THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID Published by SHERWOOD, GILBERT, and PIPER, in Qne large Volume, Svo. price II. 7s. in Boards, the SECOND EDITION, rvith valuable Corrections and Additions, of an Original Work, entitled, THE FAMILY CYCLOPEDIA ; BEING A COMPLETE CODE OF USEFUL AND NECESSARY KNOWLEDGE, ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED ; COMPRISING ALL THE RECENT INVENTIONS, DISCOVERIES, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY, AGRICULTURE, CHEMISTRY, AND THE ARTS ; INCLUDING THE MOST APPROVED MODES OF TREATMENT OF DISEASES, ACCIDENTS, AND CASUALTIES ! WITH OBSERVATIONS ON DIET AND REGIMEN ; AND A COMPREHENSIVE ACCOUNT OF THE MOST STRIKING OBJECTS IN NATURAL HISTORY, ANIMATE AND INANIMATE. BY JAMES JENNINGS, ESQ. THE FAMILY CYCLOPAEDIA contains plain and familiar Directions for Curing every Disease incident to the Human Body, with the Mode of Treating Accidents generally ; and as it is of importance to know when the attendance of a Medical Practitioner is absolutely necessary, in the Author's remarks on every Disease, this is invariably pointed out. An account of every useful Medicine and Drug is also given, and their Doses, with the manner of preparing those most common and useful ; to which is added, the Composition of almost every Quack Medicine (that its utility or inutility may be known) from peculiar sources of in- formation. On the subjects of DIET and REGIMEN, he flatters himself his obser- vations will' be found explicit and important, and highly deserving the attention of all who desire either to obtain, or to retain, good health, that most valuable of blessings. He hopes what he has stated under the articles Digestion, Dinner, Exercise, &c. will not be found less deserving of attention. Considering the various ACCIDENTS to which persons are continually exposed, he has devoted much care and attention to the treatment of such as have taken Poisons, or who have been Bitten by a Mad Dog, Viper, &c. ; also to Recovering Persons apparently Dead from Drown- ing ; the mode of Escape from Houses on Fire, and Shipwreck ; and the treatment of Persons accidentally Frozen. The Science of CHEMISTRY, which has done so much for our conve- nience and our wants, has not been neglected. The Author has endea- voured to embody, in different articles, all that is essential in this impor- tant branch of knowledge. This science is intimately connected with DOMESTIC ECONOMY, and the ARTS of LIFE: and,- under the articles Bread, Brewing, Malt, ft'ine$, &c. he has given such directions, founded on scientific principles, as cannot fail, he presumes, greatly to remove the obscurity and ignorance under which the different processes are at present conducted. The Arts of AGRICULTURE and GARDENING, including the Culture of Flowers, Trees, Shrubs, &c. have obtained his careful attention, and will be found to combine the most practical, economical, and the latest Improvements ; with an Account of the various Processes and Implements necessary to these important branches of DOMESTIC ECONOMY. On the ARTS generally, will also be found a variety of Practical Instructions. On Colour-making, Dyeing, Leather, Paper, Scowering, Tanning, &c. he has endeavoured to collect all that is practicable and useful. The principal Diseases to which HORSES and CATTLE are liable are also described ; with Directions for their Mode of Cure, according to the most approved modern practice. To NATURAL HISTORY, viz. Botany, Mineralogy, and Zoology, includ- ing, under this last head, an Account of Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes, Ser- pents, and Insects, he has paid considerable attention, and, therefore, can confidently recommend his Work, as containing an epitome of all that is known of importance or interest in these departments. ttt This original and valuable Work it printed in double columns, on good paper, and rontaim vptrarttt of 1500 Pafti of Information, immediately connnected wi'/A Ihf pursuits of Domsttic Ufe. Btt meant ofrlotc printing, and a large, page, it Comprehend* at much matter at u utually found tn Six Volume t of an ordinary size ; and cannot, it it pretumed, fail of being contidered a mott niluablc addition to the FAMILY I.IMRARY. " As a Bonk nf Daily Reference in Families, and to such person* as rccide at A distance from large towns and from mediral aid, the FAMILY CYCLOPJKDIA is really invaluable: it form* a portable Library of Useful Knowledge, of eaay reference, and contain!) a great variety of information not to be found in other work? of similar pretensions, and of greater magnitude." — London Journal of Artt and Sciencet. " The FAMILY Cv< LOP.FDIA contains a large mass of information on subject* con- nected with the Domestic Economy of Life. In matters of Science and the Arts, the are selections all from sources of thcbest authority, and treated in a clear and familiar manner. As a Hook of Daily Reference in the common concern* of life, it* great practical utility will, no doubt, ensure it a ready introduction, and a fa. vourable reception, in every intelligent familv. In addition to the great heads of Domestic Kconomy, Agriculture, and Chemistry, it points out the best Modes of Curing Diseases, a'nd obviating the effects of sudden Accidents ; it presents, also, an Outline of the Mind and Passions, with a view to the Improvement of Moral* and Education."— Monthly Magazine. " The able manner in which this Work is executed, affbrds satisfactory evidence that the Editor is thoroughly acquainted with the subject It is a valuable multunt in /wraj.''— Recce's Gazette of Health. A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON BREEDING, REARING, AND FATTENING ALL KINDS OF DOMESTIC POULTRY, PHEASANTS, PIGEONS, AND RABBITS; ALSO THE MANAGEMENT OF SWINE, MILCH COWS, AND BEES; AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PRIVATE BREWERY. BY BONINGTON MOUBRAY, ESQ. SIXTH EDITION, WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS. LONDON: PRINTED FOR SHERWOOD, GILBERT, AND PIPER, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1830. GILBERT and KIVINGTON, Printers, St. John's Square, London. PREFACE TO THE FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS. THE small work which I present to the reader, for his use and information, I may presume to style truly practical, since I have, throughout my life, been a breeder and keeper, and also an amateur of domestic poultry, pigeons, and rabbits ; at some periods, upon rather a considerable scale ; and have, for many years together, kept a register of the results. I have farther done that which, I believe, no other man has taken the pains to do, — kept a regular stud book for those breeders, scarcely one of which was so poor as to be without a name ; and Regulus, Sampson, Fiea-catcher, Selima, Moreau, Isaac, and Tom Paine, shine with peculiar lustre on my poultry and pigeon list.; whilst Corney Butter-cup, Adam, Beelzebub, Lucifer, Carolina, Hecuba, make a figure equally splendid and equally useful, among the rabbits. I think Montaigne says somewhere, that if a man would sit down and de- scribe that which he has known practically, upon almost any subject, he could scarcely fail of being useful. Just so far ray ambition extends. Nor is the world entirely without need of advice on this subject, notwithstanding its antiquity, and the multitude of counsellors. Of this fact I had a signal proof, in a visit a few years since A 3 M368410 VI PREFACE. to an Hon. Baronet in the West, Sir Lawrence Palk, in whose extensive park, and most convenient yards and offices, and upon a. soil excellently adapted, I found a sufficiency of poultry could not be raised for the family use ; in consequence of which, a very considerable annual expense was incurred at a neighbouring town, for an additional supply. This was regretted, 'and described to me as an unaccountable circumstance, by the house- keeper. I have here, moreover, an eye to a favourite plan of mine> making the country-house its own mart for the supply of all necessaries, in a far more ample degree than it usually is ; implicating, among other domestic objects, poultry, rabbits, fish, mutton, small beef, and an equal abundance of the superior, as of the orchard fruits. In fine, I have avoided scientific detail, and have ad- dressed plain understandings in the plainest language, aiming at utility solely ; and I trust, the keeper of half a dozen hens and a cock, in the corner of his yard, will receive information, in degree, equally useful and satis- factory, with another who may desire to enter upon the most extensive plan. The SECOND EDITION contains additional articles on PHEASANTS, and on SWINE : the latter I was induced to add on the representation of several friends, that many persons who keep a poultry-yard for the supply of their table, feel it convenient also to have a breeding sow, or two or three pigs, as a still more substantial aid, in these extravagant times, towards the support of their household. Such economists would surely desire to be led into the right path, and my friends professed to think me no im- proper guide, knowing that I have been a considerable breeder and feeder of pigs. The following letter to the publishers, of a Right Hon. Baronet, late President of the Board of Agriculture, the PREFACE. Vll author of this little book feels peculiarly honourable to himself, and a gratifying reward for his pains, as proceed- ing from a man who, through so great a part of his life, has laboured to obtain a right understanding of every thing which appertains to rural affairs, and who has thence actu- ally conferred so many solid benefits on his country. With respect to the injunctions of Sir John Sinclair, I had al- ready anticipated them in part ; but t could find nothing of material interest respecting poultry in the books he quotes, agricultural writers, in general, neglecting that subject, as of inferior concern, unless, indeed, we except one, and him there will be no doubt that, I consulted. I however recollect the description of a most complete poultry-yard, some yeajs since, either in the Annals of Agriculture, or Communications to the Board. As to con- siderable poultry- feeders in and about London, granting there be any such exclusive of the goose-feeders, they must be sought, I apprehend, among the poulterers, A critic in one of the Magazines objects to my posi- tion, that " no live stock is less liable to disease than the rabbit, with regular and careful attention." I repeat the assertion, coupled with another, namely, that without regular and careful attention, no live stock is more pre- carious. May 27, 1816. Letter of the Right Hon. Sir John Sinclair, Bart, to Messrs. Sherwood and Co. (COPY.) GENTLEMEN, I have read over Mr. Moubray's Treatise on Domestic Poultry, which seems to be the best work hitherto printed on that subject ; but it Vlll PREFACE. might be much improved by a careful examination of all the County Reports, and other recent agricultural publications. The report* should be specifically referred to, when quoted, by the page. I will trouble you to procure from the author, or by any other channel, the names of the principal feeders of poultry, in and about London, and their places of abode. (Signed) JOHN SINCLAIR. With the Third Edition, in the hope of rendering these pages addi- tionally useful, the reader is presented with the results of the Author's observation and practice in the Family Dairy. The convenience of milk, butter, and cream, in 'an English Country House, is indispensable; and the object is to obtain those in sufficient plenty, in an appropriate husband- like style, and within the fair line of expense. An attention to the rules herein recommended, the author has no reason to doubt, will not fail to assure such desirable effects. March 1, 1819. The FOUUTH EDITION contains an addition on the Nature and Ma- nagement of Bees ; a subject on which there has ever been a notable disagreement amongst Economists, some advocating it as a matter de- serving universal attention, others decrying it as a thing of the meanest consequence. The Author has endeavoured to reconcile this difference, and trusts he has succeeded. The Fowls and Animals exhibited in the Frontispiece, were selected individuals, drawn from the life by Mr. Webb. The Pir. is a most correct likeness. It was bred in Bucks, but is of the Oxfordshire dairy breed. Those breeds were originally, although light in the ear, yet, in general, lop-eared, with a few, as is usual up-cured ; and that form of the ear has, of late years, become more common, the feeders, as I believe, esteeming the upright, or prick-eared pigs, as the speediest thrivers and best travellers. The arched or roach- back, also, is preferred, as consisting of the best part of the carcass to 8 PREFACE. ifc the cutting butcher, by affording a large space for pork chops. The up- ear in this pig, I am assured, has not been derived from any alien or in- ferior cross. My ancient and respected friend, Mr. Wynt, from whom I have received constant and beneficial instructions on these subjects* through such a long course of years, sold this, in a lot of dairy pigs, at Flnchley, and gave me the opportunity of having its form delineated. The Suffolk Cow is the property of Mr. Brown, of the Southampton Arms, Camden Town, and gives remarkably rich milk, as well as a profitable quantity. The head, perhaps the chief index of the breed, is correctly drawn ; but the picture appears more leggy, and somewhat less subtantial in form, than the original. The Spanish FOWLS were sold by Mr. Castang to a person at Hollo- way, who says, notwithstanding their large size, they are perfectly white-fleshed and delicate. Nov. 21, 1821. As an addition to the FIFTH EDITION of this little book, the Author conceives he could not fix on any subject more useful, or more generally interesting to his Country Readers, than that of the PRIVATE BREWERY — and the consideration which more especially served to fix his choice was, that he has been occasionally and personally conver- sant in the practice, throughout the greater part of his life. Indeed, this has been one of his hobby-horses, of which he has always kept a competent number : and happy is he, who hath his quiver full of them — warranted of the rational and profitable class — he shall then have no need of steel, of cold lead, of rats-bane, or of a hempen neck- lace ; nor be reduced to the lamentable necessity of taking to his chair, and beating the devil's tattoo over the miseries of life, which assuredly will never submit to such a remedy. If the tadium vitce (wearisomeness of life can find) a re- medy, it must consist in virtuous and useful action, the sphere of which is confined to neither town nor country, X PREFACE. but of which the latter is, in an eminent manner, the ap- propriate theatre. With the common rules for making beer, already so often repeated, the author has also, to the best of his ex- perience and information, dilated on the nature and pro- perties of that universal English beverage, to the end, he trusts, that his readers may profit thereby, and escape all frauds and deceptions, those excepted which they may choose voluntarily to impose on themselves. May 10, 1824. PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION. THE decided favour of the Public having taken off five very large Editions of this Work, and the country friends of the Author, during some time past, having repeated their opinions, that a new impression was in request, and would doubtless be acceptable, it is at length presented to the country, with consi- derable additions, and every species of im- provement within the author's view or recol- lection. Two Articles have been added on CHEESE and CIDER ; with also a few wood cuts, which, although we are not so. ostentatiously modish or modest as to style, ' pictorial embellish- ments/ we yet trust will pass muster, at least with some readers. With respect to the figure of the Cow in the Frontispiece, the County of Suffolk has been retained inaccu- rately ; the figure of one differently bred having been substituted at the request of her proprietor, who has also noted an accidental omission in the account of Pea fowls ; namely, of the number of days during which the hen sits. Now, the writer never having bred any Xll PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION. of that fancy stock, he has lately made enquiry, and is informed that the pea-hen, like the tur- key, is confined a month by incubation. Two objects of practice, an ancient novelty, and a present or actual one, have been omit- ted in their proper place ; — malt combs or dust, as a food to increase milk in cows, and the use of the symphytum asperrhnum, or prickly comfrey, as a general cattle, horse, sheep, and pig food. Feeding cows with malt-dust is a very ancient, though never a very general practice ; and it will be seen, in the section on cows, that Mr. Cramp allowed a very small quantity ; a caution to which I should incline, from the great portion of dust necessarily mixed with the combs. With re- gard to the comfrey, from the nourishing quality usually attributed to the root, I should suppose the whole plant to be of a feeding nature ; though I have generally observed, that where quantity is so superabundant, qua- lity is seldom or never, in any degree, com- mensurate. Mr. Grant, of the Nursery, Lewisham, Kent, appears to have- been the introducer of this abundant and easily-culti- vated article of cattle food, where specimens may be seen and obtained ; and also at Mr. Gibbs' Nursery, Brompton. DOMESTIC POULTRY, SECTION I. General View of the Various Species. UNDER the term DOMESTIC POULTRY, in this coun- try, are generally understood — the Chicken or Fowl, Turkey, Duck, Goose, Pea and Guinea Fowl; to which, perhaps, may be added the Swan. The wild varieties of the above species, of the duck more especially, are objects of pursuit to the sports- man, and to those inhabitants of the sea coasts, and of the vicinities of lakes and rivers, where wild fowl are taken in decoys for market. CUSTOMS. IN Britain, where a greater quantity of butcher's- meat is consumed than probably in any other part of the world, poultry has ever been deemed a luxury, and consequently not reared in such consi- derable quantities as in France, Egypt, and some other countries, where it is used more as a necessary article of food, than as a delicacy for the sick, or a luxury for the table. In France, poultry forms an important part of the live stock of the farmer, and B 2 POPULAR OPINION. it has been said of that country, the poultry yards supply a much greater quantity of food to the gen- tleman, the wealthy tradesman, and the substantial farmer, than the shambles do ; and it is well known, that in Egypt, it has been from time immemorial, a considerable branch of rural economy, to raise domestic poultry for sale, hatched in ovens by artificial heat. The warmer climates are far more favourable than ours for the purpose of raising poultry, and the same rule necessarily holds with respect to this country, where the warmest and dry- est soils are best adapted to this production, more especially of the chicken and the turkey. POPULAR OPINION. IT has been a general and popular topic of de- clamation, that in former and presumed happier times, our small farmers' wives raised a superior quantity of poultry to that which has been produced of late years ; a position, at best, very questionable, since poultry has never yet risen in price beyond the proportion of other articles of food, and since the demand of the markets has been supplied in as full a measure as formerly. Suppose a heath or common, on which poultry has been customarily bred, is inclosed and improved into farms, is it not probable that, generally at least, as large a quantity of poultry is reared as upon the land in its former state of waste, and producing no corn, a food so absolutely necessary for that kind of stock ? In fact, it is open to the observation of every one, that poultry has never been in this country a favourite or POPULAR OPINION, prevailing article of diet with the lower or middling orders of the people ; thence our farmers, whether little or great, could never be more profitably em- ployed, whether for themselves or the community, than in the production of the more substantial arti- cles of food : in the mean time, the demand for the luxury of poultry never fails to be satisfied to the utmost extent, and a decline of price in that article, will be the natural consequence of a general decline in the meat market. 4 QUALITIES OF FLESH. SECTION II. Qualities of the Flesh of Poultry. GALLINACEOUS FOWLS, or CHICKENS. In the opi- nion of physicians, both ancient and modern, the flesh of the chicken at three months old, is the most delicate and easy to digest of all other animal food : thence best adapted to the stomachs of invalids, or the constitutionally weak, being the least alkalescent of all animal food, free from irritation, and affording a mild and innoxious chyle. Age makes a striking difference in the flesh of fowls, since, after the age of twelve months, it becomes tougher and more insoluble. The cock, indeed, at that age, is only used for making soup, whilst the pullet is still excel- lent, although a more substantial viand than the chicken. Whilst young, the cock and hen are equally delicate. The CAPON, or castrated cock, has ever been esteemed one of the greatest delicacies, preserving the flavour and tenderness of the chicken, with the juicy maturity of age, the flesh yielding a rich and good chyle, and without any tendency to inflammation. Capons, however, are usually crammed, and made ex- cessively fat, perhaps to the verge of disease, in which state their flesh is neither so delicately fla- voured, nor probably so wholesome as when more naturally fed. Indeed, the flesh of the barn-door fowl, or that fed in a state of nature, and at liberty TURKEY — GUINEA FOWLS. 5 to take exercise, is universally acknowledged to ex- cel in genuine richness of flavour. There is pro- bably greater variety of size, figure, and appear- ance in the chicken, than in any other species of fowl, and also considerable variety of quality, which will be pointed out under their different heads. The TURKEY. The flesh of the turkey is some- what more dense of fibre, and more alkalescent and substantial than that of the chicken, but it is rec- koned nourishing and restorative. Age produces a similar effect as in the chicken, whence the turkey after a certain period, is good for little, except stewed. The true black NORFOLK turkey is esteemed su- perior to all others. The COPPER turkey, (see va- rieties) originally of the wild American breed, proved too tender, and degenerated in this country. GUINEA FOWLS are not so white of flesh as the common, but more inclined to the pheasant color ; in quality, short and savoury, like the flesh of the pheasant, and easy of digestion. In fact, the gui- nea fowl is reckoned by many a good substitute for the pheasant. They are very prolific, and their eggs nourishing and good. These fowls are in sea- son for the table when game is going out ; namely, from February to June ; PEA FOWLS also are used in the same season. With our immense powers of pro- duction, we are yet an importing country, to a vast extent, of the necessaries of life. A few years since, upwards of the weight of twelve tons in tur- kies and other poultry were imported from France within ten days. B3 6 THE PEACOCK— BUSTARD. The PEACOCK, however, has long ceased to form a common dish for the table in this country, and probably, from its coarseness and ill colour, when it did, the motive was rather show than use ; but pea-hens and pea-chicks still retain their place at fashionable tables. BUSTARDS. The Bustard is the largest land bird of Europe, the cock generally weighing from twenty- five to twenty-seven pounds. The neck a foot long, the legs a foot and a half. It flies with some little difficulty. The head and neck of the cock ash co- loured ; the back barred transversely with black and a bright rust colour. The greater quill feathers black, the belly white ; the tail, consisting of twenty feathers, marked with broad black bars : it has three thick toes before and none behind. There are upwards of half a dozen species of this bird, two or three of which (African) are crested. The LITTLE Bustard, differs only in size, not being larger than a pheasant. They were known to the ancients in Africa, and in Greece and Syria ; are supposed to live about fifteen years; are gregarious, and pair in spring, laying only two eggs, nearly of the size of a goose-egg, of a pale olive brown, marked with spots of a darker hue. They sit about five weeks, and the young ones run, like partridges, as soon as delivered from the shell. The cocks will fight until one is killed or falls. Their flesh has ever been held most delicious, and I suppose they are fed upon the same food as the turkey. There were formerly great flocks of bustards in this country, upon the wastes and in the woods, THE AQUATIC SPECIES. 7 particularly in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Dorset, and in various parts of Scotland, where they were hunted with greyhounds, and very easily taken. There may at present be some few bred in both the Eastern and Western counties, but enclosure and cultivation have reduced them to inconsiderable numbers. Buffon was mistaken in his supposition that these birds are incapable of being propagated in the domestic state, chiefly on account of the difficulty of providing them with proper food, which, in their wild state, he describes to be heath-berries and large earth-worms. Probably the HAW or white thorn berry might succeed equally well. Mr. Cas- tang informed me a few years since, that a person in Norfolk, had, at that time, some bustards : also that he had the previous year an old bustard and four eggs, which he sold to Lord Stanley, and a pair of bustards to the Earl of Darnley. To those who aim at variety and novelty in this line, the bustard ap- pears peculiarly an object for propagation and in- crease, since the flesh is of unrivalled excellence, and it is probable this fowl will render great weight of flesh for the food consumed. Specimens of these fowls may probably be found in the collection of the Zoological Society, Regent's Park, London, but no progress seems to have been made in the increase of the breed. They are scarcely known in the Lon- don markets. The Aquatic Species. The DUCK. The flesh of the duck of a savory and somewhat stimulant nature, is said to afford a preferable nourishment to that of the goose, 8 THE GOOSE — THE SWAN. being not so gross, and more easily digested : and that of the wild duck is reckoned still more easy of digestion than the tame, although more savoury. The GOOSE. The whole anserine or goose tribe, of which there is a great variety, are held to afford a food highly stimulant, of a strong flavour and vis- cous quality, and of a putrescent tendency. The flesh of the tame goose is more tender than that of the wild, but generally it is a diet best adapted to good stomachs and powerful digestion, and should be sparingly used by the sedentary and weak, or by persons subject to cutaneous diseases. The fat, or grease, of the goose, is more subtle, penetrating, and resolvent, than the lard of swine, and is an excellent article to be reserved for domestic use, in various cases. Sportsmen of the old school held the opinion, extraordinary as it may now seem, that when a kennel of hounds show symptoms of rabies, or madness, the best prophylactic remedy, is to keep a considerable flock of geese in it, for a length of time ; and the late Dr. James, exceedingly attached to dogs, inclined to give a degree of credit to this presumed remedy, which, if real, must con- sist in the saline and penetrative qualities of the anserine excrement: the danger, however, of expos- ing the geese to the possibility of infection, ought certainly not to be overlooked. The SWAN. The Cygnet, or young swan, only, is reckoned eatable, and that after a peculiar prepara- tion, although in old time, the swan formed a dish of embellishment and show at great feasts. Swan fat possesses probably much the same qualities as THE SWAN. 9 that of the goose above described, but is supposed somewhat more mild and emollient. Many curative virtues were attributed by the ancients to the swan's skin, but modern practice only sanctions its use as a defence against rheumatic affections; in fact, the only worth of the very few wild swans which reach a market, consist in their skins. Considerable numbers both of wild swans and wild geese, have been seen during the present winter, in consequence of the severe weather, in the Fen districts and upon the great estuaries ; as many as twenty-nine wild swans in a flight. CYGNETS. Young swans are sometimes fattened for home use, or presents, chiefly on the occasion of great feasts ; in January and February they may be purchased in the London Markets of Newgate and Leadenhall. It is generally known to be felony, to steal swans that are private property. E 5 10 VARIETIES. SECTION III. GALLINACEOUS FOWLS. Description and Management. WE have no history so ancient as the domestication of the common cock and hen. The cock was sup- posed to be of Persian origin, but the species has been since propagated and introduced into general use, throughout the whole world, from east to west, from the burning climate of India to the frozen zone. Although fowls used for the table are by nature granivorous, yet all the various species, the goose perhaps excepted, are carnivorous likewise, and great devourers of fish. The principal VARIETIES in use, of the common species of FOWLS, are — DUNG-HILL FOWLS — GAME- DORKING — POLAND — BANTAM — CHITTAGONG, Or MA- LAY— SHACK BAG — SPANISH, and their endless sub- varieties. The common DUNG-HILL FOWL needs no descrip- tion— of middling size, every variety of colour, and to be found in every part of the country. Game Variety. GAME FOWLS are too well known to require a par- ticular description. Their plumage, particularly 8 GAME. 1 1 the red, is most beautiful and rich ; their size some- what below the common, and their symmetry and delicacy of limbs to be compared with those of the race-horse and the deer, or, in more strict analogy, with the wild species of their own genus. The ancients kept game cocks for the same purpose as the moderns, and there is a game breed at present existing in India ; but I have not hitherto obtained any information as to the origin of our game breed, which has been established during many centuries in this country. Their flesh is of the most beautiful white, and superior to that of all other breeds of domestic fowls, for richness and delicacy of flavour; but the extreme difficulty of rearing the chickens, from their natural pugnacity of disposition, which shews itself at the earliest possible period, deters most breeders, excepting those who breed for the cock- pit. I have many times had whole broods, scarcely feathered, stone-blind from fighting, to the very smallest individuals ; the rival couples moping in corners, and renewing their battles on obtaining the first ray of light. On this account few can be reared, and as this disposition, to a certain degree, prevails in the half bred, it prevents crossing with the game cock, otherwise a great improvement. The game eggs are smaller than common, finely shaped, and extremely delicate. Philanthropists are in the habit of declaiming much against the practice of cock-pit battles, but, on reflection, the cruelty of that sport will be found among the least, wherein the feelings of animals are concerned, since fighting, in the game cock, is B6 12 COCK-FIGHTING, &C. a natural and irresistible passion, and can never take place against his will, and since those engaged in regular combat, upon the arena, would do so voluntarily, and with equal ardour, did they meet in the desert. Another and similar mistake is the supposed additional cruelty of arming the heels of the cock with steel, which, on the contrary, con- duces to shorten the period of their sufferings. THROWING at cocks, indeed, is really a diabolical and contemptible act of barbarity, as are all other tortures which animals are compelled to undergo. Such are totally against the laws of reason, common sense, and common humanity, and sufficient to bring into disgrace and contempt the code of laws in which they are tolerated. The human being who can feel pleasurable sensations, on witnessing the agonized feelings, harassment, and affright, of even the meanest brute animal, deserves in the first instance, supreme and pointed contempt; in the next, that is to say, after light imparted without effect, detestation and abhorrence. An old German writer, of the name of Cranen- stein, we are informed, gives the following account of the origin of our throwing at cocks on Shrove Tuesday. Whilst the Danes were masters of Eng- land, and lorded it over the natives, the inhabitants of a certain city, grown weary of slavery, had formed a secret conspiracy to murder their masters in one bloody night, when twelve men had under- taken to enter the town-hall by stratagem, and seizing the arms, to surprise the guard which kept it ; at which time, their fellows, upon a signal given, ATROCIOUS BARBARITY. 13 were to come out of their houses, and murder all opposers : but while they were putting this plan in execution, the unusual crowing and fluttering of the cocks, near the place which they attempted to enter, discovered and frustrated their design ; upon which the Danes became so enraged that they re- doubled their cruelty, exercising still greater severity over the English. Soon after, however, the English being freed from the Danish yoke, they instituted the custom of throwing at cocks, on Shrove Tues- day, the day of their disappointment, from a stupid and barbarian passion of revenge against the inno- cent cause of their misfortune, instead of admiring the natural vigilance of the birds, however unfor- tunately applied in a particular case : a reverse of the conduct of the Romans, who honoured the vigilance of geese which saved the Capitol. This infamous sport, although at first only practised in one city, in process of time became a national diver- sion, and remains even to this hour, in some parts of the country, exhibiting a strong taint of original ignorance and barbarism in the national character, which has not been even yet wiped out by legis- lation. Every one has heard the horrible story of Ardesoif of Tottenham, who, about forty years since, being disappointed by a famous game cock refusing to fight, was incited by his savage passion to roast the animal alive, whilst entertaining his friends. The company, alarmed by the dreadful shrieks of the victim, interfered, but were resisted by Ardesoif, who threatened death to any who should oppose 14 DORKING FOWLS. him ; and in a storm of raging and vindictive de- lirium, and uttering the most horrid imprecations, he dropped down dead. I had hoped to find this one among the thousand fanatical lies which have been coined, on the insane expectation that truth can be advanced by the propagation of falsehood ; but to my sorrowful disappointment, on a late en- quiry among the friends of the deceased miscreant, I found the truth of the horrible story but too probable. The DORKING FOWL, so called from a town in Surrey, where probably the variety was first bred, and where, and in its vicinity, they are to be found in great plenty and perfection, is, in the third degree, the largest of our fowls, well-shaped, hav- ing a long capacious body and short legs, and is a plentiful layer. The genuine colour entire white ; chief distinctive mark five claws upon each foot. The white is probably not so pure as that of certain of the dung-hill fowls, nor is the colour of the flesh, that inclining to a yellow, or ivory shade. The Dorking are the species generally made into capons. In a late agricultural Survey of the county of Sussex, an attempt is made to deprive Dorking of the honour of originating this famous variety of fowls, with what degree of success it would be a waste of time to enquire ; it is sufficient that we possess such a variety, and to know where to obtain it in perfection. The surveyor pretends that the Dorking fowls are all raised in the Weald of Sussex, and that Horsham is the chief market for them. That their having five claws is by no DORKING FOWLS. 