the fowls are daily becoming more prolific ; it is there- 
 fore obvious that it could not be in the interest of the producer to 
 keep them on hand — practically, therefore, they are all new-laid. 
 These prices in the open markets are, to say the least, worthy of 
 the consideration of all those who think egg farms likely to be 
 paying investments. There are certain localities, however, close to 
 large towns, or near fashionable watering places, &c., where the 
 demand for fresh eggs at certain seasons exceeds the supply, and 
 the price consequently ranges high. Under these circumstances it 
 may be desirable to keep hens for the supply of eggs rather than 
 for the production of chickens. If eggs exclusively are wanted, I 
 can recommend no breed better than the common farmyard black 
 Minorca, avoiding those that have been bred exclusively for fancy 
 points. If eggs are specially wanted in winter, early hatched 
 pullets alone can be depended on. If they are required during the 
 summer and autumn months, pullets hatched in May and June 
 will answer quite well. Of course, eggs will be produced much 
 more abundantly if the fowls have a free range and can supply 
 themselves with grubs, worms, and a large portion of their 
 own food. 
 
 It is singular to notice the difference in the appetite of the hen 
 when she is producing eggs and when she is not doing so. Thus 
 the large earthworms that come out on the grass after a mild rain 
 are greatly sought after and devoured by laying hens, but are 
 generally refused by them when they are not laying. Of course, 
 hens cannot be expected to lay or produce eggs without they 
 obtain the material out of which to form them. It is therefore 
 very desirable to feed the laying hens well, but the food should not 
 be too fattening. Maize, therefore, should be scantily employed, 
 except in winter, when it may form a portion of the dietary. If 
 the fowls have a free range — which they must have if they are to 
 be kept profitably — feeding twice a day 'is amply sufficient. At 
 these times the laying hens should be well fed, the food, for the 
 reason before stated, being scattered as widely as possible in the 
 grass. No scraps or other food should be given at mid-day, as is 
 often the custom, as this intermittent feeding leads them to hang 
 about the homestead in place of seeking their own food in the 
 open. 
 
 Under no circumstances should fowls be kept shut up in the fowl- 
 house till seven or eight o'clock in the day, as is often tbe case. 
 On the contrary, they should be allowed out in the open at day- 
 
66 POULTBT FOE TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 break, when they obtain a large number of -worms that have not 
 yet retreated into the ground. 
 
 When eggs alone are required it will be found much more 
 advantageous to keep pullets and young hens only, as they lay 
 much more abundantly during their first and second seasons than 
 they do subsequently. A relay of young pullets, therefore, should 
 always be provided. The age of hens, even if they are all of the 
 same breed and alike in colour, is easily marked by means of 
 rings of soft wire. The first year the pullets should be marked 
 with a single ring of wire placed on the right leg, the second year 
 one ring on the left leg, the third two on the right, the fourth two 
 on the left. These rings are practically costless, as with a pair of 
 cutting pUers they can be made at a nominal expenditure. 
 
 It is much better to get rid of the older hens at Is. or Is. 6d. 
 each than to keep them on as egg producers. I would recom- 
 mend, therefore, that all the hens should, at the end of the 
 second summer, before they come into moult, be disposed of — 
 eaten, sold, or even given away — rather than kept to lay eggs. 
 
 Care should be taken that the quality of the eggs produced is of 
 a high character. They should be perfectly clean ; and this can be 
 ensured by providing nests of clean, sweet straw. If the material 
 of which the nests are formed is mouldy, the eggs themselves 
 acquire a mouldy flavour — most offensive to the consumer ; and the 
 same result also follows the feeding of the hens on mouldy corn. 
 If the laying hens are fed upon fish refuse or fish biscuit, such as 
 is made for dogs, the eggs will acquire a bad flavour, which will 
 continue for some time after the food is discontinued. So easily 
 are eggs affected by the food that the yolks of the eggs laid by 
 ducks that have access to acorns are stained of a blackish colour 
 by the tannin of the acorn acting on the iron in the yolk. With 
 regard to the quality of the eggs as laid by different breeds, I have 
 never been able to detect any difference. Certain varieties are 
 sometimes recommended as being the layers of the most delicious 
 eggs ; but the quality of the egg does not depend so much on the 
 breed as on the feeding. Take poultry of any breed, feed them 
 well, under natural conditions, and the eggs will be of first-rate 
 quaUty. On the other hand, give them mouldy food and allow 
 them to lay in dirty houses, where the eggs become tainted by the 
 foul atmosphere, and they will be very inferior in character. 
 
 To obtain eggs with good thick shells, which render them more 
 safely conveyed from place to place, it is necessary to provide the 
 
BREEDING FOR THE MARKET— EGGS. 67 
 
 liens with the material of which the shells are formed. For this pur- 
 pose, in districts where there is but little lime or chalk in the soil, 
 it will be found exceedingly desirable to crush up oyster shells, 
 which will be most greedily devoured ; or bones may be given after 
 being crushed on a block with the back of a hatchet. These 
 latter are much relished, and are particularly advantageous as 
 furnishing a supply of animal food and calcareous matter at the 
 same time. 
 
 In some places far remote from towns it will be found more 
 advantageovis to preserve eggs for the use of the confectioner or 
 other large consumer than to force them into the market. Of 
 course, preserved eggs never command the price of those that are 
 freshly laid ; but they are of value, and realise a remunerative 
 return at the time of the year when eggs are most scarce. 
 
 Eggs should not be preserved by greasing them, but by placing 
 them in water made milky by stirring in some freshly slaked lime, 
 or packing them in dry salt. To ensure a successful result it is 
 absolutely necessary that the eggs should be put down immediately 
 they are laid, as those several days old do not admit of being 
 advantageously preserved. 
 
CHAPTEE XTII. 
 BREEDING FOR TPIE MARKET.-CHICKENS. 
 
 The best fowls ttat appear in the London markets are those 
 usually termed Surrey and Sussex fowls. They may be charac- 
 terised as being of the old-fashioned Dorking type, sometimes with 
 and sometimes without the extra toe. They are not bred by the 
 cottagers for fancy points, but for table purposes. These fowls 
 are bought by the higglers, who compete eagerly for them, often 
 bespeaking clutches long before they are fit to take away, and they 
 are either fattened by them or sold to the fattening establishments. 
 I have long maintained that for table purposes it is more advan- 
 tageous to breed cross-bred fowls than any variety that is now 
 known. I believe that a good short-legged Indian Game cock, or 
 one of the old English fighting game, crossed with Dorking hens, or 
 a Dorking cock with short-legged Indian or old English G-ame hens, 
 will produce plumper, heavier, and more meaty birds than the 
 pure Dorkings of the modern exhibition strain, that are bred for 
 size, feather, and comb, and not for plumpness of breast. I 
 have awarded the j)rizes at several of the shows of dead 
 poultry, including those at Birmingham and the Agricidtural 
 Hall, and I have always found these cross-bred birds superior 
 to any others that have been exhibited. At the Islington 
 Dairy Show of 1890 the first prize in the cross-bred classes, both 
 for cockerels and pullets, went to birds that were so bred. As I 
 awarded the prizes, I prefer taking the description of the fowls 
 that appeared in the Bazaar rather than giving my own account. 
 Speaking of the cross-bred birds, the writer says : 
 
 " The best pair were a cross between an Indian Game cock and a 
 Dorking hen. They were very white in the feet, very large, plump, 
 and full of quality. The skin was of a delicate texture and colour, 
 and they were all round a grand pair of table fowls. ... In 
 the pullet class the birds were produced from an Indian Game cock 
 and a Dorking hen. They were superb in appearance, colour, and 
 
BREEDING FOB THE MABKET— CHICKENS. 69 
 
 skin, quality of flesh, fineness of bone, and, if we except a slight 
 tinge in the colour of the feet, we should consider them very near 
 perfection." 
 
 At the Dairy Show of 1891 the prizes were awarded for weight, 
 quality and plumpness being apparently regarded as of less value ; 
 consequently, in the cross-bred classes fowls bred between the 
 Dorking and Langshan took the first prizes. With the co-operation 
 of Mr Titus Barham, then president of the Dairy Farmers' Associa- 
 tion, I was enabled to make a very satisfactory examination of 
 several of the fowls that received prizes in the classes for dead 
 poultry. Mr Barham and I shared the two pairs of pullets which 
 took first and second prizes in the cross-bred class. I regarded the 
 second prize pair, though smaller than the first prize birds, as the 
 best in the show, and far superior to the larger and coarser 
 couple which were placed above them. The two pairs were divided 
 between Mr Barham and myself, so that one of each should be 
 cooked together and tested on our respective tables, in order that 
 we might come to independent conclusions as to their merits. The 
 cross-bred Indian G-ameand Dorking that fell to my share weighed, 
 as it came from the show, 41b. 12oz.= 76oz._ When drawn and 
 trussed for roasting, the weight of the bird was 61oz. ; that is to 
 say, it had lost 15oz. of what may be termed offal — say, the feet, 
 neck, head, and intestines. This loss, disregarding fractions, was 
 one-fifth of its weight. 
 
 The larger pullet, that took the first prize, was bred between 
 Indian G-ame and Langshan ; its weight was 61b. 6oz. =86oz. After 
 being drawn and trussed for cooking, it weighed 66oz., having lost 
 during this process 20oz. of offal. In round numbers, it had lost 
 one-quarter of its weight — a much larger proportion than the cross- 
 bred Dorking. When tested on the table, there could not be the 
 slightest doubt as to which was the superior bird in quality. The 
 Dorking cross was better flavoured, more delicate and finer in tex- 
 ture, than the other — altogether a superior bird in quality and 
 also in the quantity of flesh upon the breast. Mr Barham tested 
 his at his own table, and his guests were all of the same opinion — 
 which decision they came to quite irrespective of any knowledge of 
 the verdict that was given in my establishment. 
 
 The difference in the value of the birds was further shown in the 
 weight of the bones, which were separated and weighed one against 
 the other after cooking. Those of the Langshan cross were larger 
 and heavier than those of the Dorking. I do not know any experi- 
 
70 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 ment that could hare been conducted more satisfactorily. These 
 two pairs of birds, fortunately for the comparison, belonged to the 
 same exhibitor, Mrs. Fricker. They had both been fattened and 
 treated in precisely the same manner. They wei'e killed (after 
 having been duly fasted, so that they were perfectly empty of 
 food) by piercing the brain through the roof of the mouth, and 
 the blood had been allowed to escape. They were well plucked 
 and carefully trussed, so as to make good marketable fowls. 
 
 The second prize pair were one of the best-looking couple of pullets, 
 as to quality and plumpness, that I have ever seen at an English 
 show, and, had anything but weight been considered, should have 
 received the medal for the best pen exhibited. 
 
 Since testing the merits of these pullets I have tested practically 
 another Langshan half-breed, also from the Dairy Show. Its loss 
 in being prepared for cooking was one fourth of its weight. The 
 bird being older, the quality of the flesh was not equal to that of 
 the first one examined, and the breast bone had a narrow keel, so 
 that it could not carry a large amount of flesh. 
 
 The Langshan cross may give size, and make large, hardy, useful 
 chickens for the family, but I do not think that it will ever produce 
 a first-class table fowl for the market. 
 
 In the ofiicial report on the dead poultry exhibited for 
 competition at the show of the Dairy Farmers' Association, 1892, 
 it is stated : " The judge (Mr. John Baily) is convinced that there 
 is no fowl equal to the Dorking pure." The value of this remark 
 may be inferred from the fact that the medal for the best entry of 
 dead poultry exhibited in the show was awarded by Mr. J. 
 Baily to Miss Gubbins, of Cork, for cross-bred fowls between the 
 Indian Game and Dorking, bred in the manner I have advocated 
 for so many years. 
 
 The cross of the Cochin or the Brahma with the Dorking, though 
 giving increased size, neither improves the quality nor the 
 amount of flesh upon the breast. The result is a coarser bird, well 
 adapted for home consumj)tion, and possibly for some markets, but 
 it is never so fine in the bone or so plump iu the breast as the 
 cross with the Old English or Indian Game. 
 
 Mr. Bevington tells nie that he thought he had improved on the 
 laying qualities and hardihood of the birds as fanners' stock, by 
 breeding from these cross-bred Brahma-Dorking hens with Indian 
 Game cocks, as he had many of their chickens doing well in 
 January, and he regarded them as hardier and faster growing 
 
BREEDING FOB THE MARKET— CHICKENS. 71 
 
 than those bred from Indian game and pure Dorking, but he 
 adds : 
 
 " Alas, the Brahma cross will come out, and all the birds I have 
 exhibited this year have lost first honours by reason of the 
 coarseness which arises from the Brahma. ... I am very 
 interested in the improvement of table poultry in this neighbour- 
 hood, and, indeed, everywhere. I think I have tried almost every 
 known breed and cross, and I have now settled down to the firm 
 conviction that the very best table poultry are produced by 
 crossing large, heavy, short-legged Indian Game two-year-old hens 
 with active short-legged, plump-breasted Dorking cocks. 
 
 " For improving the poultry of the district, the plan I go upon — 
 and I find it answers well — is to give out settings of eggs to any 
 farmers or cottagers who may want them ; and they give me back 
 one chicken out of every brood when four months old. By this 
 means they are put to no immediate outlay — to which they 
 strongly object ; they gradually improve their stock, and get birds 
 worth sending to market, instead of the miserable things that are 
 a reproach and a byword to the county of Essex." 
 
 I have seen very good results from crossing the ordinary Malay 
 with the Dorking, and have had occasion to give prizes to such 
 birds, but the Malay is too long on the leg to breed a very first-class 
 table fowl, and is certainly not to be preferred to the Indian Game 
 for this purpose. 
 
 The Azeel, or true Indian fighting cock, is, perhaps, the most 
 plump and meaty bird- that exists. Its drawbacks, from its com- 
 bativeness and want of fertility, I have already spoken of, but the 
 excellence of its cross with the Dorking cannot be denied. Where 
 it is employed, an Azeel cock should always be run with Dorking 
 hens, the size being in all cases dependent on that of the female 
 parent. 
 
 Many of the recently introduced breeds are vaunted by their 
 owners as possessing first-class qualities as table fowl, but it is 
 remarkable that they rarely put in an appearance at the competi- 
 tions of dead poultry that are held, and, when they do, they are 
 usually relegated to a very inferior position. The best of the 
 Asiatic breeds as a table bird is undoubtedly the Langshan, but a 
 farmer would be rexy ill-advised who would breed it for market 
 purposes. The same . may be said of the recently manufactiu-ed 
 breeds, the Wyandottes, Orpingtons, Plymouth Eocks, and others. 
 The latter, though useful all-round birds for family purposes, 
 
72 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MABK^T- 
 
 are not sufficiently plump, and too brilliantly yellow in the skin, 
 to make good table fowl ; consequently they are not esteemed by 
 the fatteners. 
 
 The preparation for the market varies considerably, according to 
 the circumstances under which the fowls are reared. Some persons 
 may find it more advantageous to sell their birds privately, others 
 to the higglers who buy for the fatteners ; and in some instances it 
 will be more profitable for the rearer to fatten his own birds. 
 
 It is needless to remark that chickens intended for the table 
 must be kept in good condition during the whole of their lives. 
 No subsequent treatment can make the poorly fed chickens, which 
 are brought over in large numbers in crates from Ireland for the 
 use of the fatteners in England, into table-fowl at all equal in 
 merit to those which are reared by the peasants and small farmers 
 in Sussex and Surrey, and are bought at a much higher price by 
 the fatteners. The latter are generally good table breeds, which 
 cannot be said of the Irish birds ; but, setting that advantage 
 aside, there is a great superiority in the chickens that have been 
 well fed and developed during every period of their lives, over the 
 half-starved, tough, and skinny birds which have been treated 
 differently. 
 
 The determination of the age at which chickens should be shut 
 up in order to be fattened for the table is a point of very great 
 importance, if first-rate results are required. The general rule is 
 to shut up the cockerels " as soon as their tails begin to turn " — 
 that is, as soon as the two long central tail-feathers overtop the 
 straight feathers of the tail — and the pullets before they have laid. 
 
 The object of these directions is evident ; as soon as the young 
 birds begin to exercise their reproductive functions, they cease to 
 be first-class table poultry. It is quite true they are edible, bat 
 they are not birds that one would wish to place before a gourmet ; 
 nor will they command the highest price in a good market ; and, 
 what is still more to the point, not only is the quality lessened, but 
 the quantity, in proportion to the amount of food consumed, is 
 seriously interfered with, for the birds cease to grow or fatten 
 at the rate they did previously. 
 
 It is not generally known that by keeping each sex not only 
 apart, but absolutely out of sight of the other, both the cockerels 
 and pullets may be grown to a much greater size than usual, 
 without the quality of the flesh being deteriorated. If the young 
 cooks are separated as soon as their sex can be distinguished, and 
 
BREEDING FOB THE MARKET.— CHICKENS. , 73 
 
 removed out of the sight of the hens, they do not become hard and 
 coarse, but grow to a larger size than they otherwise would. I am 
 not recommending that they should be shut up in small runs or 
 pens, but that they shoiild be kept quite apart, and even out of 
 hearing of the other sex. If this is done, the severe and painful 
 operation of caponising is quite unnecessary ; in fact, it is not 
 generally performed, even on the finest birds exhibited at the fat 
 poultry shows held in France. 
 
 Keeping the sexual proclivities in abeyance by separation is 
 sometimes practised with regard to Gold or Amherst Pheasants. 
 These birds, as every rearer of them is aware, are most pugnacious, 
 the males killing not only one another, but also the females. 
 Nevertheless, a score of G-old cocks in full plumage may be kept 
 in one inclosure, affording one of the most gorgeous sights in the 
 animal kingdom, provided only that the whole of the males were 
 put together whilst chicken, and had never been allowed to associate 
 with the hens. Under these circumstances they live peaceably, 
 but the introduction of a single hen would be the signal for the 
 commencement of a " battle royal," from which it is probable 
 not a single bird would emerge alive. 
 
 If a corresponding plan is adopted with poultry, the young cocks 
 <;an be kept until late in the season, or even far into the new year, 
 without deterioration, but, on the other hand, with great improve- 
 ment as regards size. 
 
 The same remarks are true, mutatis mutandis, with regard to the 
 iens. A fowl that has laid an egg is herself edible, but cannot for 
 & moment be compared to a pullet that has not laid; the quality, 
 tenderness, and sapidity of the flesh of the latter are greatly 
 superior. Hence those pullets that are intended to be fattened 
 for the table should not be allowed to run promiscuously with the 
 other birds in the poultry yard ; if first-class poulards are required, 
 they should be separated. 
 
 It may be said that this separation of the sexes in poultry is too 
 much trouble to be generally followed. This may be true, but in 
 many places where large numbers of poultry are reared for home 
 consumption or the market, it could be done without any great 
 increase of trouble, and the improvement in the birds would 
 amply repay that which was necessary. 
 
 To those who rear for their own tables, and have facilities for 
 carrying these suggestions into effect, I can strongly recommend 
 them ; but they must take the strictest precautions that the birds 
 
74 PUULTBT FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 are separated, before they have manifested any sexual procK- 
 vities. 
 
 This advice has been confirmed by the experience of breeders 
 who have evidently raised Game fowls for the table or for other 
 practical purposes. Mr. J. S. Turner, writing on the subject in 
 he Stockkeeper, says : 
 
 " I noticed Mr. Tegetmeier's article, and it struck me some 
 of your readers might be interested in our experience of the 
 subject. My father has kept black-red Game for years — the old- 
 fashioned short-legged sort. They are splendid table fowls, much 
 meat and little bone, and when killed and hung in their feathers 
 for a week or two equal pheasants. We do not care to begin 
 killing them till November, by which time the young cockerels 
 would probably have saved us the trouble by killing each other if 
 left with the hens. We don't wait for their tails to turn in, but as 
 soon as we can distinguish cockerels from pullets, the former 
 are all sent to an off farmstead, where there is not another chicken 
 within a mile of them. We had about sixty this year. A few of 
 the best we generally sell for breeding, the rest we kill as wanted, 
 and hang from a fortnight to six weeks. We began killing this 
 year the beginning of November, and they were as tender as spring 
 chickens up till the end of March. For any man who has an off 
 place for cockerels there is no better breed than the old Game 
 as table fowls." 
 