15 means their true and original characteristic, such peculiarity being merely fortuitous, and in fact ob- jectionable : and that those so marked are deemed a bastard breed. No doubt it is probable that, having five claws accidentally brought into notice certain fine and well-formed individuals, but from those proceeded a distinguished permanent variety, and that variety bearing the name of Dorking, seems a sufficient proof in favour of that town and its neighbourhood. In the mean time, the ap- pellation of Dorking fowl, has been in use, I appre- hend, far beyond the memory of any one now living: and it is not at all improbable, the large Sussex breed has originated from a Dorking cross, the peculiar mark of five claws disappearing in the course of time, from the small number of Dorking cocks employed, compared with that of the Sussex or common cocks, which were not so distinguished. Such is a common case in crossing varieties of live stock ; the home variety in the end gets uppermost, as being the majority. In fine, five claws form an original distinction in the common cock and hen, adverted to by Buffon ; nor is there any thing in- convenient or injurious in it, the fifth claw being seldom of sufficient magnitude to encumber the foot, or cause it to scratch out the eggs, as has been apprehended. Poland. The POLAND FOWLS, as they are generally called, were chiefly imported from Holland. Their colour shining black, with white tops on the head of both 16 POLANDERS. cock and hen. The head is flat, surmounted by a fleshy protuberance, out of which spring the crown feathers or top, white or black, with the fleshy King David's crown, consisting of four or five spikes. They are not so thickly covered with fea- thers as some other breeds, and still less so with down. Their form is plump and deep, and the legs of the best species not too long. Perhaps the genuine sort has always five claws, and as the Po- land cock will produce occasionally white stock from white English hens, it is not improbable, the simi- larity of form likewise considered, that our famous Dorking breed may have been originally raised from that cross : or supposing such speculations ground- less, the Dorking, differing as it does from the com- mon, may have been an imported breed. The Polanders are not only kept as ornamental, but they are one of the most useful varieties ; par- ticularly on account of the abundance of eggs they lay, being least inclined to sit of any other breed, whence they are sometimes called everlasting layers, and it is usual to set their eggs under other hens. They fatten as quickly as any breed, and are in quality similar to the Dorking ; their flesh perhaps more juicy, and of a richer flavour. Besides the Polanders, there is a small variety now imported from Holland, called E VERY-DAY- HENS, which are everlasting layers. The eggs of the everlasting layers, generally, are not so large as those of the common hens, nor equally substantial and nutritious. This seems an obvious consequence. From October 25th to the 25th of the following BANTAM. 17 September, our five Poland hens laid 503 eggs, one of them only sitting within the time. An average egg weighed 1 ounce o drachms, exclusive of the shell, which in this breed is very thin ; the above number making a total weight of SQ^lbs. and a fraction. The tops of these fowls should be periodically clipped near the eyes, or they grow into the eyes of the fowls and nearly blind them, rendering them very subject to alarm and to be driven away. This is particularly ne'cessary in wet weather. BANTAM, a well-known small breed, originally from India, is valued chiefly for its grotesque figure and delicate flesh. There has been lately obtained a variety of Ban- tams, extremely small, and as smooth legged as a game fowl. From their size and delicacy, they are very convenient, as they may always stand in the place of chickens, when small ones are not otherwise to be had. They are also particularly useful for sitting upon the eggs of partridges and pheasants, being good nurses, as well as good layers. Sir John Sebright, M.P. for Herts, is one of the chief ama- teurs of this breed. Sir John's breed are beauti- fully striped and variegated. In addition, there is a South American variety, either from Brazil or Buenos Ayres, which will roost in trees. They are very beautiful, partridge spotted and streaked ; the eggs small and coloured like those of the pheasant ; both the flesh and eggs are fine flavoured and delicate. The CHITTAGONG or MALAY, another Indian va- 18 MALAY — INDIAN, &C. riety, is, as a contrast to the Bantam, probably the largest of the gallinaceous tribe. They are in colour, striated yellow and dark brown, long-necked, serpent-headed, and high upon the leg ; their flesh dark, coarse, and chiefly adapted to soup. They are good layers, and being well fed, produce the largest of hens' eggs, and of the most substantial nutriment. Being too long legged, they are not, generally, steady setters. Button introduces several foreign varieties, of which I have no practical knowledge — the HAM- BURGH COCK, the WONDERFUL INDIAN COCK, and the MUSCOVITE BLACK GAME HEN. I have heard of a WEST INDIA breed which are everlasting layers. The wonderful Indian cock is described as a bird of most beautiful plumage, consisting of the follow- ing five colours — black, white, green, red, and blue. The back part of the head has a sort of fleshy substance, of pyramidal figure, scaly, and of a blood- red colour: the bill thick and strong, and the breast mottled beautifully with red and green. The tail consists of twelve large flaming feathers, resembling those of a peacock. The comb upon the head is double, with a single wattle hanging beneath the lower mandible, an inch and a half long; the beak and legs yellow. It is a wild fowl, but easily do- mesticated. Nothing is said of the quality of its flesh. Shackbags. Formerly the largest variety, but in all probability it has been entirely worn out for some years. It was called the Duke of Leeds' breed, his grace, SHACKBAOS. 19 more than fifty years since, being a great amateur breeder of them ; but it does not appear whether his Grace first raised the variety, or whether it arose merely from improving the size of the common dung-hill kind, and from any foreign cross ; but the former is the most probable conjecture, on account of the whiteness and fineness of the flesh, in the genuine shackbag. The only one I ever possessed was a red one, in 1784, weighing about ten pounds, which was provided for me at the price of one guinea, by GofF the dealer, who then lived upon Holborn Hill, in London, and who at the end of two years, received him back at half a guinea, having allowed me in the interim three shillings and sixpence each, for such thorough-bred cock chickens as I chose to send him. At that period the real Duke of Leeds' breed had become very scarce, which induced the dealers to put Shackbag cocks to Malay hens, by that means keeping up the original standard size, but entirely ruining the colour and delicate flavour of the flesh. The Shackbag fowl was a convenient substitute for the turkey, to the frequent great convenience of poul- terers and inn-keepers, at Wokingham and else- where. The breed of Shackbags, it has been already observed, has been many years extinct, and the sub- stitute of the Malay cross is not satisfactory. A large variety has been since introduced with suc- cess ; a cross between the Spanish and our Dorking breed, the best of which are to be found in Sussex and near Wokingham, Surrey. The Spaniard is 20 SHACKBAGS. very large, the plumage black, flesh white and de- licate, but inferior in size to the old Duke of Leeds' breed. They are well adapted for CAPONS, and produce the largest eggs to be obtained. This breed is now common, particularly in London ; all black, black legs, large red combs and gills — far too high on the leg, and in want of improvement in that particular. In the Section on the Rabbit, I have adverted to the old and cruel practice in the country, of killing fowls, which I formerly noticed, in particular, at the house of a religious lady, whom however, I failed to convince. She insisted on the necessity of the method, in order to drain oil' the blood and in- sure the whiteness of the chicken ! If the neck be broken by the finger and thumb, according to the practice of the London poulterers, the birds die instantly; at any rate, lose from the moment all sensibility of pain. My own method is to brace the wings, and taking hold of the head, to give them three or four turns, by which the neck is broken. They may then be hung up by the legs, and the blood will settle in the neck and head, for which an outlet may be made by an incision in the throat. BREEDING CHICKENS. SECTION IV. On breeding and rearing Chickens — the necessary Yards and Buildings. IT has been already observed, that the warmest and dryest soils are best adapted to the breeding and rearing of gallinaceous fowls, more particularly chickens ; thence the greatest success, attended with the least trouble, may be expected on such, and far greater precaution and expense will be required on those of an opposite description. Of these last, the wet and boggy are the most injurious, since, however ill affected fowls are by cold, they endure it still better than moisture, whence they are found to succeed well upon dry land, even in the severe climates of the north. The counties of England most productive in poultry, are NORFOLK, SURREY, SUSSEX, HERTS, DEVON, and SOMERSETSHIRE. The largest stock of poultry which I ever saw upon an English farm, was upon one of two or three hun- dred acres in Herts, many years since, amounting it appeared to many hundred head. It was dry and shingly land, like the sea beach, and I found on enquiry, that scarcely any care was taken of the breeding stock, or shelter afforded them, yet they multiplied in a most extraordinary degree, and pre- served a constant state of good health. Upon a boggy or clayey soil, under such circumstances, they SOILS FOR BREEDING. would have died like rotten sheep. In short, land proper for sheep, is generally also adapted to the successful keeping of poultry and rabbits. But as the rearing of both is necessary, upon soils and in situations of every description, it will be most to the purpose to point out those precautions which must be recurred to, in order to ensure suc- cess upon the least favourable. Of such, then, artificial, or made ground, cannot be dis|>ensed with, for a poultry-yard, where rearing is made an object upon any considerable scale; since upon damp and boggy soiU, not only will the greater part of the broods be annually subject to disease and mortality, but the cocks and hens themselves will be frequently affected, to the great impediment of the business of the breeding season. Where it is not held worth while to make any extraordinary accommodations for poultry, and the risk taken, enough may yet be preserved for family convenience and to repay the triHing expence. Hut no considerable stock can be kept, far less any profit made upon it, upon an un- favourable soil, independently of attention to need- ful local conveniences. Whether or not the poultry be suffered to range at large, and particularly to take the benefit of the farm-yard, a separate and well- fenced yard or court must be pitched upon. The foundation should be laid with chalk, or bricklayer's rubbish, the surface to consist of sandy gravel, considerable plots of it being sown with common trefoil, or wild clover, with a mixture of burnet, spurry, or star-grass, which last two species are particularly salubrious to POULTRY YARD. 23 poultry. The surface must be so sloped and drained as to avoid all stagnant moisture, most destructive to young chickens. The fences must be lofty, well secured at the bottom, that the smallest chicken cannot find a passage through, and the whole yard perfectly sheltered, from the north-west to the south-east. Various beds, or heaps of sifted ashes, or very dry sand, should be always ready, in which the hens may exercise that propensity, so delightful and salutary to them, of rolling or bathing them- selves. This is effectual in cleansing their feathers and skin from vermin and impurities, promotes the cuticalar excretion, and is materially instrumental in preserving their health. The poultry-houses within the court, if there be a choice, should have a southern aspect, at any rate, should be well defended from cold winds and the blowing in of rain or sleet. If the number of the stock be considerable, the houses had far better be small and detached, both for health and safety sake, and especially they should be absolutely impenetrable to vermin of every description. Should these houses abut upon a stable, brew-house, or any conductor of warmth, it will be so much the more comfortable and salutary to the poultry. The form and conveniences of the poultry-houses are these — the bottom or floor should consist of well- rammed chalk or earth, similar to the court-yard, that its surface being smooth, may present no impe- diment to being swept perfectly clean. For health's sake, the roof should be lofty ; the perches will be then more out of the reach of vermin, should any £4 BOXES. accidentally break in: and there should only be one long and level range of perches, because, when these are placed one above another, the fowls dung upon each other: convenient steps driven into the walls, will render easy the ascent of the poultry to their perches ; but care must be taken that the mis- take be not made of placing these steps immediately one over the other, but in such wise, that they can jump from one to the other. Boxes, of which every carpenter knows the form, are to be arranged round the walls, and it is proper to have a sufficient number, the hens being apt to dispute possession, and sit one upon another; the steps will lead equally to these as to the perches. The board, or step at the entrance, to be of suffi- cient height to prevent the eggs from rolling out. Provision of a few railed doors may be made, for occasional use, to be hung before the entrance, in order to prevent other hens from intruding to lay their eggs upon those which sit, a habit to which some are much addicted, and by which a brood is often injured. '1 he common deep square boxes, uncovered at top, are extremely improper, because that form obliges the hen to jump down upon her eggs; whereas for safety, she should descend upon them from a very small height, or in a manner walk in upon them. The same objection lies against hampers, with the additional one of the wicker-work admitting the cold, in variable weather, in winter or early spring sittings. It ought to be noted like- wise, that many breeders prefer to have all their nests upon the ground, on account of the danger TURKEYS, &C. — PRECAUTIONS. 25 of chickens falling from those which are placed above. In this respect, persons will be best guided by their own experience. Turkeys, being roosting fowls, may be kept in the yard of which we speak, either in a separate house, or their boxes, for laying or sitting, may be placed on the ground of the common houses ; which last method, perhaps, is objectionable, since turkeys and common fowls might not roost quietly together. In the common way, indeed, poultry of all kinds are associated in a common house, the cocks and hens aloft, and the ducks, geese, and turkeys upon the ground-floor. Or, upon an extensive scale, all the domestic poultry may be contained within the inclo- sure, the circular form for which would be most comprehensive and advantageous, including a piece of water, with laying-houses upon its banks, for the aquatic fowls, and dove-cotes for breeding pigeons. Some shutters may open to the morning sun, for air, and particularly for the benefit of the sitting hens. Precautions. ALL the above arrangements, the best concerted plan, and the most valuable stock, will little avail the proprietor, or rather turn to his great mortifi- cation and disappointment, without a certain precau- tion, of more consequence than all others — a de- fence against MIDNIGHT THIEVES. Not merely a lock, or a bar, or a mere trifling apology for security, but such an ample safeguard, that a man who values his property may lay his head upon his pillow with M ATTENDANCE, SALE. confidence. I speak feelingly on this part of the subject, having three or four times in my life, been robbed in a single night, of a greater part of a most valualtle stock of poultry, the breed and excellence of which it took me several seasons to recover. In the first place, these >in.ill buildings should be made substantial, for on one occasion, my locks !>eing good, the thieve* made their way by wrenching open an anjjlc of th'r building. In addition to substantial lock* and hinges, bells hung upon the inside of the door*, or upon any part liable to be shaken, are good precautions, since the noise may deter the thieve*, even if it foil to alarm the family. But the most certain security is that kind of vermin cur ge- nerally kept by country labourers. Several such should be enkennelled in the poultry court, and taught to bark, being equally useful against rubbers and vermin. Nothing can charm and quiet the tongues of real good /tf/ra/orrs, or barkers, and more particularly when several of them are together. A plan like the ab«>\e will obviously require the exclusive services of one or more ATTENDANTS, ac- cording l«> its extent. My poultry, rabbits, and bees, formerly were well attended by an aged la- bourer, with the occasional assistance of his wife; and the meritorious couple thus made an easy and comfortable living after a life of severe labour, a circumstance to me the source of heartfelt satis- faction. The sale of our surplus of this species of live stock, besides repating all expenccs, and ex- clusive of a most abundant and comfortable supply for the household and for occasional presents, ren- ATTENDANCE, SALE. 27 dered an annual profit by no means contemptible. We disposed of the surplus, for the greater part, to a higgler in the vicinity, who allowed us a certain advance upon his common price, in consideration of the superior goodness and condition of the stock. 28 COMMON FOWLS. SECTION V. Choice and Treatment of llr ceding Stock. GALLIN \cr.ors rowi.s. By a reference to the TiiiUD Section, which describes the (jualiiies of each variety of this upccies, a choice may he made of the most Miit.ihlr to the situation or fancy of the pro- posed breeder. A breeding ?tock, of the common kind, is eahily procurable, either in town or country, from the market* or individual! : particular and fancy breeds 11111-1 either be sought in tho.se parts where they arc customarily bred, or at the shops of the London dealers. It should be a general rule to breed from vorsc STOCK: a two year old cock, or staj:, and pullets in their second year. Pullets in their first year, if early birds, will indeed, probably, lay as many eggs as ever after, but the eggs arc small, and such young hens arc unsteady sitters. Hens are in their prime at three years of age, and decline after five, whence generally, it is not advantageous to keep them be- yond that period, with the exception of those of capital qualifications. Hens with a large comb, or which crow like the cock, are generally deemed inferior; but I have had hens with large rose combs, and also crowers, which were upon an equality with the rest of the stock. Yellow-legged fowls are often of a tender constitution, and always HEALTH, &C. 29 inferior in the quality of their flesh , which is of a loose flabby texture and ordinary flavour. The HEALTH of fowls is observable in the fresh and florid colour of the comb, and the brightness and dryness of the eyes, the nostrils being free from any discharge, and the plumage of a healthy gloss. The most useful cock is generally a bold, active, and savage bird, cruel and destructive, in his fits of passion, if not well watched, to his hens, and even to his own offspring. Hens above the common size of their respective varieties, are by no means preferable either as layers or setters. The indi- cations of OLD AGE are paleness of the comb and gills, dullness of colour, and a sort of downy stiff- ness in the feathers, and length and size of their talons, the scales upon the legs becoming large and prominent. The NUMBER of hens to one cock, four to six, the latter being the extreme number, with a view of making the utmost advantage. Ten and even twelve hens have been formerly allowed to one cock, but the produce of eggs and chickens under such an arrangement will seldom equal that to be obtained from the smaller number of hens. Every one is aware that, the spring is the best season to commence breeding with poultry, and in truth it scarcely matters how early, presupposing the best food, accommodation, and attendance, under which hens may be permitted to sit in January ; but the attempt to rear winter chickens in this climate, even in a carpeted room and with a constant fire, would in all probability be found abortive. I have repeat- c3 30 WINTER BREEDING. edly made the experiment with some scores, without being able to preserve an individual through the winter, and nearly the same has resulted with res- pect to pigs, on a damp clayey or marshy soil. This* I request should be understood with some grains of allowance in respect to the soils on which my stock of both kinds was reared, in three counties. Thry were clayey, wet, and benumbing, and my neighbours were in a similar predicament with my- self. It in a mere statement of facts. I have referred in the sequel, to those dry soil-, better adapted to breeding of poultry, as they are also to breed- ing and keeping of sheep. 1 gave merely my own actual experience, without doubting, that many breeders mure fur innately situated, have succeeded wiih \\inter stock, though in the bcsl situations, winter may bring with it considerable risk. A re- cord, however, of the experimented fact may remain, as a c.iuii»»n to breeders upon unfavourable soils. 1 lie following is a remarkable instance of attention, and success in winter breeding. The late Mrs. Adams, who lived at Ditchford Farm, near Shipston on Stour, in Worcestershire, for many years devoted her time and attention to the breeding and rearing of winler chickens and spring ducklings, with which she constantly attended Campdcn ami Shipston markets, where her poultry was sought by the neighbouring gentry with avidity, and generally fetched good prices : the excellence of this good woman's poultry was proverbial : at a breeder and feeder, she stood pre-eminent ; her chickens were always ready for the table by new THE COCK — CHANGE OF COCK. .'31 .year's day, and her ducks were earlier in the market than those of any other person in the neighbourhood. Thig is given, not as a novelty, but as an example of merit and successful perseverance. In the vicinity of most cities and large towns, chicks and ducklings are reared in the autumn, for the Christmas market. The business is done by the aid of artificial heat, by storing, and with covered floors. The conduct of the cock towards his hens should be early and constantly attended to, as it is a com- mon occurrence for him to conceive an antipathy to one or more particular individuals ; .should this con- tinue! the obnoxious one should be removed, since nothing but misery can ensue to the unhappy and persecuted bird, which will be harassed and chased about, and unless when hiding and moping in cor- ners, will be always liable to be torn and maimed ; and various examples have occurred of a hen, under these circumstances, being instantly struck dead by the cock. Such a hen being removed, and replaced by a STRANGER, care should be taken for the first week or two, that she be not worried or injured by the other hens. A place of REFUGE should be provided for hens or chicks in this unfortunate predicament. Whilst the young feathers are growing after moulting, poul- try are extremely apt to peck and wound each other, retarding their recovery. The CHANGE of a cock, from death, or accident, is always attended with interruption and delay, as it may be some considerable time before the hens will associate kindly with their new partner : and c4 32 NESTS EGGS BARREN. further, a new cock may prove dull and inactive from the change, however good in nature. This frequently hapj>ens with cocks of the superior breeds, purchased from the London dealers, in whose coops they have been kept in such a high state of tempera- ture, that they are unable to endure the o|>en air of the country, unless in the summer season. Such being removed in autumn, winter, or early spring, if immediately turned abroad with hens, are liable to become aguitM, torpid, and totally useless, per- haps, in the end, turning roopy or glandered. The only method <>f safety in this case, is to keep such a cock in the house, upon the best and most nour- ishing food, turning the hens to him several times in the day. and permitting him to he abroad an hour or so, the weather being fine, until in a few weeks he shall be accustomed to the air. In making the NKVTS, short and soft straw is to IK? preferred, because the straw being long, the hen, on leaving her nest, will be liable to draw it out with her claws, and with it the egg§. The hen, it is as- certained, will breed and lay eggs without the com- pany of a cock ; of course, such eggs are barren. I confined a hen with a pheasant cock, which was never observed to attend ; she laid twenty-nine eggs, all which proved barren. It may be said that she had previously associated with a cock, but that the attentions of one were also subsequently necessary to rentier the eggs perfect and prolific ; such fact, nevertheless, does not negative the other, of a hen's breeding eggs entirely independent of the male, as is confirmed by the circumstance of parrots and EGGS FOR SITTING — BROKEN. 33 other birds in cages, laying eggs without the possi- bility of a cock approaching them. According to Button, a hen being properly attended by the cock for a few days, should she then be separated from him, the eggs laid by her during a month thereafter would be fruitful. EGGS for SETTING should never exceed the age of a month, the newer to be preferred, as nearly of a size as possible, and of the full middle size ; void of the circular flaw which indicates the double yolk, generally unproductive, nor should there be any roughness or cracks in the shells. NUMIIKR of eggs, according to the si/e of the hen, from nine to fif- teen, an odd number being preferable, on the sup- position of their lying more close. The eggs to be marked with a pen and ink, and examined when the hen leaves her nest, in order to detect any fresh ones which she may have laid, and which should be im- mediately taken from her, as they, if at all, would be hatched too late for the brood. It is taken for granted, the box and nest have been made perfectly clean for the reception of the hen, and that a new nest has not been sluggishly and sluttishly thrown U)x>n an old one, from the filth of which vermin are propagated, to the great annoyance of the hen, and prevention of her steady sitting. EGGS BROKEN in the nest, should be cleared away the instant of discovery, and the remaining washed with warm water, and quickly replaced, lest they adhere to the hen, and be drawn out of the nest : if necessary, the hen's feathers may also be washed, but alwavs with warm water. 31 PREVENTION OF SITTING, &C. With respect to the CAPRICIOUSNESS of some hens in the article of SITTING, it is a risk which must be left to the judgment of the attendant, who has to determine whether or not the hen which appears desirous of sitting, may be safely trusted with eggs- Leaving a number of eggs in the nest is an entice- ment. Very frequently, a hen will cluck, and ap- pear hot for incubation, yet after sitting over her eggs a sufficient number of hours to addle them, will then desert them : and, probably, in the course of a few days will be taken with another fit of incu- bation. Much useless cruelty is too often exercised, to PREVENT the hen from SITTING, when eggs, rather than chickens, are in request; such, for example, as immersing her head, or whole body in water, which I have witnessed with regret, the hen, as soon as dry, running to her nest, although the dipping has been repeated several days following. But, granting nature could be thus put out of her course, it is not probable that, eggs would be obtained earlier than by suffering the hen to sit, since the improper treatment, and the disappointment combined, are nearly an equal impediment both to laying and sitting. I am sorry to see a late useful and well-written publication disgraced by barbarities similar to those above described. The author, unreflectingly, with- out doubt, recommends to thrust a feather through the hen's nostrils, in order to prevent her from sit- ting ; and to give her half a glass of gin, then swing her round until seemingly dead, and confine her in MOULTING. 35 a pot, during a day or two, leaving her only a small breathing hole, to force her to sit ! It is full time that, these and a hundred other such utterly useless and barbarous follies of former days, practised upon various animals, should be dismissed with the con- tempt they merit. The pamphlet alluded to, is The Epicure, by Thomas Young, a publication replete with good things, on the interesting subjects of eat- ing, wines, spirits, beer, cider, planting, &c. It is written with haul gout. Every succeeding year after the third, the hen continues to MOULT later in the season, and laying fewer or no eggs during the moulting period, which is sometimes protracted to two or three months. It should seem that, old hens are seldom to be depended upon for eggs in the winter, such being scarcely full of feather until Christmas ; and then, probably, may not begin to lay till April, producing at last, not more than twenty or thirty eggs. In general, it is most profitable to dispose of hens whilst they are yet eatable, or saleable for that purpose, which is in the spring of the third year. Nor do delicate white hens lay so many eggs in the cold season, as the more hardy coloured varieties, requiring warmth and shelter, particularly by night. MOULTING, or the casting and renewal of feathers lasts, with its effects, from one to three months, according to the age and strength of the bird. Whilst under this natural course, poultry are unfit for the table, as well as for breeding. It is the same with respect to young poultry, whilst shedding their feathers in c6 36 ATTENTION DURING INCUBATION. the spring. The regular moulting of full-grown fowls begins in the autumn. Attention during Incubation. There is this DISTINCTION in the hen: in some, the desire of sitting or incubation is predominant, which they will repeat to the fifth or sixth time in the year, to their emaciation or almost destruction : in others, the desire is so slight, that they will pro- bably sit but twice, or even once in the season, and then not steadily. It is for the skilful breeder to take advantage of this variation of quality, the one kind furnishing plenty of eggs for the other to sit upon. It is proper to place CORN and WATER beside the sitting hen, whenever it may appear necessary, with- drawing them as soon as she is satisfied, not only to encourage steadiness of incubation, but to support the constitutions of those, in which the natural ex- citement is so powerful, that they will remain several successive days upon the nest, at the risk of famish- ing. I have had instances of hens of this descrip- tion fainting outright, and appearing as dead, on their final leaving the nest with the chickens, in a state of total emaciation, having, probably, not eaten or drank more than once in three or four days, during the TERM of their incubation, TWENTY-ONE DAYS. The plan of feeding on the nest, should be invariably pursued with all frequent sitters. THE NASCENT CHICK. 37 SECTION VI. Hatching of the Brood. THIS must be watched on the expiration of the term, in which the state of the weather, warm or cold, may make some hours' difference. Nature, as Reaumur long since observed, has committed to the chicken itself the task of breaking its way through the shell, the hen being totally uninstructed and unqualified on that point ; for, indeed, any forcible strokes with her beak might have the effect of wounding the chicken, whilst it broke the shell. The only use of her bill, generally, in this case, is to turn, or remove the eggs, defend them, or cast out the broken shells. The chicken in perfect health and unimpeded, sud- denly, at nature's impulse, performs the part of breaking its prison with wonderful strength and energy, indicative of future activity, considering the quiescent state, rolled up like a ball, in which it has laid from the time of its form being complete. ITS FORM AND POSITION IN THE SHELL the neck curves or slopes towards the belly, on about the mid- dle of which the head is placed ; the bill under the right wing, like a bird asleep ; the feet are gather- ed up beneath the belly, like those of fowls trussed for the spit : the_claws reversed, almost touch the head from their convexity. The fore-part of the chicken is generally placed towards the biggest end of the egg, 38 POSITION IN THE SHELL. adapted by nature to that purpose ; the whole body is surrounded by a membrane of considerable strength and thickness, confining him in a position apparently the most unfavourable to the motions necessary to his emancipation : it is nevertheless without chang- ing his attitude, that he performs his seemingly most difficult task ; repeated strokes with his little bill, which may often be heard, break the shell of the egg, at the same time tearing the solid membrane, in which he is enveloped, and which resists his struggles, full as much as the hard but brittle shell. Nor is the head at all at liberty, or released from the wing, during the struggle, the comparison in that respect, with a sleeping bird not coming up fully to the point, since the head of the chicken in the egg reaches farther under the wing, and the bill protrudes towards the back. The head, although in this confined state, by moving alternately back- ward and forward, and the reverse, or more exactly from the belly towards the back, and from the back towards the belly, reaches and strikes the shell, more or less roughly, according to the quickness of its motion : whilst in action, it is in some degree guided by the wing and the body, which retain and prevent it from leaving its place. The head is very heavy and large, with respect to the bulk of the body, making together with the neck, a weight so consi- derable, that the chicken is unable to support it for some time after its birth. On the other hand, the manner in which all the parts are disposed, whilst yet in the egg, and in the form of a ball, renders the support of that weight of the neck and head, per- DELIVERY OF ITSELF — HATCHING. 39 fectly easy to the chicken : for in whatever position the egg may be, the head of the chicken is sup- ported either by the body or by the wing, or by both united : in fine, the force of the blows against the shell by the beak, is powerful in proportion to the bulk of the head. The mother's affection for her brood is always observed to be intensely in- creased, when she first hears the voice of the chicks through the shells, and the strokes of their little bills against them. All chickens do not dispatch the important task in equal time. Some are able to disencumber them- selves of the shell, in the course of an hour from the commencement of the operation ; others take two or three hours ; and generally it may be looked upon as half a day's work : in case of natural or accidental debility, the period may be extended to twenty- four, or even forty-eight hours, in which case, however, there is seldom much success in the hatching. Here skilful assistance is wanted from t'he attendant, which very few possess. Reaumur, the greater part of whose observations, such, I mean, as I have found leisure to attend to, appear to me correct, says the women of most countries in his time (1747) were in the habit of dipping the eggs in warm water, and suffering them to remain in it a short time, on the day of hatching, from the presumption of rendering the shell more tender and easy to be penetrated by the bills of the chickens. This, however, is a useless, perhaps injurious la- bour, since the shell of a boiled egg does not prove sensibly less hard ; and granting it did, would soon 8 40 ASSISTANCE IN HATCHING. reassume its primitive hardness, from exposure to the air and evaporation. Assistance in Hatching Must not be attempted prematurely, and thence unnecessarily, but only in the case of the chick been plainly unable to extricate itself: so indeed, an addition may probably be made to the brood, as great numbers are always lost in this way. The chick makes a circular fracture of the big end of the egg, and a section of about one third of the length of the shell being separated, delivers the prisoner, pro- vided there be no obstruction from adhesion of the body to the membrane which lines the shell. Be- tween the body of the chicken and the membrane there remains a viscous fluid, the white of the egg thickened by the intense heat of incubation, until it becomes a real glue. When this happens, the fea- thers stick fast to the shell, and the chick remains confined, and must perish unless released. The METHOD of assistance is, to take the egg in hand, and dipping the finger or a piece of linen in warm water, apply it to the fastened parts, until they are loosened, by the gluey substance being dissolved and separated from the feathers; the chick then being returned to the nest, will extricate itself, a mode generally to be observed, since violence used would often be fatal. Nevertheless, breaking the shell may sometimes be necessary, and tearing with the fingers as gently as may be, the membrane from the feathers, which are still to be moistened as above, to facilitate the operation. Small points of scissors SIGNS — CAUTIONS — WEAKNESS. 41 may be useful, and when there is much resistance and apparent pain to the bird, the process must be conducted in the gentlest manner, and the shell se- parated into a number of small pieces. The SIGNS of a need of assistance are, the egg .being partly pecked, and the efforts of the chicken discontinued for five or six hours. In commencement, the shell may be broken cautiously, by striking it with the end of a key ; the rotten egg is known immediately by the motion of the contained fluid, and previous unsteady incubation. WEAKNESS from cold may disable the chicken from commencing the operation of pecking the shell, which must then be artificially performed, with a circular fracture, such as is made by the bird itself. Pullets are occasionally liable to cause this defect. We have had but little success in this case, the chickens after delivery seldom succeeding ; but the following quotation from De Reaumur will be fully explanatory. " This assistance, which is so important to many chickens, might prove fatal to others ; for which rea- son I would advise the reader not to attempt it in too great a hurry. My opinion is, the facility of coming out of their shells ought not to be procured to any but those which have been nearly four and twenty hours together without getting forward in their work. There are chickens, as I have already observed, which shew too great an impatience to peck their shells, and do it before the yolk is en- tirely got into their body : it would prove fatal to those, were they enabled to come out of their shell 42 ASSISTANCE IN HATCHING — HATCHED. a few hours after they have pecked it, although they would be never the worse for it afterwards, IF NO YOLK WERE LEFT OUT OF THEIR body, at the instant of their coming out of the shell. However, it is generally better to let the chicken come out of the shell of its own accord : for in that case, he is hatched only when his limbs have become sufficiently strong, and when they have assumed in the shell a consist- ence and vigour, which they would not be so sure to acquire, if they were exposed to the open air. " I have often found, both among the chickens which were hatched of their own accord, and those which I have assisted, some that, notwithstanding the perfect consolidation of the place, through which the yolk had been introduced into their body, had nevertheless still without it portions of intestines, some longer, some shorter; one might think that these portions had not been inclosed in the capacity of the belly at the same time when the rest was ; but it is no less probable that all this is the conse- quence of the efforts the chicken had made towards being hatched, and that they had brought on him a rupture, which is commonly fatal in a few days." The chickens FIRST HATCHED are to be taken from the hen, lest she be tempted to leave her task un- finished. Those removed may be secured in a basket of wool or soft hay, and kept in a moderate heat ; if the weather be cold, near the fire. They will require no food for many hours, even four and twenty, should it be necessary to keep them so long from the hen. The whole brood being hatched, the hen is to be placed under a coop abroad, upon a dry FIRST FOOD— COOPING. 43 spot, and, if possible, not within the reach of ano- ther hen, since the chickens will mix, and the hens are apt to maim or destroy those which do not be- long to them. Nor should they be placed near numbers of young fowls, which are likely to crush young chicks under their feet, being always eager for the chickens' meat. The FIRST FOOD, split grits, afterwards tail wheat; all watery food, soaked bread, or potatoes, improper. Eggs boiled hard, or curd chopped small, much ap- proved as first food. Their water should be pure and often renewed, and there are convenient pans made in such forms, that the chickens may drink with- out getting into the water, which often, by wetting their feet and feathers, benumbs and injures them; a basin whelmed in the middle of a 'pan of water, will answer the end, the water running round it. Generally, and dependent on situation, and the dis- position of the hen, there is no necessity for cooping the brood beyond two or three days, but they may be confined as occasion requires or suffered to range, as they are much benefited by the scratching and foraging of the hen. They must not be let out too early in the morning, or whilst the dew remains upon the ground, far less be suffered to range over the wet grass, one common and fatal cause of dis- ease. Another caution is of the utmost consequence, to guard them watchfully against sudden unfavour- able changes of the weather, more particularly if attended with rain. Nearly all the diseases of gal- linaceous fowls arise from cold moisture. For the period of the chickens QUITTING the hen, 44 QUITTING THE HEN. there is no general rule, the most certain is, when the hen begins to roost, leaving them; if sufficiently forward, they will follow her; if otherwise, they should be secured in a proper place, the time hav- ing arrived when they are to associate with the young poultry, as nearly of their own age and size as pos- sible, since the larger are apt to overrun and drive from their food the younger broods. The incision necessary to be made in the distended and obstructed crop of a chicken pining and refus- ng its food, we practised with success — in the simi- lar case of a hen, and of squabs or young pigeons. Such incisions being made and afterwards stitched up with a needle and thread as carefully as possible, the parts soon unite. MODES OF HATCHING. 45 SECTION VII. Hatching by Artificial Heat. THE EGYPTTIAN mode of HATCHING EGGS having been detailed in the former edition, and there being little probability of its being resorted to in this coun- try, only one person, but myself, so far as I am in- formed, having attempted it, I have been induced to omit the detail, confining myself to the brief re- cital of my own experiment, as a matter of curiosity. And this omission I have made with the less reluct- ance, as the celebrated Cuvier, in his Animal King- dom, recently translated, has given the whole detail of the Egyptian method, from the same source, whence I had previously extracted it. It is impos- sible however to decide that, the artificial practice may not yet revive, as population increases. Even the gas was, at first, strongly ridiculed and scouted. In the year 1782, whilst resident in Surrey, Reau- mur's book first fell into my hands. I had often heard of such a treatise, and being then much at- tached to breeding poultry, I had a strong desire to make trial of the Egyptian mode of hatching the eggs. I had, in fact, already commenced, and our endeavours were stimulated and amply assisted by the presence of such a guide. We were, however, soon satisfied by a trial upon a very small scale, and can in a few words, explain to the reader, both our process, and the reason for its discontinuance. There are TWO MODES of HEATING the EGGS; 46 ARTIFICIAL HATCHING. through the means of fire, or stable-dung ; we made choice of the former. A number of eggs, wrapped in wool, and covered in flannel, in a common wicker- bottom sieve or riddle, were suspended over a chaff- ing-dish of charcoal, in a chimney where was no other fire. The chimney-skreen was constantly kept fast, in order to concentrate the heat. It was a small chimney, into the funnel of which the wind did not set with any force, at least at that time, and the heat was well retained as in a stove. We had no thermometer, but measured the degree of heat merely by our own feeling, and as we could judge it to correspond with the natural heat imparted by the body of the hen during incubation. Reaumur determined the proper degree of heat to be thirty- two degrees by his thermometer, about one hundred of that of Fahrenheit. Constant attendance, at least every three or four hours, must obviously be necessary, both night and day, to preserve an equal- ity of heat to both sides of the eggs, of which there was only one layer, filling the bottom of the sieve, to the number of forty odd. This was effected by turning the eggs, giving each side the equal chance of nearness to the fire, which must be constantly kept to a moderate and equable heat. We made use of all fine and new-laid eggs, but in our first attempt we lost a number, which however were not rotten, but had evidently bred chickens, that pe- rished from an imperfect disposition of the heat. They were most probably of the eggs placed in the circumference, where the heat might be defective, and which we afterwards had the precaution to change to the centre, where the heat was greatest. REARING. 47 Or, with equal probability, the heat might be some- times too great in the centre, and occasion instant destruction to the nascent being in the shell. As the chickens advance in growth, the covering of flannel should be made lighter, and on the expecta- tion of hatching, it must be reduced to a very thin covering, that nothing may press upon the eggs to impede the efforts of the chickens. We obtained between thirty and forty chickens, from about forty- five eggs, all in good health, two excepted, which being weak, required assistance to be released, and survived only a day or two. The brood placed in a basket of soft hay, and covered with flannel, were committed to the same chimney, the charcoal still burning. This was con- tinued a day or two, and the degree of heat consider- ably reduced, until feeding was required. Making a noise with the finger nails against a board, upon which the chicks were placed, in imitation of the pecking of the hen mother, first taught them to peck at their meat, and they from natural instinct, followed the noise readily and eagerly. They were soon taught to drink also, but with some difficulty to prevent them, in their eagerness, from wetting their feet and plumage. It should be here observed that, we had set three hens on the same day we com- menced the process by artificial heat, and one of these producing a small number of chicks, we con- trived to deceive, and make her foster-mother to a part of those artificially hatched ; and, acting the same part with the other two, we had few more than twenty to bring up by hand. 48 REARING. ARTIFICIAL MOTHER. Here commenced the grand difficulty. The nurse chickens soon became weary of their basket, feeling their natural desire of almost perpetual action, and the want of a mother to lead and brood them. A capon is best calculated for this business, as from size being capable of covering such a number : but much discipline is required to bring the capon to this habit. I have never made trial of the capon for this employ, but am assured that the discipline described by Buffon, namely, plucking the feathers from the breast, and repeatedly irritating the skin with net- tles, in order that the pain may impel the bird to take chickens to the part by way of alleviation, is equally futile and unnecessary as it is barbarous ; and, indeed, more probable to enrage him, and en- danger the brood. It is said, feeding the chicks a few times with the capon, attaches it to them; that some capons will brood them almost immediately, others can never be induced to it by any means. In the mean time, an ARTIFICIAL MOTHER cannot be dispensed with, under which the chickens may brood and shelter. We made choice of a BOX, the sides of which we covered with lamb's skin dressed with the wool on, the lid being covered with the same, placed and con- fined sloping within the box, so that one extremity reached nearly to the bottom, the other gradually ascending; thus the smallest chicks, by penetrat- ing to the farther end, could nestle their heads and shoulders in the wool, and those which were taller* would find the same convenience in the ascending part of the lid. Such is their mode of nestling under CAGE OR COOP — ARTIFICIAL MOTHER. 49 the hen, and which is absolutely necessary to their comfort and even their existence. A curtain of flannel was suspended over the opening of the box. A WICKER CAGE or COOP, surrounding the above box and artificial mother, which will entirely confine the chickens to its circumference, is a great conve- nience in bad weather, or for the purpose of separa- tion ; indeed, a coop of that kind for a hen and brood is always useful. One discovery we made in the at- tempt at artificial hatching, namely, that young chicks are injured by being placed upon a BOARDED FLOOR ; it is too cold and chilling for them, the feet and legs appearing swollen, as if from chilblains. Dry earth is their proper floor. Mr. Young recommends the following plan of an artificial mother, and the experimenter may make his election between the two, or improve on them both at his discretion. " Five broods may at once be cherished under an artificial mother. This mother may be framed of a board, ten inches broad, and fifteen inches long, resting on two legs in front, two inches in height, and on two props behind, two inches also in height. The board must be perforated with many small gimblet holes, for the escape of the heated air, and lined with lamb's skin dressed with the wool on, and the woolly side is to come in contact with the chickens. " Over three of these mothers a wicker-basket is to be placed, for the protection of the chickens, four feet long, two feet broad, and fourteen inches high, with a lid open, a wooden sliding bottom to draw 50 ARTIFICIAL HATCHING USELESS. out for cleaning, and a long narrow trough along the front, resting on two very low stools, for holding their food. PERCHES are to be fixed in the basket, for the more advanced to roost on. A flannel cur- tain is to be placed in front, and at both ends of the mothers, for the chickens to run under, from which they soon learn to push outwards and inwards. These mothers, with the wicker basket over them, are to be placed against a hot wall, at the back of the kitchen fire, or in any other warm situation, where the heat shall not exceed 80 degrees of Fah- renheit. " When the chickens are a week old, they are to be carried with the mother to a grass plat for feed- ing, and kept warm by a tin tube filled with hot wa- ter, which will continue sufficiently warm for about three hours, when the hot water is to be renewed. Towards the evening the mothers are to be again placed against the hot wall. Their food, as before observed, is to consist of coarse barley-meal, steamed till quite soft ; steamed potatoes minced quite small, and occasionally pellets of coarse wheaten flour : these articles may be given to them alternately." This description is certainly superior to mine, in va- riety of particulars and precision, if not in real use. It will readily appear why, although we were per- fectly satisfied with our success in hatching a consi- derable number of eggs artificially, we did not yet wish to continue the practice. The fact is, there is no adequate motive in this country, where a quantity of poultry, fully equal, and even superior to the de- mand, may be raised by the natural means : were it ARTIFICIAL HATCHING USELESS. 51 otherwise, there is no doubt but the artificial process might be conducted here with sufficient success, and to the immense multiplication of domestic fowls of every description, an adequate expenditure in houses and attendants being pre-supposed. On a first consideration of the subject, indeed, a great apparent difficulty may present, of obtaining a suffi- cient quantity of eggs ; but the case is parallel, at any rate, to a certain degree, in Egypt, where, not- withstanding, such an obstacle has never impeded the practice. This view is, in all likelihood, appro- priate to France equally with England. No person, then, will attempt artificial hatching, but from the motive of mere curiosity, and that motive must in- deed be powerful, to carry one through the endless labour and attendance required. A lady, some years since, obtained a premium often guineas from one of the Societies, for the plan of multiplying chickens, by causing the hens to sit CONSTANTLY, or a great many times in the season, which we had tried without success, many years before. It is, in fact, to undertake the most difficult part of the arti- ficial process, that of bringing up the chickens with- out hens. Nor would the disappointments be few, in procuring hens, which would sit beyond the usual periods, and those so disposed, soon become con- sumptive and useless from such hard duty. The plan indeed, as a general one, is totally useless. On this head, De Reaumur thus characterizes the hens of his country : " So long as we shall depend entirely upon our hens, we must not expect to see the multiplication 52 FRENCH HENS— EGGS, FEATHERS, &C. of the species carried so far as might be wished ; it is not nearly all the hens of a poultry-yard, that are willing every year to sit. In some years, when I have wanted sitting hens for some experiments, I have had the mortification not to find above four such, among fifty or sixty of them : complaints of hens that refuse to sit, are very common in the country (France,) and I think in general, that it sel- dom happens that the third or even the fourth part of them are so disposed. Besides this, they are not always willing to sit at those times when we wish they would, which is in part the reason why the early chickens are dear a great while, and why we have not every year a supply- of them as early as we wish for it." EGGS, FEATHERS, &C. EGGS become desiccated, and in consequence lose great part of their substance and nutritive quality, by keeping, and every body knows the value of a fresh-laid egg. They will retain their moisture and goodness however, three or four months, or more, if the pores of the shell be closed and rendered im- pervious to the air, by some unctuous application. We generally anoint them with mutton suet melted, and set them on end, wedged close together, in bran, stratum super stratum, the containing box being closely covered. Laid upon the side, the yolk will adhere to the shell. They thus come into use, at the end of a considerable period of time, in a state almost equal to new-laid eggs, for consumption, but ought PLUCKING FOWLS ALIVE. 53 not to be trusted for incubation, excepting in the case of the imported eggs of rare birds. Another method of preservation has lately been recommended in print. To dip eggs in oil, and pack them in salt. At any rate, they ought not to be deposited on their sides. Our annual import of eggs from France, has, of late years, been very considerable. A few years since, the following successful experiment for their preservation was made at Paris. A large number of eggs was placed in a vessel, in which was some water saturated with lime and a little salt. They were kept in that state several years, and being opened in the month of January, were found in ex- cellent preservation without a single failure. This account was forwarded to me by an English lady, an experienced poultry breeder. The quantity of turkeys and other poultry imported at Dover from France, in the month of December, has often ex- ceeded the weight of twelve tons in a week. FEATHERS or DOWN intended for use, should be plucked as soon as possible after the bird is dead, and before it is cold, otherwise they are defective in that elasticity which is their most valuable pro- perty, and are liable to decay. The bird should, beside, be in good health, and not moulting, for the feathers to be in perfection : and being plucked, and a sufficient number collected, the sooner they are dried in the oven, the better, since they are else apt to heat and stick together. The practice of plucking the LIVING FOWL, (see page 55,) if interest must sanction such a custom, should be performed in the most tender and careful D3 54 WHITE TURKEYS. manner, and not at, or near the time of moulting. The ripe down only should be taken from each wing of the swan, goose, or duck, and four or five feathers. Lean geese furnish the greatest quantity of down and feathers, and of the best quality ; to which also the goodness of their food, and the care bestowed, contribute in a considerable degree. Geese are sometimes stripped three times in the season, but in the whole affair I speak with entire ignorance of the practice. Strict PRECAUTION is ne- cessary to HOUSE the stripped fowls, for a time suffi- cient to enable them to endure the air, and by all means to keep them from the water. The down and feathers of ducks, pigeons, and partridges, are used in France, for mattresses and pillows. M. Par- mentier proposed to multiply the breed of WHITE TURKEYS, and to employ for plumes, the feathers found on the lateral part of the thighs of those fowls. A correspondent, who has made the requisite en- quiries, furnishes the following particulars : " The breeding and rearing of geese constitute the chief employment of the inhabitants of the fens, in Lincolnshire. The feathers are highly valuable ; as are also the quills. For the stuffing of beds, the feathers of geese are considered the best. Whether from increasing luxury, diminution in quantity, or both causes co-operating, the demand is obliged to be supplied by importation; and the article has con- sequently advanced in price. This county, however, still furnishes the markets with large quantities. During the breeding season the geese become joint GEESE. 55 tenants with the inhabitants. Three rows of coarse wicker pens, placed one above another, are found in every apartment, even the bed-chamber. Each bird has its separate lodge, of which it keeps possession. A gozzard or gooseherd attends the flock. " The geese are usually plucked five times a year, though some pluck them only three times and others four ; commencing at Lady-day, again at Midsum- mer, Lammas, Michaelmas, and Martinmas. Gos- lings are not spared ; early plucking, they say, tending to encrease the succeeding feathers. The common mode of plucking live geese is considered barbarous ; but it has prevailed perhaps ever since feather-beds came into general use. In answer to the charge of cruelty preferred against the ' fen slodgers,' the writer deems it an act of justice to state that the owners are careful not to pull until the feathers are ripe, that is, not until they are just ready to fall ; because if forced from the skin before, which is known by the appearance of blood at the roots, they are of inferior value ; those plucked after the geese are dead, are affirmed to be of still less worth. The larger feathers and quills are pulled twice a year only. That the reader may form some idea of the extent to which goose breeding and feeding is car- ried in the fens, instances are not infrequent, in some establishments, where five coombs of corn are daily consumed by the brood geese only." D 4 56 FEEDING — MODES. SECTION VIII. On feeding and fattening Chickens and Fowls. THE points for consideration on this branch of the subject are — the local CONVENIENCES, the modes, common, or extraordinary, the variety and quality of the FOOD, and the length of TIME necessary for com- pletion of the object. The well-known common methods are, to give fowls the run of the farm-yard, where they thrive upon the offals of the stable, and other refuse, with perhaps some small regular daily feeds ; but at thrashing time, they become fat, and are thence styled BARN-DOOR FOWLS, probably the most delicate and high-flavoured of all others, both from their full allowance of the finest corn, and the constant health in which they are kept, by living in the na- tural state, and having the full enjoyment of air and exercise ; or they are confined during a certain num- ber of weeks, in coops, those fowls which are soonest ready, being drawn as wanted. It is a common practice with some housewives, to coop their barn- door fowls for a week or two, under the notion of improving them for the table and increasing their fat ; a practice which, however, seldom succeeds, since the fowls generally pine for their loss of liberty, and, slighting their food, lose instead of gaining ad- FEEDING- HOUSES. 57 ditional flesh. Such a period, in fact, is too short for them to become accustomed to confinement. FEEDING-HOUSES, at once warm and airy, with earth floors, such as have been already described, well raised, and capacious enough to accommodate twenty or thirty fowls, have always succeeded best, according to my experience. The floor may be slightly littered down, the litter often changed, and the greatest cleanliness should be observed. Sandy gravel should be placed in several different layers, and often changed. A sufficient number of troughs, for both water and food, should be placed around, that the stock may feed with as little interruption as possible from each other, and perches in the same proportion should be furnished for those birds which are inclined to perch, which few of them will desire, after they have begun to fatten, but which helps to keep them easy and contented until that pe- riod. In this mode fowls may be fattened to the highest pitch, and yet preserved in a healthy state, their flesh being equal in quality to that of the barn- door fowl. I am aware that to suffer fattening fowls to perch, is contrary to the general practice, since it is supposed to bend and deform the breast-bone ; but as soon as they become heavy and indolent from feeding, they will rather incline to rest in the straw ; and the liberty of perching on the commencement of their cooping, has a tendency to accelerate the period when they are more inclined to rest on the floor. Fowls, moreover, of considerable growth, will have many of them become already crooked breasted from perching whilst at large, although D5 58 PRIVATION OF LIGHT — INSECTS. much depends upon form in this case, since we find aged cocks and hens of the best shape, which have perched all their lives with the breast-bone perfectly straight. It has always been a favourite maxim among feeders, that THE PRIVATION OF LIGHT, by inclining fowls to a constant state of repose, excepting when moved by the appetite for food, promotes and acce- lerates obesity. It may probably be so, although not promotive of health ; but as it is no question, that a state of obesity obtained in this way, can- not be a state of health, a real question arises — whether the flesh of animals so fed, can equal in flavour, nutriment, and salubrity, that of the same species fed in a more natural way ? Pecuniary and market interest may perhaps be best answered by the plan of darkness and close confinement, but a feeder for his own table, of delicate taste, and am- bitious of furnishing his board with the choicest and most salubrious viands, will declare for the natural mode of feeding; and in that view, A FEEDING- YARD, gravelled and sown with the grasses already described, the room being open all day, for the fowls to retire at pleasure, will have a decided preference, as the nearest approach to the barn-door system. INSECTS and ANJMAL food, also, form a part of the natural diet of poultry, are medicinal to them in a weakly state, and the want of such food may some- times impede their thriving. SIZED fowls have been intended thus far; but the above feeding-rooms are well calculated for fat- tening the younger chickens, which may be put up AGE — PREMIUM FOR REARING. 59 as soon as the hen shall have quitted her charge, and so to speak, before they have run off their suck- ing flesh. For generally, when well kept and in health, they will be in fine condition and full of flesh, at that period, which flesh is afterwards ex- pended in the exercise of foraging for food, and in the increase of stature, and it may be a work of some time afterwards to recover it, and more espe- cially in young cocks, and all those which stand high upon the leg. In fact, all those that appear to have long legs, should be fattened from the hen, to make the best of them ; it being extremely diffi- cult, and often impossible, to fatten long-legged fowls in coops, which, however, are brought to a good weight at the barn-door. In the year 1779, says one of those small publi- cations, which are circulated through the country, for the instruction of our housewives, a gentleman in London presented to a learned body, a newly- invented method of rearing chickens for the spit, quicker than was ever before discovered, for which the learned society honoured him with a gold medal. The method is as follows : — the chickens are to be taken from the hen, the night after they are hatched, and fed with eggs boiled hard, chopped, and mixed with crumbs of bread, as larks and other birds are fed, for the first fortnight ; after which, give them oatmeal and treacle, mixed so as to crumble, of which the chickens are very fond, and thrive so fast that at two month's end, they will be as large as full grown fowls. On this sagacious project, I shall only remark, that, however learned the public body D6 60 CHOICE OF FOWLS — PLANS. alluded to might be, on other important subjects, they appear by this award, to have shewn little in- formation in chickenology. In the choice of FULL-SIZED fowls for feeding, the short-legged and early-hatched always deserve a preference. The green linnet is an excellent mo- del of form for the domestic fowl, and the true Dorking breed approaches the nearest to such mo- del. In course, the smaller breeds and the game, are the most delicate and soonest ripe. The London chicken butchers, as they are termed, or poulterers, are said to be of all others the most dexterous and expeditious feeders, putting up a coop of fowls and making them thoroughly fat within the space of a fortnight ; using much grease, and that perhaps not of the most delicate kind, in the food. In this way, I have no boasts to make, having always found it necessary to allow a considerable number of weeks for the purpose of making fowls fat in coops. In the common way, this business is often badly ma- naged, fowls being huddled together in a small coop, tearing each other to pieces, instead of en- joying that repose which alone can ensure the wished for object; irregularly fed and cleaned, until they are so stenched and poisoned in their own excrement, that their flesh actually smells and tastes of it when smoking upon the table. All practical and practicable plans have their pe- culiar advantages; among others, that of leaving poultry tO FORAGE AND SHIFT FOR THEMSELVES ; but where a steady and regular profit is required from them, the best method, whether for domestic use or 8 SPRING PULLETS — BEST CORN. 61 sale, is CONSTANT HIGH KEEP from the beginning, whence they will not only be always ready for the table with very little extra attention, but their flesh will be superior in juiciness and rich flavour, to those which are fattened from a low and emaciated state. Fed in this mode, the SPRING PULLETS are particu- larly fine, at the same time most nourishing and res- torative food. The pullets which have been hatched in March, if high fed from the teat, will lay plenti- fully through the following autumn, and not being intended for breeding stock, the advantage of their eggs may be taken, and themselves disposed of thoroughly fat for the table in February, about which period their laying will be finished. In Fe- bruary, 1792, we had a fine shew of white and coloured pullets, most wonderfully improved in size, although we had not for years changed our stock, and so excessively fat from the run of the barn-yard, that they opened more like Michaelmas geese than chickens. Instead of giving ordinary and TAIL-CORN to my fattening and breeding poultry, I have always found it most advantageous to allow the heaviest and best, putting the confined fowls upon a level with those fed at the barn-door, where they have their share of the weightiest and finest corn. This high feeding shews itself not only in the size and flesh of the fowls, but in the size, weight, and substantial good- ness of their eggs, which in those valuable particu- lars, will prove far superior to the eggs of fowls fed upon ordinary corn or washy potatoes ; two eggs of the former going farther in domestic use, than three FRESH WATER — WEIGHT OF EGGS. of the latter. The water also given to fattening fowls should be often renewed, fresh and clean; indeed, those which have been well kept, will turn with disgust from ordinary food and foul water. The profit of my plan, of allowing the heaviest and best corn to poultry, has lately been disputed, both in France and England. The sum of my rejoinder is, that I have simply recorded matter of experiment, further confirmed by the following fact : — In the summer of 1827, a Spanish lady visitor persuaded one of my daughters that, in her country, wetted bran was the best food for hens, increasing their number of eggs. It was tried, and the consequence soon was, the hens taken with what appeared to be a sore throat, and obstruction in that part. One hen became so ill, that it was proposed to kill her. Soon after, another was affected in the same way. The bran diet was then discontinued, and solid corn resumed, when both shortly recovered. EGGS. December 7, half-bred Poland hen matched with the cock : began to lay on the 28th. On March 1, 1806, she had laid 56 eggs, and after- wards sat over 12 eggs. After incubation had com- menced she laid two eggs, making the total 58, which two were withdrawn. Her eggs unbroken weighed from one ounce three quarters to two ounces each, amounting, at one and three quarters each, to nearly seven pounds avoirdupois. I had, from motives of curiosity, deducted the weight of the shells, but the memorandum is lost. The eggs of another hen, in poor condition, and ill fed, were small, light, and the yolk unsubstantial ; the same TO PROMOTE LAYING — COCKS. 