 No stronger confirmation of the utiUty of separating the sexes 
 could be required. With regard to Game fowl, which are so 
 admirable as table fowls for home use, though rather small for the 
 market, the great objection has been their tendency to fight ; this, 
 however, is entirely obviated when the cockerels are kept away 
 from the hens. In contrast with the good quality of the separated 
 game cockerels, Mr. Turner stated that a number of Andalusian 
 cockerels running with the hens, though younger than any of the 
 Game, " were as tough as leather " when brought to table. This 
 would not have been the case had they also been separated, as 
 they would have been tender, although far inferior in plumpness 
 and flavour to the Game. 
 
 An interesting experiment was tried after the Ishngton Dairy 
 Show held in 1890. After the awarding of the prizes, Mr Tim. 
 Bevington, one of the successful competitors, secured no less than 
 eight of the prize birds, in order to test their merits on the table. 
 These birds were carefully cooked, and constituted the pieces de 
 
BREEDING FOB THE MARKET— CHICKENS. 75 
 
 resistance at a dinner wliicli was given at a well-known literary 
 club. The whole of the birds may be described as very magnifi- 
 cent specimens of first-class table poultry. Their size may be 
 inferred from the fact that one of the members of the club, seeing 
 these roast chickens on the table, inquired, " What are you six 
 fellows doing to want eight turkeys for your dinner?" As one 
 of the party who carefully tested the merits of these birds, to which 
 I had previously awarded the prizes, I can testify to the fact that 
 in quality of flesh the cockerels of Mr. Bevington, that had not 
 been put up to fatten, but that had been separated from the hens 
 in the manner recommended, were certainly sujserior in succulence 
 and flavour. The birds were fat enough to take prizes in a very 
 severe competition, and I certainly preferred them to others, which 
 I had placed higher in the prize list, as I had to award the prizes 
 to tJiem as market as well as table poultry. It is hardly necessary 
 to say that they were well bred, being crossed between the Dorking 
 and Indian G-ame. 
 
 The value of the cross between Indian G-ame and Dorking has 
 been maintained for some years by Mr. C. L. Sutherland, who rears 
 all his table fowl from, these breeds ; but, as the Indian Game hens 
 are not remarkable as layers, he prefers running Dorking hens 
 with Indian Game cocks, when he finds the great majority of the 
 chicken come with white skin and legs. These cross-bred birds are 
 close-feathered, handsome fowls, good sitters and mothers, and, 
 like most cross breeds, very good layers, the eggs being of a pale 
 bufE colour. 
 
CHAPTER XYIII. 
 FATTENING. 
 
 The house in wliicli poultry are fattened should be free from 
 draughts of cold air, and kept at a moderately warm and uniform 
 temperature. Quietude being especially desirable, the house 
 should be so situated as not to be accessible to the fowls at liberty'; 
 and it should be partially darkened, if possible. It is also impor- 
 
 O r» n n n i-i 
 
 a 
 
 ■^-^j^o—'i* 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 Fia. ]. 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 Details of Fattening Coop. 
 
 rig. 1. End view of Coop and Trough. Fig. 2. Sliding Bars in place of doors. 
 
 Fig. 3. Feeding Trough. Fig. 4. End of Bottom Bar, showing its shape. 
 
 tant, in the highest degree, that it should be perfectly dry, as it 
 is scarcely necessary to add that a fowl suffering from cold and 
 inflammation is not likely to fatten. 
 
 The fattening coops should be 2ft. Gin. or 2ft. Sin. high in front, 
 and about 2ft. deep, with a boarded roof sloping backwards ; the 
 
FATTENING. 77 
 
 back and ends should be closed, and the bottom made of flat bars 
 with rounded edges, 2in. wide at the top and narrower beneath, so 
 as to prevent the droppings sticking to the sides. These bars 
 should run from end to end of the coop (not from back to front), 
 and they should be 2in. apart on the upper sides. The front of 
 the coop should consist of rounded bars Sin. apart, and two 
 rods connected together below, and sliding through holes made 
 in the roof, will be found more secure than a door. Before 
 the front should run a ledge to support the feeding troughs, 
 which are best made by joining two pieces of wood at a right 
 angle and securing the ends by letting them into grooves in 
 stout end pieces. 
 
 The fattening coops should stand on legs to raise them a con- 
 venient height from the ground, so that the droppings may fall 
 on a loose board and be removed daily; or each may have a 
 shallow drawer underneath, which is daily filled with fresh earth. 
 In cold weather the front should be covered up with matting or 
 some other warm material at night. 
 
 The length of the coop must depend on the number of fowls 
 that it is required to contain, but it is never advisable to place 
 more than ten or a dozen together, to have the coops divided 
 into short lengths, each to contain only half a dozen fowls, is much 
 more advisable ; and if strange fowls are put up, care must be 
 taken that they agree, as otherwise the constant excitement 
 would prevent their fattening. 
 
 It occasionally happens that fowls are infested with lice to such 
 a degree that they become irritable and refuse to fatten ; in these 
 cases, a little of the flowers of brimstone dusted under the feathers 
 before cooping them, immediately expels the vermin. 
 
 The fowls when first cooped had better be left some hours with- 
 out food. By this time they will have become very hungry, and 
 will eat with avidity ; whereas, if food is placed before them on 
 their first imprisonment, they often refuse it for some time. The 
 best food for them is coarse oatmeal or ground oats mixed with 
 scalding milk ; barley meal is good, but not equal in its fattening 
 properties to ground oats ; this is evident from the fact that the latter 
 contains 61b. of fat in every hundred, barley meal only 21b. Maize 
 meal is not advantageous, for it produces an abundance of yellow, 
 oily fat not desirable in a market fowl. The birds should be fed at 
 regular intervals. The first meal should be given very early — at 
 five o'clock in the summer, at daybreak in winter ; the second at 
 
78 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 TLOon, tlie last just before dusk. Discretion should be exercised in 
 the quantity given. It should be fully as much as the fowls can 
 eat, and no more. Should any be left from one meal to another, 
 it should be thrown out to the other fowls, the troughs scalded out, 
 and fresh food given. Great care should be taken to prevent the 
 troughs becoming sour. In order to do this they should frequently 
 be scalded and dried in the sun. 
 
 If it is considered desirable to use any animal fat, the hard 
 trimmings of loins of mutton will be found most advantageous. 
 They should be chopped up and mixed with the meal before the 
 scalding liquor is poured on ; or, still better, may be boiled in the 
 liquor before it is poured over the meal. A supply of clean water 
 and some coarse sand or fine gravel are necessary. Many persons 
 omit the latter ; but, as the due grinding action of the gizzard 
 cannot go on without it, it is most conducive to the proper digestion 
 of the food. In places where the millers prepare the finest flour, 
 usually known a.s " pastry whites," they have a very superior kind 
 of fine middlings or thirds. This is frequently sold, in London at 
 least, under the name of " coarse country flour." It is cheaper than 
 the best oatmeal, and may be in part advantageously substituted 
 for it. The most convenient mode of using it is to bake it until it 
 becomes quite hot, when, if cold water is poured on it, it becomes 
 a crumbly mass. The common sharps or coarser middlings will 
 not answer, as they contain too small a portion of nutriment, and 
 purge the fowls. 
 
 If it be thought fit to follow the practice of cramming, the oat- 
 meal should be mixed rather stifE, and then rolled into crams about 
 2in. long, and as thick as a man's little finger. Six or seven of 
 these are then taken, dipped in milk or water, and placed in the 
 back of the mouth of the fowl, which is held in the lap, the mouth 
 being opened with the aid of the left hand. In this manner the 
 birds should be fed three times a day, care being always taken to 
 ascertain that the last meal has completely passed out of the crop 
 before the next is given. Sometimes, in cramming, the food will 
 become hardened in the crop. In this case, no further food 
 should be given, but some lukewarm water should be poured 
 down the throat, and the mass loosened by gentle pressure with 
 the fingers. 
 
 At the present time, when the process of cramming is followed, 
 especially on a large scale, it is usually done with the aid of some 
 machine, semi-liquid in the place of solid food being used. Several 
 
FATTENING. 
 
 79 
 
 machines have been deviseVi for this purpose. The most recent, 
 and that which seems to combine all the advantages, is that made 
 by Hearson. It consists of a reservoir for the food, with a small 
 pump below, which is worked by the foot of the crammer. The 
 apparatus is so constructed that the exact amount of food given to 
 the fowls can be regulated by a stop, so that over-filling the crop 
 is avoided. The birds that are to be fatted are generally fed in 
 coops, as previously described, for ten days or a fortnight before 
 being crammed. When in use the cramming machine is filled with 
 
 HeABSON'S CBAMMlNa MACHINE. 
 
 semi-liquia food, wheeled in front of the fattening coop, and the 
 fowls are taken out successively and held under one arm ; the 
 bird's bill is opened and a soft flexible indiarubber tube passed 
 about six inches down the gullet, and as much soft food is dis- 
 charged into the crop as is sufficient. The bird is then returned 
 to the cage and others dealt with in the same manner. So expert do 
 the crammers become, that from two to three hundred birds an hour 
 can be fed in this way by one man. Mr. Bevington informs me that 
 he has had the most successful results from using this machine 
 with ground oats (not oatmeal), mixed thin with scalded skimmed 
 milk. The Sussex breeders adding beef or mutton fat in varying 
 quantities. 
 
 In place of cooping the fowls, another plan is frequently 
 adopted on the Continent, in which each fowl is tethered by 
 
80 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MABKET. 
 
 both legs in a separate compartment. These compai-tments are 
 open below at the back, so that the excrement of the fowl falls 
 out of the cage on to the floor. The fowl should be tethered by 
 a brail on each leg, as before described for securing the hens with 
 chicken. 
 
 Unless there is a demand for very fat fowls, it will not be 
 found necessary to cram them, as usually, after a fortnight to 
 three weeks' feeding, those that are allowed to pick up their own 
 food will become sufficiently fat for all useful purposes. The 
 chickens that are to be put up to fatten should be from twelve to- 
 fourteen weeks old in the summer, and rather older in the winter, 
 when they do not grow so rapidly. If they are required to be kept 
 still longer, it is absolutely necessary, to prevent them becoming 
 tough and hard, that the sexes should be separated at an early 
 age. 
 
 The mode of killing the fowls when they are required varies in 
 different parts. Abroad, the bird is generally killed by either 
 thrusting a sharp knife backwards into the brain through the roof 
 of the mouth, or by cutting the large vessels of the throat ; but in 
 England the almost universal practice is to dislocate the head of 
 the birds required for food. The bird is taken by the hocks with 
 the left hand, and the head held in the right, the back of the bird 
 being upwards. In order to dislocate the head from the neck, 
 it is suddenly bent backwards, the neck of the fowl being forcibly 
 stretched at the same time. To do this more effectually, the left 
 hand should be held against the left thigh, and the right hand with 
 the head against the right thigh, almost close to the knee. In this 
 position both hands are steadied, and by widening the distance 
 between the knees, whilst the head is bent back, it slips instantly 
 out of the socket. The act is instantaneous, and there is no pain to 
 the bird, inasmuch as the spinal cord and all the large nerves are 
 divided, as well as the arteries and veins ; in fact, after the operation, 
 the head is only connected with the body by the skin of the neck. 
 Practically it has been beheaded, and all sensation is instantly at 
 an end. It is quite true that muscular contraction exists for 
 several minutes, consequently, if the fowl is put down it flutters 
 about and gives persons the idea that it is still alive, so much so, 
 that some very unsatisfactory prosecutions have taken place for 
 the punishment of persons plucking fowls alive, for as the feathers 
 come out with much greater facility immediately after the fowl is 
 killed, the pluckers, having killed the bird, immediately proceed to 
 
FATTENING. 81 
 
 denude it of its feathers, and this may be done before muscular 
 contraction ceases, although the head of the bird is separated 
 from the body. 
 
 There is no doubt that this is the most humane manner of 
 killing fowls, as it is instantaneous, which is not the case if they 
 are killed by bleeding. 
 
 When carefully plucked the wings should be twisted behind the 
 back, the hocks placed together, and the bird placed on its back 
 with the head and neck hanging down, so that as much blood as 
 possible may drain into the neck. 
 
 If thought desirable, the fowls may be placed in such a manner 
 that a board may be put on the top of them, and the breast 
 pressed flat, but plump fowls do not require this, and are not 
 improved by the operation. Under no circumstances should the 
 breast bone be broken, as the value of the fowl is much deteriorated. 
 Should the legs be dirty, they should be washed before the fowl 
 is placed in position. 
 
 A fowl killed for the market should not be hung up and 
 allowed to stiffen into a shape that cannot be readily put into 
 marketable form afterwards. 
 
 Before killing, it is absolutely necessary to fast the fowls from 
 fourteen to sixteen hours, otherwise the crop and intestines are 
 full of food, which decays rapidly, and not only imparts a bad 
 flavour to the flesh, but prevents the birds being kept for 
 any length of time. It is therefore better that they should 
 be killed early in the morning after a night fast, than in the 
 evening, when they have been feasting all day. Fowls, therefore, 
 that are intended to be killed early in the morning, should have 
 both food and water taken away from them not later than four or 
 five o'clock the evening before ; the intestines will then be free of 
 food, and the birds will keep a much longer time than if the crops 
 and bowels are full. 
 
OHAPTEE XIX. 
 SHOWING AND TEUSSING DEAD POULTRY. 
 
 At our agricultural shows, the utility of the birds is, in almost 
 all cases, entirely ignored. Prizes are given, not to poultry as 
 animals useful for food, but as fancy stock ; feathers, combs, and 
 markings being estimated in preference to qualities which are 
 appreciated in the poultry market or on the table. When prizes 
 are offered for dead birds, regulations as to the manner in which 
 they should be exhibited are seldom issued. They are allowed to 
 be trussed in such a mode that their bad qualities may be, as far as 
 possible, concealed, and their good ones exaggerated. 
 
 At the French shows the backs of the choicest fowls are 
 exhibited in place of the breasts, the hocks being tied together over 
 the centre of the breast, and three or four of the quill feathers of 
 the wings, which are left in the pinions, are pulled between them. 
 This method, however, is hardly likely to come into fashion in this 
 country. 
 
 At English shows the fowls are generally exhibited undrawn, 
 but trussed and skewered. The toes are tightly drawn in by the 
 sides of the breast, and are pulled together by strings which are 
 passed through the body or across the back. This is done with 
 the object of forcing up the flesh on the breast, so as to make the 
 fowl look much plumper than it naturally is. By this contrivance 
 a poor fowl may, to an inexperienced person, be made to 
 look much better than one that is really superior to it. No 
 trussing should be allowed at a show of dead poultry. The hocks 
 should be meVely tied together, and the fowls shown, as seen in the 
 engraving, without the breast-bone being broken. The prizes 
 should be awarded for the goodness of the fowls, and not for the 
 skill of the exhibitor. 
 
 AU fowls should be shown in preciselj' the same manner, and 
 the regulations should state that they should be exhibited 
 " plucked," but not drawn or trussed. They should be displayed 
 
SHOWING AND TRUSSING BEAD POULTRY. 
 
 83 
 
 •on a raised shelf, with the head hanging down in the position 
 represented. It may be said that the fowls would look much 
 more attractive if dressed for the table ; but if so exhibited the 
 prize would be awarded for the skill of the trusse'r rather than 
 for the goodness of the fowl. 
 
 Dead Fowl tok Shot 
 
 The second engraving represents a fowl as trussed for roasting 
 according to the plan pursued for the table of the highest lady in 
 the land. The manner in which this is done is so superior to that 
 ordinarily adopted that it is worth a detailed description, the mode 
 
 Fowl Tbussed for Egastino. 
 
 of operating being that which is followed by the first-class West 
 End poulterers. The dresser takes the dead fowl, and cuts across 
 the skin at the back of the neck, about 2^ inches from the body. 
 The knife is then passed under the skin, down towards the junction 
 
 a 2 
 
84 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MABKET. 
 
 of the neck witli the body, making a flap out of the skin of the 
 back of the neck. This exposes at once the bones of the neck, 
 which are then cut across where they join the body. The crop 
 can then be readily extracted, and the skin of the front of 
 the neck quite cut across, when the head and neck are at one 
 removed. 
 
 What may be regarded as a great improvement in the 
 preparation of a fowl for the tablo is often followed. This 
 improvement consists in the removal of the merrythought, which 
 is done almost with a touch, the point of the knife passing between 
 H and the flesh of the breast, when it may be taken away without 
 even the smallest quantity of meat being attached to it. The 
 object gaiaed in the removal of this bone is to allow the flesh 
 of the breast to be cut away more conveniently, and in longer slices, 
 in carving. 
 
 After the removal of the head and neck, the finger is passed into 
 the interior of the body, and all the structures that can be reached 
 by it are loosened, the finger being passed round the interior as far 
 as possible ; this should be throughly done. The fowl is then 
 rested on the table, tail upwards, and a somewhat deep and large 
 incision is made straight across the body, between the tail and 
 vent. This cut enables the finger of the trusser to be placed round 
 the bowel, a loop of which is j)ulled out, and the knife, being 
 placed under the loop, cuts out the vent without the slightest diffi- 
 culty, leaving an opening sufficiently large to enable the fingers to be 
 passed into the iaterior to seize hold of the gizzard, when, if the 
 looseniag in the front has been properly accomplished, the whole 
 of the interior of the fowl, including the intestines, liver, lungs, and 
 heart, are drawn away ia one mass. This method of operating is 
 much more expeditious, more cleanly, and infinitely more workman- 
 like than that usually followed. Should the fowl have been one of 
 extreme fatness, a little rolling of the body under the hand before 
 beginning to draw it suffices to loosen the gizzard from the large 
 mass of abdominal fat which is occasionally present in the 
 interior. 
 
 To complete the trussing of the fowl in the manner shown in the 
 figure, a trussing needle 8 iaches long, threaded with thin strong 
 string, is requisite. The legs being brought into the position 
 shown in the drawing, the needle is passed through the leg, close 
 up to the joint, then through the body and the leg on the other 
 side, and pulled out; the fowl is then turned over, and the needle, still 
 
SHOWING AND TRUSSING DEAD POVLTBY. 85 
 
 carrying the string, is passed througli the joint and the pinion 
 ■of each wing, when it comes out close to where it was first put into 
 the fowl, and the two ends of the string are tied tightly together, 
 keeping the legs and the wings in position. To secure the ends of 
 the legs, the needle, with the string attached, is passed through 
 the body close to the backbone, over the leg, and back through 
 the body under the end of the breast-bone. It is then tied, 
 and the fowl presents the appearance shown in our figure, the 
 knots in the two strings being shown in the drawing. The 
 ends of the toes are cut off, and it is customary with the best 
 poulterers to remove the extreme point of the pinion and the small 
 fold of loose sldn which is attached to it before trussing, in order 
 to prevent these becoming scorched in cooking. 
 
 It is needless to speak of the superiority of this mode of trussing 
 ■over that usually adopted. No skewers, which have to be removed 
 before it can be served on the table, are left in the fowl, nor are 
 any large incisions made in the flesh, letting out the goodness 
 ■of the meat. The strings that are used are cut and drawn 
 away without trouble, and do not interfere with the carving of the 
 fowl. It is needless to say that the breast-bone should never be 
 broken, as it is impossible to carve a bird satisfactorily when that 
 has been done. 
 
 The ease and rapidity with which a fowl may be prepared for 
 Toasting in this manner is remarkable, and its neat and attractive 
 appearance not the least advantage. 
 
 The preparation of a fowl for boiling is usually performed in a 
 somewhat more intricate manner. The method adopted is some- 
 what different, and is represented in the following engraving. 
 
 I am also indebted to the very skilled operator at Messrs. 
 Bellamy's for a careful demonstration of the method pursued, 
 which may be described as follows : The fowl, when taken in hand 
 after having been plucked, is, in the first instance, treated as 
 ■one required for roasting. The extreme tip of the wing and the 
 thumb pinion are cut away, as well as the loose strip of skin along 
 the under side of the vsdng, which is left after the removal of the 
 quill feathers. The proper mode of removing the neck, crop, and 
 merrythought, and drawing the fowl, is the same in trussing for 
 boiling as for roasting, but the subsequent proceedings are very 
 •different. 
 
 The fowl having been dravm, the fingers are passed frora 
 l)ehuid under the skin at the side of the breast, which is separated 
 
86 POULTRY FOB, TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 and loosened from the flesh round the joints of the leg, right down, 
 to the hock. This is done on both sides, and so effectually that by 
 laying hold of the shank the fleshy part of the leg can readily be 
 pushed up under the skin, but before this is done, a cross cut is 
 made at the back of the leg lin. above the hock, and another about 
 l|in. below the hock, but this is made in the front. These cuts 
 are for the purpose of dividing the sinews and enabling the foot to 
 be twisted right round, so as to come at the back of the fowl. 
 Then, holding the foot in the hand, the hock is pushed through 
 the first cut made in the skin, which is drawn down over it, and it 
 disappears altogether from view. The shank is then cut across where 
 it projects beyond the skin, and the foot is in this way removed, 
 and, the hock being under the skin, no portion of the leg is visible. 
 