63 hen, after good feeding, laid plenty of eggs of larger size, and nearly double the weight. The largest eggs will weigh two ounces and a half, those of the Chittagong hen, perhaps, three ounces. To promote FECUNDITY and great laying in the hen, nothing more is necessary than the best corn and fair water ; but malted or sprouted barley, has occasionally a good effect, whilst the hens are kept on solid corn ; but if continued too long, they are apt to scour. Cordial horse-ball is good to promote laying in the cold season, and toast and ale, as every housewife well knows. It must be noted, that no- thing is more necessary towards success in the particular of obtaining plenty of eggs, than a good attendance of cocks, especially in the cold season ; and it is also especially to be observed, that a cock whilst moulting is generally useless. My practice is, to withdraw a cock under that circumstance to a separate walk, and substitute an- other, which is known and familiar with the hens, since a stranger will not always be received, and such a circumstance will sometimes totally interrupt the business of the poultry-yard : these particulars respecting the cock require the more especial atten- tion, since, according to the old poultry books, one cock was deemed sufficient for ten or even a dozen hens, whereas in winter time, a cock to every four hens may be necessary. BufFon says, a hen well fed and attended will produce upwards of one hundred and fifty eggs in a year, besides two broods of chickens. I have observed, that a hen generally CACKLES three or four days previously to laying. Some half-bred 64 FRENCH PRACTICE — FOOD. game hens began to lay as soon as their chickens were three weeks old ; the consequence of high keep and good attendance of the cocks. A correspondent in France (1815) informed me, that my little book had reached that country, so ce- lebrated for poultry, and that the good housewives of France made themselves very merry with my practice of restricting the cock to so few as half-a- dozen hens, their allowance being twenty, or even twenty-five. The French Naturalists also in their new Dictionary, I find, have copied and recom- mended this liberal practice. What difference, in such respect, may subsist between the soil or animals of England and France, I am not qualified to deter- mine ; I can only assure the reader that my rule is the result of long and actual experience. A certain English traveller, twenty years since, brought home and published an account almost equally extraordi- nary of French men. That point also, I leave to abler judges. As to poultry keepers in any country, it will readily be believed that they make few experi- ments, and still fewer records ; and the keeper of two or three score hens, at any rate breeding a consider- able stock from such a number, does not trouble himself to investigate the merits of his practice, sa- tisfied that it is according to the established mode. QUANTITIES OF FOOD. By an experiment made in July, 1 806, a measured peck of good barley kept in a high style of condition, the following stock, con- fined, and having no other provision : one cock, three hens, three March chickens, six April, and six May ditto, during eight clear days, and one feed TO MAKE CAPONS. 65 left. According to another trial, in the winter sea- son, a cock and two hens kept by themselves seven clear days, consumed a quarter of a peck of the best barley, having no other food, having as much as they chose to eat. The same being tried at their liberty, and pecking about, with cabbage leaves oc- casionally thrown to them, did not eat so much bar- ley in the week, although allowed all they desired. They were in a perfect thriving state, but it must be remembered that light and ordinary corn would not have gone so far, or have kept the fowls in such condition. Poultry which have their fill of corn, will eat occa- sionally, cabbage or mangold leaves greedily. Barley and wheat are the great dependence for chicken poultry. The heaviest oats will keep them, it is true, but neither go so far as other corn, nor agree so well with the chickens, being apt to scour them, and the chickens generally are tired of oats after a while. Brank or French wheat, is also an unsub- stantial food. Oats, however, are recommended to forward and promote laying in hens ; and in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, are deemed superior for fatten- ing both poultry and pigs. SUN-FLOWER seed has been periodically recom- mended with high commendations, as food for poul- try, game, sheep and pigs, but never yet attended to by the generality of feeders. I have used it occa- sionally in small quantities, but without any attention to its merits. The experiment may easily be made. THE CAPON. I have already acknowledged my inferiority in the affair of quickly feeding poultry in 66 TO MAKE CAPONS. close coops, and have a similar acknowledgment to make respecting capons, never having had any suc- cess in cutting either fowls or rabbits for such pur- poses, nor in truth, much affecting the practice, which, however, has long been successfully carried on by the breeders of Sussex, Surrey, and Berks, and seems to have been almost entirely confined to that part of the country. In fact, the mode of per- forming the operation seems to be utterly unknown elsewhere ; or granting that the common cutters and cow-leeches have some speculative knowledge there- on, they generally kill the patient, in their attempt at the practice. The Chinese are said to be particularly skilful in this OPERATION, the outline of which, according to their mode, I give as a matter of curiosity. The wings of the fowl are folded back till they meet, and tlie left foot of the operator is placed upon them, the great toe of his right foot pressing upon the legs to keep them fast. After pulling the feathers, an inci- sion is made, one inch long, and one inch from the spine, obliquely downward and forward. The reader may smile at that which may be deemed false de- licacy in me, but I have naturally a kind of dread and abhorrence of all practices of this kind, however profitable. I can take the life of an animal without the shadow of a scruple, but every act that bears the semblance of torture, shocks me to the marrow. They who wish to have their fowls or rabbits safely cut, where the practice is not common, must procure an operator from the proper district. The following remarks on the capon, in which, CRAMMING. 67 we Englishmen may venture to say, there is some little flourish, a la Francaise, are taken from Cuvievs work, before quoted. — " Instead of being melan- choly, abashed and humiliated, the capon assumes a bold, lofty and triumphant air ; and such is the influence of audacity over all animals, that this bor- rowed courage completely imposes on the cocks and hens, and prevents them from disturbing him in the fulfilment of his charge. At first, he is a little awkward in the exercise of his office. His ambition, in imitating in his gait, the majesty and dignity of the cocks, makes him carry his head too stiff, and prevents him from seeing the chickens, which he sometimes thus inadvertently tramples under foot. But experience soon teaches him to avoid such mis- haps, and accidents of the same kind do not occur again. As his voice is not so expressive as that of the hen to engage the chickens to follow and assem- ble near him, this deficiency has been supplied by attaching a little bell to his neck. When he is once instructed to conduct chickens in this way, he al- ways remains capable of doing it ; or, at all events, it is very easy to bring him back to the habit of it when required. The capon has also been taught to hatch eggs — every thing indeed, except to lay them." (Part XXI. Order of the Gallintz. Plates on a large scale and excellent.) The cock is indeed, a favoured male, and so beyond all others, to retain his native courage after emasculation ! CRAMMING. Barley and wheat meal are generally the basis or chief ingredient, in all fattening mix- tures for chickens and fowls ; but in Sussex, ground 68 SUSSEX FEEDING — PRICES. oats are used, and in that county, I think, oats are in higher repute for fattening than elsewhere, many large hogs being there fattened with them. The Sussex men making the highest pretensions as poul- try-feeders, I shall give them the precedence in quo- tation. In the Report for that county, the Rev. Ar- thur Young says, " North Chappel, Kinsford, &c. are famous for their fowls. They are fattened there to a size and perfection unknown elsewhere. The food given them is ground oats made into gruel, mixed with hog's grease, sugar, pot-liquor, and milk: or ground oats, treacle, and suet, sheep's plucks, &c. The fowls are kept very warm, and crammed morning and night. The pot-liquor is mixed with a few handfuls of oatmeal and boiled, with which the meal is kneaded into crams or rolls of a proper size. The fowls are put into the coop, two or three days before they are crammed, which is continued for a fortnight, and they are then sold to the higglers. Those fowls, full grown, weigh seven pounds each, the average weight five pounds, but there are instances of individuals double the weight. They were sold at the time of the Survey, at four to five shillings each. Mr. Turner, of North Chappel, a tenant of Lord Egremont, crams two hundred fowls per annum. Many fat capons are fed in this manner ; good ones always look pale and waste away ; great art and attention is requisite to cut them, and numbers are destroyed in the operation. The Sussex breed are too long in the body to be cut with much success, which is done at three quarters old." Thus far Mr. Young — but what can possibly be BERKS — FEEDING — NAMES. 69 meant by — good ones always looking pale, and wast- ing away ? One would suppose that " wasting away," must be indicative of loose, flabby, and bad flesh, instead of good. WOKINGHAM, in Berks, is particularly famous for fatted fowls, by which many persons in that town and vicinity gain a livelihood. The fowls are sold to the London dealers, and the sum of £150 has been returned in one market day by this traffic. Twenty dozen of these fowls were purchased for one gala at Windsor, after the rate of half a guinea the couple. At some seasons, fifteen shillings have been paid for a couple. Fowls constitute the principal commerce of the town. Romford, in Essex, is also a great market for poultry, but generally of the store or barn-door kind, and not artificially fed. FOWL, as well as GOOSE FEEDING, is carried on to a far greater extent in the vicinity of London, than in any other part, namely, at Bow and Stratford, where the fowl-feeding system is said to be equally regular and the food equally good, as with the goose. It is said also, that the dispatch in feeding is superior to any thing known elsewhere. The following names were given me several years since, of considerable country fowl-feeders : — Mr. S. Paget, Reigate ; Mr. Laury, Mr. Ed- wards and Mr. Potter, of Dorking ; Miss Cooper, of Cambridge ; Mr. Flatt, Suffolk. The Wokingham METHOD OF FEEDING is to con- fine the fowls in a dark place, and cram them with a paste made of barley-meal, mutton suet, treacle, or coarse sugar, and milk, and they are found com- 70 CRAMMING — SALE AND PRICES. pletely ripe in a fortnight. If kept longer, the fever that is induced by this continued state of repletion, renders them red and unsaleable, and frequently kills them. GEESE are likewise bred in the same neighbourhood, in great numbers, and sold about Midsummer to itinerant dealers, the price at the time the Survey was made, two shillings, to two and threepence each. I must presume to repeat, it ap- pears to me utterly contrary to reason, that fowls fed upon such greasy and impure mixtures can pos- sibly produce flesh or fat so firm, delicate, high flavoured, or nourishing, as those fattened upon more simple and substantial food ; as for example, meal and milk, and I think lightly of the addition of either treacle or sugar. With respect to grease of any kind, its chief effect must be to render the flesh loose and of indelicate flavour. Nor is any advan- tage gained, excluding the commercial one, as I con- fine myself entirely to the consideration of home use, by very quick feeding : for real excellence cannot be obtained but by waiting nature's time, and using the best food. Besides all this, I have been very un- successful in my few attempts to fatten fowls by cramming — they seem to loathe the crams, to pine, and to lose the flesh they were put up with, instead of acquiring fat ; and where crammed fowls do suc- ceed, they must necessarily, in the height of their fat, be in a state of disease. SALE AND PRICES. At Christmas, 1804, a Sussex farmer received from his salesman in London, seven shillings each for one lot of CAPONS, for another ten shillings each. The best of them weighed eight 5 LORD ALTHOKP'S ANNUAL SHOW. 71 pounds each. At the same time, two India ships took out as stores, one hundred and fifty dozen of HENS, no cocks were admitted on account of the danger of their fighting, nor any young poultry, as they will not stand a sea voyage. The price of poultry in London perhaps had never been so high, as in May 1827; to be attributed to an unfavourable season and the extreme fullness of the town. Young fowls were sold at eighteen shillings the couple, and ducks equally dear. The patriotic Lord Althorp, active and sedulous in the promotion of every object of rural economy, holds an annual Poultry Show at Chapel Brampton, Northamptonshire, of which the Countess Spencer was the original patroness. This exhibition has been annual during seven or eight years. In 1829, notwithstanding the unfavour- able state of the weather, the attendants were nu- merous, and the competitors amounted to twenty- four. The adjudications were are follow : to Mrs. Atterbury, Bugbrook, 21. 10s. for the best Turkey, weight 201bs. 4oz. Mrs. Atkins of Bugbrook, 11. second best Turkey, weight 191b. 5oz. To Mr. Butlin, Bringham Moor, 11. 10s. for the,best Capon, weight 71b. 14J oz. ; second best do. Mr. King, Little Brington, weight 61b. 13oz.. 11. To Mrs. Eyre, Brampton, 11. 10s. for the best Pullet, 61b. 3J oz. Mr. Voss, Holdenby, 11. for the second best do, weight Gibs. loz. To Mr. Butlin, Bring- ham Moor, 11. 10s. for the best Goose, ISlbs. 2J oz. Mrs. Claridge, East Haddon, 11. for second do, weight 161bs. 6J oz. To E. Bouveill, Esq. 72 SALE AND PRICES. 11. 10s. for the best couple of Ducks, weight 151bs. lOoz. Miss Bucknel of Crick, second best do, weight 141bs. 8| oz. In the exhibition of 1825, Earl Spencer carried the first Turkey prize. Prices, March, 1830, of the London Poulterers; in course, they are cheaper at Leadenhall, Newgate, and the great markets ; and also much dearer at the season of Christmas. Cock Turkeys, 8s. 6d. to 13s. ; Hens, 6s. to 10s. ; Geese, 5s. to 9s. ; Fowls, 6s. to 10s. the couple ; Chickens and Ducklings, 6s. to 7s. each ; Capons, 5s. 6d. to 7s. ; Ducks, 5s. to 7s. the couple ; Wild- ducks, 6s. to 8s. the couple ; Dunbirds, 2s. each ; Pigeons, Is. 4d. to 2s. 6d. the pair; Guinea Fowls, 3s. each ; Pheasants, cock and hen, 11s.; Peacock (alive) 14s. ; Cock of the Wood (from Norway or Scotland) 11. the brace. The greatest supply, and of the best quality, of turkies, are said to be derived from Norfolk ; of geese, from Suffolk. The same of Surrey and Essex, for fowls and chickens ; Essex also supplies most of Guinea and pea-fowls. DISEASES — THE ROUP. 73 SECTION IX. On the Diseases of Poultry and Pigeons. THE diseases of our domestic animals kept for food, are generally the result of some error in diet or management, and should either have been prevented, or are to be cured most readily and advantageously by an immediate change, and adoption of the proper regimen. When that will not succeed, any farther risk is extremely questionable ; and particularly with respect to poultry, little hope can be derived from medical attempts. In fact, the far greater part of that grave and plausible account of diseases and re- medies, which is to be found in our common cattle and poultry books, is a farrago of sheer absurdity ; the chief ground of which, it is to be apprehended, is random and ignorant guess-work. COMMON FOWLS. — Of these, the most frequent diseases, real or presumed, are thus named : the PIP, a white skin or scale growing upon the tip of the tongue. The CURE, — tear off the skin with your nail, and rub the tongue with salt. Of this I know nothing, and could never hear any thing with cer- tainty. Imposthume upon the rump is called roup, This is directed to be opened, the core thrust out, and the part washed with salt and water. The roup also seems a general term for all diseases, but is chiefly applied to CATARRH, to which gallinaceous E 74 FLUX — VERMIN — INFIRMARY — CHIP. fowls are much subject. The FLUX, and its oppo- site, CONSTIPATION. Cure the first with good solid food ; the other with scalded bran or pollard, mixed with flet or skimmed milk, or pot-liquor, a small quantity of sulphur being added, if needful. VER- MIN, generally the consequence of low keep, and want of cleanliness. The remedy obvious ; not to forget sand and ashes for the fowls to roll in. But the chief disease to which chickens and fowls are liable, originates in changes of weather, and the variation of temperature ; and when the malady be- comes confirmed, with running at the nostrils, swollen eyes, and other well-known symptoms, they are termed ROUPY. The discharge becoming fetid, like the glanders in horses, the disease is supposed to have arrived at the stage of infection ; and whether so or not, it is certainly proper for cleanliness sake, to SEPARATE the diseased from the healthy, whence the necessity of an INFIRMARY in a regular poultry establishment. Roupy hens seldom lay, and their eggs are scarcely wholesome. The eggs taken from a hen which died of the roup, were black, and in a state of putrefaction. Chickens are frequently, and chiefly in bad weather, seized with the CHIP, in about three weeks from their hatching, when all their beauty of plu- mage vanishes, and they put on their long great coat, or rather shroud, and sit chipping, pining, and dying in corners ; always apparently in torture, from a sense of cold, although to the touch they seem in a high state of fever. This disease seldom admits of remedy ; but I have tried mustard in water, crams, GAPES. 75 with a small quantity of black pepper, and after- wards nitre, given in the water. The sun, or warmth in the house, by the fire-side, are the best remedies. The fire is a great restorative of all young, indeed of all animals. For grown fowls affected by the roup, warm lodg- ing is necessary, and even the indulgence of the fire, or the warmth of the bakehouse. Wash the nostrils with warm soap and water, as often as ne- cessary, and the swollen eyes with warm milk and water. A pepper-corn in a pill of dough, three following days, is an old and favourite remedy, the patient being much chilled. Afterwards bathe the swollen parts with camphorated spirit, or brandy and warm water. As a finish to the cure, give sul- phur in the drink, or a small pinch of calomel in dough, three times in a week. The fowls being weak and not feeding well, the old remedy of rue chopped and made into pills with fresh butter, may be substituted for calomel ; though I must acknow- ledge I could never find any perceptible effects from the rue pill. The common symptom of GAPING, during this in- fluenzal disease, induced the learned, a few years past, to coin a new disease under the name of the GAPES, which they conveniently attributed to a spe- cies offasciola, infecting the trachea, or wind-pipe, of poultry. For the roup and other diseases, and the exposition of customary cruelty, see an article in the Monthly Magazine of December, 1810. Pheasants and partridges, in their wild state, are also liable to the gapes, and from the same atmo- 76 PIGEONS — ROUP — WOUNDS. spheric cause. This symptom was observed very prevalent among them during the very variable sum- mer, 1821. The head being raw, and the eyes blinded from fighting, wash the eyes as before directed, and the head, which, after washing, may be alternately, ac. cording to need, dressed with fresh butter, and with brandy, in which has been infused two or three drops of laudanum. A hen sate about in corners, and neither ate, drank, nor evacuated, yet looked full and not diseased. Her CROP was totally ob- structed. On an incision being made from the bot- tom upwards, a quantity of new beans was found, which had vegetated. The wound being stitched properly, immediately healed, and the hen suffered little inconvenience. A cock's SPURS being too long, impeding his walk, and wounding his legs, they should be cut carefully with a sharp pen-knife, but not too near the quick, every three months. PIGEONS, also, are subject to the ROUP, under- standing by that term, a cold, or catarrh, the symp- toms of which are too visible in the miserble crea- tures exposed to sale hung up in baskets, in all weathers and currents of air. Garlic in pills, and rue given in water, are the general remedies. Shel- tered places, with room for exercise, and warm seeds, or cordial horse-ball in their food, form the best dependence. They are in course most liable at MOULTING TIME, a season at which all kinds of poultry should be carefully sheltered and attended. WOUNDS upon the head, or the WATTLES of Carriers and Barbs, to be treated as already directed REMEDIES — VERMIN — VERTIGO. 77 for chickens ; but if the parts should CANKER, as it is styled, wash with stale urine, or alum and water, or any spirit and water ; or make an unguent of burnt alum and honey ; or mix twenty grains of red precipitate with half an ounce of honey ; or dissolve five grains of white vitriol in half a table-spoonful of vinegar, and mix with the above, alum and honey. Pigeons are liable to several peculiar in- ternal complaints of weakness, for which it is pro- bable that prevention, or subsequent care, are the only remedies. A variety of remedies are offered for vermin in pigeons, such as stavesacre, tobacco, snuff, and similar articles, but the only effectual one is Strict CLEANLINESS. Croppers, particularly, are apt to GORGE them- selves, and all young pigeons are occasionally sub- ject to have the crop obstructed by receiving too great a quantity of food, and too speedily, for di- gestion. The first, or old pigeons in this state, may be treated as already directed for fowls. The crops of the squabs being gently stroked upwards with the fingers, will generally be cleared a bean at a time ; should this method fail, which will seldom happen, the usual incision may be made. The VER- TIGO, MEGRIM, or GIDDINESS in pigeons, arises pro- bably from some error of diet or keeping, and I know of no remedy, but confinement, with room for exercise, fine water being allowed, with chalk and saffron infused. For SCOURING, forge-water, or rust of iron in pellets of dough ; afterwards, sulphur in the water. In ERUPTIONS, sulphurated water. If any external application be necessary, the unguents 78 WENS CORE — ROOM, AND AIR. already directed will be proper. For wounds in the FEET, Venice turpentine spread on brown paper. The FLESH WEN, may be either opened, or cut off, the part being washed with alum water, &c. or the dressings used as before directed. EXOSTOSIS or the BONE WEN upon the joints, somewhat similar to splents upon the shank of the horse, is deemed in- curable. The best cure, to fatten for the table. The CORE, a hard substance of a yellowish colour mixed with red, and resembling the core of an apple, is sometimes found in the anus or vent, and has been known in the oasophagus, or gullet of a pigeon. This will ripen and maturate, and may be then discharged, dissected, or drawn out. A purge of a very small quantity of tobacco is di- rected in this case, but on what grounds I am not informed. In keeping poultry of all kinds, it ought to be a first consideration that there be sufficient ROOM and AIR for the number kept ; otherwise, they will be, in the vulgar phrase, stenched, that is, infected by the impurity of their own atmosphere, and become, in consequence, subject to frequent mortality. / V 7i>. TURKEY. 121. PHEASANT THE TURKEY. 79 SECTION X. The Turkey. OF the TURKEY, or Meleagris, Buffon and others assert there is but one species, and the only varie- ties I am aware of, in this country, are the COPPER and WHITE, the former long in great esteem ; the latter of a most delicate whiteness, contrasted with its red head, said to have been originally imported from Holland : and the Norfolk black already de- scribed, which has been of late years, crossed with the large Virginian turkey, and is now esteemed our finest breed. On the etymology of the word turkey I am alto- gether at a loss, unless we may suppose such a name to have been ludicrously bestowed from the ostentatious strut of the bird, by way of comparison with the pompous gravity of the Turk, an idea per- haps countenanced by the notion that turkeys were indigenous to Asia or Africa, and had been origi- ginally imported from thence to Europe. We might formerly, in all probability, be mistaken in the as- sertion that the turkey was entirely unknown to the old world, since it is described by several ancient Greek writers, and also bears its part in their fabu- lous narratives. The Meleagrides, sisters of Mele- ager, son of the king of Macedonia, bewailing the death of their brother, were metamorphosed into turkey-hens. E4 80 THE WILD TURKEY. This reading, however, has not produced a final decision, since the indigenous country of the turkey has remained a question with the learned ornitho- logists; those opposed to the pretension of the ancients, asserting that the Greek Meleagris, in reality, was not a turkey, but gallina Africana, in modern English, a Guinea fowl. The error of sup- posing this bird of ancient Greece to have been a turkey, is said to have resulted from an observation made by Aristotle, that the bird laid spotted eggs, as our English turkeys do ; but it is also observable, that such is not the case with the turkeys of other countries. The disputants on this side the question assign the honour of being the indigenous country of the turkey to America ; and the fact that turkeys were unknown to Europe, until the discovery of America, seems to afford considerable support to ar- guments on that side. Moreover, the gallina Afri- cana, as we learn from Kennet's Parochial Anti- quities, was known in England as early as the year 1277. The turkey was seen in America by the first dis- coverers, and intituled, by the Spanish doctor Fer- nandez, gallus Indicus, and gallus pavo, the peacock of the Indies. They were both in a wild and do- mesticated state in America, on the arrival of the Spaniards, the wild being represented as of the largest size, reaching even the weight of sixty pounds, and of a superior flavour, but the flesh of a red colour. There is, however, some discrepancy in these accounts, certain of our voyagers repre- senting the wild turkeys of Virginia as carrion, THE WILD TURKEY. 81 utterly unfit to be eaten, and express their disap- pointment in the expectation of a good meal from some which they shot from a tree. The supposed existence, in America, of a breed of wild turkeys unfit for food, is as old as the time of the Buc- caneers ; it is certain, however, that there is also a very eatable and excellent breed in both North and South America, though it be but lately that we have any account of the introduction of an American va- riety into this country. This bird, of such worth and consequence for domestic use, was most probably introduced into this country from Spain, soon after the discovery of America; since Tusser, who lived in the reign of Henry VII., represents it as a common Christmas dish, together with pig, goose, and capon. The turkey did not reach France quite so early; the first intelligence we have of it in that country, being at the nuptial feast of Charles IXth, in the year 1570. They have since been domesticated through- out the civilized world, in every climate, although said not to succeed equally on the barren sands of Africa. There is a sameness of colour in the wild turkey, and the original stock seems to have been black, do- mestication generally inducing a variety of colours. Yet one would suppose that white also must have been a primitive colour with them, else the transition from black to white would be rather unaccountable. In a state of nature, they are said to parade in flocks of five hundred, and even five thousand, feeding, in E5 82 THE WILD TURKEY. general, where abundance of nettles are to be found, the seed of which is their common food : they also feed upon a small red acorn, which, in the warm and fertile parts of America, is ripe in March, when the turkeys become so fat as to be unable to fly more than a few hundred yards, and are then soon run down by dogs and horsemen. They roost upon the highest trees, and are very easily shot or other- wise destroyed, being a heedless and stupid bird. Since the planting and cultivation of such extensive tracts in America, the wild breed of turkeys has been driven into the uncultivated regions, and has long since become very rare. The Indians make elegant clothing and beautiful fans of wild turkey feathers, and the French of Louisiana manufacture them into umbrellas. The antipathy which the turkey cock entertains for any thing of a red colour is well known : and will indeed never be forgotten by myself, who, at about the age of eight years, having on a red waistcoat, was chased by two of them around a very extensive yard, to my most terrible affright and dis- comfiture. The county of Norfolk breeds the largest quantity of these fowls for market, which in the season used formerly to travel, in their store state, upwards of one hundred miles, in a certain number of days, to the metropolis ; but from the date of our late improvements, their passage to London has been generally made by land carriage, some still travelling as formerly. They are also sent up dead, in hampers. WHITE TURKEY. S3 A turkey cock, the property of J. Lee, Esq. of Redbrook, near Whitchurch, which was black in the year 1821, became afterwards perfectly white : this extraordinary change took place so gradually, that in the middle of the moulting, the bird was beautifully mottled, the feathers being black and white alternately. 84 THE TURKEY. SECTION XL The Turkey. — Breeding and Management. ONE TURKEY-COCK is sufficient for six hens, and even more, under the management of some districts, where one breeder keeps a cock for his own, and for the use of his neighbours, who send their hens, and in that mode avoid the charge of keeping a cock ; but this practice is exposed to uncertainty, and is scarcely worth following, although, whilst the hen is sitting, the absence of a cock is no loss, as he will sometimes find the opportunity of tearing the hen from her nest, and in the struggle, of destroying the eggs. The hen will COVER, according to her size, from nine to fifteen EGGS, and unless attended to, will, perhaps, steal a nest abroad in some improper and insecure place. The turkey hen lays a considerable number of eggs in the 'spring, to the amount of eighteen to twenty-five and upwards, and her term of incubation is thirty days. She is a most steady sitter, and will sometimes continue upon her eggs until almost starved, rather than quit her nest : hence the necessity of constant attendance with both victuals and water. She is also a most affectionate mother ; and that most curious and accurate ob- server, Buffon, remarks her soft and plaintive cry, INCUBATION — RANGE. 85 with her different tones and inflections of voice, ex- pressive of her various feelings. The above remarks, however, of Buflbn, are to be received with a due degree of circumspection, since I have known unsteady sitters among turkeys, and however affectionate, the turkey Jien, from her na- tural heedlessness and stupidity, is the most careless of mothers, and being a great traveller herself, will drag her brood over field, heath, or bog, never cast- ing a regard behind her to call in her straggling chicks, nor .stopping whilst she has one left to follow her. She differs beside, in this particular, from the industrious common hen ; she never scratches for her chicks, leaving them entirely to their own in- stinct and their own industry. On these accounts, where turkeys are bred to any extent, and are per- mitted to range, it is necessary to allow them a KEEPER. The turkey hen is nevertheless extremely vigilant and quick in the discovery of any birds of prey in the air, which may endanger her brood, and has the faculty, by a peculiar cry, of communicating her alarm, on which the chicks immediately seek shelter, or squat themselves upon the earth : but she will not, from her timid nature, fight for her brood as the common hen will. The domesticated, as well as the wild turkey, runs with considerable speed. The CHICKS must be withdrawn from the nest as soon as hatched, and kept very warm. It is a very old and very general custom, to plunge them in- stantly into cold water, and then give them each a whole pepper-corn, with a small tea-spoonful of 86 HATCHING. milk. This baptism is used by way of a prophylac- tic against catching cold, to which young chicks are so peculiarly liable ; but it is a practice which I have never used, and from which, in severe weather, I should suspect danger ; however, their being in- stantly thereafter wrapped in wool or flannel may secure them. The turkey, from sitting so close and steadily, hatches more regularly and quickly than the common hen. The hen and brood must be HOUSED during a month or six weeks, dependent upon the state of the weather. First FOOD, curd or eggs boiled hard and chopped, and oat or barley-meal kneaded with milk, and frequently renewed with clear water, rather than milk, which often scours them. In case of the chicks appearing sickly and the feathers ruffled, in- dicating a chill from severity or change of weather, we generally allowed half ground malt with the barley-meal, and by way of a medicine, powdered caraway or coriander seeds. Also ARTIFICIAL WORMS, or boiled meat pulled into strings, in running after which the chicks have a salutary exercise. It is to be noted, that the above diet is beneficial for every other species of chicks, equally with the turkey. Superfluous moisture, whether external or inter- nal, is death to chickens, therefore all slop victuals should be rigorously avoided. The utmost CLEAN- LINESS is necessary, and a dry GRAVELLED layer is most proper. A fresh TURF of short sweet grass daily, cleared from snails or slugs, which will scour young chicks, is very pleasing and comfortable to them, and promotes their health. The above sub- MANAGEMENT — COOPING. 87 stantial food was always our chief dependence with this brood, nor did we ever find it necessary to waste time in collecting ants' eggs or nettle seed, or give clover, rue, or wormwood, according to the directions of the elder house-wives. Eggs boiled hard are equally proper with curd, and generally nearer at hand ; the eggs being rotten, is said to be no objec- tion, although we -never used such. Our first preference of water to milk for turkey chicks, so much recommended by the old writers, arose from the observation that chickens at large, among the troughs of milk-fed pigs, generally were sickly and scouring, and rough in their feathers ; and more particularly so when they had access to potatoe-wash, which not only purged them, but glued their feathers together, keeping them in a comfort- less and unhealthy state. The weather being remarkably favourable, we have usually cooped the hen abroad, about two hours in the forenoon, in ,a moderately warm sun, whilst the chicks were only three or four weeks old, great care being taken that they did not stray far from the coop. Six weeks is their longest period of confine- ment within doors, after which it is more safe to coop the hen for another fortnight, that the chicks may acquire strength abroad sufficient to enable them to follow the dam, they being naturally inclined to stray too far, and to weaken themselves by fatigue. When full half-grown and well feathered, they be- come sufficiently hardy, and in a good range will provide themselves throughout the day, requiring only to be fed at their out-letting in the morning, 8 88 MANAGEMENT. and on their return at evening : the same in spacious farm-yards ; if confined to the poultry-yard their food and treatment is similar to that of the common cock and hen. Turkeys would prefer roosting abroad upon high trees, in the summer season, could that be permitted with a view to their safe keeping. In the Sporting Magazine, August, 1824, there is a letter signed Rusticus, giving an excellent and obviously practical account of their breeding and management. From thence I have made the fol- lowing extracts. ft At two periods of their lives turkeys are very apt to die ; viz. about the third day after they are hatched, or when they throw out what is called the red head, which they do at about six or eight weeks old. At the latter period, a few old beans split small, may be mixed with advantage in their food. " If any notion is entertained of a second hatch, the sooner one hen is turned away from her brood, and the brood mixed with that of another which has hatched about the same time, the better chance there is of rearing it ; as the hen which is so turned away, will lay again in a fortnight or three weeks, and thus hatch a second time before the month of July is out. Even under these circumstances, the chance of rear- ing the young ones is very uncertain, as they are hardly strong enough to meet the cold nights in the Autumn, when they often become what is called club-footed, and die. I rather recommend letting the hen lay as many eggs as she will, and turning her oiF when she becomes broody. Hens thus treated will lay again in the month of August, so TO FATTEN. 89 that under all circumstances, they may be called profitable birds." I have observed that, "turkeys are both of a roving disposition and extremely heedless. Getting into a field of corn, they will do nearly as much mischief as pigs, by beating it down, though they are so stupid and backward at getting even ripe corn out of the ear, leaving the whole through which they have passed laid, yet the greater part of the corn untouched. As to pulse, they will pass over a field of ripe peas or beans, without having the wit to open a single pod. Turkeys in the neighbourhood of large woods, if not watched and prevented, will eagerly stroll thither without any desire to return, since they can there shelter and maintain themselves in both winter and summer : they very soon reassume the original wildness of their species. It is not generally known that Ireland produces very large flocks of turkeys, that they are there very cheap, and that the Irish climate seems to agree better with them than ours." To FATTEN. Soddened barley, oat, or barley and wheat meal mixed, is the proper food for turkeys confined to feeding ; generally, their food and treat- ment are the same with other fowls. They may be fattened early, or may be CAPONIZED, a practice not very common ; but the bulk of the turkeys are fed for Christmas, or the months immediately preceding and subsequent, when the quantities fat sent from Norfolk alone, are immensely great ; as also are pre- viously the numbers of store turkeys. A mode of fattening turkeys, quite new to me, has been lately 90 TO FATTEN — CRAMMING. reported. It consists in cramming them with whole walnuts ! I really supposed the intention of the re- porters was to cram us, until a friend assured me, it is an old and successful practice ! Turkeys share with the geese in gleaning the corn fields, or shacking, and the former forage over the woods and commons, in the autumnal season, after which they are put up to be completely fat- tened. I have heard of the Norfolk turkeys fat- tened to weigh twenty, and even thirty pounds each ; and Buffon relates that the wild turkey of America has been known to attain the weight of sixty pounds ; but I have never made any heavier than fifteen pounds ready for the spit. In December, 1822, two turkeys were bred and fed, and sent to Cork, one weighing thirty-three, the other thirty-four pounds, from Sawbridgeworth, Herts, the residence of Sir John Malcolm. The turkey has ever been remarked for its full- ness and weight of flesh in the breast, no doubt be- side the prime part. The dead weight of a fat turkey being twenty-one pounds, according to the late Mr. Young, renders fourteen pounds when ready for the spit. In December, 1793, the number of turkeys sent to the metropolis, by the stage-coaches, from Nor- wich only, amounted to two thousand five hundred, and upwards, weighing nearly fourteen tons. On mentioning this fact to several poulterers, they as- sured me that, far enough from falling short of the above quantities during the late season, there can be no doubt that they were greatly increased, even DIFFICULTIES IN REARING. 91 probably to half as many more. Whatever may be the distresses of the country, at any rate our luxu- ries do not fall off. Turkeys are the most tender and difficult to rear of any of our domestic fowls ; but with due care and attention, which, rightly considered, in all things, give the least trouble, they may be produced and multiplied with little or no loss, and the same may be averred with all truth of the rest of our domestic fowls, and animals in general ; the losses and vexations annually deplored, arising almost en- tirely from ignorance and carelessness united hand in hand. Turkeys as well as geese, under a judi- cious system, may be rendered an object of a certain degree of consequence to the farmer. THE DUCK. SECTION XII. THE AQUATIC SPECIES. The Duck. THE GOOSE and DUCK genus is said by naturalists to comprehend upwards of one hundred species, varying considerably in size and plumage from each other ; comparatively few of them have been domes- ticated, but the date of that domestication is far beyond all memorial or record. This genus of fowls was deservedly a great favour- ite with the ancients, from the mildness and simpli- city of their character, from their great fecundity, and from the cheapness and ease with which they were provided. Although the duck will eat flesh and garbage of any kind like the chicken, yet water insects, weeds, vegetables, corn, and pulse, are its general food, and, as has been already observed, the goose desires nothing but the latter. The in- offensive and harmless character is common to both species, rendering them most pleasant as well as profitable animals to keep, and the contrast between them and the chickens, in their nature and habits, is highly in favour of the goose and duck tribe. In fact, nothing can be more savage, cruel, and vora- cious than the very nature of the common fowl, on which domestication and society work no softening Page 92. DUCK. Page 98. GOOSE. CHARACTER OF THE DUCK. 93 effect. Nor is this confined to the game breed, for chickens of all kinds will tear to pieces, on the slightest occasions, their nearest akin, devouring their living flesh and entrails. That which is said of the duck, has full as much truth, when applied to the chicken ; there is nothing too nasty, putrid, and abominable to human feelings for them, upon which eagerly to gratify their voracious appetites. The following ferocious trait in the character of the gattina, or common hen, is quoted from Reaumur, in the New French Dictionary of Natural History. He had shut up two hens with a cock ; these three individuals lived for some time in the strictest har- mony: on a sudden, the hens took a dislike to the cock, and they both together attacked him, a'nd suc- ceeded, in the course of five or six days' ill treatment, in killing him. Surprised at such an extraordinary conduct, Reaumur was curious to know the cause. He gave the two hens successively several cocks. Their fury kindled anew against each of them, and they would all have experienced the fate of the first, had he left them long enough to lose all their blood and strength. The extraordinary part of this case was, first, that the cocks destroyed were strong and bold, and would easily have governed thirty rebel hens at large, yet cooped up, did not attempt either to defend themselves, or even to avoid the attacks of the furies, their wives. Secondly, the two hens, being released from confinement, became immedi- ately as mild and submissive to the cock, as any upon the dunghill. 94 THE DUCK. Of the kind and social nature of the duck, I had a few years since the following example. We had drawn off for the table, the whole of a lot of ducks, one excepted. This duck immediately joined a cock and hens, and became so attached to them, that it never willingly quitted their company, notwithstanding some harsh usage, particularly from the cock. It would neither feed rior rest with- out them, and shewed its uneasiness at their occa- sional absence by continual clamour. The manners and actions of the duck, whether upon land or water, are curious and pleasant to contemplate. Their re- gular afternoon parade and march in line, the elder drakes and ducks in front, from the pond homewards, is a beautiful country spectacle, to be enjoyed by those who have a relish for the charms of simple nature. It is as long since as the year 1767, that I recollect the following trait in the character and manner of the duck. A parcel of ducks, probably a score, which had been accustomed to their liberty, were, for some particular reason, shut up during several hours. On the door of the coop being opened, they rushed out, threw themselves into a single rank and file, and marched with rather a quick step, three or four times around a certain space, constantly bowing their heads to the ground, then elevating them and fluttering their wings : the ceremony finished, they quickly adjourned to the water. I have laughed a thousand times at the conceit, with which my boyish imagination was im- pressed, namely, that the act which I had witnessed, EIDER DUCK. 95 was nothing less than a duckish thanksgiving for deliverance. The social and conversing qualities of ducks, in- deed, receive a degree of countenance from the re- lations of ornithologists. The habitudes of the EIDER ducks, so valuable for their down, which frequent the lakes of northern countries, are thus described ; the ducks flying in the air, are lured down from the heights by the loud voice of the mallard below, which nature seems to have fur- nished with powerful organs for vociferation. To this call all stragglers resort, and in a short time, a lake, before naked, is completely black with water- fowl. There they huddle together, extremely busy and very loud. Upon what business they are thus incessantly employed all day, is not easy to guess by us, who understand not their language. There appears no food for them in the midst of the lake, where they thus sit and cabal, nor does any action of theirs indicate a search of food : nor can court- ship be the object, for which the season has not arrived ; yet not one of them seems a moment at rest. Now they pursue each other; now rise up screaming, in a body, then down again ; the whole appearing one strange scene of bustle, conducted with the utmost regularity, and after all with nothing at all to do. It is a curious illustration of the de gustibus non est disputandum, that the ancients considered the swan as a high delicacy, and abstained from the flesh of the goose as impure and indigestible ; whilst the moderns reject the flesh of the swan, and eat 96 DUCK'S FLESH VARIETIES. that of the goose with a universal relish. But upon the excellence of the duck both parties seem to have agreed, as upon some self-evident, and thence incontrovertible proposition. The ancients went even beyond our greatest modern epicures, in their high esteem for the flesh of the duck, not only as- signing thereto the most exquisite flavour and deli- cacy, but also attributing to it important medicinal properties ; for Plutarch asserts that Cato preserved his whole household in health, by dieting them with duck's flesh as a prophylactic ; surely a most plea- sant mode of taking physic ! Several of the Roman medical writers, moreover, strongly recommend the same regimen, as the most powerful means of excit- ing the prolific virtue in the sexes. The opinion of a modern author respecting co- lour is, perhaps, most correct as it regards the goose; it is, however, pretty generally to be de- pended on; he says — when one has seen a wild goose, a description of its plumage will, to a feather, exactly correspond with that of any other. But in the tame kinds, no two of any species are exactly alike ; different in their size, their colours, and fre- quently in their general form, they seem the mere creatures of art ; and having been so long dependent upon man for support, they seem to assume forms entirely suited to his necessities. The only variety of the common duck among us, is the Rhone duck, imported from France, generally of a dark- coloured plumage, larger size, and sup- posed to improve our breed. They are of darker flesh, and more savoury than the English duck, but VARIETIES. 97 somewhat coarse. Rhone ducks have been so con- stantly imported for a great number of years, that they are very generally mixed with our native breed. The English duck, particularly the white variety, and when they chance to have very light-coloured flesh, are never of so high and savoury flavour as the darker colours. Muscovy, and other foreign varieties of the duck, are kept rather out of curiosity than for the table. * *iu The white AYLESBURY ducks are a beautiful and ornamental stock, matching well in colour with the EMBDEN GEESE. They are said to be early breeders. Vast quantities are fattened for the London markets, where they are in great demand and fetch good prices ; many families in Bucks derive a comfortable living from breeding and rearing ducks, the greater part of which, the early ones at all events, are ac- tually brought up by hand. The interior of the cottages of those who follow this occupation present a very curious appearance to the stranger, being fur» nished with boxes, pens, &c. arranged round the walls for the protection of the tender charge of the good wife, whose whole time and attention are taken up with this branch of domestic economy. The CANVASS-BACKED ducks of America, bred only on the Potowmac and Susquehanah rivers, are supposed to be the best in the world. I believe they have never yet been imported into Europe. DUCKLINGS are not safe in waters stocked with EELS, 98 THE GOOSE. The Goose. The GOOSE is a considerable object of rural economy, and kept in large flocks in the Eastern and Fen counties of England. In some of those parts, their geese are exposed to the cruel operation of being annually stripped of their feathers, and it has been said that fowls, plucked alive, have been sold in the market at Edinburgh. Indeed, the in- terested feelings of man know no scruple, and the cruelties practised upon the poor sea-fowl, -which have their down and feathers torn from them, and are then cast in the sea to perish, are enormous, and yet, it should seem, irremediable. Not so the disgusting barbarity, under the insane idea of sport, formerly, perhaps even now, practised in Scotland. These harmless fowls are hung up alive, by the legs ; and savages, men and boys, ride at them full speed, catching them, as they can, by the neck ! And there can be no doubt that, the horribly pleasing process of roasting a goose alive, as detailed by Dr. Kitchener, in his Cook's Oracle, a book invaluable, equally to the gourmand and the economist, was ac- tually practised in former days. Indeed, we have proofs innumerable, and utterly disgraceful to this enlightened nation, of the absolute necessity of amending the enthusiastic and indefatigable Martin's Bill, and rendering it completely comprehensive. It would have the effect of teaching men to think and feel, and to be convinced of the horrible and unnatural error of deriving pleasure from the racked and tortured feelings of other animals, endowed with DISGRACEFUL CRUELTIES. 99 feelings similar to their own. The present writer, upwards of thirty years since, led the way to the late Lord Erskine's and Mr. Martin's Bills ; indeed was then, so far as he is informed, the first practical writer on the subject. A writer in the Monthly Magazine, December, 1823, remarks humanely on the cruelty of plucking the living goose, proposing a remedy, which I should rejoice exceedingly to find practicable and effective. He remarks on the additional torture experienced by the poor fowl, from the too frequent unskilfulness and want of dexterity of the operator — generally a woman. The skin and flesh are sometimes so torn, as to occasion the death of the victim ; and even when the fowls are plucked in the most careful manner, they lose their flesh and appetite ; their eyes become dull, and they languish in a most piti- able state, during a longer or a shorter period. Mortality also has been periodically very extensive in the flocks of geese, from sudden and imprudent exposure of them to cold, after being stripped, and more especially during severe seasons and sudden atmospheric vicissitudes. There are many instances, in bleak and cold situations, of hundreds being lost in a single night, from neglect of the due precaution of comfortable shelter for as long a time as it may appear to be required. The remedy proposed, on the above authority, is as follows : — feathers are but of a year's growth, and in the moulting season they spontaneously fall off, and are supplied by a fresh fleece. When, therefore, the geese are in full F 2 100 GOOSE DUNG. feather, let the plumage be removed, close to the skin, by sharp scissars. The produce would not be much reduced in quantity, whilst the quality would be greatly improved, and an indemnification be ex- perienced, in the uninjured health of the fowl, and the benefit obtained to the succeeding crop. Labour also would be saved in dressing, since the quilly portion of the feathers, when forcibly detached from the skin, is generally in such a state, as, after all, to require the employment of scissars. After this ope- ration shall have been performed, the down from the breast may be removed by the same means. The time has arrived, I trust, for successful exer- tions in the cause of compassion towards tortured and helpless animals ; and-I presume to make a se- rious call on the clergy and leading aristocracy of the districts implicated, for the exercise of their in- fluence in this case, granting the reform to be prac- ticable. Goose dung is a very powerful manure, and a large flock would have considerable effect in fining and improving the grass of coarse meadow land. Geese, as well as turkeys, it is well known, travel to the London markets ; but it is not so generally known that goose-feeding, in the vicinity of the me- tropolis, is so large a concern, that one person feeds for market upwards of five thousand in the season. The best geese in England are, probably, to be found in the borders of Suffolk and Norfolk, and in Berkshire. Wild geese have not the supe- riority of the wild duck, tasting of fish, and being AGE — THE GOOSE-PIT. 101 far inferior to the tame. The foreign fancy varieties of the goose are chiefly ornamental for lawns and waters, and as objects of curiosity. A GOOSE on a farm in Scotland, about seven years since, of the clearly ascertained age of eighty- one years, healthy and vigorous, was killed by a sow, whilst sitting over her eggs ; it was supposed she might have lived still many years, and her fecun- dity appeared to be permanent. Other geese have been proved to reach the age of seventy years. .It will not prove tedious, I trust, to dilate yet awhile, in the anecdotal way, on this subject, though a goose. There is something extremely anomalous in the disposition of this apparently pacific and harmless species, which, nevertheless, possesses high courage, and is even naturally of pugnacious habits. I have seen two geese fighting and tearing each other with the utmost rage and virulence, as if de- termined to fight it out, mordicus, to death, whilst the gander stood looking on with the utmost apathy and stupidity of unconcern. At St. Petersburgh, in Russia, says Dr. Granville, they have no cock- pits, but they have a goose-pit ! — when, in the spring, they fight ganders, trained to the sport, and so peck at each other's shoulders till they draw blood. These ganders have been sold as high as five hundred roubles each ; and the sport prevails to a degree of enthusiasm among the hemp-merchants. Strange that the vicious and inhuman curiosity of man can delight to arouse and stimulate the principles of enmity and cruelty 102 ANECDOTE OF A GOOSE. in these apparently peaceful and sociable birds. There is, however, remarked to be a natural an- tipathy between the game-cock and gander. As another example of the native courage of this bird — several years past, some geese were feeding near Congleton, Cheshire, opposite the tithe-barn doors, having a sparrow for their companion. Suddenly a hawk pounced upon the sparrow, when a gander flew to his relief, and laid the hawk prostrate. It has been remarked by naturalists, that the goose and the eagle, to which should have been adde,d the swan, are, as far as it is known, the longest lived of the feathered tribe ; and in addition to the instances above given of the longevity of the former, it is a well authenticated fact that, in 1824, there was a goose living in the possession of Mr. Hewson, of Glenham, near Market Rasen, Lincoln- shire, which was then upwards of a century old. It had been, throughout that term, in the constant possession of Mr. Hewson's fore- fathers and himself: and on quitting his farm, he would not suffer it to be sold with his other stock, but made a present of it to the in-coming tenant, that the venerable fowl might terminate its career on the spot where its use- ful life had been spent such a length of days. The following singular trait of a sincere attach- ment to man, was communicated to me by a respect- able correspondent of N. B. In March of the pre- sent year, 1829, Mr. Burnett, Craigellachie-Inn, Elgin, had a goose nearly a year old, that formed so strong an attachment to him, as to follow him ..I* AGE OF GEESE. 103 abroad through the crowd and bustle of the High- street. It would attend him to the hair-dresser's shop, and patiently wait till he was shaved, after which, accompanying him to the shop of another person, proceeding thence home with him, cheek by jowl. This affectionate bird never fails to recognize its master under whatever change of dress ; knowing also his voice, though not seeing him ; and no sooner does he speak, than it responds to him, in its own unintelligible dialect. Had Butler been aware of a faculty like the above in the goose, he probably, would not have berhymed it to the following pur- port— " Art has no enemies » Next the ignorant, but owls and geese." It is asserted that, at the great goose-feeders near London, the stock is fed upon the purest and best food, kept in the highest state of cleanliness, and that they are among the finest and best with which the metropolis is supplied. I can neither controvert nor warrant this, but have no doubt but that the reader may depend on the following statement with which I have been lately furnished, by an eye-wit- ness. F 4- 104 TREATMENT OF GEESE. On the TREATMENT of Geese, at the extensive Esta- blishments of the Feeders, in the vicinity of the Metropolis. " There cleanliness, punctuality, and regularity pre- vail: the business is conducted as it were, by machi- nery, rivalling the vibrations of the pendulum in uni- formity of movement. The grand object of prepar- ing, not geese only but poultry in general, for the market in as short a time as possible, is effected solely by paying unremitting attention to their wants; in keeping them thoroughly clean, in supplying them with proper food, (dry, soft, and green,) water, exer- cise, ground, £c. On arriving at the feeders they are classed according to condition, &c. they soon become reconciled to their new abode and to each other. They are fed three times a day ; and it is truly as- tonishing how soon they acquire the knowledge of the precise time; marching from the exercise ground to the pens like soldiers in close column. " GOSLINGS, or young geese, come to hand gene- rally about the month of March, after which, a re- gular and constant supply arrives weekly throughout the season. At first they are fed on soft meat, con- sisting of prime barley or oatmeal; afterwards on dry corn. An idea prevails with many that any sort of corn will do for poultry : this is a grand mistake. Those who feed largely know better ; and invariably make it a rule to buy the best : the Messrs. Boyce of Stratford, whose pens are capable of holding the extraordinary number of four thousand geese, inde- pendent of ducks, turkeys, &c. consume twenty AQUATIC FOWLS. 105 coombs of oats daily, exclusive of other food. On walking round the premises of these gentlemen, in the spring of the present year (1829) the writer was shown above twelve hundred of that handsome bird the pintada, or guinea-hen, which unites, in some respects, the character of the pheasant and turkey, possessing the delicate shape of the former, and the bare head of the latter. " From the improvement in our roads, and the consequent increased facility of communication, vast quantities of poultry are now fattened and killed in the country : the trade of the London feeder there- fore has fallen off in a ratio corresponding with the increase of that of the provincial dealer ; not that the public are benefited, or that the countryman derives more profit. The salesman steps in with a proffer of services ; but he must be paid, and the money, of course, comes from the pockets of the public at large." I shall only remark on the conclusion of this valu- able communication that, " the labourer is worthy of his hire," and that middle-men, or salesmen are in- dispensable. AQUATIC FOWLS. Under a regular system, it would be preferable to separate entirely the aquatic from the other poultry, the former to have their houses ranged along the banks of a piece of water, with a fence, and suffi- ciently capacious walks in front ; access to the water by doors to be closed at will. Should the water be of considerable extent, a small boat would be neces- F5 106 AQUATICS — CAUTION — INCUBATION. sary, and might be also conducive to the pleasure of angling. It may be necessary to mention, by way of cau- tion, a case which occurred in our poultry-yard. The ducks having been kept a considerable time from the water, by a severe frost, on a certain fine day, the ice was broken for their convenience : be- ing full of play several were lost by diving under the ice, and great uncertainty would have prevailed as to their fate, but a further breach of the ice chanced to be made, almost immediately beneath which they were found drowned. The DUCK will cover from eleven to fifteen eggs ; her term of incubation THIRTY days. One DRAKE to five ducks. They begin to lay in February, and unless watched will lay abroad and conceal their eggs. The duck on leaving her nest, will cover the eggs with leaves, or any thing within her reach, as will the goose, sometimes ; the hen never. Our old housewives had a notion that the variety of ducks, which have the bill bending upwards, lay a greater number of eggs than common ; of which I can say nothing from my own observation, but can remark, that with ducks well fed, I never failed to have plenty of eggs. A duck has been known to lay in the autumn during forty-six nights, successively, after which she continued to lay every other night. The duck generally lays by night, or early in the morning, seldom after ten o'clock, with the excep- tion of chilling and comfortless weather, when she will occasionally retain her egg until mid-day, or af- ternoon. In order to keep her within until she has THE DUCK — EGGS — HATCHING. 107 laid, some will EXAMINE HER, but it is better avoided, as her appearance and weight behind, or otherwise, may be trusted to by constant observers. Accus- tomed to a nest she will not forsake it. It has been formerly directed, to give each duck her own eggs, to which, however, much consequence need not be attached ; nevertheless, the eggs may be appropriated to each, with respect to colour ; since white and light-coloured ducks produce si- milar-coloured eggs, and the brown and dark-co- loured ducks those of the greenish blue and largest size. At any rate, it is most safe that the eggs be all of one colour, since I have known some few in- stances of the duck turning out with her bill, those eggs which were not of her natural colour. The duck swimming with her tail flat and level with the water, indicates her egg being ready for protrusion. In April 1823, a duck, the property of Mr. John Morrel, of Belper Dally, laid an egg every day for eighty-five successive days. During INCUBATION, the duck requires a secret and safe place, rather than any attendance, and will, at nature's call, cover her eggs and seek her food, and the refreshment of the waters. On HATCHING, there is not often a necessity for taking away any of the brood, barring accidents ; and having hatched, let the duck retain her young upon the nest her own time. On her moving with her brood, prepare a coop, upon the short grass, if the weather be fine, or under shelter if otherwise : a wide and flat dish of water, often to be renewed, standing at hand ; barley, or any meal, the first food. In rainy wea- F6 108 CONFINEMENT — HATCHED BY HENS. ther, particularly, it is useful to clip the tails of the ducklings, and the surrounding down beneath, since they are else apt to draggle and weaken themselves. The duck should be cooped at a distance from any other. The period of her CONFINEMENT to the coop, de- pends on the weather and the strength of the duck- lings. A fortnight seems the longest time neces- sary ; and they may sometimes be permitted to en- joy the pond at the end of a week, but not for too great a length at once, least of all, in cold wet wea- ther, which will affect and cause them to scour and appear rough and draggled. In such case, they must be kept within a while, and have an allowance of bean or pea-meal mixed with their ordinary food. The meal of buck wheat and the former is then pro- per. The straw beneath the duck should be often renewed, that the brood may have a dry and com- fortable bed ; and the mother herself be well fed with solid corn, without an ample allowance of which, ducks are not to be reared or kept in perfection, al- though they gather so much abroad. DUCK EGGS are often hatched by HENS, when ducks are more in request than chickens; also as ducks, in unfavourable situations, are the more easy to rear, as more hardy ; and the plan has no objec- tion in a confined place, and with a small stock, without the advantage of a pond ; but the hen is much distressed, as is sufficiently visible, and, in fact, injured, by the anxiety she suffers in witnessing the supposed perils of her children venturing upon the water. ANCIENT ERROR — DUCKS TO FATTEN. 109 The old wife's plan of suffering a hen to hatch a chicken or two with the ducklings, is unwise. The hen for the sake of even a single individual of her more natural progeny, will entirely neglect her foster children the ducklings, at the critical time when they most need her guidance and protection. Their aquatic nature will be constantly urging them to the water, where they will remain until exhausted, re- turning to land like drowning rats, and probably finding no mother to brood them. Thus great numbers of ducklings are annually lost ; and half-a- dozen of them may be lost for the sake of a chick or two. I have heard of setting duck eggs under a goose, which would cover a considerable number. M. Tessiers memoir, read to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, states the period of incubation of the hen upon duck eggs to be from twenty-Jive to thirty-four days. I have neither known nor heard of such a protracted sitting as thirty-four days. Ducks are FATTENED, either in confinement, with plenty of food and water, or full as well, restricted to a pond, with access to as much solid food as they will eat ; which last method I prefer. They fatten speedily, in this mode, mixing their hard meat with such variety abroad, as is natural to them, more particularly, if already in good case ; and there is no check or impediment to thrift from pining, but every mouthful tells and weighs its due weight. A dish of mixed food, if preferred to whole corn, may remain on the bank, or rather in a shed, for the ducks. I must here mention a fact, which I have either ac- tually verified, or supposed that I have verified. 110 VARIOUS, AND QUALITY OF FLESH. BARLEY, in any form, should never be used to fatten aquatics, ducks or geese, since it renders their flesh loose, woolly, and insipid, and depriving it of that high savoury flavour of brown meat, which is its va- luable distinction ; in a word, rendering it chickeny, not unlike in flavour, the flesh of ordinary and yel- low-legged fowls. OATS, whole or bruised, are the standard fattening material for DUCKS and GEESE, to which may be added pea-meal, as it may be required. The house-wash is profitable to mix up their food, under confinement; but it is obvious, whilst they have the benefit of what the pond affords, they can be in no want ofloose food. Acorns in season are much affected by ducks which have a range ; and in former days residing on the borders of a forest, I had annually great num- bers fattened entirely on that provision, to such ex- cess, that the quantity of fat was inconvenient, both in cooking, and upon the table. Ducks so fed are certainly inferior in delicacy, but the flesh is of high flavour, and is far from disagreeable. I have also occasionally ate of them fed on butchers' offal, when the flesh resembles wild fowl in flavour, with, how- ever, considerable inferiority. Offal-fed ducks' flesh does not yet emit the abominable stench which issues from offal-fed pork, and with which the dining tables of London, are so frequently and satisfactorily per- fumed. The Goose. A GANDER and five geese comprise a single breed- ing stock. The goose sits upon her eggs from THE GOOSE — EARLY LAYING. Ill twenty-seven to thirty days, covering from eleven to fifteen eggs. A nest should be prepared for her in a secure place, as soon as carrying straw in her bill, and other tokens, declare her readiness to lay. The earliness and warmth of the spring are the general causes of the early laying of geese, which is of con- sequence, since there may be time for two broods within the season, not however a common occur- rence ; and which happening successively for two or three seasons, has occasioned some persons, formerly, to set a high price upon their stock, as if of a pecu- liar and more valuable breed than the common. The method, however, to attain this advantage is, to feed breeding geese high throughout the winter, with solid corn, and on the commencement of the breed- ing season, to allow them boiled barley, malt, fresh grains, and fine pollard mixed up with ale, or other stimulants. In 1829, Mr. W. Holmes, of Spalding- ton Lanes, near Howden, Yorkshire, had a goose in his possession, which within the twelve months, laid seventy eggs ; twenty-six at the usual time of in- cubation, from which she hatched and brought up seventeen fine goslings. She began to lay again at the end of harvest, and continued to lay every other day to the end of the year. She is still in high con- dition. With a good GANDER present, no mischief can happen to the sitting geese, without extraordinary alarm, he sitting centinel at the chamber-door of his wives. With respect to feeding the goose or duck upon the nest, it may be occasionally required, but is not a thing of much account, since they will gene- 8 112 HATCHING — FIRST RANGE. rally repair to the water sufficiently often, from their natural inclination. The goose will not quit until she has completed her hatch, nor will it be very practicable to take any of the goslings from her, were it necessary, as she is too strong and resolute, and might kill some in the struggle. It has been formerly recommended, to keep the newly-hatched GULLS in house, during a week, lest they get cramp from the damp earth, to which they are indeed liable ; but we did not find this in-door confinement necessary, penning the goose and her brood between four hurdles, upon a piece of dry grass well sheltered, putting them out late in the morning, or not at all in severe weather, and ever taking them in early in the evening. Sometimes we have pitched double the number of hurdles, for the convenience of two broods, there being no quar- rels among this sociable and harmless part of the feathered race, so unlike those quarrelsome and murderous fiends, the common, or gallinaceous fowls. We did not even find it necessary to interpose a parting hurdle, which on occasion may be always conveniently done. The FIRST FOOD similar to that of the duck, but with some cooling greens, clivers, or the like, intermixed — namely, barley-meal, bruised oats, or fine pollard. For the FIRST RANGE, a convenient field contain- ing water is to be preferred to an extensive common, over which the gulls or goslings are dragged by the Goose, until they become cramped or tired, some of them squatting down and remaining behind at even- ing, which the good housewife sees no more. It is HEMLOCK YEW — STORE FEEDING. 