 Fowl Trussed foe Boiling. 
 
 The fowl is then turned over, and it is customary to crack the 
 shoulders by striking them between the wings and the spine with 
 the back of the knife. This enables the wings to be brought 
 closer to the body when the trussing is completed. 
 
 The long trussing needle, which is threaded with fine string, is. 
 then passed through the leg at the back of the knee from one side, 
 and through the corresponding part of the leg on the other, and 
 through the pinion and joint of each wing. This brings the string 
 to the same side where the needle was first passed through the leg, 
 and the two ends are tied tightly together, thus securing the hgs 
 and the wings firmly to the body with one tie, as is shown in the 
 left hand side of the figure. In order to secure the ends of the 
 legs which are thrust under the skin a second string is passed 
 through the body above the hock (which must be felt for, as it 
 cannot be seen), then under the breast-bone to the hock on 
 
SHOWING AND TRUSSING DEAD POULTRY. 87 
 
 the opposite side, and brought round behind the back and securely 
 tied. The tail is then, as it were, pushed into the interior of the 
 body, and the fowl, ready for boiling, appears as is shown in the 
 figure. 
 
 The description may appear to include numerous details, but it 
 is not difiScult to follow the steps with a fowl in hand, and once 
 learned it is not easily forgotten. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 TURKEYS. 
 
 In suitable sicuations, where there is a good range and a dry soil, 
 turkeys may be kept with great advantage. It is useless, however, 
 for anyone to think of keeping them unless the conditions are 
 favourable. A free range is absolutely indispensable to their being 
 kept to profit. 
 
 The best breed of turkeys to employ is that which has been 
 crossed with the recently imported American. This fresh blood 
 has induced not only increased size, but much greater hardihood 
 of constitution. Many breeders have failed entirely in profitable 
 turkey rearing through breeding in-and-in from the same stock 
 year after year. 
 
 In selecting a stock bird for breeding for the market, a turkey 
 cock of extreme size should not be chosen. The large birds bred 
 and fatted for exhibition purposes are often unfertile, and apt to 
 injure the hens. A dozen hens may be allowed to run with one cock 
 turkey. The hens, if young and well fed, will commence laying 
 very early in the year, when the first eggs may be set under large 
 broody hens, such as Cochins, Brahmas, or Dorkings. The nests 
 are often concealed in hedges and other places where it is difiicult 
 to discover them ; if practicable it is always desirable to let the 
 hen sit where she makes her nest. On the eighth or tenth day 
 the eggs may be tested as directed for those of fowls, and only 
 those that are fertile replaced; but this is scarcely necessary 
 when the hens are kept under the natural conditions that 
 I recommend as most successful. The chickens are hatched 
 at the end of the fourth week, on the twenty-eighth day. 
 It is not desirable to sit the hens after the end of June, as 
 late-hatched chicks rarely do well. In Prance, where a much 
 larger number of turkeys are reared than in this country, the eggs 
 produced late in the season are utilised for food, numbers of them 
 
TURKEYS. 89 
 
 being sent over to England. At the time of hatching, no inter- 
 ference whatever with the chickens is desirable. They should 
 be left alone until the next day. No attempt at feeding them 
 should be made, as during the first twenty-four or thirty hours they 
 are digesting the yolk, which is drawn into the intestines at the 
 period of hatching. On the following day after they have been 
 hatched they should, if the weather is fine, be placed out of doors in 
 a sheltered situation, such as an open shed — the ground, if not 
 perfectly dry, being covered with ashes or chaif. 
 
 For the first food of the young chickens, egg^and-milk (custard) 
 will be found to be much better than chopped egg, which is 
 generally given to them ; and it may be mixed with bread dipped in 
 milk anl then squeezed dry. They require at first to be fed 
 frequently, beginning with daylight in the morning and finishing 
 the last thing at night. The egg-and-milk should be continued, 
 unless ants' eggs can be obtained in abundance, which will be 
 fouud a valuable addition. In addition to egg-and-milk, fresh 
 meal-and-milk can be given. 
 
 Turkeys at all periods of their lives eat a much larger amount of 
 green food than fowls. They are especially fond of milky plants, 
 such as dandelion and lettuces ; and for turkeys reared at home it 
 will always be found most advantageous to grow a number of 
 lettuces and let them run to seed, using them in the milky 
 condition for the food of the young turkeys ; or chopped 
 dandelions may be given. If well fed on natural food, and bred 
 from strong, healthy parents that are not related, young turkeys 
 are not delicate as is generally imagined. It will be found better 
 to keep the hen, if she is cooped, on a lawn or meadow, with the 
 grass closely mown for some considerable distance around, as has 
 been adopted in pheasant rearing, and also for fowls. 
 
 With turkeys, as is the case with pheasants, it is most desirable 
 to use fresh ground for rearing every year. Wtien the weather 
 is dry, it will be found very advantageous to allow the hen a free 
 range during the warmer parts of the day. If she is well feo, she 
 will not drag the young turkey chicks about until they become 
 tired; and the scratch that she gets for them is of immense 
 advantage. Unless well fed and nourished, reared on dry untainted 
 soil, and bred from bealtby parents, turkeys are subject to cold 
 io the head, which rapidly develops into roup, in which state it is 
 •exceedingly infectious. Turkeys are regarded as delicate at 
 about three months old, when they begin to show the red heads 
 
90 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 which distinguish the cocks from the hens ; but, if well reared, 
 they will not be found to suffer at this period. When they are 
 fully fledged, turkeys are very hardy. They will roost in trees 
 during the whole year without injury. The stock birds must be 
 well fed in winter with two or three feeds a day. Ground oats or 
 barley meal, with boiled potatoes, will be found much more 
 advantageous than feeding them exclusively on whole corn. 
 
 In Prance, after the harvest is gathered, flocks of young turkeys 
 are driven on to the stubbles, usually in charge of a girl, who, with 
 a long, light pole, drives them out in the morning and returns with 
 them at night. Here they feed on the green vegetables to which 
 they are so much addicted, and on the corn which would otherwise 
 be wasted, and for some weeks obtain as much food as they can 
 eat, without cost, and with advantage to the farmer. 
 
 Turkeys may be so fed as to be always ready for the market. 
 To be fatted, they should be kept in a shed where several can be 
 together, as a single bird will not fatten. Here they should be 
 supplied witd plenty of green stuff, a fair amount of grit, and 
 oat, or bariey meal mixed with milk. The food should be varied, 
 so as to keep up the appetite. Maize meal is sometimes used ; but 
 it produces fat of a yellow colour and soft, oily consistence, 
 instead of the white, firm character which is so much esteemed in 
 the market. 
 
 In suitable situations, where a sufficient amount of bpace, 
 can be given to the rearing of the young birds during the first few 
 weeks of their lives, there is no breed of poultry that pays better 
 than turkeys. If in good condition, they realise about Christmas 
 time a much larger sum per pound than fowls ; and they also have 
 this advantage, that they can easily be sold privately or without 
 being sent to market, and so the profit on the sale does not go into 
 the hands of the middleman. 
 
 In the previous editions of this work I only described the 
 methods of raising and fattening tiu'keys generally adopted in this 
 country. Since the publication of the last edition, I have become 
 acquainted with the plans pursued by the successful rearers of 
 turkeys in the United States, particularly in Ehode Island, for the 
 New York market. These plans vary essentially from those that 
 are generally followed in this country. They are more natural, 
 and it is almost needless to say, are therefore much more 
 successful. Since the pubheation of the details of the methods 
 now pursued in America, many of my friends and correspondents 
 
TURKEYS. 91 
 
 have followed tho plans I have advocated, all of them with success, 
 I have, therefore, no hesitation in adding to this chapter these 
 particulars, and in recommending the details of management to 
 the consideration of all persons who are concerned in turkey 
 rearing-. 
 
 The most successful rearer in Rhode Island, who sends many 
 hundreds of turkeys to the market annually, states that he finds, 
 that the young turkeys kept near the house, or under the trees in 
 his orchard, do not thrive— they have swelled heads and many die; 
 whereas those placed in the highest and driest pastures, where 
 there is but a light growth of grass, do best of all. His old hens 
 are the best breeders ; they are allowed to roost out in the trees all 
 the year, and are healthy and vigorous. He places barrels near the 
 fences, or lays wide boards against the walls, when the hens 
 generally take possession and use them — some, however, seeking 
 nests of their own, which they are allowed to retain, unless the 
 situation is swampy or otherwise objectionable. The eggs are 
 collected to prevent the rats and crows getting at them. When 
 the young turkeys are hatched, they are placed in a basket with 
 the hen, removed to a remote part of the larm, and placed at first 
 in triangular pens made of three boards 12ft. long, into which the 
 hen and the young are put. These pens are moved to fresh 
 ground daily, and, alter five or six days, when the young are 
 sufficiently strong to follow the hen without being worn out, and 
 have become familiar with the attendant, so that they will come 
 when called, they are let out of the pens and allowed free range. 
 
 The extent of the ground required to raise this number of 
 turkeys may be inferred from the fact that Mr. Tucker's daughter, 
 in having to feed the stock, has to walk three miles on her rounds. 
 Until four weeks old, their food consists of maize meal mixed with 
 sour milk. When a month old they are given cracked maize 
 moistened with sour milk. Up to June 1 they are fed three times 
 a day, from June to the middle of July twice a day, and in 
 November they are given all the corn they will eat. They like the 
 northern white flinty corn (maize) the best, and fatten most 
 rapidly on it. New corn is apt to give them diarrhoea. These birds 
 retain to some considerable extent their wild instincts, for in the 
 autumn the sexes separate, the males going in one flock and the 
 hens in another. On Thanksgiving Day, the cocks of the May 
 broods weigh from 181b. to 201b., and the hens from 101b. to 111b. 
 each. Second broods do not pay, and are never reared except a 
 
9-2 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 hen has stolen a nest, as the young get sick readily, and, if reared, 
 Mr. Tucker looks upon then as breeders of diseased birds. 
 
 The most successful rearers pursue the same plans, all of them 
 reportiag that the turkeys that roam and do not come home to be 
 fed look finer and thrive better than the others. Most of them use 
 old cocks and hens to breed from, believing them to raise the finest 
 chicks, as those produced by young birds are not so hardy or so 
 large. Late-hatched birds are never bred from, and care is taken 
 not to interbred. Maize is used for food, and is beneficial when 
 the turkeys can get their own green food and insects to go with it. . 
 It is well ascertained in America that if a flock of turkeys becomes 
 diseased, they contaminate the whole of the land over which they 
 run, and it is much more desirable to kill and burn all sick 
 turkeys, for doctoring is rarely practicable or successful. Drinking 
 from stagnant pools in farmyards and from drains, is regarded by 
 the Americans as particularly injurious. The publication in the 
 Meld of these reports led a considerable number of persons to 
 adopt the plans that I advocated, and all of them, provided they 
 were faithfully carried out, with success. One gentleman, writing 
 to me, says that turkeys may be safely turned out in the opea, and 
 that houses are not needed, as the birds do better in the open, and 
 when the young are three to four weeks old they get up in lower 
 boughs of trees beside the mother, and are in no danger of foxes. 
 
 He writes : " The finest birds I have this year are wild, and were 
 hatched by a turkey hen ia the wood, and for the first few weeks 
 after birth were kept well out of sight by the mother bird." 
 
 " They have never yet been under cover, but sleep in the oak 
 trees, exposed to all weathers, and never looked so handsome as 
 when they came down in the morning after the few sharp frosts 
 we had, with their backs covered with a coating of ice, which they 
 did not shake off till about ten o'clock, when the sun helped them 
 out of their ice armour." 
 
 " Domesticated turkeys do not, as a rule, take pains to cover their 
 €ggs. The wild birds, however, cover them so well that even the 
 magpies do not find them ; of course, this cuts both ways, as you 
 may watch a hen for days before finding her nest if you want the 
 €ggs yourself." 
 
 " The birds raised under hens, and receiving every care (though 
 of the same parentage as those raised without help), are not as 
 heavy by 41b. or 61b. as those raised by the natural parent in the 
 open.' 
 
TURKEYS. 93 
 
 I was exceedingly pleased to receive from Mr. Meade-Waldo a 
 very striking confirmation of these views. He informs me that he 
 had one male and two female crossbred American turkeys in the 
 woods surrounding his residence. The two females nested in the- 
 open, laying twelve eggs each, which were not disturbed. These 
 all hatched, and the young ones were solely cared for by the 
 parents, receiving no artificial food whatever. They all were 
 successfully reared, growing into fine birds, which were 
 practically almost wild, and when required for the table have to be 
 secured by shooting them. Their food in the open consists in 
 great part of beech mast. In consequence of having to exercise 
 their wings in flying, the breast muscles become developed, and 
 they are much plumper when killed than ordinary turkeys that do 
 not fly, and are of most excellent quality. 
 
 The statements that are usually made by turkey rearers, that 
 young turkeys die if they are wetted by a shower of rain, is 
 doubtless true of birds as they are usually reared. As I have said 
 before, the experiments at the American agricultural station show 
 conclusively that turkeys kept in a farmyard near a house are 
 always more or less subject to disease, and that the young are 
 exceedingly delicate ; but that, reared on fresh ground at a- 
 distance from the household, and allowed a free range, they are as 
 healthy and hardy as any birds possibly can be. That turkeys can 
 be more advantageously reared in this manner than under the 
 prevalent system is undoubted. The drawback in many cases 
 would, however, be the presence of foxes; but these are not 
 prevalent in all localities. 
 
 Sir Walter Grilbey, residing in a fox-hunting district, has a flock 
 of turkeys at large in the pheasant coverts around his residence at 
 Elsenham. These birds lay and hatch in the open, and the yoimg 
 are reared most successfully without shelter of any kind, roosting 
 in the trees during the whole of the year. They are fed with the 
 pheasants (with which they agree perfectly) without any special 
 attention, and from exercising their muscles in flying, are much 
 plumper and straight in the breast than ordinary birds. Being fed 
 daily near the hoiise they do not wander any distance, although 
 the hfns will ramble to make concealed nests. 
 
 I may add that many turkeys are reared with thfi greatest 
 success in the forests in Scotland under similar conditions. 
 
CHAPTER XXr. 
 GUINEA FOWLS. 
 
 Guinea, fowls may be kept with, advantage ia many situations, 
 especially where the soil is dry, the aspect warm and sunny, and 
 there are trees or dense bushes in which the birds can roost. They 
 realise very fair prices in the markets in the sj)ring, when ordinary 
 game is going out of season, and before chickens are to be obtained. 
 They are, however, not general favourites with farmers, some 
 objecting to the continuous cry of the hens, •' come back," '■ come 
 back," others to the fact of their almost always laying away in 
 concealed nests, and to their not hutching until late in the season, 
 when their chicks are too delicate to withstand the cold. Their 
 noise cannot be obviated, but by taking away the eggs as they are 
 laid, one being always left in the nest, a very large supply may be 
 obtained, as the hens generally lay on until July or August before 
 desiring to sit. 
 
 If early hatched young Guinea fowls are required, the eggs 
 should be placed under some small broody hens in April or May. 
 The chicks are exceedingly elegant, being covered with striped 
 down, which is set off by thw red colour of the legs and beaks, and 
 they are rendered still more attractive by their extreme activity. 
 Young Guinea fowls, if the hen raising them iS cooped, should be 
 fed at very brief intervals of time, as they suffer much from even 
 a short deprivation of food. No diet will be found more advan- 
 tageous than the egg and milk prepared in the form of custard. 
 This should form a part of every meal for the first month, along 
 with oatmeal mixed with milk and grits, and canary seed ; and as 
 the young broods grow up small tail-wheat, boiled vegetables, and 
 potatoes may be added to their dietary. If ants' eggs can be 
 obtained, it will be found very advantageous to employ them. 
 If the situation is suitable, the Guinea fowl chicks will be found to 
 do much better and to be raised more successfully if allowed a free 
 range in the coverts as recommended for turkeys. 
 
GUINEA FOWLS. 95 
 
 Guinea fowl for the table do not in England receive the 
 consideration their good qualities merit ; they are not, as a rule, 
 kept under the most advantageous circumstances, nor killed at the 
 period when they are in the highest perfection. They are seldom 
 to be seen in the poulterers' shops until the early spring months, 
 when they are regarded as filling up the interval that elapses 
 between the close of the game season and the advent of early 
 spriDg chicken. I have eaten G-uinea fowl in the autumn in the 
 South of France, and certainly have never tasted birds of such 
 excellence in England. They were never occupants of a poultry 
 house, but were raised under the trees around the chateau, and, 
 when required for use, were obtained by shooting them. In 
 flavour and sapidity they far surpassed any Guinea fowl that 
 I had ever eaten. This arose from the fact that they were some five 
 or six months younger than those killed in this country ; and that, 
 from flying in the open, their breast muscles were perfectly 
 developed, and the birds consequently plump. 
 
 There is one point against which I would caution my readers, and 
 that is not to turn out Guinea fowl as semi- wild birds in the same 
 coverts as those devoted to pheasants. It is quite true they will do 
 well in a partially wild state, but they have the disadvantage of 
 ■driving away the pheasants ; and it is hardly necessary to say that 
 they ilo not, like the latter, afford satisfactory shooting, as they are 
 not rocketers, but run when roused, and, if they take to flight, fly 
 in a very dangerous horizontal direction. If, however, pheasants 
 are not kept, they will be found to flourish very satisfactorily. 
 
OHAPTEE XXII. 
 DUCKS. 
 
 As usually kept, it is very doubtful whether ducks can be regarded 
 as profitable to the farmer or small producer. There is, however, 
 no doubt that, as they are reared for the London market in the 
 neighbourhood of Aylesbury, they can be produced most profitably. 
 
 The rearing of ducks in that district has been developed into a 
 systematic industry, the rules of which are well understood and 
 carefully followed. The ducks are bred in the early season, raised 
 under most favourable conditions to ensure their rapid growth, 
 killed when the nourishment that has been bestowed on them has 
 produced the best results, and before it is employed in the pro- 
 duction of new feathers, and forwarded to the London markets at 
 the season when the demand is greatest, and the prices conse- 
 quently are highest. 
 
 The objections to duck keeping, as ordinarily followed, are 
 many. In the first place, inferior breeds of ducks are frequently 
 kept — small coloured varieties, which do not arrive early at 
 maturity, and which, when plucked, from the dark colour of 
 the down, are not as attractive in the market as the white Ayles- 
 burys, which alone are reared by the experienced duckers. The 
 superiority of this breed is very convincingly demonstrated by Mr. 
 Henry Digby in his very practical treatise. Writing of the 
 Aylesbury, he states : 
 
 " The great size to which they attain at an early age, and the 
 excellent flavour of their flesh, is unequalled by any other breed. It 
 is very proKfic, hardy, and a thorough forager ; it thrives in almost 
 any climate or on any soil, and, being of a pure white, it has 
 advantages over those varieties which have many colours. For 
 where colour and markings are a consideration, size, constitution, 
 and laying propensities have been sacrificed for these characteristics, 
 thereby causing degeneration." 
 
 As Mr. Digby is a most successful rearer of various breeds of 
 
DUCKS. 97 
 
 ducks for exhibition, his testimony as to the effect of breeding for 
 colour may be taken as fully substantiating the statements I have 
 made as to the result of breeding for the poultry shows in place of 
 rearing useful stock for the table and market. 
 
 Farmyard ducks are often allowed to remain on the water at 
 night, when the greater number of their eggs — those that are 
 produced before the ducks become broody — -are dropped in the 
 water, when they sink, and their presence is not known until some 
 months afterwards, when, having become rotten, they rise to the 
 stirface. The young ducks in most farmyards are allowed to go on 
 the water when they do not grow rapidly, and they are not killed 
 until they are far advanced in their moult, the nourishment that 
 they have taken for the last few weeks having been devoted chiefly 
 to the j)roduction of new feathers. The breeder of ducks for the 
 market should act on the knowledge that the birds can be made to 
 weigh as much at ten or twelve weeks as they do at four or five 
 mouths, and that they should be killed and sent to market when 
 they command the highest prices. 
 