113 also necessary to destroy all the HEMLOCK or deadly night-shade, within the range of young geese, many of which drop off annually, from eating that poison, when the cause is not suspected. I know not that the elder geese will eat hemlock, but I believe that both the young and old have been occasionally killed by swallowing slips of YEW. The young becoming pretty well feathered, will also be too large to be contained or brooded beneath the mother's wings, and will then sleep in groups by her side, and must be supplied with good and renewed straw beds, which they convert into excellent dung. Being now able to frequent the pond, and range the common at. large, the young geese will obtain their living, and few people, favourably situated, allow them any thing more, excepting the vegetable produce of the garden. It has, however, been my constant practice, al- ways to dispense a moderate quantity of any solid corn or pulse at hand,, to the flocks of store geese, both morning and evening, on their going out and their return, in the evening more especially, toge- ther with such greens as chanced to be at command: cabbage, mangold leaves, lucern, tares, and occa- sionally sliced carrots and turnips. By such full keeping our geese were ever in a fleshy state, and attained a large size ; the young ones were also for- ward and valuable breeding stock. It may be here necessary to state, that the German word mangold, which is commonly anglicised mangel, signifies beet and wurtzel root. The latter word is then super- 114 FATTENING — IMPOSTHUME. fluous. We do not phrase it turnip root or carrot root. Thus much for the economy of words. Geese managed on the above mode will be speedily FATTENED green, that is, at a month or six weeks old, or after the run of the corn stubbles. Two or three weeks after, the latter must be suffi- cient to make them thoroughly fat ; indeed, I prefer a goose fattened entirely in the stubbles, granting it to have been previously in good case, and be full fed in the field ; since an over-fattened goose is too much in. the oil-cake and grease-tub style, to admit even the idea of delicacy, tender firmness, or true flavour. But when needful to fatten them, the feed- ing-houses already recommended are most conve- nient. With clean and renewed beds of straw, plenty of clean water, and upon oats crushed or otherwise, pea or bean-meal, the latter, however, coarse and ordinary food ; or pollard ; the articles mixed up with skimmed milk when to be obtained, geese will fatten pleasantly and speedily. Very lit- tle greens of any kind should be given to fattening geese, as being too laxative, and occasioning them to throw off their corn too quickly ; whence their flesh will prove less substantial and of inferior fla- vour. Greens are the more proper food for store geese. I know nothing of the imposthume, said by our elders to grow upon the rump of the feeding goose, and through which she perpetually, like a bear, sucks her own fat, and which excrescence thence must needs be exsected. Nor am I, however ar- SPANISH AND EMBDEN GEESE. 115 dently attached to the writings of antiquity, suffi- ciently classical, or a gourmand of sufficient taste and calibre, to rival those of ancient Rome, in the size of their goose LIVERS. I have thence never fed my geese, during sixteen days, with a paste of Tur- key figs, stamped and beaten up with cream, in order to bring their livers upon the table, each the weight of three or four pounds ! I modestly leave such practices to princes, ministers, and men in high place. It may be added, that, equal quantities of the meal of OATS, RYE and PEASE, mixed with skimmed milk, form an excellent feeding article for geese and ducks. The SPANISH geese used to be preferred, but I have had no experience of them. Our flocks, whilst we resided in Middlesex, in the year 1788, were esteemed the finest in the vicinity ; the breed of them had been procured for us, from the neighbourhood of Bungay, in Suffolk, by GofF, the dealer, already spoken of. Formerly the Embden geese were in the highest esteem. They are all white, male and female, and of a superior, indeed very uncom- mon size. Whether or not, as might be expected, there be a countervailing objection in a correspond- ing whiteness, and thence defect of savoury flavour in the flesh, I am unable to say, having yet had no experience in the Embden variety of Geese. The Swan. The SWAN. Exclusive of ornament, the chief use of the swan is to clear pieces of water from weeds, a service which was effected some years since by swans, over a considerable breadth of water, at 116 THE SWAN— SUPERIOR LONGEVITY. Clumber, the residence of the Duke of Newcastle, in the course of a year or two ; but they are generally reputed great destroyers of the young fry of fish. The antiquity of this delicate and stately bird, the silent swan, is conspicuous in the pages of history and of poetry. The prototype of the domesticated breed has been probably lost in the lapse of time, since the wild swans of all countries differ essentially both in plumage and organic structure, from the tame. The longevity of the swan seems to equal, if not exceed, that of any other animal, as it is said to live three centuries, a fact, which it seems strange, and is to be regretted, has not been, correctly ascer- tained in some of our great families of old, so ex- tremely attached to this noble bird. Hence I beg leave to recommend to the keepers and amateurs of the swan, to open a stud-book, wherein a sufficient number of individuals may be named and marked ; and even that, extracts may be introduced into the wills of present and succeeding proprietors, that our posterity may be better informed on this branch of natural history than ourselves. They are chiefly to be found upon the Thames, and probably also, as in former days, on the inlet of the sea, near Abbots- bury, Dorset, and in the river Trent. Upon the Avon, in Warwickshire, however, as I am informed by a late sojourner in that vicinity, wild swans are frequently seen ; they are in colour white and grey, and in size smaller than the domesticated. They are occasionally to be met with in the London mar- kets of Leadenhall and Newgate, the asking price at present five shillings each. Their skins only are AGE, HABITS, &C. 117 used. Fifteen wild swans were shot January 1830, by one man, in Shoreham harbour, and sold to the furriers at five shillings each. Their flesh is no longer in request as food, with the exception of cygnets, or young swans, which are still fattened, at Norwich particularly, for the Christmas feast, and command the price of one guinea each. The swan feeds like the goose, and has the same familiarity with its keepers, kindly and eagerly re- ceiving bread which is offered, although it is a bird of courage equal to its apparent pride, and both the cock and hen are extremely dangerous to approach during incubation, or whilst their brood is young, as they have sufficient muscular force to break a man's arm with a stroke of their wing. They both labour hard in forming a nest of water plants, long grass and sticks, generally in some retired part or inlet of the bank of the stream or piece of water on which they are kept. The hen begins to lay in Fe- bruary, producing an egg every other day, until she has deposited seven or eight, on which she sits six weeks, although Buffbn says it is nearly two months before the young are excluded. Swans' eggs are much larger than those of a goose", white, and with a hard, and sometimes tuberous shell. The cygnets are ash-coloured when they first quit the shell, and for some months after ; indeed, they do not change their colour, nor begin to moult their plumage, until twelve months old, nor assume their perfect glossy whiteness until advanced in their second year. The CYGNOIDES from Guinea, commonly called the SWAN- GOOSE, or the MUSCOVY-GOOSE, a sort of 118 MUSCOVY GOOSE — BLACK SWANS — PEA-FOWLS. middle species between the swan and the goose, is sufficiently plentiful in Britain, and unites so well with the common goose, according to report, as to cause little or no perceptible difference in the pro- geny. They are distinguished by their erect gait, and the screaming which they continue during al- most the whole day, without any obvious incitement. The BLACK SWANS of New Holland I have not hitherto had the opportunity of seeing. They were introduced into this country some years since, but I believe the number bred or remaining is very small. They are said to degenerate here as to size, yet the imported individuals, it seems, were not larger than our indigenous breed. There is said, by naturalists, to be some disparity between the wild and tame black swan, in respect to the bill and organization of the bones. Pea and Guinea Fowls, and Pheasants. The PEA COCK and HEN, and GUINEA FOWLS, are always kept by the London dealers, whence any person in the country, desirous of breeding them, may be supplied with breeding stock. Exclusive of the consideration of ornament to a poultry-yard, the peacock is very useful for the destruction of all kinds of reptiles, but at the same time some pea- cocks are said to be vicious, and apt to tear to pieces and devour young chicks and ducklings, suf- fered to be within their reach. They are also de- structive in a garden. This most beautiful of all the feathered race is supposed, originally, a native of India, and peacocks Page 118. PEACOCK, PEACOCK — PINTADA. 119 are said to be at present found in a wild state upon the islands of Java and Ceylon. The history of king Solomon is a voucher for the antiquity of the peacock, and also the choice of the goddess Juno, who selected this for her favourite bird, from its gorgeous and brilliant plumage and majesty of de- meanor. It is asserted by the ancient writers that the first peacock was honoured with a public exhi- bition at Athens ; that many people travelled thither from Macedonia, to be spectators of that beautiful phenomenon, the paragon of the feathered race. It is probable the ancients, as well as the moderns, introduced the peacock upon the table, rather as an ornament than a viand. There are varieties of this bird, some white ; they perch on trees like the turkey. Their age extends to twenty years, and at three, the tail of the, cock is full and complete. The cock requires from two to four hens, and where the country agrees with them, they are very prolific. They are granivorous like other domestic fowls, preferring barley. The PINTADA, or Guinea Hen, has been said to unite the character and properties of the pheasant and the turkey. It is about the size of the common hen, but standing high upon its legs, gives it the appearance of a larger size. The back is round, with the tail turned downwards, like the partridge. It is an active, restless, and courageous bird, and will even attack the turkey, although so much above its size. The Guinea fowls assimilate perfectly with the common species in habits and in kinds of food ; but have this peculiarity, that the cocks and hens PINTADA — ITS HABITS. are so nearly alike, it is difficult to distinguish them. They have also a peculiar gait and cry, or chuckling. The head is covered with a kind of casque, with wattles under the bill, and the whole plumage is either black or dark grey, speckled with regular and uniform white spots. The pintada is generally sup- posed to be a native of Guinea, whence its additional name ; but it is in equal plenty in America. In those countries it perches on trees, and, in the wild state, makes its nest in the holes of the palm-tree. It is gregarious, and often found in large flocks. Like the peacock, it may be said to be universally domes- ticated. There is sometimes, but not invariably, a distinc- tion of colour in certain parts, between the cock and hen pintada ; the manner and gait of the cock, how- ever, soon distinguish him. However long domes- ticated, these birds retain some part of their original wild habits, and will stray in search of a place in which to drop their eggs, without any apparent so- licitude as to their security. They lay an abundance of eggs, smaller than those of the common hen, speckled, resembling wild, rather than common, eggs. It sometimes happens that they are everlast- ing layers, in which case, and indeed generally, it is most profitable to hatch pintadas under a common hen, which will cover an additional number of those small eggs. The chicks are extremely tender, and should not be hatched too early in the spring ; a sudden change of the wind in March, to the N. E., has destroyed many a brood of them. PHEASANTS. SECTION XIII. Pheasants. I ACKNOWLEDGED myself obliged to Mr. Castang, formerly of the Menagerie in the Hampstead Road, near Tottenham-Court Road, London, for several novel particulars in the additions to the first edition of this work, which particulars are now arranged under their proper heads. I have been since under a further obligation to the same intelligent and ex- perienced person, on the subject of pheasants, with which my own practical acquaintance has not hitherto been very extensive. The PHEASANT (phasianus) is a native of the old continent, and supposed by ancient authors to have been originally found on the banks of the PHASIS, whence the name was probably derived. The Ar- gonauts, in their celebrated expedition to Colchis, together with the golden fleece, brought back with them the Asiatic pheasant, a bird, the plumage of which was equally rich and resplendent with the fleece. Authors, however, differ on this point of ancient history ; a discrepancy of no material conse- quence here. This bird, indeed, may well vie with the peacock, if not for gaudiness, yet for the rich- ness, variety, and sober majesty of its colours, and G AGE — WILD. for the beautiful symmetry of its form ; and when Croesus, king of Lydia, was seated on his throne, adorned with royal magnificence, and all the blazing pomp of Eastern splendour, it is recorded that he asked Solon whether he had ever before beheld so much finery. The Greek philosopher replied, he had seen the beautiful plumage of the pheasant, and had found nothing superior. The phea-sant is not a long-lived bird ; but it is probable the PERIOD OF EXISTENCE assigned to it by some writers, namely, six or seven years, is too short. The wholesomeness of its flesh was prover- bial among the old physicians ; it is of a high flavour and alkalescent quality, and in perfection during autumn. A young pheasant very fat is reckoned an exquisite dainty. In a wild state, the hen LAYS from eighteen to twenty eggs in a season, but sel- dom more than ten in a state of confinement. Pheasants are not to be tamed by domestication, like other fowls ; nor is the flesh of those brought up in the house, in any degree comparable to that of the wild pheasant : thence they are bred at home, either merely for show, or for the purpose of re- plenishing the proprietor's grounds, both with regard to number or particular varieties. However good nursing mothers in a wild state, pheasant hens are far otherwise in the house, whence their eggs are always HATCHED at home by the common hen, gene- rally, at present, by the smooth-legged BANTAM. The above particulars on the laying and habits of the pheasant, were derived from the experience of DOMESTICATED — NATURE. a number of breeders and fanciers of the bird, and to a certain degree of that of the author. It is probable they may yet be found generally correct. The author, however, records with pleasure a notable exception ; at the same time wishing it may cease to form an exception. During the season of 1822, Mr. Lightfoot of Harlow Hill, near Northum- berland, kept a brace of pheasants in a domesticated state. The hen laid the surprizing number of, seventy-four eggs. A gentleman at Birmingham, also, has a wild hen pheasant in his garden, the hen laying. They are familiar with their feeders, but cannot bear the sight of a stranger. In 1 826, a soli- tary cock pheasant made , his appearance as far north as a valley of the Grampians, being the first that had been seen in that northern region. The natural NEST of the pheasant is composed of dry grass and leaves, which being provided for her in confinement she will sometimes properly dispose. The cock is bold, voracious, and cruel; and one which I had many years ago, caught a canary bird which had accidentally escaped, and was observed with it beneath his talons, in the proper attitude of the hawk, tearing it to pieces and devouring it. Pheasants have been seen preying upon a dead car- case, in company with carrion crows, and it has been said that they will fall upon a diseased and weak companion of their own species, and devour it. They feed upon all kinds of insects and vermin, like the peacock, and are said to be particularly greedy of toads, provided they be not too large MULES — VARIETIES. to swallow ; whereas, according to report, they will not touch the frog, of which ducks are so fond. A pheasant was shot by T. Day, Esq. of Herts, the crop of which contained more than half a pint of that destructive insect the wire-worm. And the number of 1606 grains of barley were taken from the crop of a pheasant at Bury in Suf- folk, in 1727. The progeny between the pheasant and the com- mon fowl, are necessarily MULES, as proceeding from different species, although of the same genus. They may be obtained, with some little difficulty, which they scarcely repay, as being neither an im- provement in form nor goodness of the flesh. It is recommended, as the best method, to confine a cock-pheasant half grown with two pullets of the same age, either game, bantam, or common, as may be desired : or to make a house for common hens in a pheasant preserve near home, where they will soon associate with the pheasants, and be trodden by the cocks. Hybrids, or mules, between the pheasant and black grouse, have been occasionally found on the moors. The best known VARIETIES of the pheasant, are the GOLDEN, the SILVER, the PEACOCK or SPOTTED, and the COMMON EUROPEAN or ENGLISH, generally brown with a less brilliancy of colouring. Mr. Cas- tang, however, enumerates six distinct varieties, ex- clusive of the common, as follow : the GOLD and SILVER, natives of China, and very hardy in this country, and .good breeders. The RING-NECKS, VARIETIES — BREEDING INSTRUCTIONS. natives of Tartary, bred in China, very scarce ; their plumage very beautiful. The WHITE and PIED ; both sorts will intermix readily with our com- mon breed, as will the BOHEMIAN, one of the most beautiful of its kind, and equally scarce. The GOLDEN variety is generally of the highest price, the common most hardy, and of the largest size. Instructions for breeding Pheasants. By P. CAS- TANG, Son-in-law and Manager to the late JOSHUA BROOKS. EGGS being provided, put them under a hen that has kept the nest three or four days ; and if you set two or three nests on the same day, you will have the advantage of shifting the good eggs. At the end of ten or twelve days, throw away those that are bad, and set the same hen or hens again, if sitting hens should not be plenty. The hens having sat their full time, such of the young pheasants as are already hatched put into a basket, with a piece of flannel, till the hen has done hatching. The brood, now come, put under a frame with a net over it, and a place for the hen, that she cannot get to the young pheasants, but that they may go to her : and feed them with boiled egg cut small, boiled milk and bread, alum curd, ants' eggs, a little of each sort, and often. After two or three days, they will be acquainted 126 PHEASANTS — BREEDING HOUSE. with the call of the hen that hatched them, may have their liberty to run on the grass-plot, or else- where, observing to shift them with the sun, and out of the cold winds ; they should not have their liberty in the morning till the sun is up ; and they must be. shut in with the hen in good time in the evening. Every thing now going on properly, you must be very careful (in order to guard against the distem- per to which they are liable) in your choice of a situation for breeding the birds up; and be less afraid of foxes, dogs, pole-cats, and all sorts of ver- min, than .the distemper. I had rather encounter all the former than the latter : for those with care may be prevented, but the distemper once got in is like the plague, and destroys all your hopes. What I mean by a good situation, is nothing more than a place where no poultry, pheasants, or turkeys, &c. have ever been kept ; such as the warm side of a field, orchard, pleasure-ground, or garden, or even on a common, or a good green lane, under circum- stances of this kind ; or by a wood side ; but then it is proper for a man to keep with them under a temporary hovel, and to have two or three dogs chained at a proper distance, with a lamp or two at night. I have known a great number of pheasants bred up in this manner in the most exposed situa- tions. It is proper for the man always to have a gun, that he may keep off the hawks, owls, jays, magpies, &c. The dogs and lamps intimidate the foxes beyond any other means ; and the dogs will give tongue for the man to be on his guard if smaller BASKET PERCHING NETTED PENS. 127 vermin are near, or when strollers make their ap- pearance. The birds going on as before mentioned, should so continue till December, or (if very early bred,) the middle of August. Before they begin to shift the long feathers in the tail, they are to be shut up in the basket with the hen regularly every night ; and when they begin to shift their tail the birds are large, and begin to lie out, that is, they are not willing to come to be shut up in the basket : those that are intended to be turned out wild, should be taught to perch, (a situation they have never been used to ;) this is done by tying a string to the hen's leg, and obliging her to sit in a tree all night : be sure you put her in the tree before sun-set ; and if she falls down, you must persevere in putting her up again till she is contented with her situation ; then the young birds will follow the hen and perch with her. This being done, and the country now covered with corn, fruits, and shrubs, &c. &c. they will shift for themselves. For such young pheasants as you make choice of for your breeding stock at home, and likewise to turn out in spring following, provide a new piece of ground, large and roomy for two pens, where no pheasants, &c, have been kept, and there put your young birds in as they begin to shift their tails. Such of them as you intend to turn out at a future time, or in another place, put into one pen netted over, and leave their wings as they are ; and those* you wish to keep for breeding put into the other pen, cutting one wing of each bird. The gold and G4' 128 ALUM CURD — ROUP — DIRECTIONS. silver pheasants you must pen earlier, or they will be off. Cut the wing often ; and when first penned feed all your young birds with barley-meal, dough, corn, and plenty of green turnips. A Receipt to make Alum Curd. TAKE new milk, as much as your young birds re- quire, and boil it with a lump of alum, so as not to make the curd hard and tough, but custard like. j N. B. A little of this curd twice a day, and ants' eggs after every time they have had a sufficient quantity of the other food. If they do not eat hear- tily, give them some ants' eggs to create an appetite, but by no means in such abundance as to be consi- dered their food. The DISTEMPER alluded to above, is not impro- bably of the same nature as the roup in chickens, contagious, and dependent on the state of the weather ; and for prevention requiring similar pre- caution. GENERAL DIRECTIONS. Not more than FOUR HENS to be allowed in the pens to one cock. And in the OUT COVERS, three hens to one cock may be sufficient, with the view of allowing for accidents, such as the loss of a cock or hen. Never put more EGGS under a hen than she can well and closely cover, the eggs fresh and carefully preserved. SHORT BROODS to be joined and shifted to one hen : common hen pheasants in close pens, and with plenty of cover, will sometimes make their NESTS and hatch their own eggs : but they seldom succeed in rearing FOOD MENAGERIES — GREAT BREEDERS. 129 their brood, being so naturally shy ; whence, should this method be desired, they must be left entirely to themselves, as they feel alarm even in being looked at. Eggs for setting are generally ready in April. Period of INCUBATION the same in the pheasant as in the common hen. Pheasants, like the pea-fowl, will clear grounds of insects and reptiles, but will spoil all WALL-TREES within their reach, by pecking off every bud and leaf. Feeding. Strict CLEANLINESS to be observed, the meat not to be tainted with dung, and the water to be pure and often renewed. Ants' eggs being scarce, hog-lice, ear-wigs, or any insects may be given ; or artificial ants' eggs substituted, composed of flour beaten up with an egg and shell together, the pellets rubbed between the fingers to the proper size. After the first three weeks, in a scarcity of ants' eggs, CASTANG gives a few GENTLES, procured from a good liver tied up, the gentles, when ready, dropping into a pan or box of bran ; to be given sparingly, and not considered as common food. FOOD for grown pheasants, barley or wheat ; ge- nerally the same as for other poultry. . In a cold spring, HEMP SEED, or other warming seeds are com- fortable, and will forward the breeding stock. Of the Noblemen and Gentlemen who have PRI- VATE MENAGERIES for pheasants, and who are large breeders, Lord BRAYBROOK, at Audley End, Essex, and the Earl of JERSEY, at Osterley Park, Middle- sex, are among the most eminent. At a park in Middlesex, seven or eight miles beyond Bushey Park, I saw, many years ago, a greater collection of 130 PHEASANTS — SCOTLAND. pheasants and partridges than I had ever before, or have since witnessed. There are also pheasant breeders who make a trade of it, rearing two or three hundred in a season. It was formerly held impracticable to breed any considerable number of these birds, on the supposition that they could not be reared on any other food than ants' eggs, of which a sufficient plenty could never be depended on ; but in all probability, those already recom- mended are very sufficient substitutes. The following information was lately communica- ted to the author, by a landed Gentleman of Scot- land, his respected friend. " About fifty years ago the Pheasant was introduced into the South East County of Scotland, which, for climate, shelter, and food, is perhaps the best: within the last twenty years, several Gentlemen have attempted to natura- lize it in the counties of Fife and Forfar, north of the great estuary of the Forth. The experiment has succeeded completely, for few estates are belter stocked with pheasants, than those of Raith, Wemyss Castle, and Dunnikin, in Fifeshire ; or Rosse Priory and Brechin Castle, north of the river Tay. The Earl of Fife has stocked his estates in Bamfshire, and even so far north the pheasant thrives well. On the West of Scotland I am not informed that the pheasant has yet been tried be- yond Ayrshire, where, however, it abounds on the estates of the Earls of Eglinton and Cassilis. It is almost needless to mention, that pheasants will abound no where without winter feeding : in Scot- land this perhaps more particularly than in England ; WINTER FEEDING. 131 because, although the former country be well wooded by plantation, there is very little natural wood, and of course underwood is scarce. The berries and insects that underwood affords are great sources of support to the pheasant. The pheasant, the turkey, and even our common cocks and hens, thrive best on a mixture of corn, wild seeds, and insects. The winter feeding of pheasants in Scotland, is confined to throwing into their resorts, sheaves of oats." The prices of poultry, in the early part of the spring (1830), have been already given. A con- siderable rise took place in May, when fowls pro- duced, at market, from seven to eighteen shillings the couple. Rabbits from sixteen-pence to two shillings and sixpence each. Roasting-pigs from five to eight shillings each. My acknowledgments for a variety of information are due to Mr. Herring of the Menagerie, New Road, a short distance west of Tottenham-Court Road, Lon- don, successor of the original proprietor, the late Mr. Brooks. His establishment is of the first cha- racter and extent for poultry of all kinds, land or aquatic, whether domestic or foreign; pigeons, par- rots, singing-birds, deer, dogs ; in short, for every species of useful or curious and ornamental stock necessarily the objects of our nobility and gentry at their country-seats. Also to Mr. Burgess, jun., a respectable poulterer of Marchmont Street, Burton- Crescent, for much information in his line. 132 NATURAL STATE — NATIONAL PROFIT. SECTION XIV. Pigeons. THE PIGEON is recorded as one of the most ancient inhabitants of all climates, those excepted in the vicinity of the poles ; it prospers abundantly in tem- perate regions, but in a still higher degree under the burning sun of the tropics, no heat being too ardent for its natural constitution. The wild pigeons of cold countries are said to emigrate towards the south on the approach of the winter. Pigeons ex- hibit a satisfactory proof of the superiority of the civilized over the savage or mere natural state, in their multitudinous increase and endless varieties, in a state of domestication, under the fostering-care and all-subduing art of man. From their peculiar beauty and innocence, they have always ranked among the chief feathered favourites of mankind ; and in the eastern countries, the original sources of religious superstition, the dove has ever been a great object of veneration, as an emblem of something divine. But to proceed to a far more material point — the NATIONAL PROFIT of encouraging the breed of pi- geons to any great extent, has long been the subject of much dispute. M. Duhamel, the apologist of these beautiful favourites, I apprehend, has not been a Page 132. PIGEONS. Page 158. RABBITS. OPINIONS — DAMAGE TO CORN. 133 successful advocate. He avers, that pigeons do not feed upon green corn — that their bills have not suf- ficient power to dig for seeds in the earth, and that they only pick up scattered grains which would else be wasted, or become the prey of other birds. From the season of the corn appearing, he says, pigeons subsist upon the seeds of weeds, the multiplication of which they must, in consequence, greatly prevent. Another writer has of late introduced a story of the farmers in a certain district .in England, who, finding their corn and pulse crops greatly reduced, attributed it to the vast quantity of pigeons kept among them, which, on such account, by a general resolution, they agreed to destroy. A few seasons afterwards, it seems, they found their land so ex- hausted, and their crops so eaten up by weeds, that they came to a general wish for their pigeons back again. Now this is either a lame story, or the fann- ers implicated were very lame farmers, as being ig- norant how to weed their land, without the assist- ance of instruments, the use of which must cost them so considerable a part of their crops. Last year, a farmer in Kent shot a wood-pigeon, from the crop of which he extracted nine hundred and twenty-six clavels of wheat, which he sowed, and obtained from them a harvest of one gallon three quarts of fine wheat. No man, in the least acquainted with country af- fairs, but is fully aware of the immense damage done to the crops of corn, beans, pease, and tares, that is to say, the grand articles of human subsistence, by pigeons. Our best practical agricultural writers may 134 QUANTITIES DEVOURED CALCULATED. be consulted on this head, but a sufficient proof of the fact is the reduction of dove-cots throughout all countries where agriculture is best known, valued, and practised. Indeed, the feudal laws in favour of these birds were a most cruel and fertile source of oppression. Every one will judge for himself of the degree of credit to be given to the following state- ment, extracted from Mr. Vancouver's valuable sur- vey of the county of Devon. Pigeons often fly to a great distance for their food, and when they can find corn to eat seldom prey upon any thing else. They begin to eat corn about the middle of July, and rarely want the same food at the stacks in the straw-yards, or in the fields, until the end of barley sowing, which is about old May-day, and which includes a period of two hun- dred and eighty days, or better than three quarters of the year; the rest of the time they live upon the seeds of the weeds and bentings. It is somewhere stated that in England and in Wales, there are twenty thousand DOVE-HOUSES, averaging each at about one hundred pair of old pigeons. We will take this estimation at three-fourths, which will equal one million, one hundred and twenty-five thousand pair of dove-house pigeons in Eugland and Wales. These, to speak moderately, will consume, with what they carry home to their young, one pint of corn per pair daily, and which, for one hundred and forty days, being half the period they are supposed to subsist upon corn, amounts to one hundred and fifty- seven millions, five hundred thousand pints of corn consumed annually, throughout England and Wales, DAMAGE — DOVE-HOUSE LAWS. 135 by these voracious and insatiate vermin, for in no other light can they be considered by the agricul- turist. The amount and value of this consumption, when brought into the present price of wheat, rye, barley, oats, beans, and pease, and assuming that an equal quantity of each corn is thus consumed, but which is far from being the case, as wheat is not only the most inviting, but by far the most exposed to the ravages of these birds, both at the seed time and preceding harvest, will stand thus — 157,500,000 pints=4,92 1,875 Winchester bushels, which at 6s. per bushel, the present average price of the grain before enumerated, amounts to £1,476,562 10s. value of the agricultural produce of the country consumed in this manner. To which is to be added, the irreparable injury committed by pigeons in seed time, by picking up every grain of seed, wherever they alight, and the corn trod under and beaten out by their wings before harvest, not to forget the real damage they do to buildings by pecking the mortar from between the bricks, a mischief which may, how- ever, always be obviated by the constant allowance of a SALT-CAT, which will also take their attention from the garden to which they may be otherwise destructive. On a general view of the subject, it appears that the dove-house system has ever been one of ex- treme injustice, as well as impolicy, in point of na- tional advantage ; for in the first respect, it must unavoidably happen, that great flocks must be main- tained at the expense of persons having no property 8 136 STOCK DOVE — VARIETIES. in them. But as, certainly, neither the public nor individuals will consent to be deprived of the enjoy- ment of this ancient luxury, the fairest mode appears to be, the regular feeding of pigeons by their pro- prietors, which, according to my experience, so at- taches them to home, that there is often a necessity of driving them out for exercise. This plan should, of course, be more punctually observed in seed time, and towards the approach of the corn crops to ma- turity. With respect to the risk of damage from pigeons, which must unavoidably be incurred by the farmer, his insurance must consist in that vigilance, in which generally he is too defective. BufFon enumerates upwards of thirty VARIETIES of the pigeon, which, according to his usual syste- matic plan, its convenience perhaps being rather more obvious than its accuracy, he derives from one root, namely, the STOCK-DOVE, or common wild pi- geon. All the varieties of colour and form which we witness, he attributes to human contrivance and fancy. There exist, nevertheless, essential specific differences in these birds, which seem rather attri- butable to the nature of the region, soil, or climate, to which they are indigenous, than to the art of man. The STOCK-DOVE, or original of the pigeon genus, in its natural or wild state, is thus described ; of a deep blue and ash colour, the breast darkened with a fine changeable green and purple ; the sides of the neck of a reddish gold colour ; its wings marked with two black bars, one on the quill feathers, and the other on the covert ; the back white, and the BARBS — WARWICK CASTLE— WOOD-PIGEONS. 137 tail barred near the end with black. The RING- DOVE is yet held by naturalists to be distinct from the stock-dove, and it would seem that the TURTLE- DOVE is equally so from both. In this country, the BLUE DOVE-HOUSE PIGEON is the most common, and the only WILD SPECIES are the ring-doves, or wood-pigeons, and the turtle- doves, which are to be found in all parts of South Britain, breeding during the spring and summer, and retiring to the deepest recesses of the woods, in the winter season, whence, probably, the turtle has been supposed to emigrate. I am assured by a Spanish gentleman that in Barbary, they have pi- geons equal in size to fowls, but incapable of flight. On the domain of Warwick castle, there is, per- haps, a greater number of turtle-doves, than in any other part of Britain. They abound in multitudes, throughout the. woods and plantations (1829) flying in pairs, -and lighting on the turrets of the castle. Their loud and mournful cooing is heard on the road at a considerable distance. Much pains have been taken, hitherto ineffectually, to reduce their numbers. Among the splendid antique curiosities of this mansion of high aristocracy, visitors do not forget that living antique the house-keeper, who is said to have advanced upon the date of one hundred years. WOOD-PIGEONS. The autumnal markets in the metropolis and in most large towns, generally exhi- bit a considerable supply of these birds. They as- semble in large flocks for the night in thick coverts, perching on the middle branches and the tops of 138 WOOD PIGEONS— ANCIENT NEST. the oaks. Windy and boisterous evenings in No- vember, are most appropriate to the sport of shoot- ing wood-pigeons, which always roost with their faces to windward, and the gunners guardedly ap- proaching behind them, hidden by the remaining foliage, and aided by the murmuring of the wind, obtain a fair chance of success, though the ring-dove is particularly shy and watchful. This is a sport for a company of gunners, each chusing a different stand in the twilight, by which plan, taking the birds sit- ting or flying, the bags may be well filled. As the game is large, short guns and heavy shot are the best adapted. The flesh of the wood-pigeon is in perfection in the latter summer and the autumnal months, from their ability in those seasons, to obtain the best food. During winter, feeding on cole worts or any green food they can find, their flesh is loose and bitter. From their large size, which would be increased by domestication, the experiment might be successful. At Pamber, Hants, there had been immemorially, an annual nest of wood-pigeons in a large yew-tree, said to be three centuries old, which grew in the garden within a few yards of the house. We seldom saw the old birds, which used the ut- most vigilance. We were well supplied with them from the neighbouring forest. In 1827, immense flocks of wood-pigeons, to the computed number of two thousand in one field, were seen upon the lands near Chichester. Sir H. Fisher's keeper killed sixty couple in one day. But both in the ancient and modern world, this beautiful and variegated genus of birds has been ANCIENT AND MODERN VARIETIES — THE FANCY. 139 cherished by man, as a source of amusement, and of gratification to the eye, as well as of profit, in the article of provision for the table. Among certain of the nations of antiquity, moreover, pigeons were held sacred, and their lives no one dared assail. The useful qualification of MESSENGER, appertaining to the Asiatic and African species of the pigeon, is of high antiquity ; and we read, in the time of the Crusades, of an Arabian prince, who had a sort of telegraphic communication kept up in his domi- nions, through the instrumentality of pigeons, which carried letters, and were regularly relieved at the appointed posts. From those, doubtless, the breed celebrated in Europe, under the name of THE CAR- RIER, has proceeded. In modern times, those varieties which are kept for the purposes of amusement and show, are styled FANCY BREEDS, and they form a distinct article of commerce in cities and great towns, the varieties, as they chance to be in fashion, bringing a considerable price. In London, the pigeon fanciers immemorially, I believe, have had a club, in which premiums are awarded, and the notable science of the fancy, through the medium of crossing colours and forms, is promoted and perpetuated. The chief objects of the fancy have hitherto been those varieties styled ALMOND (probably ermine) TUMBLERS, CARRIERS, and the birds with great crops, the most fashionable variety of which is the POUTING HORSEMAN. The specific merits of these breeds are indicated by their names. The tumbler exercises that faculty in the air, but is chiefly valued for his peculiar form and 140 SHOOTING — MISERIES. variegated plumage. The carrier, as a messenger, cuts the air with almost inconceivable swiftness. This is the Columba tabellaria, the famous carrier or messenger, between Aleppo and Alexandria in Egypt. The pouter distends his crop to a size at- tractive to curiosity, and by his grotesque attitudes and familiarity with man, engages his attention. Upwards of half a century past, the pigeon FANCY was in higher estimation and prosperity in this country than at present ; and the almond tumbler was then in the greatest vogue ; sums, probably, to the amount of twenty or thirty guineas each, being the price of superior cocks of that breed, such as, at the present time, would not produce more than five. The pigeon shops generally seem the abode of poverty and misery, of which the poor unfortu- nate birds, crammed into baskets and narrow coops, obviously partake in the fullest measure. This fancy is a great favourite with certain of the lower classes in the Metropolis, and perhaps too generally injurious to their better interests. Their common method of entrapping stray pigeons, the property of other people, does not well consist with an honest principle, takes up too much of the time of those who practise it, and leads to loose and irregular habits. PIGEON SHOOTING is another purpose to which these birds are applied, and of which periodi- cal details are to be found in the newspapers. Bat- tersea-fields the chief theatre of the sport. (t Few people, even those accustomed to reflect on animal sufferings, are aware of those, of the wretched town pigeon, harassed about from its first USEFUL BREEDS — BOOKS. 141 quitting the nest, through the rough hands of scores of unfeeling blackguards ; its feathers pulled, its wings braced^ starved, and forced to fly against its inclination, matched, then unmatched, and its dearest ties broken ; sold, re-sold, exposed in cages, im- mured in cellars, coal-holes, and loaded with every misery which can be inflicted by the wanton caprice, neglect, and beastly ignorance, of the two-legged race, its tyrants." — British Field Sports. It is necessary to apprize the reader, that I have never had the honour to be initiated in the pigeon fancy, but have been simply a keeper of pigeons, for the use of the table, with some additional plea- sure in their flight, and a degree of attention to those breeds which are of the largest size. On the subject of the fancy, the best authority with which I am acquainted, is a Treatise on Domestic Pigeons, published by Barry, of Fenchurch-street, in 1765, with very good plates, descriptive of the chief fancy varieties. That treatise has been succeeded by Moor's Columbarium. The only breeds which I have kept, exclusive of the common, were TUMBLERS, HORSEMEN, CARRIERS, TURTLES, DRAGOONS, (com- monly called DRAGONS,) and RUNTS ; the latter, both Spanish and Leghorn, for their great size. As breeders, no fancy pigeons will, in general, equal the common dove-house kind, unless, perhaps, with great care and attention. The PIGEON is monoganous, that is, the male at- taches and confines himself to one female, and the attachment is reciprocal ; the fidelity of the dove to its mate being proverbial. Young pigeons are termed SQUEAKERS, and begin to breed at about the 142 TERMS — SPLENDID CALCULATIONS. age of six months, when properly managed : their courtship, and the well known tone of voice in the cock, just then acquired and commencing, are indi- cations of their approaching union. Nestlings, whilst fed by the cock and hen, are termed SQUABS, and are at that age sold and used for the table. The dove-house pigeon is said to breed monthly, being well supplied with food, more particularly when the ground is bound by frost, or covered with snow. At any rate, it may be depended on, that pigeons of almost any healthy and well established variety, will breed eight or ten times in the year ; whence it may be conceived, how immense are the quantities which may be raised. It is, nevertheless, with difficulty that one can give entire credit to the calculations in such re- spect, on pigeons and rabbits ; bringing to re- membrance, to compare small things with great, the earths of gold, of the celebrated Doctor Price, which have been so greatly reduced in num- ber and weight by subsequent doctors. But I sup- pose we must not question the positive testimony of Stillingfleet, who asserts, that fourteen thousand seven hundred and sixty pigeons were produced from one single pair, in the course of four years. To class things of similar bearing together, it has been calculated, but I know not by whom, or on what practical ground, that a single pair of RABBITS may, in the same portion of time, namely, four years, produce one million two hundred and seventy four thousand, eight hundred and forty of their kind. The first step towards PIGEON KEEPING, is, un- PURCHASE — THE DOVE-COTE. 143 doubtedly, to provide a commodious place for their reception, of which I shall afterwards speak ; the next, to provide the pigeons themselves. These will be had in pairs, but if not actually MATCHED, pains must be afterwards taken, to that end, that no time be lost ; indeed, they may be matched accord- ing to the fancy of the keepers, for the purpose of varying the colours, or with any other view. But it is necessary to give a caution on the subject of OLD PIGEONS, of which a bargain may offer, since the difficulty of retaining them is so great, indeed insuperable, without the strictest vigilance. Nothing short of cutting their wings, and confining them closely until they have young to attach them to the place, will be a security ; and even afterwards, they have been known to take flight with the first use of their wings, and leave their nests. I have had se- veral examples of this. Thence it is always prefer- able to purchase SQUEAKERS, or such as have not yet flown : these, being confined, in a short time, well fed, and accustomed gradually to the surrounding scenery, before they have acquired sufficient strength of wing wherewith to lose themselves, will become perfectly domesticated. The DOVE-COTE, or pigeon-loft, as to its situation or extent, will necessarily depend on convenience, one GENERAL RULE, however, must be invariably observed, — that every pair of pigeons have two holes, or rooms, to nest in. Without this indispen- sable convenience there will be no security, but the prospect of constant confusion, breaking of eggs, and destruction of the young. Pigeons do well near THE DOVE-COTE — CATS. dwellings, stables, bake-houses, brew-houses, or such offices ; or their proper place is in the poultry-court. A dove-cote is a good object, situate upon an island, in the centre of a piece of water : indeed, such is a proper situation for aquatic poultry, and rabbits also ; and may be rendered extremely beautiful and picturesque by planting, and a little simple orna- mental and useful building. Where pigeons are kept in a room, some pers6ns prefer making their nests upon the floor, to escape the danger of the young falling out ; but in all probability this is to guard against one risk, and incur a great number, particularly that of rats and other vermin. The FRONT of the pigeon-room, or cote, should have a south-west aspect; and if a room be selected for the purpose, it is usual to break a hole in the roof of the building for the passage of the pigeons, which can be closed at convenience. A platform is laid by the carpenter at the entrance, for the pigeons to alight and perch upon, with some kind of defence against strange cats, which will often depopulate a whole dove-house ; CATS are yet necessary for the defence of the pigeons against rats and mice, as they will both destroy the birds and suck the eggs ; thence cats of a known good breed should be trained up familiarly with the pigeons. The platform should be painted white, and renewed as the paint wears off, white being a favourite colour with pigeons, and also most conspicuous as a mark to enable them to find their home. The boxes also should be so coloured, and renewed as necessary, for which pur- pose lime and water will be sufficient. CLEANLINESS — BARREL DOVECOTE. 145 CLEANLINESS is one of the first and most import- ant considerations : the want of it in a dove-cote will soon render the place a nuisance not to be ap- proached, and the birds, both young and old, will be so covered with vermin, and besmeared with their own excrement, that they can enjoy no health or comfort, and mortality is often so induced. Ours were cleaned daily ; thoroughly once a week, a tub standing at hand for the reception of the dung, the floor covered with sifted gravel, often renewed. Pigeons are exceedingly fond of water, and, having a prescience of rain, will wait its coming until late in the evening, upon the house-top, spreading their wing to receive the refreshing shower. When they are confined in a room, they should be allowed a wide pan of water, to be often renewed, as a bath, which cools, refreshes, and assists them to keep their bodies clear of vermin. In the attendance upon pigeons, caution is necessary with respect to their fighting, to which they are more prone than might be expected, often to the destruction of eggs or young, or driving the weakest away. The common BARREL DOVE-COTE needs no de- scription, at the same time is adapted to every situa- tion, in which it is desirable to keep pigeons for ordinary use. To return to the ROOM, or LOFT ; the shelves should be placed sufficiently high, for security against vermin, a small ladder being a ne- cessary appendage. The usual breadth of the shelves is about twenty inches, with the allowance of eighteen between shelf and shelf, which will be sufficient not to incommode the tallest pigeons. H 146 BREEDING-HOLES — BASKET — PIGEON-TRAPS. Partitions between the shelves may be fixed at the distance of about three feet, making a blind, by a board nailed against the front of each partition, whence there will be two nests in the compass of every three feet, so that the pigeons will sit in pri- vacy, and not liable to be disturbed. Or a partition may be fixed between each nest ; — a good plan, which prevents the young from running to the hen, sitting over fresh eggs, and perhaps occasioning her to cool and addle them : for when the young are about a fortnight or three weeks old, a good hen will leave them to the care of the cock and lay again. Some prefer BREEDING-HOLES entirely open in front, for the greater convenience in cleaning the nests ; but it is from those that the squabs are likely to fall, thence a step of sufficient height is prefer- able. The tame pigeon seldom taking the trouble to make a nest, it is better to give her one of hay, which prevents her eggs from rolling. Or a straw basket, or unglazed earthen pan, may be placed in every nest, apportioned to the size of the pigeons you breed. A PAN of three inches high, eight inches over the top, and sloping to the bottom like a basin, will be of sufficient size for a TUMBLER, or a small pigeon, whilst one of double those dimen- sions will be required for a large RUNT. A brick should always be placed in contiguity to the pan, to enable the cock and hen to alight with greater safety upon the eggs. The PIGEON-TRAP, on the house-top, is the well- known contrivance of those London rascals, who lie in wait, as has been said, to entrap the property of BASKETS — MEAT-BOX — WATER-BOTTLE. 147 others. A trap of another description, and for a very different purpose, is sometimes used ; it is an area, on the outside of a building, for the purpose of confining in the air valuable breeds of pigeons which cannot be trusted to flight. Some are erected to the extent of twenty yards long and ten yards in width, with shelves on every side for the perching of the pigeons ; thus they are constantly exercised in the air, retiring at their pleasure to the room or loft within. Very convenient BASKETS are now made of the cradle form, with partitions, or separate apartments. They serve for the carriage of pigeons for match- ing, or putting them up to fatten, or for any of the usual purposes. I have seen them lately, in the basket-shops on the Greenwich road, two or three miles from London. FOOD and WATER should be given in such way, as to be as little as possible contaminated with the ex- crement, or any other impurity. Our pigeons hav- ing been constantly attended, we have never found the need of any other convenience than earthen pans ; but there have been ingenious inventions for this purpose, of which the MEAT-BOX and WATER- BOTTLE following are specimens. The meat-box is formed in the shape of a hopper, covered at the top to keep clean the grain, which descends into a square shallow box. Some fence this with rails or holes on each side, to keep the grains from being scattered over ; others leave it quite open that the young pigeons may the more easily find their food. The WATER-BOTTLE is a large glass bottle, with a H 2 148 MATCHING — INCUBATION. long neck, holding from one to five gallons, its belly shaped like an egg, that the pigeons may not light and dung upon it. It is placed upon a stand, or three-footed stool, made hollow above, to receive the belly of the bottle, and let the mouth into a small pan beneath : the water will so gradually de- scend out of the mouth of the bottle as the pigeons drink, and be sweet and clean, and always stop when the surface reaches the mouth of the bottle. To MATCH or PAIR a cock and hen, it is necessary to shut them together, or near and within reach of each other ; and the connexion is generally formed in a day or two. Various rules have been laid down, by which to distinguish the cock from the hen pigeon ; but the masculine forwardness and action of the cock, is for the most part distinguishable. INCUBATION. The great increase of domestic pigeons does not proceed from the number of eggs laid by them, but from the frequency of their hatch- ing. The hen lays but two eggs and immediately proceeds to incubation. Having laid her first egg, she rests one day, and, on the next, lays her second egg. They usually stand over the first egg, not sitting close until they have two, whence, both the young are hatched nearly at the same time : there are some exceptions, however, to this rule of nature, and the hen having sat close at first, one young bird may be hatched a day or two before the other. They often spoil their first eggs from inexperience. The PERIOD Of INCUBATION is NINETEEN Or TWENTY days from laying the first egg, and SEVEN- TEEN or EIGHTEEN from the last. The labour of STRAYING. 149 sitting is equally divided between the cock and hen, excepting that the hen always sits by night. She is relieved in the morning by the cock, which sits during the greater .part of the day. The business of feeding the young is also divided between the parents ; and the cock has often brought up the young, on the accidental loss of his mate. Should not the eggs be hatched in due time, from weakness, some small assistance may be necessary to extricate the bird from the shell ; or should they be addled, it is generally held necessary to provide the cock and hen with a borrowed pair of young, or at least one to feed off their soft meat, which else may stag- nate in their crops and make them sick: but as young ones for this purpose may not always be at hand, the exercise of flying, fresh gravel, and those saline compositions generally given to pigeons, are the proper remedy. Addled, or rotten eggs, should be immediately removed. Pigeons are extremely liable to be lost by acci- dent, and that which is unaccountable, although they will find their home from such great distances, they nevertheless often lose themselves in their own neighbourhood. Should a cock or hen be lost during incubation, the eggs will be spoiled in twenty or thirty hours, and may then be taken from the nest ; but if the accident happen after hatching, the single parent left will feed the young. Should both parents be lost, the young are very easily accustomed to be fed by hand with small peas or tares, much preferable to barley. We did not find any neces- 150 SOFT MEAT — KINDS OF FOOD. sity of recourse to the old housewife's instrument, the hollow reed. SOFT MEAT is a sort of milky fluid or pap secreted in the craw of pigeons, by the wise providence of nature, against the time when it will be wanted for the nourishment of their young. In all probability, from instinct, the pigeons eat a greater quantity at this time, and the grain goes through a certain pro- cess in their crops, which produces the soft meat or pap in question. This they have the power of throwing up at will ; and, in feeding, they inject it from their own bills into those of the young ones, the bills of which are taken into their own. This kind of feeding continues six or seven days, when the old ones begin to mix some harder food with it, until at length they feed with whole grain. When the time approaches for the hen to lay, the cock is often seen driving her from place to place, not suf- fering her to rest any where but in her nest, appa- rently from an instinctive apprehension that she may drop her egg in an improper place. FOOD. Pigeons are entirely granivorous, and very delicate and cleanly in their diet ; they will sometimes eat green vegetables, in particular warm salads, and are extremely fond of seeds. TARES, and the SMALLEST kind of HORSE BEANS, commonly called pigeon beans, are both the best and cheapest food for pigeons, but the pulse should always be old, that is to say, of the previous year ; as the new will scour pigeons, as well as any other kind of live stock. SEEDS are occasionally given to MISTAKE IN BEANS — FUMIGATION. 151 pigeons, as a warming and stimulant diet ; but ac- cording to my experience they greatly prefer rape and canary to hemp-seed. It has been remarked, that beans, sodden in salt-water, scour pigeons equally with new beans, and, in a voyage, suffering them to drink sea-water will soon kill them ; although so generally benefited by salt, an excess of it is fatal, as it is also to vegetation, promoted as that is by a moderate quantity. In most publications on the subject of pigeons, a dangerous mistake has been made in a term applied to beans. Small tick beans are recommended, in- stead of small horse-beans. Now, the tick or Md- well (in the western phrase), are the larger of the two common field varieties, and beside being inferior in quality, are too large for pigeons, which have been sometimes choked even with the common-sized horse-beans ; on which account, the smallest possi- ble should be procured, whence such are termed in the market accounts, " pigeon-beans." Pease, wheat, and buck-wheat or brank, are eaten by pigeons ; but should be given only in alternation, not as a constant diet. The same of seeds. They yet prefer wheat. The strong scent of cummin and flavour of coriander seeds are said to have an allur- ing effect upon the olfactory nerves and palate of these birds ; as also the scent of asqfcetida, and other powerfully odoriferous drugs ; and that the use of fumigations of such, in the dove-cote, will not only attract the pigeons *to their home, but allure strangers, which may be wandering in search of a habitation. 152 SALT-CAT — OLD RECEIPTS. The last dietetic, or rather, perhaps, medicinal article necessary to be described, is the SALT-CAT, so called from some old fancy of baking a real cat with spices, for the use of pigeons, which, however, I never observed to eat animal food. In compliance with this custom, I caused to be placed in the middle of the pigeon-loft, a dish of the following composition : loam, sand, old mortar, fresh lime, bay-salt, cummin, coriander, caraway seed, and allspice, moistened into a consistence with urine. The pigeons were constantly pecking at this, and were in a constant state of good health ; how much of which may be attributed to the use of the cat, I cannot determine ; but, certainly, they are extremely fond of it, and if it have no other merit, it prevents them from peck- ing the mortar from the roof of the house, to which otherwise they are much inclined. The cat was mixed and heaped up in the dish, a piece of board being placed upon the summit, to prevent the birds from dunging upon it ; when become too hard it was occasionally broken for them. The regular OLD FORMULA for this cat is as fol- lows : gravel or drift-sand, unctuous loam, the rub- bish of an old wall, or lime, a gallon of each — should lime be substituted for rubbish, a less quantity of the former will suffice — one pound of cummin-seed, one handful of bay-salt ; mix with stale urine. In- close this in jars, corked or stopped, holes being vpunched in the sides, to admit the beaks of the pigeons. These may be placed abroad. Many fanciful and groundless tales may be found in old books, relative to the MEDICINAL and REME- VARIETIES — CALCULATIONS ON FLIGHT. 153 DIAL properties of almost every part of the pigeon ; thus much, however, may be relied on, their flesh, when young and in good condition, is a nourishing and stimulant diet ; that of the full-aged pigeon more substantial, but harder of digestion, and, in a considerable degree, heating. The general rule of colour affecting quality in the flesh, holds good in tame pigeons. The black and dark feathered are proportionally dark or brown fleshed, of high flavour, inclining to the game bitter of the wild pigeon. The light colour in the feathers, denotes light and delicate flesh. Their DUNG is of an ex- tremely heating and drying quality, whether as a manure, or for medicinal purposes. It was, in for- mer days, a principal ingredient in nitre-beds, when that article was almost entirely manufactured at home. CARRIERS, HORSEMEN, and DRAGOONS, are travel- lers or messengers, and I have occasionally seen TUMBLERS turned off, at the distance of forty miles from home. The carrier, it is said, has performed a journey of forty miles in an hour and a half, and of even ninety miles in three hours. A dragoon has flown seventy-six miles in two hours and a half: this ancient fancy of flying pigeons had declined, but has, it seems, revived within a few years. The admired qualities in the TUMBLER are excessive high flight, so as to be almost imperceptible to the keen- est eye, in fine and clear weather ; perseverance in their flight for many hours together, and tumbling over and over repeatedly during their ascent arid descent. H5 154 PIGEON FLYING. Whatever benefit or utility may have been de- rived, in ancient days, from these winged messen- gers, it is probable the moderns reap no other benefit from them than that of amusement and the gratification of curiosity, by flying them for prizes and betting. Scarcely, however, is there a great race or great fistic contest at distance from the me- tropolis, but a profitable use is said to be made by pigeon flyers, in sending instant intelligence of the result to their confederates in town. But after all, this appears, with perhaps a few exceptions, to have been from the beginning a regularly repeated hoax ; and such is the opinion of a late writer in the Sport- ing Magazine. The practice, nevertheless, of flying pigeons between this country and the continent, has revived within the three or four last years, and has been frequently repeated. It is pretended, that speedy intelligence is thus kept up between London and Rotterdam, on the course of exchanges. In 1825, the Society of Amateurs at Antwerp sent ninety carriers to Paris, to fly for a prize. They were started from the French capital at seven in the morning, and by noon of the same day, thir- teen of them had reached home. The first arrived at half-past eleven o'clock. One of the Flemish breed, turned off after the fight for the champion- ship, at Warwick, by Harry England, of the Green Man Inn, Kent Road, performed the ninety two miles in three hours and thirty minutes. Mr. At- wood made a bet of one hundred sovereigns, that he would fly six pigeons from the high ground near Crostwick, in Norfolk, one hundred and fourteen PIGEON FLYING. 155 • 156 VARIETIES — DOVECOTE PRODUCE. cessful use of pigeons as messengers, it appears to be one of those ancient arts said to be buried in the grave of time, which has not hitherto encountered resurrection. The present price of a pair of car- riers is about six guineas. The following imperfect account of pigeons used and sold from a Berkshire dove-cote, in 1807, is ex- tracted from the Survey : — 147 used in the house, at 5s. per dozen, 31. Is. 3d.— Sold 550 for 101. 15s. 10|d.=131. 17s. IJd. The DUNG estimated at one- fourth of their return per annum. NEW GUINEA pigeons are said, in some Lady's Voyage to India, nearly to equal the turkey in size ; of a slate colour, with a crest of gauze feathers, some inches high, in the form of a fan ; the iris of the eye bright vermilion. By my memoranda, in 1801, I observe, that sixty- five pairs of old pigeons, and one hundred and forty squeakers of all sizes, regularly fed, consumed in one week, five pecks of the smallest beans, and ten quarts of seeds. The above old stock, without any young, consumed about half the quantity. From the same. FAN-TAILS or SHAKERS, the head always in motion, are a beautiful stock, and good breeders, but so stupid and silly, as scarcely to be capable of taking care of themselves, or finding their home. RUNTS, although so much larger, breed as fast and equally forward as Tumblers. The dura- tion of life in the pigeon is said to extend to about twenty years, and it is deemed full aged when the wings are full of the quill feathers. According to Acts 7 and 8 Geo. 4. Sect. 33, TRAPPING ILLEGAL. 157 persons unlawfully killing, wounding, or taking any house- dove or pigeon, under such circumstances as do not amount to larceny at common law, shall for- feit over and above the value of the bird, any sum not exceeding forty shillings. Occupiers of lands may lawfully kill pigeons destroying corn. At the Westminster Court of Requests, in Fe- bruary 1829, a decision was made against TRAPPING pigeons, the defendant being amerced in the price of the pigeons and costs. There is, however, a bye-law among the fancy, that a groat shall redeem a trapped pigeon. But suppose the stray should be a valuable bird, worth many pounds. The following singular detection of a thief oc- curred on a late examination at Queen's Square, Westminster : — Mr. Bepy, in the Wandsworth Road, had his pigeon-house robbed. A known thief was stopped on the road with six fancy pigeons in his possession, by Sergeant Reardon of the police, and taken before the magistrates, but no evidence appearing against him, he was discharged, and suf- fered to take away the birds, which he claimed as having purchased them. Cooper, an officer of the court, being somewhat up to the pigeon fancy, and seeing them above the common sort, purchased them, and very commendably determined to find out the real owner, which he effected in the following in- genious mode. Selecting a fine bald-head, he at- tached a note to its foot, with his address, and then threw up the pigeon, which instantly flew to its own home, and was recovered by its owner, who returned it to Cooper, making him a present of the half- dozen as a reward for his sagacity. 158 RABBITS. SECTION XV. Rabbits. RABBITS are animals proper to be allowed in a wild state, in those countries only, where are extensive wastes, and where corn and other farming produc- tions are not at a high price : in populous and highly cultivated regions, they are a great and wasteful nuisance, and proofs are before the public, only a few years old, of nearly the whole produce of a farm being devoured by them, to the ruin of the tenant. This farm was situated in the vicinity of extensive preserves ; but it is equally unfortunate for a farmer to be fixed near to, or within some miles of a rabbit- warren, since they will travel to a great distance, to feed either upon corn or vegetables, and if the soil and corn be to their liking, will always remain in sufficient numbers to stock a new district. At the same time, they are a good and profitable stock, domesticated; infinitely more prolific, under good management, than in their wild and exposed state, and their dung is extremely valuable upon a farm. The old writers perhaps, rather overvalued the profits of this stock. Rabbit-keeping is practised by a few individuals in almost every town, and by a few in almost every part of the country ; but thirty GREAT FEEDERS — THE RABBIT-HOUSE. 159 or forty years ago, there were one or two very con- siderable feeders near the metropolis, keeping each, according to report, from fifteen hundred to two thousand breeding does. These large concerns have ceased, it seems, long since, and London re- ceives the supply of tame, as well as wild rabbits, chiefly from the country. The only considerable rabbit-feeders of whom I heard, some years since, were two gentlemen, the one resident in Oxfordshire, the other in Berks. The former fed some hundreds, and then, it was said, intended to double his stock. The HUTS were placed in a small building set apart for that purpose. The then stock produced one load of dung per week, two loads of which were suf- ficient to manure an acre of land. Three dozen of rabbits per week were sent to the London market, but keep and attendance reckoned, no other profit accrued, excepting the dung, the price of which used to be eight-pence per bushel, and I believe thirty-six bushels are reckoned a load. The Berks gentleman, according to the survey of that county, fed white rabbits on account of the superior value of their SKINS, from their application of late years to the purpose of trimmings. Twenty does and two bucks were my largest stock. The RABBIT-HOUSE should stand upon a dry foun- dation, and be well ventilated. Exposure to too much humidity, whether externally or internally, is fatal to rabbits, which are liable to the rot like sheep, and from the same causes. The rains of 1799, which continued nearly four months, destroyed 160 ARRANGEMENT OF HUTCHES — GREEN MEAT. my stock of rabbits, which were hutted in a boarded shed, not well defended from the cold and moist air. Ventilation and fresh air are also necessary, where considerable numbers of these animals are kept, which will not else remain healthy, or prosper for any length of time : and even sudden mortality may ensue, from impure and stagnant air. A thorough draught or passage for the air is thence indispensable, and should be contrived in the build- ing, with the convenience of shutting such opposite windows or doors in cold and wet weather. The HUTS or HUTCHES are generally placed one above another, to the height required by the number of rabbits, and the extent of the room. Where a large stock is kept, to make the most of room, the hutches may be placed in rows, with a sufficient in- terval between, for feeding and cleaning, instead of being joined to the wall, in the usual way. It is preferable to rest the hutches upon stands, about a foot above the -ground, for the convenience of clean- ing under them. Each of these hutches, intended for breeding, should have two rooms, a feeding and a bed-room. Those are single, for the use of the WEANED RABBITS, or for the BUCKS, which are always kept separate. When much green meat is given, rabbits make a considerable quantity of urine, and I have sometimes seen occasion to set the hutches sloping backwards a few degrees, a very small aperture being made the whole length of the floor to carry off the urine. A sliding door in the partition between the two rooms, is convenient for confining the rabbits dur- TROUGHS—FLOOR — BIN. 161 ing the operation of cleaning ; which indeed, is a good argument for having all the hutches double, it being more troublesome to clean out a room with a number of rabbits in it, than with only one. It must not be forgotten, that the teeth of rabbits are very effectual -implements of destruction to any thing not hard enough to resist them, and their troughs should be bound with something less penetrable than wood. As they are apt to scratch out their food, and dung in it, I have often thought it might be useful to adopt the feeding troughs with move- able boards, as well for rabbits as hogs. The FLOOR of the hutches should be planed smooth, that wet may run off, and a common hoe with a short handle, and a short broom, are most convenient implements for cleaning these houses. The object being to obtain the dung pure, for sale, no litter should be allowed ; but on a farm where the dung is expended at home, the hutches should be littered with refuse hay or straw, perfectly dry. The rabbit-house to contain a tub for the dung, and a bin for a day's supply of hay, corn, roots, or other food, which should be given in as fresh a state as possible. There are other modes of confining rabbits for breeding, in which they are left to their liberty, within certain bounds ; for example, an artificial mound walled in, in which they burrow and live as in the natural state ; and an island as described in Mr. Young's Annals : methods which are certainly ornamental and pleasurable, as well perhaps as more for the comfort of the animals ; but surely not 162 MODES OF KEEPING — VARIETIES. so profitable to the owner as hutching, in which mode, also, they may be preserved, with due care, in the highest state of health. On this head I find the following remark in my memoranda for the year 1805 : Rabbits at large, must always suffer more in point of profit, by loss of number, than they gain, by cheaper feeding, exclusive of the mischief they do ; and this principle operates proportionally in limited enlargement, as in the unlimited upon the warren. They are quarrelsome and mischievous animals ; and the bucks, when at liberty, destroy a considerabe part of the young. A run abroad, indeed, for young rabbits, until a certain age, might be beneficial if growth were the object ; but all rabbits must be se- parated at the age of puberty, or as soon as they be- come fit for breeding ; they will else tear each other • to pieces. As to the VARIETIES of FORM and COLOUR, in the rabbit, the short-legged, with width and substance of loin, generally few in number, and to be obtained only by selection, are the most hardy, and fatten most expeditiously, taking on fat both internally and in the muscular flesh. They have besides the soundest livers, the rabbits being generally subject to defects of the liver ; they are the smallest variety. There is a very LARGE VARIETY of the hare colour, having much bone, length and depth of carcase, large and long ears, with large eyes, resembling those of the hare. They might well be taken for hybrid or mules, but from the objection of their breeding. Their flesh is high coloured, substantial, and more savoury than that of the common rabbit : TURKISH VARIETY — SMUTS. 