 To rear ducks successfully, the large white Aylesbury should be 
 the breed selected. If eggs are chiefly required, it may be not 
 unprofitably crossed with the Pekin. The store ducks should be well 
 fed (which is most conveniently done by putting their oats or other 
 corn in a tub of water) during the winter months, so as to induce 
 laying at the earliest possible season. It is much better to allow 
 the stock birds access to water and a free range, so that they 
 provide themselves with a large amount of animal food in the form 
 of grubs, worms, &c. ; but they must be carefully shut up at night, 
 or the eggs will be laid in the water and lost. Any old sheltered 
 pigstye will answer for the purpose of keeping the drake and half 
 a dozen ducks that will be found profitable to the small holder. It 
 may be littered with short straw, dead leaves, or any other refuse 
 of the sort. It is needless to say that it must be kept clean. No 
 nests are necessary, as the eggs will be laid at random about the 
 pen ; but if the ducks are in good health and have, a free range, 
 the shells will be found so firm that they are not broken. These 
 eggs should then be set under hens ; in the duck-rearing districts 
 large broody hens are exceedingly valuable in the early season, as 
 there is a great demand for them for the purpose of hatching 
 ducks' eggs. 
 
 The system pursued in the neighbourhood of Aylesbury has 
 Ijeen so well described by Mr. J. K. Fowler, a very practical 
 
98 POULTRY FOR TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 breeder, that I cannot do better than quote his words on the 
 subject. Speaking of the Aylesburys, Mr. Fowler first describes 
 the enormous quantities that are sent to London in the spring, a 
 ton weight of ducklings, from six to eight weeks old, being not 
 unfrequentlj taken in one night from the Aylesbury district by 
 railway to the metropolis, where they realise very high jsrices. He 
 then goes on to say that the duckers — as the breeders are called — 
 are mostly provident labourers, who do not grudge giving their 
 time and attention to their young broods as long as there is a good 
 demand. The system by which this industry is carried on is very 
 simple. Almost every cottager maintains a set of ducks, usually 
 four or five and a drake. These they keep in an outbuilding 
 attached to their dwelling, and in some cases even in the cottage 
 itself. From them the duckers collect the eggs in the early part 
 of the season, when they command a very high price. In Decem- 
 ber, Mr. Fowler says, as much as 12s. a dozen will be given for the 
 eggs of good ducks, the purchaser taking the chance of their being- 
 fertile. The ducks are mostly allowed access to the river which 
 runs through the town, being distinguished by marks of paint of 
 different colours. At night they are driven into their respective 
 homes, well fed and comfortably housed, and the eggs which are 
 laid before the morning are set as soon as possible under large 
 hens. The ducks themselves are never allowed to sit. The hens 
 are usually set in small hampers, or, what is still better, round 
 cheese boxes, placed on the ground. The nest is often made of 
 ashes ; but mould which is kept slightly damp during the whole 
 sitting is better. Keeping the nest damp is far preferable to 
 sprinkling the eggs with luke-warni water. The period of incuba- 
 tion is twenty-eight days. 
 
 When hatched, the young should be left under the hen until 
 they are well dried, and quite strong enough to stand. Many 
 scores of ducklings are lost from being removed too early from the 
 nest. In a few days, three or four broods may be put together 
 under one hen, who is quite able to take care of them. 
 
 For market purposes, Mr. Fowler informs us that the treatment 
 of the young ducks is as follows : 
 
 " They are not allowed to go into any water, but are kept in 
 hovels or the rooms of cottages, each lot of thirty or forty separated 
 by low boards. It is no uncommon thing to see 2000 to 3000 all 
 in one establishment. They are kept very clean and dry on barley 
 straw ; their food consists of hard-boiled eggs chopped fine and 
 
DUCKS. 99 
 
 mixed with boiled rice and bullock's liver cut up small. This is 
 given to them several times in the day for about a fortnight or 
 more. When they are capable of consuming more, they are fed on 
 barley meal and tallow greaves, mixed together with the water in 
 which the greaves have previously been boiled. My poultryman 
 also uses horseflesh to mix with their other food." 
 
 The above constitutes all that is necessary to produce early 
 ducklings for the table. It is needless to say that these birds are 
 never allowed to go out of their pens, but are fed many times a day 
 with as miich as they can possibly eat ; and they always have a 
 trough of water by them, with some gravel or sand at the bottom, 
 which is necessary to the proper digestion of the food. The great 
 object of the ducker is to get his birds on as rapidly as he can, so 
 that they attain the greatest possible weight before they begin 
 to moult — this they do when about twelve weeks old — when 
 the nourishment taken is employed in the production of feathers ; 
 consequently, if a duckling is kept over that age, it does not gain 
 in weight, and decreases in quality. The profit on ducks can only 
 be made by sending them to market at the proper time, namely, 
 when about ten weeks old ; for, if they are kept till they are 
 seven or eight months old, they are inferior for table purposes, 
 cost more to produce, and yield less to the producer. It is no wonder 
 that, when managed in this way, most farmers say, " Ducks do not 
 pay." 
 
 The same system, on a greatly extended scale is adopted by 
 some of the duck raisers in America. Mr. Cushman, formerly the 
 manager to the Rhode Island Experimental Station, says that he 
 visited a large duck farm near Boston at the beginning of April, 
 and he found the proprietors, who bad been working the business 
 some years, were rearing over 6000 ducklings, and hatching 500 
 «ggs in incubators. At that date none of the ducklings had been 
 killed for the market, but those of nine weeks old were to be killed 
 the following week. There were in the pens at that time over 
 3000 ducklings under twelve days old bedded in pine sawdust and 
 kept moderately warm. Each pen was 12 feet by 4 feet, and 
 would accommodate 160 ducklings. When first hatched they 
 were allowed to remain Iwenty-four hours, then fed on a clean 
 board ; and in the spring they remained in the pens till eight days 
 old, when they were allowed to run out in small runs every dry 
 day. The temperature of the pens was artificially raised to 75°, 
 until the ducklings are five days old, and gradually lowered to 60° 
 
 H 2 
 
100 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 The bedding is cleaned out and rej)laced witli dry sawdust every 
 day. 
 
 The ducts sent to the London markets are either killed by 
 cutting the large vessels of the neck, or by thrusting a knife 
 through the roof of the mouth into the brain — both of which 
 methods allow of the escape of a large quantity of blood from the 
 body, and render the flesh whiter than it otherwise would be. Mr. 
 Digby gives it as his opinion that ducks should not be bled to 
 death, as from the loss of the blood the flesh becomes too dry. He 
 recommends dislocating the neck, as practised with fowls, as the 
 quickest method and the most merciful. 
 
 It is not necessary for me to say anything about the coloured 
 breeds, as they cannot be plucked so as to look as attractive as the 
 Aylesbury, and it is doubtful whether they mature with as great a 
 degree of rapidity. 
 
 For home consumption many persons prefer ducks that have 
 more flavour and are firmer in flesh than those which are killed 
 before moulting; in which case the ducklings should be allowed to 
 go into the water to obtain a large proportion of their own food 
 (which consists of worms, spawn, young fish, tadpoles, &c.) and not 
 killed until they are well through their moult. In these cases, 
 where the wild flavour is required in the ducks, the Aylesbury is 
 surpassed by the smaller breeds, such as the black (so called) East 
 Indian, the wild duck, or the cross between them or with any other 
 variety. 
 
 The difference in the customs of the French and English in the 
 matter of ducklings is most marked. The French aiDpreciate full- 
 flavoured ducks in the spring, these they term Caneton de Eouen. 
 These birds do not in the slightest degree correspond with the 
 Eouen ducks of our poultry shows, being small in size, with a 
 certain projjortion of white in the plumage ; they are identical 
 with the birds which have been exhibited in England imder the 
 name of Duclair ducks. When sent to market the skin is dark- 
 coloured and most unattractive looking. The difference, in 
 appearance, between the English Aylesbury and the French 
 Caneton de Eouen depends not only on age, but greatly on the 
 method of killing. The Caneton de Eouen is killed by suffoca- 
 tion, the mouth and nostrils being closed. The result is that 
 no blood escapes from the body, the skin becomes dark and dis- 
 coloured, but the flavour of the bird is retained to a much greater 
 extent than is the case with our Aylesbury breed ; in fact, the 
 
DUCKS. 101 
 
 Caneton de Eouen eats like a large and tender wild duck. I 
 have rarely seen these birds exhibited for sale^ in England, although 
 they are imported for the use of the large hotels celebrated for 
 their Continental cookery ; but, should there be any large demand 
 for them in the London market, there should be no diificulty 
 whatever in their supply from English sources. 
 
 In buying stock ducks, good size should be looked for ; but T 
 most especially caution anyone who wishes to breed for market 
 purposes against the purchase either of old specimens or of large 
 exhibition birds, whose bellies trail on the ground; such birds are 
 ruptured from over-fatness, and both ducks and drakes are per- 
 fectly useless for stock purposes. Even Mr. Digby, an enthusiastic 
 exhibitor, writes : 
 
 " For the market I should never think of breeding from large- 
 framed parents, but would select my breeding stock from a good 
 prolific strain, and about — or a little under — 51b. weight when in 
 store condition ; for from such stock it is easy enough to get duck- 
 lings to weigh 41b. to 51b. each at ten weeks old." 
 
 Advantageous as breeding ducklings for the market may be when 
 conducted on a proper system, it is obvious that it can only be so 
 to those who lay themselves specially out for the pursuit. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 GEESE. 
 
 In situations adapted for geese there is no doubt that they are 
 profitable, but to do well they require access to water and a good 
 grass range. They should have an outhouse to themselves, plenti- 
 fully supplied with straw with which to make nests on the floor. 
 These should be partitioned off from one another. A goose 
 generally lays about a dozen eggs before wanting to sit. The 
 hoiise should be so arranged that the birds have free entrance 
 at all times of the day ; and the sitting geese may have food, 
 such as oats, put for them in a deep pan of water. This has 
 the double advantage of preventing the food being soiled by 
 the dirt and droppings on the ground and from being devoured 
 by sparrows. If overfed when laying on com, especially maize, 
 geese are apt to lay double yolked eggs of large size, which are 
 useless for setting. 
 
 The period of incubation is about thirty days if the goose sits 
 closely, but it may extend over that period. The sitting goose 
 generally leaves home once a day, when she should be well fed, if 
 food is not always kept near her ; and it is desirable also that she 
 should have access to water at this time. 
 
 Many practical breeders of geese prefer to hatch their eggs 
 under large hens, giving four or five eggs to each — the nests being 
 always made on damp soil. 
 
 It is not desirable to interfere with the bird at the period of 
 hatching. The goslings should remain in the nest for at least 
 twenty-four hours before being disturbed or fed. The next day 
 they can be removed and supplied with cut grass or green turf, 
 and oatmeal made into a paste with milk or water. It will be found 
 very desirable not to allow the young birds to depend on the 
 supply of food they get for themselves, but to give them oats, which 
 are best given in water, night and morning. If they are kept short 
 
GEESE. 103 
 
 of food during the period of growth, it cannot be expected that 
 they should make fine birds. Mr. Digby, a very successful rearer 
 of large geese, is in favour of more stimulating feeding ; he writes 
 as follows : 
 
 " My first feed consists of hard-boiled egg, a bit of suet, and a 
 few breadcrumbs chopped up together. Of course, there is, or 
 ought to be, moderation in the supply of such highly nutritious 
 food. Eggs and bread are only necessary for the first three or four 
 days ; a liberal supply of fine sharp grit and green food of some 
 kind is absolutely necessary from the first. Sufficient clean water 
 to drink during the first week or ten days will be all they require. 
 After that time a swim will do them good, but do not drive them 
 into the water ; let them take to it of their own accord. When 
 the goslings are three or four days old, diminish the quantity of 
 eggs or discontinue their use altogether. I prefer giving for six or 
 eight days. A bit of good sound wheat, a few groats, or a bit of 
 tip-top barley once or twice daily afEords a healthy change. Now, 
 as size is a great consideration, it will be beneficial to give goslings 
 that kind of food containing a large percentage of bone-making 
 material. Fine sharps — or middlings, as it is often called — should 
 be used along with the biscuit meal. The advantages of this 
 method of feeding are many, especially if such a method is supple- 
 mented by good pasture. It is a mistake to suppose that goslings 
 will thrive as well on poor, coarse land as they wiU on rich, well- 
 cultivated soil." 
 
 When large enough the young geese may be fattened, which is 
 usually done by shutting up a number of them together in a clean, 
 dry, warm place, with an unlimited supply of oats in water for 
 about three weeks. It has been suggested by a very practical 
 writer to turn them on to the pond the day previous to killing, for 
 the purpose of allowing them to wash their feathers ; but if they 
 are kept on clean straw this will be hardly necessary. All food and 
 water should be taken away from them for at least twelve hours 
 before they are killed. 
 
 Where there is good convenience for keeping geese, and they can 
 obtain a large proportion of their own food on the pasture land and 
 stubble, there is no doubt that they can be made to pay well, and 
 the whole stock can be kept in a productive condition much longer 
 than is the case with any other poultry ; in fact, geese of ten or 
 even twenty years appear to be quite as prolific as those that are 
 younger. 
 
104 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 In purchasing geese for farmyard stock it is not desirable to 
 buy over-large exhibition specimens ; they are, undoubtedly, not 
 as productive or profitable for martet birds as those of fair 
 average size; in fact, many of the large show birds are useless 
 for stock. 
 
 The Toulouse or grey geese may be advantageously used to cross 
 with the white Eiubden, or with the common saddle-backs, as 
 giving increased size and prolificacy. 
 
 A uselul variety, the crosses of which have been most success- 
 fully ^xhibited, but which does not appear to be generally known, 
 is that called the Italian Goose. Mr. W. Godwin, writing of this 
 breed, describes it as white, with a blue-grey head, a round grey 
 spot between the shoulders, and a marbled grey patch on each 
 thigh. Both sexes are marked alike, and ard attractive looking and 
 handsome. The marks are repr. duced almost without variation in 
 the young birds, so that the variety, which has been tnown for 
 several years, possesses a fixed type. 
 
 They are remarkable for their extraordinary productiveness ; sixty 
 and seventy eggs have been produced by oue bird in the spring ; 
 and very frequently they lay also in tbe autumn, after moulting. 
 When crossed with the Embden they produce large and superior 
 table birds. Mr. GoodaU, of Childs Ercall, Market Drayton, who 
 is a large farmer and a poultry breeder, showed at Birmingham 
 in 1893 two geese that weighed 211b. each alive. The bird with 
 which he won first prize in 1892 was of the same cross, and weighed 
 241b. ; sufiicient proof that these cross-Vired birds will develop 
 quickly and to great size, as few breeds of geese can produce 
 young birds over 241b. in weight when running about an ordinary 
 farmyard, shared by several hundreds of poultry of different 
 varieties. The Embden gander, the father of the crossbreds, is a 
 very fine bird, with all the best points of his breed. These 
 Italian geese are not always to be depended on to sit when they 
 have finished laying, but when they do take to their nests, they 
 prove reliable and careful mothers. 
 
CHAPTER XXIT. 
 DISEASES OF POULTRY. 
 
 In a work devoted to tte profitable rearing of poultry for tlie 
 market, it might be expected that something should be written 
 respecting the diseases to which these birds are subjected. Although 
 I may be considered as somewhat prejudiised in favour of treating 
 diseases remedially, inasmuch as my original pursuit was the 
 medical profession, I am free to confess that I do not think that 
 the small farmer, or poultry rearer, need trouble himself greatly 
 about the treatment of fowls when ill. If the healthiest and most 
 vigorous only are bred from — if they are reared under natural con- 
 ditions, kept clean, fed on wholesome food, not overcrowded, and 
 given free and unlimited ranges — there will be very little, if any, 
 disease amongst them ; and if any does appear, it will be found 
 much more satisfactory immediately to remove, kill, and bury, or, 
 still better, burn, the sick birds, than to attempt to treat the disease 
 remedially. 
 
 The object of the poultry breeder for the market should be to 
 rear the healthiest and most vigorous birds, capable of growing 
 rapidly into profitable fowls. This can never be accomplished if 
 invalid birds, that have been cured by remedial agents, are kept. 
 iNTevertheless, a few words respecting the prevention of the more 
 common diseases may be expected from me. 
 
 Eotrp, in many places a very fatal disease, arises from exposure 
 to cold dud wet, and spreads rapidly in overcrowded and dirty 
 poultry houses. In advanced cases there is no cure. The birds, 
 whether male or female, having been once affected, are useless for 
 stock, and had better be got rid of instantly, as the disease is 
 undoubtedly contagious. 
 
 GrAPES, which arises in chickens from the presence of small, 
 parasitical worms in the windpipe. There is little doubt that the 
 eggs of the parasite are present in the ground, and are taken iip 
 by the young birds, when they develop in the wind pipe. They 
 
106 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 are often spread by one bird devouring tlie wonns coughed up by 
 another, and they are conTeyed from one situation to another by 
 such birds as starlings, whicb are apt to be largely infested with 
 gape worm. The disease may be treated by removing the worms 
 with a turpentine feather, but this is troublesome, and not always 
 successful. 
 
 There is only one practical mode of preventing this destructive 
 disease, and that is rearing the birds on fresh, iincontaminated 
 ground. Care should be taken to check the j)revalence of the 
 disease by the total destruction of the parasites. If the dead 
 birds be thrown a;way, the mature eggs in the gape-worms will 
 not have sustained any injury. Decomposition having set in, the 
 yoaug embryos will sooner or later escape, migrate into the soil 
 or elsewhere, and ultimately find their way into the air passages 
 of birds in the same manner as their parents did before them. 
 The diseased birds must be burnt, if we wish to avoid the spread 
 of the disease. 
 
 Cramp. — Since the publication of the last edition of this book, 
 some exceedingly important investigations into the nature of 
 poultry diseases have been made by Dr. Klein. The tiue 
 characters of the disease known as cramp, which occasionally 
 causes great mortality amongst young birds, attacking them 
 usually in 'he second or third week, was ascertained by Dr. Klein. 
 It commences with lameness in one leg, on the followiag day the 
 other becomes affected, and the bird sits motionless, or drags its 
 limbs along the ground, generally dying on the third day. On 
 examination, the bones of the leg will be found soft and in 
 many cases broken, with great effusion of blood into the flesh. 
 Microscopic examination shows that, as in other iiifectious diseases, 
 it depends on a bacillus. The treatment is very simple. Tlie 
 young birds should be at once destroyed and burnt, as it is 
 probable that tho microbe exists in ^ the damp ground. All 
 attempts to cure by rubbing the limbs with embrocation is worse 
 than useless. 
 
 Fowl Cholera is a disease fortunately little known in this 
 coimtry. It is one of a most contagious character, and, where it 
 occurs, by far the cheapest and most effectual remedy is the 
 destruction of all the affected birds, and the complete fiurificatiou 
 of houses, nest places, coops, sitting-boxes, Ac, by washing with 
 lime wash, strongly scented with carbolic acid. 
 
 Dr. E. Klein, in his most valuable work on the diseases affecting 
 
DISEASES OF POULTRY. lOT 
 
 birds,* gives a description of this disease as occurring in France and 
 Germany, where it produces great devastation. I am not aware 
 that the fowl cholera has ever boon prevalent in England, but I 
 reproduce tho symptoms from Dr. Klein's work, as it is quite 
 possible that it may be introduced from the continent. 
 
 Fowl cholera occurs rapidly, within a day or a day and a half 
 after infection, the symptoms being purging of thin greenish 
 imicoid evacuations, great unwillingness to move on the part of the 
 bird, and quietness. The fowls affected refuse food, become drowsy, 
 and die in one, or at most two days. On examination after death, 
 the internal organs are found to be congested with blood, which is 
 crowded with bacilli or the germs of the disease. These bacilli also 
 exist in the evacuations of the fowls, and thus contaminate food 
 thrown upon the ground. Babbits and pigeons, as well as fowls, 
 ai-e liable to this disease, which can be produced in them by 
 inoculation with the blood of an infected animal. 
 
 The Poultry Farm Disease (the Orpington disease, or Fowl 
 Enteritis of Dr. Klein). — In the same volume Dr. Klein published 
 an account of his researches respecting an exceedingly fatal and 
 destructive disease prevalent at a Poultry Farm in Kent. The 
 account is so instructive, it demonstrates so perfectly the folly of 
 keeping large numbers of fowls on the same ground, and shows the 
 excessively deleterious effect of feeding the birds on ground soiled 
 by their own excrement, that it is exceedingly desirable that the 
 main facts should be brought before poultry keepers. Dr. Klein 
 informs us that, in 1888, Mr. W. Cook had on his poultry farm, 
 then at Orpington, in Kent, on about two acres of land, a fatal 
 epidemic, by which he lost between March, 1888, and March, 1889, 
 over 400 birds. Nearly 200 died during March and April, occa- 
 sionally six per day. Until twenty-four to thirty-six hours before 
 death the fowls appeared perfectly healthy. The first indication 
 of the disease was diarrhoea of thin, yellow, frequently fluid 
 evacuations; the birds were quiet, but never sleepy, as in fowl 
 cholera. On the next morning, or, latest, the day following, 
 the animals were fotmd dead. Post-mortem examination showed 
 the heart filled, with clotted blood, the liver enlarged, soft, 
 and brittle ; the spleen constantly enlarged twice or more, soft, 
 
 * " The Grouse Disease, Fowl Enteritis, and' Some Other Diseases Affeoting^ 
 Birds." By Dr. E. Klein, M.D., F.E.S., Lecturer on Anatomy and Physiology 
 at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. London: Macmillan and Co. 7s. 
 
108 
 
 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 and flaccid. The serous covering of the intestines, and particu- 
 larly the mucous membrane lining the csecal appendages, were 
 highly charged with blood. The lower bowels contained yellow 
 fluid fsecal matter ; in the csecal appendages there was ] much 
 mucus. 
 
 The blood contained a species of bacillus, which may be cultivated 
 on nutritive gelatine. A tiny droplet of the heart's blood rubbed 
 over the surface of gelatine, and kept for two to three days 
 in a warm temperature, produced from fifty to two hundred colonies 
 of bacilli. 
 
 Inoculations with the blood of a fowl that had died of the 
 
 Bacilli in a rlrop of mucus, from the intestines or a fowl witli Poultry Farm Disease. 
 Magmfled 1160 times. From Dr. Klein's photograph. 
 
 disease were made under the skin of healthy fowls, pigeons, and 
 rabbits. The pigeons and rabbits remained well, the fowls all died. 
 After five days, severe pui-ging of yellow, thin evacuations set in, 
 and on the seventh day the inoculated birds were found dead. 
 
 In the contents of the bowels the same bacilli were present 
 in very large numbers, as shown in the engraving. It was 
 further proved by experiment that fowls to whose food the bowel 
 
DISEASES OF POULTUY. 10& 
 
 discharges of a diseased fowl were added became smitten with 
 the disease. In Dr. Klein's own words, "Under natural condi- 
 tions, the fowls, just as in fowl cholera, contract infection most 
 probably by picking up food from a soil tainted by the evacuations 
 of birds aifectod by the disease." From this it follows, that once 
 Jet a diseased fowl appear in a poultry yard, the disease would 
 rapidly spread to the healthy fowls, these latter picJdny up their food 
 from a soil tainted with the contagium voided in the evacuations 
 by the diseased fowl ; the smaller the area of the poultry yard, the 
 more rapidly would the disease spread. In the epidemic at Mr. 
 W. Cook's, that was the subject of Dr Klein's inquiry, about 400 
 to 500 fowls were kept on about two acres of ground. It is clear 
 that this area would in the course of a few months become 
 strongly tainted with the contagium, and there was every chance 
 given for the new comers to contract infection. In such a case, 
 nothing short of energetic measures would stop the spread of the 
 disease. When once it has made its appearance, every diseased 
 bird ought to be immediately removed, killed, and burnt, and 
 the healthy birds shifted into an altogether new ground. The 
 ground on which the diseased birds had been kept ought to be 
 railed off, well dug up, and thoroughly disinfected with quick- 
 lime. The animals ought to be carefully watched, and on the 
 first sign of disease destroyed, and the ground again treated as 
 above. Only by attention to the separation of the healthy from, 
 the diseased birds, the immediate removal and destruction of the 
 latter, and the thorough disinfection of the land, can the spread of 
 the disorder be checked. 
 
 It is exceedingly satisfactory to know that the disease is not 
 spread through the air, for Dr. Klein experimented on two lots of 
 fowls separated only 18 inches by wire netting. One lot was 
 inoculated by the Orpington disease, all became ill on the fifth day, 
 two-thirds died, as did two other fowls that got access to them ; 
 whilst the other set, which were not inoculated, were not affected, 
 though Daly 1 8 inches apart. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the poultry keepers of the kingdom 
 are deeply indebted to Dr. Klein for the demonstration of the 
 cause of death in these overcrowded fowls, who infected each other 
 by eating food soiled with excrement, containing millions of bacilli, 
 one of which is capable of producing the disease in the healthiest 
 fowl. In the following chapter I have entered at length 
 into the subject of poultry farming ; but whether the weak 
 
110 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 ■enthusiasts will be converted from the error of their ways, even bv 
 Dr. Klein's demonstration that the excrement of one fowl will 
 infect and destroy a flock of 500 birds on two acres, is doubtful. 
 Such poultry establishments are started either by enthusiasts who 
 will neither listen to reason or experience, or by adventurers, who 
 see in the gullibility of their dupes a means of making a livelihood- 
 
 The Orpington disease has unfortunately been prevalent in 
 Ireland, having been introduced by the fancy fowls sent into the 
 congested districts. In the report of the Congested Districts 
 Board for 1893, it is stated : 
 
 " Upon the appearance of a widely-spread fatal disease among 
 poultry in the congested districts, and, as some of the newly- 
 imported cockei'els died, the Board requested Mr. Tegetmeier, a 
 celebrated authority on poultiy, to visit the localities to which the 
 cockerels had been sent. He reported that the disease was ' Fowl 
 Enteritis,' and that it was practically incurable, while he at the 
 same time indicated how the spread of the disease might be 
 checked. Many of the cockerels, however, in his opinion, died of 
 ^ iMrdsMp,' the districts being ill adapted to support pure-bred 
 fowl, such as had been supplied. He strongly recommended that 
 in future only farm-bred birds should bo purchased, and not those 
 bred by poultry fanciers for show purposes." 
 
 ScTJEFT Legs. — The occurrence of scurfy legs in fowls, more 
 ■especially in the feather legged varieties, is well known to all 
 poultry fanciers. They depend on the presence of minute parasites 
 (Sarcoptes mutans), which live under the scales of the legs and 
 upper part of the toes, where they set up an irritation, causing the 
 formation of a White, powdery matter, that raises the scales and 
 forms rough crusts, which sometimes become very large. When 
 these crusts are broken off and examined with a microscope, or 
 even a good hand lens, they will be found to be filled with the 
 female parasites, generally distended with eggs. The crust itself 
 may be compared to the crumb of dry bread ; but the parasites 
 are to be found only in those parts which are kept moist by the 
 skin. They appear to cause great irritation to the bird. 
 
 This disease is propagated by infection. It is seen in fanciers' 
 yards where the poultry are closely confined together. The disease 
 has been found affecting turkeys, pheasants, partridges, and even 
 small birds in aviaries. 
 
 The treatment in fowls is very sim^ple. The legs may be soaked 
 in warm water, and the crasts removed, and the legs washed with 
 
DISEASES OF POULTRY. 
 
 Ill 
 
 carbolic soft soap, as made for dogs ; and the coops, nesting places, 
 perclios, all cleansed with lime wash, scented with, carbolic acid. 
 Great care should bo taken not to emjiloy as mothers any hens 
 affected with the disease. If a Cochin or other hen in the slightest 
 
 ScDRFY Leg Pakasite 
 
 {Sarcoptes mutans). 
 
 Magnified 100 diameters. 
 
 Male. 
 
 Female, distended with eggs. 
 
 degree affected with scabies is employed, it is obvious that, as 
 young birds are covered by her, the parasites can readily pass from 
 her to the chicken, and the disease becomes disseminated. 
 
CHAPTER XXY. 
 FALLACIES OF POULTRY FARMING. 
 
 There is no one subject connected with poultry rearing on which 
 so great an amount of misconception exists as that of jsoultrv 
 farming. The general belief that prevails is that the vast 
 number of eggs, amounting to many millions annually, which 
 we receive from abroad are mostly produced in poultry farms. 
 It is difficult to account for this belief ; it is utterly baseless; there 
 are no poultry farms, properly so called, in any part of the Con- 
 tinent. But vast numbers of small peasant proprietors and small 
 farmers keep poultry, and the eggs are collected by the agents of 
 the merchants or sold by the wives of the peasants themselves in 
 the village markets which exist in most parts of Prance. If any 
 confirmation were wanted of this fact, I might quote from the 
 report of Mr. C. L. Sutherland, one of the assistant commissioners 
 appointed under the Agricultural Interest Commissi(ju. In his 
 report, which was presented to both Houses of Parliament, he 
 states as follows : 
 
 " It is a commonly received idea in England that there exist in 
 France huge poultry farms, where fowls are kept by several 
 hundreds ; and it has been over and over again urged on English 
 farmers to adopt this poultry farming on a gigantic scale, as some 
 sort of means of alleviating the present depression, and enabling 
 them to make money. A long acquaintance with the chief French 
 poultry breeding districts, as well as answers to inquiries I have 
 from time to time made on the subject, enable me positively to 
 deny the existence of such establishments. The greatest , number 
 of heads of poultry that can be kept profitably on a single farm 
 varies from 200 to 300. If a greater number than this is kept the 
 ground becomes poisoned, and it is found impossible to rear 
 chickens. Whenever large poultry farms have been started in 
 England — as, for instance, at Bromley, in Kent — they have failed, 
 and chiefly owing to the above reason; a reason perfectly well 
 
FALLACIES OF POULTRY FARMING. 113 
 
 known to and understood by all practical poultry keepers. The 
 manner in which so many fowls are reared and eggs produced in 
 France is as follows, independently, of course, of climatic 
 influences, which must be held to be of some little account. 
 Every peasant proprietor, every bordier, with perhaps two or three 
 acres of land, keeps fowls, the produce from which is collected by 
 dealers, who scour the country. In this way a very large number 
 of fowls in the aggregate is kept, but they are scattered about all 
 over the country." 
 
 Some years since attention was direcred to poultry -keeping in 
 Prance by the publication in this country of an account of a 
 poultry establishment near Paris, in which the birds were fed 
 on horseflesh. This ridiculous hoax would not have been worth 
 notice bad it not been reproduced and commented upon in many 
 of our pu.blic papers. The account was i-eprinted in many periodi- 
 cals, such as the Gardener's Chronicle, the Mark Latie Express, the 
 various agricultural journals, &c. So high an authority as Mr. 
 Cuthbert S. Johnston, F.E.S , published the following article 
 respecting it in the Mark Lane Express. Mr. Johnston stated : 
 
 " The French practical philosophers certainly know how to 
 make the most of things. Thus M. de Sora has the power of 
 mating hens lay every day in the year by feeding them on horse- 
 flesh. The fact that hens do not lay eggs in winter as well as in 
 summer is well known, and the simple reason appears to be that 
 they do not get the supply ot meat which they obtain in the warm 
 season from worms and insects. 
 
 " He soon ascertained that a certain quantity of raw mincemeat 
 given regularly with other food produced the desired result ; and, 
 commencing with only some 300 fowls, he found that they 
 averaged thu first year some twenty-five dozen eggs in the 365 
 davs. The past season he has wintered, thus far, about 100,000 
 hens, and a fair proportion of male birds, with a close approxima- 
 tion to the s*me results. The consumption of horses for this 
 purpose by M. de Sora has been at the rate of twenty two per 
 day for the last twelve months. As one item alone in this 
 immense business, it may be mentioned that in the m'-nths of 
 September, October, and November last M. de Sora sent nearly 
 1000 dozens of capons to the metropolis." 
 
 Mr. Johnston said these details are worthy of our serious con- 
 sideration. It is difficult to imagine how such a ridiculous 
 statement could have received any consideration whatever without 
 
114: POULTRY FOR TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 tke absurdity of the hoax being apparent ; and yet it was generally 
 credited, and persons made journeys from the United States, and 
 Australia, to learn the details of the mode of working adopted 
 at this supposititious establishment. To any persons havirg even 
 a very slight practical acquaintance with poultry matters, such a 
 statement as that the " 300 fowls averaged the first year some 
 twenty-five dozens, or 300 eggs in the 365 days," carries its own 
 refutation. When we take into consideration the fact that a 
 certain portion of the fowls must have been cocks, and that time 
 must have been lost during the periods at which the hens 
 were brooding and recovering from their annual moult, it is 
 evident that during a considerable portion of the year the hens of 
 these numerous fowls must have laid two eggs a day each to make 
 up this fabulous average. Again, the statement that the fowls 
 were fattened for the market at the end of the fourth year, is one 
 that could never have been reproduced by any person having any 
 knowledge of the subject. A fowl of four years of age is beyond 
 any ordinary power of mastication. 
 
 The Latin proverb which says that " truth is great and will 
 prevail," is familiar to all, but the vitality of a lie is equally 
 remarkable. It is now a quarter of a century since this ridiculous 
 De Sora hoax was fully exposed, but it is still believed and 
 credited. In that well-conducted trade journal the Grocer, of 
 Nov. 2, 1889, is an article on the number of imported eggs, which 
 includes the usual recommendations of those who are ignorant of 
 the subject as to the establishment of poultry farms. In this 
 article we are told of two brothers in the neighbourhood of 
 G-lasgow, who erected a large poultry farm with steam apparatus, 
 and accumulated a handsome fortune by their enterprise. It is 
 needless to say the exact address was not given. We are then told 
 of a poultry keeper near Liverpool who, by an expenditure of 30Z, 
 realised 701. a year profit. Neither the name nor address of this 
 poultry keeper is given. It is needless to analyse the balance 
 sheet, because it contains the usual absurdities ; but the conclusion 
 of the writer we fully agree with, namely, that it " obviously 
 ]n-oves the gross ignorance whidi prevails respecting poultry 
 keeping." 
 
 I should not have alluded to this article, inasmuch as the false 
 conclusions in it possess no novelty, but that the De Sora hoax is 
 quoted as a fact. We are informed in it that in Paris, many years 
 ago, a gentleman named M. de Sora enjoyed the respectable income 
 
FALLACIES OF POULTRY FARMING. 115 
 
 of 175,000fr. annually, derived from a huge poultry farm in the 
 suburbs. " The suburbs " is a vague term ; but it might have 
 struct the editor of the Grocer that the locality of an institution 
 from which an income of 7000?. a year was derived from poultry 
 might have been indicated. 
 
 It might also be imagined that the demonstration of the non- 
 existence of the De Sora establishment for feeding jjoultry on 
 horseflesh would have sufficed to prevent the promulgation of 
 any more of these ridiculous canards. But such has not been 
 the case. In the early editions of the " Practical Poultry 
 Keeper," the concluding sections were devoted to the reproduction 
 of a French account of a poultry establishment at " Chamy, a 
 picturesque village near Paris." The reader was informed that 
 1200 laying hens, with a due proportion of cocks, were lodged in 
 the first floor of an elaborate building, with a verandah, railway, 
 lifting tackle, boilers, stoves, hatching room, &c. Of this building 
 a perspective view, sections, elevations, ground plans, &c., were 
 given in some ten or a dozen engravings, and the writer most 
 definitely stated that the establishment was " one of the most 
 complete and perfect of its kind in Prance, and which has been 
 conducted for several years with the most eminent success." And, 
 moreover, he did not think "its arrangements can be further 
 improved." I need not enter into any detailed examination of 
 the plans proposed, because a very slight acquaintance with really 
 practical poultry keeping would have sufficed to convince anyone of 
 the impossible nature of the arrangements. For example, each of 
 the four hen houses into which the upper floor of the building is 
 arranged is said to be designed for 330 fowls, the dimensions being 
 16ft. by 16ft. ; the nests and ascending ladders occupy the end 
 walls, and perches consist of eight planks, each 10ft. long — ^in 
 other words, there is rather less than one foot of perch for every 
 four fowls to be accommodated ! 
 
 An example of the evil effects of the publication of such mis- 
 statements may be mentioned. A capitalist informed me that, 
 having read this account, he was induced to expend a very con- 
 siderable sum in carrying out the arrangements ; that he went over 
 to Paris expressly to visit the poultry establishment that I have 
 described. On endeavouring to procure a conveyance to Cbarny, 
 he could find no one who knew any place of the name near Paris. 
 The Geographical Dictionary failed to give any aid. Determined 
 not to be foiled, he gained access- to the Minister of Agriculture, 
 
 I 2 
 
116 POULTRY FOR TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 under whose authority this precious account was supposed to have 
 been originally published. His inquiries for the locality of Charny 
 and of the poultry farm elicited no definite information ; he 
 ascertained, however, the name and address of the author of the 
 account, whom he next visited, and on 9,gain inquiring for the 
 locality of Charny, and the particulars of the establishment, which 
 had been said to have been carried on for years with eminent 
 success, the Englishman received the astounding answer, " Mon- 
 sieur, e'est imagination." 
 
 These ridiculous accounts have led, unfortunately for the 
 promoters, to the attempted establishment of numerous poultry 
 farms in England, every one of which has resulted in disastrous 
 pecuniary failure. The rearing of poultry has been tried in this 
 country under every variety of conditions. In some places extensive 
 ranges of buildings have been erected in accordance with various 
 plans, but the result has always been the same. The number of 
 defunct farms is very great. One of the largest of these, as far as 
 regards the size of the building and the expenditure of capital, was 
 at Bromley, in Kent, where many thousand pounds were lost before 
 the attempt was given up by the promotei's. This was succeeded 
 by two others at Wimbledon, both of which passed rapidly out of 
 existence. A large poultry farm was established in Hereford- 
 shire,, most florid and fictitious accounts of which were issued by 
 the promoters. Another undertaking was proposed to be started 
 at Shenley. I have before me a large number of prospectuses of 
 poultry farms, none of which were ever worked successfully ; some, 
 of course, were obviously merely Stock Exchange swindles. One of 
 these did me the honour of putting my name upon their prospectus 
 as one of the auditors. I need not say that it was done without my 
 knowledge or permission. 
 
 One of the poultry farms that was established under the most 
 favourable conditions, was' that founded at Rushford, on the estate 
 of Sir Robert Buxton, on light sandy soil, which was regarded as 
 admirably adapted for the purpose. Sir Robert entered into the 
 scheme with much interest, and met the promoter in a most liberal 
 manner. The tract of land consisted of 114 acres, inclosed by wire 
 fences. There was good cover, and in some parts a number of furze 
 bushes, under which the fowls could shelter. An incubating house 
 was built by Sir Robert, from the promoter's own designs, which 
 was described as a brick structure, admirably adapted for the j)ur- 
 poses for which it was intended. Eight incubators, each holding 
 
FALLACIES OF POULTRY FARMING. 117 
 
 250 eggs, 2000 in all, were described as being in full work. 
 Ample provision was made for the artificial supply of heat for the 
 rearing of the chickens, which were not to be overcrowded on the 
 land, and were not to exceed from 60 to 100 per acre. The breeding 
 birds were to be located in runs separated by wirework, and not 
 more than from a dozen to twenty kept together. The manure was 
 to be carefully collected and utilised. There was to be an intelli- 
 gent poultry keeper, two labourers, their wives, and a boy under 
 him. Although the poultry was chiefly to be bred for the market, a 
 careful selection was to be made of the best stock. When this 
 proposal was first brought before the public in 1882, I criticised it 
 adversely in the Field, and said that I should like to see the balance 
 sheet at the end of two years. This request was regarded as an 
 impertinent interference on my part with the business of a private 
 individual, more particularly as I said that I had never known 
 any poultry farm, on whatever conditions it was started, that was in 
 existence at the end of three years. It is difficult to imagine a 
 poultry farm conducted under more advantageous conditions. The 
 land was dry, well adapted to pheasants, and therefore to poultry ; 
 the rent was exceedingly low, the capital expended was that of the 
 landed proprietor, who entered warmly into the scheme, and if ever 
 a poultry farm could have succeeded it should have been that at 
 Eushford. My opinions regarding its failure were regarded as 
 utterly unfounded, but at the end of two years this venture, which 
 seemed so promising to those who wer^ not fully acquainted with 
 the subject, was dispersed by the hammer of the auctioneer. 
 
 In the Field of January 10, 1891, I published the following 
 comments on an article by the Hon. A. H. Cathcart, on " Chicken 
 and Poultry Farming in G-ermany," which appeared in the Eoyal 
 Agricultural Society's Journal, recently published. Mr. Cathcart's 
 article was descriptive of the establishment of an incubator maker, 
 Herr G-ruenhaldt, at Walmiinster, Lorraine, a village of about 
 100 souls, situated some twenty miles from Metz. The land is 
 described as consisting of about thirty English acres, and to be 
 distant three and a half miles from the railway station, with 
 which there is communication only by telephone and a postcart 
 which passes twice daily, the owner of the poultry establishment 
 keeping no horses. " Practically all the food is purchased, as 
 buck wheat, Indian meal, and fish made into baked cakes." The 
 stock on hand is said to be always from 7000 to 10,000 head of 
 poultry, chiefly chickens, with turkeys, geese, ducks, guineafowls. 
 
118 POULTRY FOR TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 aud i-abbits. The staff employed consists of the proprietor, his 
 clerk, a manager, a foreman, three boys, and three or four men for 
 the cows, garden, and orchard. The orchards are stated to contain 
 1200 fruit trees. The schloss, or chateau, is a broad-fronted 
 building of two storeys, with a considerable space under the high 
 pitched roof, which is entirely occupied by the newly-hatched 
 chickens, and they are said to remain there for six weeks, in three 
 tiers of cages with sanded trays. They are then put out into the 
 runs (which must be small and numerous, as there is said to V>e 
 above six English miles of wire netting) for another six weeks. 
 The value of the chickens sold " all over Germany " is, for the 
 smaller, 1 mark 60 pf., equal to Is. 6d. each ; for the larger, 
 •2 marks 60 pf., say 2s. 6d. ; for a few exceptionally fatted and 
 older, 4 marks 60 pf . The establishment is regarded as being able 
 to supply 30,000 chickens annually, which, at a profit of Is. per 
 head, would give a profit of 1500Z. 
 
 A very cursory examination of the details of this scheme will 
 show that it possesses no more solid foundation than the scores of 
 others that have been tried in England and France, and vanished 
 after having been established one or two years. 
 
 That thousands of chickens hatched by incubators can be reared 
 until six weeks old in the dark cock-loft of an old chateau is a 
 statement which cannot be accepted. 
 
 Numbers of chickens are said to be sent "all over Germany," 
 but, as the proprietor keeps no horses and the railway is three and 
 a half miles distant, how they are sent there, by the mail cart or 
 the telephone, it is difficult to conceive ; and that chickens sold at 
 three months old at Is. 6d. each can yield a profit of Is. each is 
 incredible. It is needless to say that no information is given as to 
 the length of time this establishment had been in operation, not 
 of the precise number of birds sent away, nor of the cost of food, 
 labour, rent, or gross receipts. There was not the slightest attempt 
 at furnishing a balance sheet. Doubtless Mr. Cathcart wrote in 
 perfect good faith ; and put down what he was told by an 
 enthusiast, but he obviously had no personal experience of the 
 subject he wrote about. 
 
 Nevertheless, the Royal Agricultural Society of England thought 
 fit to publish this most unsatisfactory account, which is of no 
 practical value whatever, and which could only have one effect — 
 that of inducing persons ignorant of the subject to emliark in 
 similar undertakings. 
 
FALLACIES OF POULTRY FARMING. 119 
 
 The above comments were followed by a visit to this establish- 
 ment, which was described in theI(M;& Simh-Jawrnal of March 20, 
 1891. The account is as favourable as possible, but it is only 
 necessary to read between the lines to see that the criticisms that 
 I made on the establishment were justifiable. In his first paragraph 
 Mr. Brown states : " Although I am bound to say that the results 
 are scarcely so satisfactory as might have been wished, this may 
 be due to circumstances, to be explained anon, which are his (Hen- 
 Q-naenhaldt's) misfortune rather than from any other cause." 
 Then follows the statements that there is " the possibility that the 
 farm may be vacated ere long," that not one of the incubator« 
 was in operation, and, says the writer, " a further and considerable 
 capital is essential in order to carry on the work." Nevertheless, 
 we are told that the institution " paid, and paid well, during the 
 two years it has been established." That this establishment 
 should not be put in action at the commencement of the third 
 breeding season from want of capital is a thing which is easy to 
 believe ; but that it " paid, and paid well" during the two years 
 that it has been in operation is a point on which my readers can 
 form their own conclusions. People do not give up businesses 
 from want of capital when they have " paid well " for the two 
 previous seasons. 
 
 We then have a long description of Herr Grruenhaldt's particular 
 incubators. We are next told that the chickens, twenty -four hours 
 after they are hatched, are removed into cages in the upper rooms 
 of the schloss, which must, according to the engraving in the 
 original article, be in semi-darkness. Out of these cages, we are 
 told, these chickens never go ! ! that they are supplied with food 
 made of maize meal and buckwheat meal and milk, and kept in an 
 even temperature by a stove ; that they are ready for killing at six 
 weeks old (!), that all are kiUed when they attain the age of two 
 m^onths, and at this time we are informed that many weigh 31b. 
 each, and the price per pound varies from lid. to Is. 3d. They 
 are killed on the spot, and despatched by the German parcels post, 
 in summer ice being used for packing. 
 
 It would be interesting to English poultry rearers to know the 
 breed of the fowls that reach 31b. in weight at the age of two 
 months, no such variety is known in this country, and to learn 
 the proportion of deaths that takes place amongst the chickens 
 that are removed from the incubator into their cages and fattened 
 for the table. Mr. Brown unfortunately did not see anything for 
 
120 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 himself, not even one single 'two months old chicken^ weighing 
 three pounds ! the operations being suspended ; but that chickens 
 varying from six weeks to two months old can be reared and 
 sold at Is. 3d. per pound in a district where every peasant 
 produces chickens for the market would require some very reliable 
 evidence to render it credible. 
 
 We do not know what the arrangements of the G-erman parcels 
 jjost may be, but the ice used in summer for packing chickens 
 must necessarily melt, to the destruction of all other packages, 
 goods, and letters with which the water came into contact. We 
 are told, however, that last year 9000 chickens were reared in this 
 manner, in addition to nearly 1000 hatched by the incubator and 
 sold alive at two or three days old. Now, taking this statement as 
 a basis of calculation, it is not difficult to arrive at some approxi- 
 mation as to the income of this poultry-rearing establishment. 
 The gross amount arising from the sale of the 10,000 chickens, 
 varying from two or three days to under two months old, could not 
 possibly be much higher than 500Z., out of which would have to 
 be paid the rent of the chateau and the surrounding land, the 
 purchase of eggs for hatching, the interest on the capital expended 
 in the construction of the incubators and all the appliances 
 requisite, the food of the birds during the time they are growing, 
 the cost of the labour in cleansing, killing, plucking, and that of 
 conveyance to market. Ought we to feel surprised that, notwith- 
 standing we are told on the one hand that the business has " paid, 
 and paid well " during the two years it has been established, it 
 cannot now be carried on for want of capital V It must have 
 had some capital to commence with, and, if it has paid well, 
 that capital should have been increased. 
 
 The concluding sentence of this account informs us that, 
 " although the establishment at Schloss Walmiinster proves as 
 yet nothing as to the pecuniary success of poultry farming, 
 there are several novel features of interest noted." It appears 
 to me, and very probably will to most of my readers who take 
 an interest in the matter, that, though this establishment does 
 not prove anything as to the pecuniary success of poultry 
 farming, it is an additional proof of the failure that always 
 attends such efforts. 
 
 The fact cannot be too strongly insisted on, that, under aU cir- 
 cumstances, poultry should be regarded as a bye product. Where 
 the fowls necessitate no extra payment for land or building — where 
 
FALLACIES OF POULTRY FARMING. 121 
 
 they get, as in a farmyard, a considerable proportion of food for 
 nothing, and where they are fed, when the food is supplied to- 
 them, on waste products, stich as tail corn, small potatoes boiled 
 dowai, and other almost valueless articles of diet, and cost nothing 
 for labovir — fowls can always be kept to profit. It is in this way 
 really that they are kept by the small peasant proprietors in France,, 
 and by a large number of cottagers in England ; and it is with the 
 object of showing how they can be kept to the best advantage 
 that this work has been written. 
 
 Poultry farms, properly so called, must not be confounded with 
 those establishments for the sale of fancy poultry at fancy prices, 
 which the owners advertize as Poultry Farms, they being in fact 
 nothing of the sort, but merely places where large numbers of fancy 
 poultry are kept in separate runs for the purpose of sale, at fancy 
 prices varying from half a guinea to five or ten guineas a bird. But 
 even these establishments are rarely successful. 
 
 The Prebendal poultry farm at Aylesbury, though conducted 
 with the greatest amount of skill and knowledge of exhibition 
 poultry that could be brought to bear upon the subject, was 
 dispersed in the usual manner, by the auctioneer's hammer, in 
 October, 1889. Fancy poultry establishments still exist, but they 
 change owners very frequently, the original promoters, in some 
 instances, having to my knowledge lost thousands of pounds. 
 But even if these establishments could always be conducted in a 
 prosperous manner, they would furnish no argument against my 
 contention that poultry farming does not pay, it being totally 
 distinct from the breeding of fancy or exhibition poultry. 
 
 To produce poultry and eggs in large quantities for the market, 
 and as part of the food supply of the country, has never yet been 
 made to pay when carried on as a separate business, and liable to 
 be charged with all the outgoings that are necessarily incurred. As 
 was stated by the late Mr. Alexander Comyns : 
 
 "The poultry fancier and exhibitor may enlarge what was, 
 perhaps, his private hobby into a business, which may be small or 
 large ; but he, after all, has only to do what poultry fanciers like 
 most, and is in no wise concerned whether the imports of foreign eggs 
 increase or decrease. He may often go so far as cilling his estab- 
 lishment the Poultiy Farm, but as long as the chief part 
 
 of his business is selling fancy poultry and eggs, he is not a poultry 
 farmer." ' . 
 
 With all these facts before us it nevertheless appears impossible 
 
122 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MABKET. 
 
 to eradicate the idea, that poultry farming pure and simple can, on 
 a larger or smaller scale, be made to pay. Ifot a year passes but 
 that some scores of private individuals, having perhaps small 
 incomes of their own, go into the country, take a house with a few 
 acres of land, erect buildings and commence poultry keeping with a 
 view to supply the markets at a profit. If, as I have said before, 
 the poultry be a bye product of the farm, costing little or nothing 
 in the way of rent for land or building, little in the way of labour, 
 and obtaining a large portion of their own food, then fowls can be 
 kept to profit ; but these conditions are absent in all the so-called 
 poultry farms, and consequently they invariably and inevitably 
 come to grief. 
 
 I constantly receive letters asking for advice on this matter, and 
 my reply invariably is, " Do not enter into the business until you 
 have studied the details of the management of some establishment 
 where it has been carried on for two years with success- — a thing 
 which I have never yet been able to find." 
 
 I could enumerate, if it were necessary, some scores of poultry 
 farms that have been founded, or attempted to be founded, the 
 whole of which, have without a single exception failedin less than 
 two years. The money that I know to have been wasted in these 
 efforts amounts to very many thousands of pounds. 
 
 A proposal in Poultry Farming has been issued by Major 
 Morant,* in which the keeping of hens and rearing chickens in 
 large numbers in absolute confinement is advocated. 
 
 Accepting the well-known fact that if hens are confined in small 
 poultry yards they invariably become diseased as the ground 
 gets tainted, the writer suggests that, instead of permanently 
 fencing in a patch of ground, the fowls should be kept in movable 
 houses, each with a small wire run ; and he imagines that they 
 will be as healthy and lay as many eggs as if they had their 
 liberty. As an example of his system, he relates that four half-bred 
 pullets were placed in a boarded coop, 4ft. long by 3ft. broad, and 
 3ft. Gin. high in the centre, with a felt roof, in which was a glass 
 window, the floor being formed of open spars of wood, and the 
 whole sufficiently light to be lifted easily. Attached to this coop 
 was a run 8ft. by 4ft., and 2ft. high, covered with wire netting. 
 
 *How to Keep Laying Hens, and to Rear Chickens, in large or small 
 Numbers, in absolute confinement, with " perfect success." By Major O. F. 
 Morant. London : L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand, W.C. 
 
FALLAGim OF POVLTHY FARMING. ]-2'.\ 
 
 This house and run were moved on t,o fresh ground daily, soiiietiracs 
 to the grass and sometimes on to vacant garden ground, where 
 potatoes or other crops had been removed. Under these circum- 
 stances he states that his foiu* pullets laid 647 eggs in ten months. 
 
 Judging by the results obtained with a single coop. Major 
 Morant thinks that such houses, only of a somewhat larger size, 
 each capable of holding ten pullets, might be multiplied inde- 
 finitely, and that 100 houses, holding 1000 hens, could easily 
 stand in a six-acre field, and be kept to j)rofit by the farmer. The 
 hens, he says, should average from 150 to 200 eggs a year each, 
 and that they should be kept until they are two years old, when 
 he thinks they will fetch about 2s. each, sufficient to pay for 
 rearing the pullets which are to replace them. That young 
 pullets in their prime, whether for laying or killing, could be 
 exchanged for old hens, is not within the experience of any prac- 
 tical breeder. It is always difficult in the country to get rid of old 
 hens at 1«. or 1«. 6d. each. 
 
 Whilst admitting the advantages that may accrue to a small 
 householder from keeping a few fowls in one of these confined 
 runs, I differ in toto from Major Morant as to the possibility of 
 keeping a large number of laying hens in confinement on this 
 system with any profitable result. I will take his own statements, 
 and apply them to 1000 hens. In order to keep them on this 
 system they would require 100 houses and runs — each of which lie 
 himself estimates as costing 21., the total being 2001. The 1000 
 young hens in their prime could hardly costless than 3«. each=160Z. 
 He states that a pony and trolly would be required to move these 
 houses and runs on to fresh ground every day. We may put the 
 cost of this pony and trolly down at not less than 151. The cost of 
 the baskets and boxes for the conveyance of eggs to market, and 
 other incidentals cannot be put below 101. Here we have a capital 
 invested of 375/., the interest upon which, joined to the annual 
 depreciation and repairs of the houses, cannot be taken at less 
 than 501. The rent of the six acres may be put down at 15Z. 
 The cost of feeding the fowls, according to Major Morant's own 
 showing, is l|d. a week each, or 6s. 6d. per head per annum. This 
 for 1000 hens amounts to 3211. We are not told how mam 
 labourei's would be required to feed the 1000 hens and attend U- 
 and remove the 100 houses with the aid of the pony and trolly, 
 but we can hardly put this labour at less than 501., and the eggs 
 would have to be packed and conveyed to market. The keep of 
 
124 POULTBY FOB TABLE AND MABKET. 
 
 the pony, rent of the stable, and other buildings required for the 
 poultry establishment (that of the dwelling-house not even being 
 taken into consideration) could hardly be less than 25Z; whilst 
 the exchange of the old worn-out hens for young pullets may be 
 estimated at the very lowest as 25Z. per annum. The total annual 
 expense of keeping these 1000 hens would amount to 486Z. Taking 
 the number of eggs at Major Mo'rant's own calculation, namely, 
 176 per hen (which is fifty in excess of the true average), these 
 in the open market, where the 175,000 eggs per annum would 
 have to be sold, could not possibly command 10s. per lien. This 
 would give us a return of 500Z., leaving a profit of 14Z. per annum, 
 out of which the house rent and living of the proprietor would 
 have to be paid. The expenses here are estimated at the lowest 
 possible amount ; and no account is taken of loss of any of the 
 hens by disease, which would inevitably occur amongst so many 
 crowded together as they would be. 
 
 It is useless to write about fresh eggs producing 2d. each in 
 the shops, when they have to be sold wholesale. The estimate of 
 10s. for the produce of each hen, which I have allowed in this 
 account, is far too favourable, but I am desirous of not overstating 
 my case. The cost of eggs in the country markets must be taken 
 as the guide, and not the fancy prices in fashionable shops. 
 
 The following is the balance-sheet that may fairly be deduced 
 from the author's own statements : 
 
 Annuai, Balance Sheet. 
 
 Dr. £ s. d. 
 
 Rentofland 15 
 
 Food of 1000 hens 321 
 
 Hire of labour 50 
 
 Renewal of hens 25 
 
 Interest of capital and de- 
 preciation of hoases, &o. 50 
 Keep of pony, stahle, &c,.. 25 
 To balance 14 
 
 ^500 
 
 Or. £ s. d. 
 
 Value of eggs produced at 
 
 10s. per hen 500 
 
 ^500 
 
 The proposal of Major Morant to rear chickens for the market 
 under similar conditions I have not entered into, as it appears to 
 me, as a practical man, quite outside all serious consideration. 
 
(JHAPTER XXYI. 
 FOWLS IN SMALL RUNS. 
 
 The great extension of the poultry fancy in England has induced 
 many persons living in suburban and even town residences to keep 
 fowls in small enclosed runs for the supply of eggs for the table. 
 This has little to do with the subject of profitable market and table 
 poultry, which is the main object of this work ; but, as the practice 
 is extensively followed, and there is a right and wrong way of 
 doing everything, it may not be without advantage to devote a few 
 words to the consideration of the best method of keeping fowls in 
 confined places. I am constantly receiving such questions as 
 " How many fowls can I keep in a run 30ft. by 10ft., or in one of 
 -50ft. by 12ft. 'i " &c. My reply always is, " The smaller the 
 number vou keep in a confined area, the healthier they will remain, 
 and consequently the more productive." When fowls are crowded 
 together in a small space, the ground becomes saturated with their 
 excrement, their food (scattered on the surface) is always con- 
 taminated with it ; the air they breath is impure, being charge d 
 with the gases arising from the foetid ground ; and the possibility 
 of obtaining worms, grubs, or any natural insect food, and even 
 green food (except such as is supplied artificially) is denied them. 
 Oan it be wondered, then, that the birds become unhealthy, and 
 that, to supply the want of natural animal diet, they take to eating 
 each other's feathers and their own eggs ? Then, again, from want 
 of due exercise, and over feeding, especially on fat house scraps, 
 the hens not unf requently become enormously fat internally, and 
 cease to be productive. 
 
 To prevent these evils as far as possible, certain precautions 
 should be taken. The largest space available should be given to 
 the birds. If sufficient can be afforded, and it is practicable to do 
 so, it should be divided into two or three portions, each of which 
 should be allowed to lie fallow for a time, being deeply dug up after 
 it has become foul, when some fresh slaked lime or fresh gas lime 
 
126 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 should be added, and the ground sown with rape. This by its 
 quick growth rapidly exhausts the manure of the soil, and 
 furnishes an admirable supply of green food to the fowls when 
 they are let into it. The portion of the run in which the birds, 
 are kept should be as clean as possible, and may with great 
 advantage be covered with house ashes day by day. 
 
 In feeding the birds great care should be taken not to give them 
 fatty scraps from the house. Bones, which they will pick perfectly 
 clean, may be given, but all fat meat or grease of any kind should 
 be avoided, as the great tendency of the birds is to become unduly 
 fat internally. For the same reason maize, the most fattening of 
 the ordinary grains, should be very sparelyused. The dietary should 
 consist, as far as corn is concerned, of barley, wheat, or dari, which 
 may be supplemented with waste potatoes and other vegetables from 
 the house. The food should in no case be thrown down on the 
 ground, which is always more or less soiled in a confined run. Green 
 food in abundance is absolutely necessary. Cabbages or lettuces 
 running to seed may be utilised with advantage, being most advan- 
 tageously tied up against the side of the run, so that the fowls 
 can eat them without dragging them about on the soiled ground ; 
 or large swede turnips may be secured by being stuck on a stake 
 driven into the ground and the tops cut off, when they are readily 
 eaten by the birds. 
 
 With regard to the breed that may l)e used, it is better under 
 the circumstances to employ non -sitting varieties, because they lay a 
 large number of eggs ; and the profitable rearing of chickens is 
 perfectly impracticable under such conditions. Therefore such 
 varieties as Minorcas, Andalusians, and Leghorns may be selected, 
 if it is particularly desired to keep a pure breed. It will be found 
 a much better plan to buy young pullets ready to lay, keep them 
 until they have finished laying, and then dispose of them and buy 
 others. Under these circumstances there is no utility, and fre- 
 quently a great annoyance to the neighbours, in keeping a male 
 bird. If the requisite number of pullets are bought twice a year, 
 a very fair supply of new laid eggs, which are especially valuable 
 in the suburban districts, can thus be obtained for household 
 purposes. 
 
 If early-hatched pullets are bought in September or October, 
 and well fed in the manner described, without being over fattened, 
 they will lay well throughout the winter, before becoming broody. 
 When this takes place in the spring they should be sold as stock 
 
FOWLS IN SMALL ItUNS. 127 
 
 birds, or eaten at home (they are of uo value as market fowl), and 
 their place supplied by some late-hatched pullets, which may be 
 depended on for laying throughout the summer ; these, in their 
 turn, will be sold to make way for another batch of early spring 
 birds. Even where this course is pursued, it will be found more 
 advantageous, if practicable, to buy pullets of some non-sitting 
 breed, such as Minorcas, &o., but ordinary fowls will do well. 
 
 The advantage of this plan over that which is sometimes adopted, 
 of keeping the same hens year after year in confined runs, is very 
 great. The pullets bought for laying should be strong, vigorous, 
 country-bred birds, containing in their ovaries large numbers of 
 immature yolks, which must be developed into eggs under the 
 circumstances in which they are placed ; whereas, when hens are 
 kept year after year in confinement they become sterile and 
 practically cease to lay. Hence many persons beginning with 
 poultry in a confined space are very well satisfied for the first 
 few months, but in a couple of years, or less, get rid of both 
 fowls and fowl runs, saying the eggs cost them about half a 
 crown apiece — an evil which can be avoided by attending to the 
 recommendations here made. 
 
 A letter appeared in the Times of January 6, 1892, advocating- 
 the keeping of fowls in suburban back gardens, and stating that 
 they may be advantageously kept in an open space " however- 
 small " ! The writer, whose letter is dated Dec. 31, 1891, states 
 that : 
 
 " About eighteen months ago, when I removed to my present 
 address, I found already erected a fowl-house standing in the 
 centre of an inclosure measuring 8ft. by 20ft., formed on three 
 sides by the garden wall and in the front by a wire netting. I at 
 once determined to try my hand at egg-producing, when a kind 
 friend, by way of starting me in that line, presented me with five 
 fowls — four hens and a cock. As, however, the latter proved to be 
 an "early bird," and awoke us soon after midnight, I soon disposed 
 of him., and resolved to act upon the zenana principle. During the 
 autumn I purchased two pullets ; so that I commenced this year 
 with six hens, which number has never been exceeded." 
 
 These six hens produced 44 dozen of eggs during the year — 
 an average of eighty-eight for each fowl. It is hardly necessary 
 to state that an average of eighty-eight eggs per year for each 
 lien is a very poor result indeed, and one that would have been 
 greatly improved had all the birds been pullets, whereas four 
 
128 POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 ■vrere old hens. The amount of space allowed to each fowl is 
 2^ square yards, how long such a space can be occupied without 
 becoming absolutely fcetid depends somewhat on the amount 
 ■of cleansing it receives ; but there is no doubt that fowls kept 
 •continuously in such a narrow space must almost of necessity 
 swallow food tainted with their own excrement, and that they 
 must breathe the exhalations from the foul ground, whilst there is 
 an absence of all fresh natural food, such as insects, worms, 
 ■growing herbage, &c. Under these conditions fowls lose their 
 prolificacy very rapidly. If the birds of the Times correspondent 
 .are tept another year there will be a lamentable falling off in the 
 number of eggs, even if feather-eating, or, still worse, the infec- 
 tious bacillus of the Poultry Farm disease does not demonstrate 
 its presence and carry off the stock. 
 
 The writer of the letter signed " 0." in the Times, is merely 
 repeating the experience of thousands of others, whose poultry in 
 narrow runs do admirably the first year, whilst the birds are young 
 and the ground pure, but are not so satisfactory the second season, 
 and are got rid of as not worth their keep in the third, and this in 
 spite of the fact that the house scraps are nearly sufficient for 
 their entire suj)port. 
 
 As before stated, the only method of ensuring a supply of eggs 
 from fowls kept under these conditions is to renew the pullets 
 as soon as they cease laying, as young birds seem constrained, if 
 fairly fed, to develop all the ova in their ovaries into perfect eggs. 
 
CIHAPTEE XXYII. 
 OAPONIZING. 
 
 The operation of caponisiug is one that is not usually had recourse 
 to even in Prance, and may be regarded as unnecessary in all 
 cases where the fowls of diiferent sexes can be separated, as recom- 
 mended in Chapter XVII., at an early age. 
 
 As performed in this country, it is usually conducted in so 
 unscientific and brutal a manner that I regard myself as justified 
 iu showing the mode in which it is accomplished in Prance. The 
 American plan is, in my opinion, not as successf al. Under any 
 circumstances, the operation is one of a severe and painful 
 character, and, in my opinion, unnecessary. 
 
 The name of capon is given to young cocks which have been 
 deprived of the faculty of reproduction. In this state they grow 
 to a very large size, and fatten more readily ; their flesh also is 
 more delicate. 
 
 It is desirable to submit the cocks to the operation when they 
 are about four months old, and it is very important to choose a 
 time when the weather is somewhat cool, rather moist than dry, 
 and especially to avoid performing the operation during the great 
 heats of summer. 
 
 The instrument employed in the operation should be very sharp ; 
 a surgeon's small operating knife, termed a curved pointed bistoury, 
 is far better than an ordinary knife, as it makes a much neater 
 wound, and so increases greatly the chances of healing ; or a curved 
 pointed penknife may be used. A stout needle and waxed thread 
 are also requisite ; a small curved surgical needle will be found 
 much more convenient in use than a common straight one. 
 
 It is necessary that there should be two persons to perform the 
 operation. The assistant places the bird on its right side on the 
 knees of the person who is about to operate, and who is seated 
 in a chair of such a height as to make his thighs horizontal. 
 The back of the bird is turned towards the operator, and the 
 
 K 
 
ISO POULTJRt FOR TABLE AMD MAMKMT. 
 
 right leg and thigh held firmly along the body, the left wing 
 being drawn back towards the tail, thus exposing the left flank, 
 where the incision has to be made. After removing the feathers 
 the skin is raised up just behind the last rib, with the point 
 of the needle, so as to avoid wounding the intestines, and an 
 incision along the edge of the last rib is made into the cavity of 
 the body sufSciently large to admit of the introduction of the 
 finger. If any portion of the bowels escape from the wound, it 
 must be carefully returned. The forefinger is then introduced 
 into the cavity, and directed behind the intestines towards the 
 back, somewhat to the left side of the middle line of the body. 
 
 If the proper position is gained (which is somewhat difficult to 
 an inexperienced operator, especially if the cock is of full size), the 
 finger comes into contact with the left testicle, which, in a young 
 bird of four months is rather larger than a full-sized horse bean. 
 It is moveable, and apt to slip under the finger, although adhering 
 to the spine. When felt it is to be gently pulled away from its 
 attachments with the finger and removed through the wound — an 
 operation which requires considerable practice and facility to per- 
 form properly, as the testicle sometimes slips from under the 
 finger before it is got out, and, gliding amongst the intestines, 
 cannot be found again readily. It may, however, remain in the 
 body of the animal without much inconvenience, although it is 
 better removed, as its presence is apt to excite inflammation. 
 
 After removing the left testicle, the finger is again introduced, 
 and the right one sought for in a similar manner. It is readily 
 discovered, as its s-ituation is alongside of the former, a little to the 
 right side of the body. Afterwards the lij)s of the wound are 
 brought together and kept in contact with two or three stitches 
 with the waxed thread. No attempt should be made to sew up 
 the wound with a continuous seam, but each stitch should be jjcr- 
 fectly separate, and tied distinctly from the others. 
 
 In making the stitches great care should be taken; the skin 
 should be raised up so as to avoid wounding the intestines with 
 the needle, or including even the slightest portion of them in the 
 thread — an accident that would almost inevitably be followed by 
 the death of the animal. 
 
 After the operation the bird had better be placed under a coop 
 in a quiet situation, and supplied with drink and soft food, such as 
 sopped bread. After a few hours it is best to give him his liberty, 
 if he can be turned out in some quiet place removed from the 
 
GAFOmZING. 131 
 
 poultry-yavd, as, if attaclcod by the other cocks, the healing of the 
 wound would be endangered. 
 
 After the operation the bird should not be j)ermitted to roost on 
 a perch, as the exertion of leaping up would unquestionably injure 
 the wound ; it should, therefore, at night be turned into a r«om 
 where it is obliged to rest on the floor, previously covered with 
 some clean straw. For three or four days after the operation the 
 bird should be fed on soft food ; after that time it may be set at 
 liberty for a short period, until it has recovered entirely from the 
 operation, when it shoiild be put up to fatten. 
 
 In Prance it is customary to cut off the combs of the capons. 
 This is regarded as a distinguishing mark of the operation having 
 been performed, and consequently the birds do not sell so freely 
 if they are allowed to remain. 
 
 If the animal mopes about on the day following the operation, 
 it is desirable to look at the wound, and, should it be inflamed, to 
 bathe it with a little tepid water. If, however, the intestine has 
 been wounded, there is no chance of recovering. Some persons 
 place oil and other applications on the wound, but there is no 
 doubt that they retard the healing process. As a general rule, it 
 may be stated that if the operation has been skilfully performed 
 it rarely fails of success. 
 
 The operation of making " poulardes " is much easier than the 
 corresponding one on the cocks. The pullet is to be placed in 
 the same position on the lap of the operator, the left leg being 
 drawn forwards so as to expose the left flank, in which a longi- 
 tudinal incision is to be made close to the side bone; this will 
 bring to view the lower bowel, and alongside of it will be found 
 the egg passage, or egg pipe. If this is drawn to the orifice 
 of the wound by a small hooked wire, and cut across — or, what is 
 perhaps better, a very short piece of it removed — the development 
 of the ovary, or egg-producing organ, is entirely prevented, and 
 the birds fatten rapidly, attaining also a very large size. It is 
 most important to perform the operation before the pullets have 
 begun .^to lay. I would beg to impress most strongly the 
 desirability of practising these operations in the first instance on 
 dead birds of the same age, so that the operator may become 
 acquainted with the situation and appearance of the parts con- 
 cerned. By this means a greater amount of success will be 
 attained in the first instance, and much unnecessary suffering saved 
 to the animals. 
 
13a POULTRY FOB TABLE AND MARKET. 
 
 The food used for fattening capons in France is chiefly buckwheat 
 meal, bolted quite fine. This is kneaded up with sweet milk till 
 it acquires the consistency of baker's dough ; it is then cut uj) into 
 rations about the size of two eggs, which are made up into rolls 
 about the thickness of a woman's finger, but varying with the sizes 
 of the fowls ; these are sub-divided by a sloping cut into " patons," 
 or pellets, about two-and-a-half inches long. 
 
 A board is used for mixing the flour with the milk, which in 
 winter should be lukewarm. It is poured into a hole made in the 
 heaj) of flour, and mixed up little by little with a wooden spoon so 
 long as it is taken up ; the dough is then kneaded by the hands 
 till it no longer adheres to them. 
 
 The food is thus administered : The attendant puts on an 
 apron, and having the pellets at hand, with a bowl of water, she 
 takes the first fowl from its cage gently, and carefully, not by 
 the wings or the legs, but with both hands ; she then seats 
 herself, with the fowl upon her knees, under her left arm, by which 
 she supports it ; the left hand then opens its mouth, and the right 
 hand takes up a pellet, dips it in the water (this is essential), 
 shakes it on its way to the open mouth, puts it straight down, and 
 carefully crams it with the forefinger well into the gullet ; when 
 it is so far settled down that the fowl cannot eject it, she presses 
 it down with the thumb and forefinger into the crop, taking care 
 not to fracture the pellet. 
 
 Other i^ellets follow the first, till the feeding is finished, in less 
 time than one would imagine. The fowl when fed is again held 
 with both hands, replaced in its cage without fliittering, and so 
 on with each fowl. 
 
 In conclusion I may add that carefully conducted experiments 
 at the Rhode Island Agricultural Station distinctly prove that the 
 operation of caponizing is neither advantageous or profitable. 
 
IIsTDEX, 
 
 Pagh 
 Acland, Mr. C, monopoly of 
 
 Xn-izes by Exhibitors 2 
 
 Audaliisiaiis 34 
 
 Aiiti og'gs for chickens 60 
 
 Ag'rieultnral Commission, Re- 
 port on French jjoultry- 
 
 keeping 65 
 
 Aylesbury ducks for market... 96 
 
 Azeels 25 
 
 Azeel crosses for table 71 
 
 Bacillus in poultry farm disease 108 
 
 Bantams 40 
 
 Barndoor fowls 41 
 
 Bective, Lady, on Wyaudottes 22 
 Bevington's, Mr. Tim., rearing 
 
 table fowls < 70 
 
 Bewick's farm yard fowl 4 
 
 Brahmas, alterations in,eff ected 
 
 by breeding for show 16 
 
 Bi'ahmas as market fowl 16 
 
 Brahmas, origin of 16 
 
 Brahmas, necessity of two 
 
 pens for breeding show birds 17 
 
 Braquemonds farm yard fowl 6 
 
 Breeding for the market 68 
 
 Breeding for show, injurious 
 
 effect of 3 
 
 Bromley, poultry farm at 106 
 
 Buck wheat meal, use in fatten- 
 ing 132 
 
 Burnell, Mr., on Cuckoo Dor- 
 king' 11 
 
 Canary seed for chickens 61 
 
 Caneton de Rouen 100 
 
 Caponjsing 129 
 
 Charny, supposititious poultry 
 farm at 109 
 
 Page 
 
 Chicken-breeding for market... 68 
 
 Chickens, best food for 60 
 
 Chicken rearing in gardens . . . 59 
 
 Chittoprats ;!S 
 
 Cholera in Fowls ]0(> 
 
 Clear eggs, use for chicken food (iO 
 
 Cock-fighting, eifect on fowls 8 
 
 Cochins 13 
 
 Cochins, character, of, when 
 
 introduced 13 
 
 Cochins, cross-bred, valueless 15 
 
 Cochins injurious in farm yards 14 
 
 Cooping hens with chickens ... 58 
 
 Coops with I'uns 58 
 
 Comyns, Mr. A., on fictitious 
 
 poultry farms 121 
 
 Cramming 78 
 
 Cramming machine 79 
 
 Cramp 10(i 
 
 CressweU, Mr. O. E., on in- 
 feriority of modern Dorking 12 
 
 Crevecoeurs ■ 27 
 
 Crevecceurs, the Sloclcheeper 
 
 on show Crevcoeurs : . . . . 27 
 
 Ci'ooked breast, cause of 4(i 
 
 Cross-bred chicken for table ... 68 
 
 Custard for young birds 60 
 
 Dari for young chickens 61 
 
 De Sora poultry farm hoax ... 113 
 Digby, Mr. H., on Aylesbury 
 
 ducks 96 
 
 Digby, Mr., on rearing young 
 
 geese 103 
 
 Diseases of poultry 105 
 
 Dorkings, effect of shows in 
 
 depreciating 12 
 
 Dorkings, mode in which 
 
 modern breed was obtained 10 
 
134 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Paqs 
 Douglas's, Mr. Jolin, breed of 
 
 Dorkings 10 
 
 Ducks 96 
 
 Ducks for stock, selection of. . . 96 
 
 Ducks, killing for market 100 
 
 Ducks, rearing for market 99 
 
 Dust bath for fowls 47 
 
 Eggs, conditions affecting their 
 
 quality 66 
 
 Eggs, selecting for hatching 52 
 
 Eggs, number in nest 51 
 
 Eggs, non-interference with 
 
 when hatching 53 
 
 Eggs, costofinEnglishmarkets 64 
 
 Eggs, preserving for winter use 67 
 
 Eggs, production for market... 64 
 
 Eggs, testing fertility 52 
 
 Egg-tester to make 53 
 
 Fancy fowls useless for market 3 
 
 Earm poultry, improvement of 42 
 
 Farm yard fowl of Bewick ... 4 
 
 Farm Yard fowl of Braquemond 6 
 
 Fasting before killing necessary 80 
 
 Fat house -scraps injurious ... 126 
 
 Fattening 76 
 
 Fattening, use of animal fat ... 78 
 
 FavoroUes 30 
 
 Feathers, cost of production 
 
 four times that of flesh 15 
 
 Feeding on soiled ground 48 
 
 Feeding, cost of 50 
 
 Feeding, value of different 
 
 grains 49 
 
 Fletcher Moss, Mr., on Old and 
 
 Modern Game fowls 8 
 
 Fowler, Mr. J. K., on manage- 
 ment of ducks 93 
 
 Fowls in small. runs 118 
 
 French table breeds 26 
 
 Frizzled fowls 40 
 
 Game fowls, ancient and 
 
 modern 7 
 
 Gapes 105 
 
 Gascognes 30 
 
 Geese 102 
 
 Goslings, food for 93 
 
 Guinea fowl 94 
 
 Guinea fowls, feeding young. . . 94 
 
 Hamburghs 38 
 
 Hatching 51 
 
 Pagi 
 
 Hatching by Turkey hens 55 
 
 Hearson's cramming machine ... 79 
 
 Hearson's incubator 55 
 
 Houdans, French and English 
 
 contrasted 26 
 
 Housing 45 
 
 Incubators, proper construction 
 
 of ;.. 54 
 
 Incubator, Hearson's 55 
 
 Indian Game, characters of 
 
 breed 23 
 
 Indian Game, crosses for table 
 
 poultry 71 
 
 Jacque's, M., drawings of 
 
 Creve Ooeur 28 
 
 Houdan 26 
 
 LaFleche 29, 30 
 
 Jenkins, Mr. H. M., Sec. Royal 
 Agric. Soc, on present show 
 
 system 2 
 
 Jess for tethering hens 59 
 
 Johnston, Mr. Cuthbert, on the 
 De Sora hoax 113 
 
 Killing fowls 80 
 
 La Bresse 30 
 
 LaFleche 28 
 
 Langshans 19 
 
 Langshans crossed with Game 19 
 
 Langshan crosses for table ... 69 
 
 Leghorns • 37 
 
 Maggots for Chicken 61 
 
 Malays 23 
 
 Market-breeding for eggs 64 
 
 „ ,, chickens ... 68 
 
 Marking rings 66 
 
 Minoroas 33 
 
 Moonies 38 
 
 Morant, Major, on hens in con- 
 finement 122 
 
 Moss, Mr. Fletcher, on Game 
 
 fowls 9 
 
 Nests, best mode of making ... 51 
 Nichols, Mr., on the sterility of 
 
 show Spanish 33 
 
 Non-sitting varieties 38 
 
 Norris-Bly, on inutility of show 
 
 Brahmas 10 
 
INDEX. 
 
 135 
 
 PA8E 
 
 Offal, relative amount in good 
 and bad table fowls 69 
 
 Old English Game, iiso in 
 crossing 8 
 
 Orpingtons 20 
 
 Orpington disease 107 
 
 Parlett's, Mr., experiments in 
 
 crossing Game 1) 
 
 Perches, right arrangement of 45 
 
 Pheasant fowl 38 
 
 Physiok, Mr., on the deteriora- 
 tion of show Minoreas 34 
 
 Plymoixth Rocks 20 
 
 Polish 39 
 
 Portable poultry house 99 
 
 Poulti-y shows encom-age fancy 
 
 points only 1 
 
 Poultry fanciers' motive in 
 
 breeding show birds 3 
 
 Poultry farming, fallacies 
 
 of 112 
 
 Poultry farming in Germany. , . 117 
 
 Poultry farm disease 107 
 
 Prize pigs, uselessness of 2 
 
 Bearing young chickens 57 
 
 Red caps 40 
 
 Roup , 105 
 
 Royal Agricultural Society's 
 
 poiiltry prizes 5 
 
 Rumpless fowls 40 
 
 Rushf ord, poultry farm at 116 
 
 Scurfy legs 110 
 
 Separation of sexes desirable in 
 
 fowls for the table 73 
 
 Pask 
 
 Silky fowls 40 
 
 Stoclcheeper on uselessness of 
 
 show Brahmas 17 
 
 Spanish 31 
 
 Sutherland, Mr. 0. L., on turkey 
 
 hens as incubators 66 
 
 Sutherland, Mr. C. L., on Indian 
 
 Game and Dorking Cross ... 75 
 Sutherhind, Mr. C. L., on non- 
 existence of French poultry 
 farms 112 
 
 Testing eggs 63 
 
 Tethering hens with chickens 58 
 
 Trussing dead poultry 82 
 
 Turkeys 88 
 
 Turkeys, food of young 89 
 
 Turkeys, breeding m coverts... 93 
 
 Turkeys, hatching 89 
 
 Turkeys, management of in 
 
 America 90 
 
 Turner Mr., oii separating 
 
 sexes of chickens 74 
 
 Yerrey, Mr. L. C., on necessity 
 of two pens for breeding- 
 show birds 18 
 
 Waterloo Cup winner not «, 
 show dog 2 
 
 Wire runs for feeding young- 
 chickens 58 
 
 Wyaudottes 21 
 
 Yolk, the absorption of, at 
 birth 54 
 
PyBLICATIONS BY W, B, TEGETIIER, F.Z.S,, 
 
 Member of the British Ornithologists' Union. 
 
 PROFITABLE POULTRY (Darton). 1853. Out of print. 
 
 REARING AND FATTENING MARKET AND TABLE POULTRY. 
 
 1855. Out of print. 
 
 THE POULTRY BOOK, .£1 is. (Eoutledgo and Sons.) Out of date, not 
 having been revised shwe 1873. 
 
 BREEDING FOR COLOUR AND THE PHYSIOLOGY OF BREED- 
 ING. By W. B. TEGETMBIEE. and W. W. BOULTON, M.B.G.S. 
 (Ward, Beverley.) 1873. OiU of print. 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL MODERN BREEDS OF DOMESTIC FOWL 
 
 Private reprint from The Ibis, 1890. 
 
 POULTRY, ENCYCLOP. BRITANNICA. Last Edition. 
 
 PIGEONS (Eoutledge and Sons). 1870. Out of date, not hai'iiuj been revised 
 since its publication. 
 
 UTILIZATION OF PIGEONS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES. 1877. 
 
 Eoyal Engineers' Institute, Chatham. Printed for private circulation. 
 THE HOMING PIGEON (Eoutledge and Sons). 1872. Oat of print. 
 
 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CRANES. By w. B, 
 
 TEGBTMEIEE and E. BLYTH. 1881. Printed for the author. 
 
 ON THE CONVOLUTIONS OF THE TRACHEA IN BIRDS. 
 
 Privately printed, 1881. 
 
 HORSES, ASSES, ZEBRAS, AND MULE BREEDING. By W. B. 
 
 TEGETMBIEE and C. L.SUTHEELAND. .5s. (Horace Cox.) 1897. 
 PALLAS SAND GROUSE. 1888. Out of print. 
 
 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 3rd Edition, 1898. 
 
 7s. 6d. (Horace Cox.) 
 
 POULTRY FOR THE TABLE AND MARKET. 3rd Edition, 2s. 6d. 
 
 (Horace Cox.) 
 
 MANUAL OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY, WITH HINTS ON 
 
 DOMESTIC MEDICINE AND SUEGEEY. 13tli Edition, Is. 6d. 
 (Hamilton, Adams, and Co.) 
 
 HOUSEHOL'' MANAGEMENT. Written at the request of the School 
 Board for Lonuj;i. 60th thousand. Is. (Maomillan and Co., London.) 
 
Advertisements. 
 
 The Third Edition, enlarged vith Additional lUnstrations and New Chapters 
 on " Turkey and Buck-rearing for the Market." 
 
 POULTRY 
 
 FOE THE 
 
 TABIxK AKD MARKKT 
 
 VERSUS 
 
 FAKCY FO^^I^S, 
 
 WITH AN EXPOSITION OF THE 
 
 FALLACIES OF POULTRY FARMING. 
 
 By W. B. TEGETMEIER, F.Z.S., 
 
 Author of ^^ Profitable Potdtry;^^ '^ The Poultry Book;" '^Poultry" in the ^'^ Encydopwdia 
 Jiritatmica; " ^^ Fann Poultry " in t/te Journals of Royal Agricultural Society^ 1890, the Bath 
 
 and West of England Society^ and the Yorkshire Agricultural Society. Editor of the 
 
 Poultry Department of the " Field; " one of the Judges to the Royal Agricultural. Jiath and West of 
 
 England^ the Birmingham, Crystal Palace, and other Exhibitions. 
 
 Prom Poultry. 
 " Good as the first edition was, the second is greatly increased in value by 
 the additions. ... A valuable chapter on ' Showing and Trussing Dead 
 Poultry, with illustrations,' is well worth the price of the whole book. 
 One of the best text-books on the subject we have come across." 
 
 Prom the Feathered, World. 
 "The book meets a. want by indicating the danger of breeding fowls for 
 fancy points alone. In the second edition are useful additions of chapters on 
 ' Improving Farm Poultry,' and ' Trussing for the Market,' &o. " 
 
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 " Mi . Tegetmeier is doing a putlic service." 
 
 From the Morning Post. 
 " A remarkably practical and sensiblo book. The chapter on the ' FaUacios 
 of Poultry Farming ' is a most valuable one." 
 
 From the Daily Graph/ic. 
 " Mr. Tegetmeier is possibly better entitled than anyone else to a hearing on 
 the subject of Poultry." 
 
 HoKACE Cox, " Field " Office, Bbeam'b BuiLDiNas, E.G. 
 li 
 
Advertisements. 
 
 Prom the Athencewm. 
 " The name and high reputation of the author are guarantees for thorough- 
 ness of treatment, and, indeed, the chapters on hatching, rearing, and breeding 
 poultry for the market can hardly be ri-valled." 
 From the Academy. 
 " A more practical hook on the subject was never written ; it carniot be 
 too widely circulated in rural districts." 
 
 From the Saturday Review. 
 " Mr. Tegetmeier thinks it is much to be regretted that useful poultry is 
 excluded from our great agricultural exhibitions, and fancy fealthered varieties 
 favoured in their stead." 
 
 From the Live Stock Jowrnal. 
 " The most useful book on poultry that has appeared. . . . Likely to 
 serve as a text-book for generations." 
 
 From the Pall Mall Gazette. 
 " Mr. Tegetmeier, veteran judge as he is, having come, like many other 
 poultry keepers, to the conclusion that exhibitions are demoralising and ruining 
 to fowls, is endeavouring to re-introduoe common sense into the craft. He 
 treats of the production of eggs and chickens purely as a business — a business, 
 we might add, in which English peasants and farmers are not, and never have 
 been, very expert." 
 
 From the Garden. 
 "No better instruction can be offered." 
 
 From Lloyd^s 2^ews;paper. 
 " Mr. Tegetmeier's most useful handbook deserves the closest possible 
 study.' 
 
 From the Midland Counties Herald. 
 " At the present time, when so much attention is being paid to agricultural 
 matters in the way of cottage allotments and small holdings, aaid the best 
 means of developing the minor resources of the farm, its publication is most 
 opportune, and we can recommend all who take an interest in such matters to 
 obtain it." 
 
 From the Echo. 
 " Mr. Tegetmeier is unquestionably one of the highest authorities on poultry, 
 but he haB no high opinion of the value of poultry shows in the production of 
 marketable and useful birds." 
 
 From the Bazaar. 
 " We cordially recommend this work, which not only teaches the poultry 
 keeper all he requires to know to enable him to succeed, but also how to avoid 
 the mistakes which are so commonly made. . . . The book, too, is a 
 practical protest against the miserable but too common idea that the fancier 
 is an improver of breeds, and that poultry farming can be made to pay." 
 
 From the World. 
 
 ,' The small farmer and landed proprietor may learn much from the study 
 of this interesting volume. Mr. Tegetmeier proves conclusively that poultry 
 as a source of food has suffered materially by the attention bestowed on fancy 
 poultry." 
 
 From the Torlcshire Herald. 
 
 " A useful guide to farmers who want to make a profit out of poultry. 
 . . . Mr. Tegetmeier strongly deprecates poultry farms ; he shows that all 
 such attempts must be unremunerative, though it should be easy on every farm, 
 at scarcely any appreciable cost, to keep a considerable stock of poultry and 
 raise eggs and rear chickens in paying quantities for the market." 
 
Advertisements. 
 
 Third edition, large Svo., price Is. 6(J. 
 
 PHEASANTS: 
 
 THEIR 
 
 NATURAL HISTOEY AND PRACTICAL 
 MANAGEMENT. 
 
 BT 
 
 ^WT B. TEO-ETiyEElIEI^, IsdI.B.O.TJ. 
 
 NOTICES. 
 
 From the Encyclopcedia Britannica, Art. Pheasants, by Prof. A. Newton. 
 
 " Mr. Tegetmeier's ' Pheasants, their Natural History and Praotioal Manage- 
 ment,' is to be commended as a very useful work." 
 
 Prom " TarreWs British Birds." Fourth edition. 
 
 " For further details as well as for instructions as to the management of 
 pheasants, both in the coveit and the aviary, and the disorders to which they 
 are liable, the reader is referred to Mr. Tegetmeier's excellent work . . . 
 
 to which the editor is under great obligations." 
 
 From the Daily Telegrwph. 
 " Both iu its descriptive and in its practical aspects the treatise is admirable." 
 
 From the Ibis, 
 The Organ of the British Ornithologists' Union. 
 
 " The success of Mr. Tegetmeier's volume is evident from a third edition 
 having been called for. Excellent instructions derived from the best authorities 
 are added concerning breeding pheasants, and especially as to the mode of 
 treatment of the young birds. Excellent illustrations are given of the speciesl 
 We sincerely commend ' Pheasants, their Natural History and Practical 
 Management ' to all students and admirers of these splendid birds." — July, 1897. 
 
 From the Zoologist. 
 
 " Mr. Tegetmeier's volume should in our columns be widely known and read, 
 for it contains information that is absolutely requisite to J enable the bird to 
 become established in the outlying estates of Great Britain." 
 
 From the Spectator. 
 
 "The history of this superb pheasant (Eeeves) and of its transit from 
 Northern China to the woods of Scotland, forms the most attractive chapter in 
 the third edition of Mr. Tegetmeier's etandard book on pheasant. It is 
 illustrated both by photographs, engravings, and drawings of the bird in flight 
 by Mr. J. G. Millais. Nothing, in fact, has been omitted Iwhioh could serve to 
 introduce such a distinguished visitor to an admiring public." 
 
 Horace Cox, "Field" Opeice, Bream's Buildings, E.G. 
 
Ad/uertisements. 
 
 Prom the Sporting and Dramatic News. 
 
 " The leading work on these splendid birds. Is well arranged, contains the 
 moat ample information on pheasants of every kind. The keeper, gnnuer, 
 naturalist, and fancier will aU find here an invaluable book of reference." 
 
 Prom Land and Water. 
 
 " The Reeves' pheasant is the subject of a most excellent sketch and 
 description by Mr. J. G-. Millais." 
 
 From the St. James^ Budget. 
 
 " This handsome and authoritative work known to all who take a practical or 
 theoretical interest in pheasants. The representations of various pheasants 
 have been drawn from life with the grearest care and success. Possesses a 
 wonderful interest to the general reader. Should be found not only on the 
 shelves of every sportsman and naturalist, but on the smoking room table of 
 every well appointed country house." 
 
 From the Pall Mall Ganette. 
 
 " The work is now a recognised text book, both for naturalists, game breeders, 
 and all others interested in the rearing of pheasants." — Feb. 27. 
 
 Prom the Daily Mail. 
 
 " The natural history of the pheasant, the management of the bird in covert 
 and aviary, is exhaustively dealt with in this very practical and instructive 
 treatise. 
 
 From the Liverpool Journal. 
 
 "The author being able to combine ornithological research with practical 
 experience, success must inevitably attend his efforts. Admirable engravings." 
 
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 " The work is thorough, and, being planned on a decidedly useful aysteta, has 
 formed \vide acceptance. 
 
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 "The book generally, from the beauty of its typography, tasteful and appro- 
 priate binding, and numerous woodcuts and larger figures of the various 
 species of pheasants alluded to, well deserves to find a place amongst the books 
 of ornament on the drawing room table, as well as amongst those of practical 
 utility in the study." 
 
 Prom Baily's Magazine. 
 " A sine qua non in the library of a country gentleman or woman." 
 
 Prom the Athenwum. 
 
 " Nothing can be more interesting than the description of such superb 
 birds. . The work treats of the hatching, rearing, and treatment of 
 
 pheasants, and is replete with important details." 
 
Advertisements. 
 
 Just Puhliehed, Demy 8vo,, Price Ss, 
 
 HORSES, ASSES, ZEBRAS, MULES, 
 
 AND 
 
 MULE BREEOING. 
 
 By 
 W. B TEGETMEIER, M.B O.U., F.Z.S., 
 
 AND 
 
 C. L. SUTHERLAND, F.Z.S., 
 
 Late of the War Office ; Attached to the British Commission, 
 
 Philadelphia Exhibition, 1876 ; International Jitbob 
 
 Paris Exhibition, 1878 ; Assistant Commissionee, 
 
 EoTAL Commission on AaEicTrLTUBE, 1879. 
 
 This work includes not only a description of the new animals of the horse 
 tribe which have lately been discovered, such as Prejevalaky'a Horse and Grevy's 
 Zebra, but of those species, such as Burchell's Zebra, which have recently been 
 pressed into the service of man, and also of species hitherto untamed which 
 are found capable of domestication. No English work has been devoted to the 
 consideration of the advantages resulting from the utilisation of mules, which 
 are advantageously employed for draft purposes, agricultural work, as well as 
 baggage animals, in almost all other civilised countries in the world. 
 Thousands of mules are purchased annually by the Indian Government, and in 
 the United States of America the larger part of the agricultural work is 
 performed by these animals, which are found to be more advantageous for 
 general purposes than horses. The neglect of the mule in England is due to 
 the prevalent ignorance respecting its character and extreme utility, and to the 
 most advantageous methods of breeding it. 
 
 HoBACK Cox, "Field" Office, Bream's Buildings, E.O. 
 
 From the Madras Mml. 
 " The work of the greatest living English authority on the subject, in 
 collaboration with an excellent naturalist, is to be welcomed as embodying the 
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Advertisements. 
 
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Advertitements. 
 
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Ad/oerHsements. 
 
 From the BaAly Teltgraph. 
 
 " The credentials Mr. Tegetmeier gives for the mule are, indeed, so over- 
 whelming that they onght to carry conviction to every puzzled British 
 agriculturiat, and snpply the incentive for a National Society for the furtherance 
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 illustrated throughout, shows that this can be made an extremely profitable 
 branch of industry, and one as greatly to the public advantage as to that of the 
 individual." 
 
 From Baily's Magaeme. 
 
 " A most interesting book. Whatever ideas may be entertained about mules 
 and mule breeding, there can be no two opinions concerning the interest and 
 importance of the book under notice. Written by the highest authorities, it 
 contains the outcome of much experience, and both sides of the question are 
 given with an impartiality which leaves nothing to be desired." 
 
 From PsOFBBSOK Ewabt, F.E.S. 
 
 " I have had the opportunity of reading the recently published book on 
 horses, asses, &c., by Tegetmeier and Sutherland. They, better than any 
 others, may, I think, be held as representing the views generally prevailing, not 
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 will greatly assist the student in his endeavour to master the peculiarities of 
 each species. To any of our readers who are interested in the subject of mule 
 breeding, this work way be heartily recommended. We feel bound to 
 compliment in the highest terms all who have been instrumental in its 
 production." 
 
 From the Pioneer Press (Allahabad). 
 
 " Mr. Horace Cox has just published probably the best book extant on 
 horses, asses, zebras, and mules. Part of the volume is devoted to mules and 
 mule breeding for the purpose of transport and draught, and we have no doubt 
 that the horse breeding department of this country will find it a useful and 
 helpful book." 
 
 From the Momimg Advertiser. 
 
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 by experience that mules for a variety of useful purposes are more valuable. than 
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 From Land and Water. 
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 From the Athenceum. 
 " One practical object the writers have chiefly set before themselves, and that 
 is the demonstration of the great value of the mule as a beast of draught and 
 burden ; certainly it is difaoult to say why in England the mule is despised, 
 while in many countries it is most usefully employed." 
 
 From the Morning Post. 
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 English agriculturists." 
 
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 cwt., 53. ed. ;.per 141b., 2s. 9d. ; per 71b., Is. 6d.; also ia 
 3d. and 6d. sample packets. 
 
 GRANULATED PRAIRIE MEAT 
 " CEISSEL," 
 
 A SPECIAL PREPARATION OF MEAT, TAKING THE 
 PLACE OF INSECT FOOD. 
 
 11"^ SEALED B^aS. 
 
 Price— Per cwt., 26s. ; per half cwt., 13s. ed ; per quarter 
 cwt., 7s.; per 141b., 3s. 9d. ; per 71b., Is Hd. 
 
 SAHSPX^SS POST FltEE. 
 
 Samples and Pamphlet on Poultry Bearing 
 Post Free for One Stamp. 
 
 SPRATT'S PATENT LIMITED, BERMONDSEy, LONDON, Si. 
 
 The Word "CRISSEL" is our Registered Trade Mark. 
 
Advertisements. 
 
 THE PEOBLEM SOLVED. 
 
 CO 
 
 ««a5 
 
 
 Pe3 
 Cx3 
 
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 CHICKENS ALL THE YEAR ROUND. 
 HEARSON'S 
 
 CHAMPION 
 
 INCUBATOR 
 
 (BY TtOYAL LETTKllS PATKNT). 
 
 The most complete and only Thermostatic Incubator in the world. 
 FITTED "WITH COP PEE TANK. 
 
 The CHAMPION has now superseded all others. Since its introduction no other 
 incubator maker in the w orld has been awarded a first prize at any show at which 
 this apparatus has been entered for competition. It is the only incubator in the 
 world sold with a guarantee not to vary 5 deg. for 12 months together, without 
 readjustment, and in no other incubator is the ventilation and damping so scientifi- 
 cally and practically carried out. 
 
 HEARSON'S PATENT 'CHAMPION ' FOSTER MOTHER. 
 
 ^ 
 
 CO 
 CO 
 
 
 
 GCM 
 
 1-^ 
 
 04 
 
 CO 
 
 PCS 
 
 oq 
 
 P3 
 
 A MASTEEPIEOE OF OONSTEUOTION ! A PAEADISE FOB OHIOKENS ! ! 
 
 Made in one size only, for 50 cbickens. measuring about 6ft. 6in. by 2ft. 6in and 
 
 26in high; comftlete with Wind-proof Lamn, two' Feeding TrOpghs and two 
 
 Drinking Fountains. 
 
 BEST' XN^ THE llVOIti:.I>. 
 
 Illustrated Price List of aboTO one stamp. Address E Department, 
 Chas. Hearson & Co., Limited, 235, lEegent Street,- London, W. 
 
 CO 
 
 OS 
 
Advert litem ents. 
 
 THE FIELD, 
 
 THE IFJ^I^yZMI, THE C3-.A.I^IDEIsr, 
 The Country Gentleman's Newspaper. 
 
 PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY, PRICE SIXPENCE. 
 
 'T'HIS paper is devoted entirely to the interests of Country Gentlemen, 
 and, next to the Times, is the Largest and most Influential Paper 
 in Great Britain. The subjects are treated in the fullest manner 
 by the first writers of the day, and comprise : — 
 
 Travel. 
 Coursing. 
 Rowing. 
 Kennel. 
 
 Athletic Sports. 
 Driving. 
 
 Natural History. 
 Lawn Tennis.. 
 &c., &c., &c. 
 
 All the Subjects are, where thought advisable, carefully Illustrated 
 in the best manner possible. 
 
 Shooting. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Cricket. 
 
 Whist. 
 
 Veterinary. 
 
 Poultry. 
 
 Farm. 
 
 Pisciculture. 
 
 Pastimes. 
 
 Hunting. 
 
 Bee-keeping. 
 
 Yachting. 
 
 Acclimatisation. 
 
 Stables. 
 
 Fishing. 
 
 Country House 
 
 Racing. 
 
 Chess. 
 
 Wild Sports. 
 
 Pigeons. 
 
 " THE FIELD " gives an additional interest to Country Gentlemen, 
 Sportsmen, Naturalists, and others, as it is the Established Medium for 
 ADVERTISEMENTS of the following matters :— 
 
 Shooting, Fishing, and Hunting Quarters. 
 
 Estates and Farms for Sale or to Let. 
 
 Poultry and Pigeons. 
 
 Gamekeepers, Bailiffs, Gardeners, and other Servants. 
 
 Yachts for Sale and to Let. 
 
 Horses and Carriages for Sale. 
 Dogs, Stud Horses, Stud Dogs, Farm Implements, Farm Seeds, Garden 
 Seeds, New Books, Hotels, House-keeping, and Miscellaneous Articles. 
 
 SubscriWon to Australia: Yearly; £1 IBs. 8d.: Six Months, 18s. 4d.; 
 Three Months, 9s. 2d. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX, BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C.