163 and they make a good dish, cooked like the hare, which, at six or eight months old, they nearly equal in size. The large white, and yellow and white spe- cies, have whiter and more delicate flesh, and cooked in the same way will rival the turkey. With respect to COLOUR, I have always preferred the wild colour, and black, finding the skins of full as much worth as the white. The TURKISH, or FRENCH RABBIT, with long white fur, differs little from the common varieties ; nor did I find their skins of more value, either for sale or home use. I have been in the habit of drying the skins, for linings of night-gowns, and other domestic purposes ; but have always found reason to prefer the short, close fur. The large above mentioned, — indeed any peculiar varieties — must be sought among the London dealers. Of late years, in London, the term smut, has been applied as a mark of distinction in the rabbit. Thus, there are single and double smuts. The smut con- sists of a black spot on the side of the rabbit's nose: when there are two black spots, one on each side of the nose, it constitutes a double smut. Generally, the rabbits are prized for the number of these black spots upon the head and body, and for the fineness and length and size of the ears, which occasions their falling about the head, in a manner different from the common rabbit. Black and tortoiseshell are the favourite colours. A connoisseur has lately favoured the author with the following practical observations on HARES and RABBITS. " According to the furriers, the Siberian 164 VARIETIES — BREEDING. hares are the finest in the world, for size, strength, and quality of the fur. Next to those, in point of size, are the maukins, found on the Isle of Man. The weight of one of them exceeds belief, and has been given as high as twelve to fourteen pounds. The hare skins of North Wales are also favourites with the trade, and in proportion to their size bring a higher price than any other, not excepting the maukins of our own high lands. " RABBITS are divided into four kinds — warreners, parkers, hedgehogs, and sweethearts. Burrowing under ground is favourable, it appears, to the growth of fur ; and the warrener, though a member of a subterraneous city, is less effeminate than his kin- dred who roam more at large. His fur is most es- teemed, and after him comes the parker, whose favourite haunt is a gentleman's pleasure grounds, where he usually breeds in great numbers, and not unfrequently drives the hares away. The hedge- hog is a sort of vagabond rabbit, who travels tinker- like throughout the country, and who would be better clad if he remained more at home. Sweet- hearts are tame rabbits, and their fur, though sleek, is too silky and soft, to be of much use in the im- portant branch of hat-making." I believe I have had Essex and Lincolnshire marsh hares, equal to, if not above, the weight which seems to have so sur- prised our connoisseur. BREEDING. The DOE will breed at the age of six months, and her period of GESTATION is thirty or thirty-one days. It should be premised, that the buck and doe are by no means to BE LEFT TO- NUMBER PRODUCED — ANCIENT ERROR. 165 GETHER ; but their union having been successful, the buck must be immediately withdrawn, and the doe tried again in three days : in fact, with rabbits, this business is conducted on the same principle as in the stud. Like chickens, the best breeding rab- bits are those kindled in March. Some days before PATURITION, or kindling, hay is to be given to the doe, to assist in making her bed, with the flue, which nature has instructed her to tear from her body for that purpose. She will be at this period seen sitting upon her haunches, and tearing off the flue, and the hay being presented to her, she will, with her teeth, reduce and shorten it to her pur- pose.— Biting down of the litter or bed, is the first sign of approaching pregnancy. The number pro- duced, generally between FIVE and TEN ; and it is most advantageous always to destroy the weak or sickly ones, as soon as their defects can be per- ceived, because five healthy and well-grown rabbits are worth more than double the number of an op- posite description, and the doe will be far less ex- hausted. She will admit the BUCK again with profit at the end of six weeks, when the young may be separated from her and WEANED. Or the young may be suckled two months, the doe taking the buck at the end of five weeks, so that the former litter will leave her about a week before her next parturition. A notion was formerly prevalent, of the necessity for giving the buck immediately after the doe had brought forth, lest she should pine, and that no time 166 CAUTIONS — WEAKNESS — MR. BROWN. might be lost ; and if it were intended that no time might be lost in destroying the doe, such, indeed, would be the most successful method. Great care should be taken that the doe, during her gestation, be not approached by the buck, or indeed by any other rabbit ; as, from being harassed about, she will almost certainly CAST her young. One doe in a thousand may DEVOUR her young ; the sign that she ought to be otherwise disposed of. Some does ad- mit the buck with difficulty, although often appa- rently in season ; such should be immediately fat- tened off, since it can never be worth while to keep an objectionable individual for breeding, of a stock to be produced in such multitudes. Should the doe be WEAK on her bringing forth, from cold caught or other cause, she will drink beer-caudle, as well as any other lady ; or warm fresh grains will com- fort her; a malt mash; scalded fine pollard, or barley-meal, in which may be mixed a small quantity of cordial horse-ball. Mr. Brown, of Banbury, who has published some observations on the subject, believes that, what ap- pears to be a propensity, is nothing more than a necessitous, though truly unnatural, act. That it is done to satiate the thirst induced by the febrile state of parturition, which thirst they, in con- sequence of their confinement, have not the natural power to allay. Hence the horrid alternative of sa- crificing their young, an extremity to which they are never driven in a state of nature. Mr. B. observes, " I have had rabbits which OBSERVATIONS ON RABBITS EATING THEIR YOUNG. 167 have been sold me cheap, in consequence of this seeming proneness to eat their young, which I have entirely avoided by allowing the animal some short time anterior, at the time, and for a week or so after parturition, to drink freely of cold water ; and when I have taken this precaution, no such propensity ever evinced itself in the least ; and that cold water is in no way injurious, and the animal appears won- derfully gratified by it." " The preceding remarks go to prove, that the pro- pensity is in fact one which has necessity for its ori- gin ; and that of the most imperious nature. Hence it is recommended to all who may have suffered from this cause, to supply the parturient animals with as much cold liquid as they require or can drink." However plausible this theory of Mr. Brown may be, and however occasionally useful, it must not be received as generally correct. We must look deeper for the real exciting cause of this apparently unna- tural, perhaps inscrutable act, in females of various genera of animals, than thirst, and the mere want of drink, since it is well known to take place, when there is no such want, particularly in the rabbit, the least liable to thirst, the sow, the cat, the ferret, and others. The cow also devours her after-burden, in a field of grass, and in reach of the pond at which she is daily accustomed to drink. There are, more- over, formidable objections to this hypothesis of Mr. Brown ; no light one in the solidity of the sub- stance chosen to allay thirst, better calculated, one would suppose, to appease hunger ; and another 8 168 WINTER RABBITS — PRODUCE — THE BUCK. weighty one, in the fact, that some, or most females, never devour their young, under whatever circum- stances of privation. The doe will, as I have expe- rienced, sometimes commit the act from resentment at having her bed and young disturbed and pryed into ; and will then wantonly tear her bed in pieces, and scatter the fragments about her hut. With due attention to keeping them warm and comfortable, and guarding against any sudden im- pression from cold, and more particularly moist air, and with the aid of the best and most nourishing food, I have bred rabbits throughout the WINTER, with nearly equal success as in the summer season. But, in truth, their produce is so multitudinous, that one might be well satisfied with four or five litters, during the best part of the year, giving the doe a winter fallow. — Even four litters would, upon the lowest calculation, produce TWENTY YOUNG ONES ANNUALLY to each doe — equal to an annual TWO THOUSAND from a stock of ONE HUNDRED DOES. I have no experience of does, as breeders, beyond the FIFTH year : the BUCK will come into use at six, or even four months old, and be in perfection from the age of two to three years. FEEDING. Upon a regular plan, and with suffi- cient attendance, it is better to FEED three times than twice a day. The art of feeding rabbits with safety and advantage is, always to give the upper hand to dry and substantial food. Their nature is congenial with that of the sheep, and the same kind of food, with little variation, agrees with both. ALL WEEDS, and the refuse of vegetation, should be ba- FATTENING — SALE. 169 nished from Rabbit feeding. Such articles are too washy and diuretic, and can never be worth atten- tion, whilst the more solid and nutritious produc- tions of the field may be obtained in such plenty, and will return so much greater profit. Rabbits may, indeed, be kept, and even fattened upon roots, good green meat, and hay ; but they will pay for corn ; and this may be taken as a general rule : — Rabbits which have as much corn as they will eat, can never take any harm from being indulged with almost an equal portion of good substantial vegeta- bles. However, the test of health is, that their dung be not too moist. Many, or most, of the town feeders never allow any greens at all ; the reason, I suppose, because they feed almost entirely on grains. The CORN proper for rabbits : — oats, peas, wheat ; pollard, and some give buck wheat. The GREENS and ROOTS, the same as our cattle crops, namely carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, and if pota- toes, baked or steamed. Lucerne, cabbage-leaves, clover, tares, furze. I have had them HOVEN, from eating rape ; and not improbably, mangold might have a similar effect. Clover and meadow hay, pea and bean straw. Rabbits are generally sold from THE TEAT, but there is also a demand for those of larger size, which may be fattened upon corn and hay, with an allow- ance of the best vegetables. The better the food, the greater weight, better quality, and more profit, which I apprehend to be generally the case in the breeding of all animals. Some fatten with fresh grains and pollard. I have tried all wheat, and all 170 'FLESH— SIZE — CATTLE SHOW. potatoe oats, comparatively ; but could find no dif- ference in the goodness of the flesh. The rabbit's flesh being dry, the allowance of succulent greens may tend to render it more juicy ; and I suppose the old complaint of the dryness of the flesh in Devon beef entirely fed with hay, might be reme- died in the same way. Rabbits are in perfection for feeding at the FOURTH or SIXTH month ; beyond which period, their flesh becomes more dry and somewhat hard. It requires THREE months, or nearly so, to make a rabbit thoroughly fat and, ripe ; half the time may make them eatable, but by no means equal in the quality of the flesh. They may yet be over fattened, as appears by specimens exhi- bited a few years since at Lord Somerville's show, which were loaded with fat without and within, like the best feeding sheep ; and at the late London cattle show, two were exhibited, one of them ex- ceeding the weight of 151bs. The FLESH of the rabbit is esteemed equally di- gestible as that of fowls, and equally proper for the table of the invalid. This seems to be the general sentiment, especially with regard to the sucking rabbit boiled. There 'is, nevertheless, some discre- pancy of judgment between our sages of the table, as to the preference due to the wild or tame rabbit. In our opinion, the flesh of the wild rabbit is most savoury and substantial, that of the tame and home- fed, most delicate and chicken-like. We frequently observe a deep yellow suffusion, tinging the whole flesh and fat of the rabbit, and the same also in the turkey and in beef. I could never conjecture or ob- CASTRATED RABBITS — CORN. 171 tain any satisfactory cause for this phenomenon. Is the cause biliary ? Of the two rabbits at the late show, one was white as silver, the other a deep yel- low, yet apparently both equally healthy. A laughable incident occurred on the exhibition of Rabbits, at the late Lord Somerville's show. Calling on my noble friend the following day, in order to talk over relative topics, his Lordship said to me with an appearance of apprehension and dis- trust— Why, do not you think that rabbits were sent merely for the purpose of throwing a ridicule on the show, and ought they to have been received ? I assured him I thought very differently, and that they were no doubt admissible, being a species of live stock of great consequence as national food, and in universal demand, thence entitled to exhi- bition, like other stock, in their utmost perfection of proof. My Lord was satisfied. CASTRATED rabbits might be fattened, no doubt, to the weight of upwards of ten or even fifteen pounds, at six or seven months old. The operation should be performed at the age of six or seven weeks. I have hot succeeded at castrating the rab- bit, but am informed it is successfully practised in the land of capons, namely, Sussex, near Chichester, where, on the average, not one in three hundred is lost by the operation, which is performed at five or six weeks old. With respect to QUANTITIES of corn consumed in fattening ; — August, 1813, killed a young buck, which weighed three pounds, fit for the spit ; it was put up in good case, and was only one month in feeding, consuming not quite four 172 KILLING—CORNET BUTTERCUP. quarts of oats, with hay, cabbage, lucerne, bunias orientatis, and chicory ; the skin, silver and black, worth four pence. In SLAUGHTERING full-grown rabbits, after the usual stroke upon the neck, the throat should be perforated upwards towards the jaws with a small pointed knife, in order that the blood may be eva- cuated, which would otherwise settle in the head and neck. It is an abomination to kill poultry by the slow and torturing method of bleeding to death, hung up by the heels, the veins of the mouth being cut; but still more so the rabbit, which in that situation utters horrible screams. The ENTRAILS of the rabbit, whilst fresh, are said to be good food for fish, being thrown into ponds. The rabbit is a CARESSING animal, and equally fond, with the cat, of the head being stroked ; at the same time, it is not destitute of courage. A whimsical lady admitted a buck rabbit, named as above (Corney Buttercup,) into the house, where he became her companion for upwards of a twelve- month. He soon intimidated the largest cats so much, by chasing them round the room, and dart- ing upon them, and tearing off their hair by mouth- fuls, that they very seldom dared to approach; He slept in the lap by choice, or upon a chair, or the hearth-rug, and was as full of mischief and tricks as a monkey. He destroyed all rush-bottomed chairs within his reach, and would refuse nothing to eat or drink, which was eaten or drank by any other member of the family. No live stock is less liable to DISEASE than the LIVER COMPLAINTS — MADNESS — STATUTES. 173 rabbit, with regular and careful attention, such as has been pointed out, so that any sudden and acci- dental disorder is best and most cheaply remedied by a stroke behind the ears. But want of care must be remedied, if at all, by an opposite conduct, and improper food exchanged for its contrary. Thus if rabbits become POT-BELLIED in the common phrase, from being fed on loose vegetable trash, they must be cured by good hard hay and corn, ground malt or pease, toasted bread or captains' biscuits, or any substantial and absorbent food. Their common liver complaints, are incurable, and when such are put up to fatten, there is a certain criterion to be observed. They will not bear to be pushed beyond a moderate degree of fatness, and should be taken in time, as they are liable to drop off suddenly. The dropsy and rot must be pre- vented, as they are generally incurable ; nor is a rabbit worth the time and pains of a probable cure. Of the ' madness in tame conies,' on which our old writers hold forth, I know nothing. By 7 and 8 Geo. 4th, if any person unlawfully and wilfully in the night time take any hare or coney in any warren or ground lawfully used for the keep- ing thereof whether enclosed or not every such per- son shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and persons guilty of the same offence in the day time, or using any snare or engine, are subject to a penalty of five pounds. But this does not extend to the taking in the day time any conies on any sea bank or river bank in Lincolnshire so far as the tide shall extend, or within a furlong of such bank. i 3 174 NATIONAL RABBIT BAZAAR. AMPTHILL RABBIT BAZAAR. I have stated at the commencement of this article, that the large concerns had generally ceased. Of late, one has arisen at Ampthill, Beds, upon a more extensive scale than ever before attempted, established by J. H. Fisher, Esq. an agent of his Grace the Duke of Bedford. Upon so extensive a plan, indeed, is this new undertaking, that it may well be styled our grand NATIONAL RABBIT BAZAAR. The building, situated upon an eminence, is square, somewhat re- sembling barracks, with a court withinside the walls, and with thirty acres of fine light land adjoin- ing, under culture of those crops known to be best adapted to the nourishment and support of rabbit- stock. It was proposed to keep between four and five thousand breeding does, which number is pro- bably now complete. The young rabbits, from seven to nine weeks old, are sent to Newgate and Leadenhall markets, fifty to sixty dozens, weekly. The quantity of dung produced, which is reserved with the utmost care, and free from any extraneous substances, must be very considerable and valuable. A number of men and boys are employed in the concern, under the direction of an experienced foreman, and the utmost regularity of attention ob- served with respect to management, feeding, and cleanliness. This Bazaar has been honoured by the visits of persons of the highest rank ; of his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, his Grace the Duke of Bed- ford, Lord Holland, Lord Vernon, and a number of ladies and gentlemen. SWINE. 175 SECTION XVI, Swine. THE above figure was taken of a sow bred from a cross with the Chinese black breed, the property of Arthur Mowbray, Esq. of Sherburn, Durham. She was at the time suckling nineteen pigs, being the third litter within ten months, the whole amounting to fifty pigs. There must, however, have been a mistake in the MS. with respect to the number of months, since the period of gestation in the swine is four months. In the accounts of extraordinary number of litters in a year, it must be understood that the pigs must have been taken early from the teat, chiefly as roasters, since the sow will not desire the boar again, until the turn of the milk. i 4 176 SWINE — FLESH AND SIZE EAR. Sus. PORCUS — the SWINE, PIG, or HOG, is too well known in all countries, to need a repetition of its generic description. It is one of the most useful, and perhaps the most profitable, of all the domestic animals, its flesh being greatly conducive to the pur- poses of luxury, but still more universally to the support of human life, in the laborious state. This animal is the general collector of offal and waste, whether in town or country, thereby foraging for a considerable part of its subsistence, the extra cost of which it moreover amply repays. Its flesh, second probably to beef, is the most substantial of human aliment, and may be eaten most frequently without disgust. The- solidity of swine's flesh, says the author of the General Treatise on Cattle, is ap- parent on a comparison of the external superficies of a fat hog, with that of a fat sheep or bullock, the dimensions of which latter animal, must be so much more extensive to equal the weight of the first ; which is also aptly illustrated by the well-attested examples of individual hogs, fed to the enormous weight each, of one hundred, and even one hundred and eighty-two stones, of eight pounds to the stone. This is also said to differ from all other land ani- mals, in the circumstance that the adipose substance, or fat, entirely covers his muscular flesh, in one con- tinued layer or stratum. The upright and pendant ear form specific distinctions in the swine, the latter being the general indication of larger SIZE. The singular variety not dividing the hoof, which were occasionally to be found in the neighbourhood of Windsor, some years since, is now probably extinct. USES SPECIES AND VARIETIES, USES. 177 The well-known culinary uses of swine's flesh, are — as ROASTING PIG AND PORK — FRESH AND PICKLED PORK BACON — HAMS BRAWN SAUSAGES of various kinds — PUDDINGS of the blood ; whilst the LARD is valuable both for kitchen and medicinal use, and the SKIN, BRISTLES, AND HAIRS, for the purposes of manufacture. SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF THE GENUS. The SPECIES are Asiatic, African, and European, with which, perhaps, may be included the American PECCARY, bearing its navel on its back. The Ethi- opian swine is large in a wild state, and has wattles under the eyes. The VARIETIES produced in this country, have generally originated in crosses with our indigenous breed, from the three grand specific divisions above cited : chiefly from the CHINESE, the black AFRICAN, the SPANISH and PORTUGUESE, of nearly the same colour, all more or less bare of hair ; the red, or more properly yellow ITALIAN, and the WILD SWINE of the neighbouring continent. The motive for these foreign crosses has been to abate and reduce the redundant size and bone of our native stock, and to substitute superior delicacy of flesh and aptitude to fatten ; both which views have succeeded, the latter, in the judgment of the author above quoted, in an ordinate degree. Another motive has been the extreme prolific quality of the southern and wild breeds. 178 IRELAND — BREEDING. BRITISH VARIETIES. For our VARIETIES of pigs at large, I repeat my reference to Lawrence's General Treatise on Cat- tle, the only book, probably, in which they have ever been enumerated and described, the author himself having been a considerable breeder and feeder. It will be sufficient to advert to the most material, and most noted, which are — the BERKS, HANTS, HEREFORD, SHROPSHIRE, YORKSHIRE, and MIDLAND county, for large size as bacon hogs ; and the Oxford, Bucks, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, as smaller breeds for pork feeding. All the above breeds are more or less imbued with foreign blood, the larger breed chiefly through the medium of the Berkshire cross, that county originally taking the lead in the foreign improvement. Berkshire and Hereford boars and sows have been used, within the last twenty or thirty years, in the improvement of the Irish breed of hogs, a coarse, hairy, and leggy va- riety, at length successfully improved into a form so nearly resembling that of our English stock, as to be with difficulty distinguished. Of those, both dead and alive, Ireland has exported immense quan- tities to this country. In the spring, 1830, according to the public papers, an Irish drove, amounting to upwards of fourteen thousand, passed a turnpike in the west. During many years past, indeed, PIG-BREEDING had greatly declined among us, and we had been supplied in proportion, not only with bacon and pork, but with stores for feeding, from Ireland. Demand, however, has had its necessary effect on a species of PRICE — BACON — LONDON FEEDERS. 179 animal so speedily reproduced^ and pigs are found in great abundance, throughout England. The price nevertheless has gradually advanced, and in September, 1826, Chappell, the crack Porkman of Skinner-street, London, sold the prime joints of his best milk-fed pork, at one shilling per Ib. ; the price, however, of pigs has declined during the present year, 1829, with that of other live stock, the markets, at length, having been abundantly supplied : yet Mr. Chappell is now (spring, 1830) selling his prime joints at lOd. to lOJd. per Ib. with a brisk sale. The Irish BACON has been greatly improved, and is not so easily distinguishable, as formerly, from English ; nor is there such a difference in price, both Irish butter and bacon often exceeding the English, in that respect. Scarcely any bacon is now made in or near London, the Distillers, who formerly fed such great numbers of hogs, having long since exchanged that species of stock for bul- locks ; and subsequently, many of the houses have given up all live stock, disposing of their wash and grains to the cow-keepers. The starch-houses of the metropolis keep about four or five hundred hogs each, of which they make somewhat more than two annual returns, fat ; or perhaps more, since a smaller and quicker feeding breed of pigs has come into use. These houses, in the year 1829, will have turned out nearly three thousand fat hogs. More than double that number were fattened in and near the metropolis, by six houses, upwards of half a century since, and before the revolutionary war with America. Of these, the great house at Lambeth, Stonard and 16 180 DAIRY PORK. Curtis, had room for nearly one thousand, and that of the late Mr. Suter, of the same place, the reputed quickest, cleanest, and best feeder in England, equally reputed for the quality of his stock, nearly five hundred. Cooper of Bow, one thousand. At the same period the Distillers all fed hogs, Sir Joseph Mawbey, at Lambeth, having styes to con- tain two thousand. The great and constant suc- ceeding import of Irish bacon, necessarily reduced the number of hogs fed in England ; as on the other hand, the general disuse of hair-powder, which su- pervened about the commencement of the French revolution, the change of fashion, in all probability, being introduced by. Duke Francis of Bedford, pro- portionately diminished the want of starch. The markets for dairy pork, near London, have not of late years exhibited those considerable num- bers formerly exposed to sale there, the demand being supplied irregularly, and from various quar- ters. From such causes it will naturally be inferred, that pig-breeding has been neglected in this coun- try ; and in truth, the stock of those districts which I have just now quoted, is not equal in size and form to that which they once possessed. The Herefordshire, forty years since, were the crack stores for the London feeders, and the Turners were the chief men for collecting them ; but now it seems both the Turners, (at least as pig-dealers) and the large breed of Hereford and Shropshire swine, are nearly extinct. Is Herefordshire, then, one day destined to lose her large and noble breed of oxen in the same way ? The vicinity of Peterbo- FOREIGN. 181 rough, Northamptonshire, is said to produce some of the best large-sized swine of the present day. We thus exemplify the motto of the old Almanack makers, omnium rerum mc'issitudo — all things change. The West India Islands and the Azores ought not to be forgotten, as producing a fine and deli- cate breed of PIGS, originally, it may be presumed, Spaniards, which have at various periods found their way thither ; such have been used for the purpose of refining our native breeds. South Ame- rica has also a fine breed of pigs. At Lord Somer- ville's show, in 1809, Mr. Gibbs, seedsman to the Board of Agriculture, exhibited a black wild pig from Monte Video. The sow and litter were im- ported together, and were very savage. They were deep in form, with very fine bone. One of them fattened very young to twenty-four stone, and al- though ripe and carrying a sufficient quantity of flair, it had more flesh in proportion, in the opinion of the butcher, than he had ever before witnessed. There was the least possible offal, the inside seeming to be filled with flesh. It was remarked that the great gut was smaller than the smallest gut of a small pig. This pork was excellent, inclining to the savoury. It has never occurred, that lam aware, to our breed- ers, to preserve any of the fine foreign varieties pure, whence possibly a still more delicate pork might be raised than any we at present possess, granting the attempt were made with those which furnish mus- cular flesh or lean, as well as fat. Some of the wild swine of the opposite continent are well adapted 182 CONVENIENCES FOR SWINE — STIES. to such purpose, and are besides very prolific. Most countries abounding with forests have herds of wild swine, these animals, under such circumstances, being always ready to quit domestication. I remem- ber, very many years ago, two young boars retiring, on French leave, to an extensive wood, then the property of Mrs. Eldred, between Colchester and Mersea Island, which became subsequently, during several years, the terror of the neighbourhood. Hunting the wild boar in India is a sport attended with considerable danger, of which there is an amusing account in a late number of the Sporting Magazine. CONVENIENCES FOR SWINE. ROOM and VENTILATION are objects of the great- est import, where numbers are kept, and dry lodg- ing, without which essentials, success must not be expected. Nor are swine, in whatever state, proof against excessive cold, for I have known instances of their being frozen to death in their stye, and have always remarked that severe weather materi- ally checks their thriving, unless they be sufficiently defended from the chilling effects of the air. The STY, situated upon a dry foundation, as well as sheltered above, should be paved at bottom, to the end that it may be kept clean and dry, the ope- ration necessary for which should be daily per- formed, for although pigs will wallow in the mire, they are yet more thrifty in clean lodgings. As swine confined usually employ their leisure time in demolishing, with their teeth, the wood-work within their reach, the modern cast-iron TROUGHS are pro- OPINION — PURPOSES IN FEEDING. 183 fitable ; at any rate, wooden troughs ought to be iron bound. A RANGE of sties is convenient where numbers are fed, on account of the greater facility of attendance, and of distribution of the wash re- served in the cistern. According to an ancient and general opinion, not, however, entirely supported by either ancient or modern experience, swine do not long succeed, if kept upon the same ground in considerable numbers, infecting each other with a malignant atmosphere. In opposition to such an idea, history informs us, that the Roman feeders possessed herds of swine, to the amount of two or three thousand each ; and I have often seen upwards of two thousand large hogs fattened under the same roof, where, in a long course of years, no mortality had been experienced or apprehended. The opinion in question has, most probably, arisen from the circumstance of too great number of pigs bred within confined limits, and a defective ventilation, assisted, perhaps, by a wet or boggy soil, and a want of cleanliness. PURPOSES IN FEEDING. These are either for mere domestic use, or for profit by sale ; and the choice of plan lies between BREEDING, and purchase of STORES ; the former at- tended with most trouble, but proportionate emolu- ment. Swine are not generally kept to advantage, unless where some waste remains to be gathered, or cheap articles of food can be grown for them ; but the rule admits of exceptions in favour of those who are well skilled in the animals themselves, and in the 8 184 PROFIT — SEASONS — CHOICE. turns of the market. The wash and offals of a mo- derate kitchen will go a considerable way towards the support of a breeding sow, and in return, the produce of the sow will operate in a comfortable proportion, towards the support of the kitchen. To embrace in our view the profits of the farm and of the public, it has been said, and according to my ex- perience, upon sufficient grounds, that, an hundred pounds laid out in swine, will return a greater profit, than the same sum invested in any other kind of live stock ; and that no other article of flesh provision can be raised and prepared for market so soon as pork : in consequence, it must be materially instru- mental in the production of plenty, and in restrain- ing exorbitance of price in the first necessaries. The seasons most usually advantageous for the purchase of pig stock, are, at Old Michaelmas, after clearing the harvest fields, and in the months of March and April. CHOICE OF VARIETIES. The reader is referred to our brief, but sufficient list of these, from which, according to his conve- nience or opportunity, he may make his election ; or without farther trouble, he may very safely have recourse to the HOME-BREDS of his own district or vicinity, since we are so far generally improved, that in whatever part of England a man may reside, he need not fail to purchase pigs for his money, which a sufficiency of good meat will fatten to profit. For BACON-HOGS in a commercial view, the regu- lar large varieties are doubtless best calculated, as endowed with the important qualification of growth, BACON — GROWTH — PORK. 185 to make use of the technical term, as well as of breeding fat. I readily acknowledge, however, this is an old-fashioned opinion, the large varieties hav- ing been not only long out of vogue, but the best of them even out of existence. I remain yet un- convinced. This property of growth, or accretion in stature, in animals to be fattened, has been of late years slighted, since the fashion has prevailed of confining our attention solely to the consideration of fatten- ing ; but on actual experiment, I believe it will be found that, a well-shaped animal, of whatever spe- cies, endowed with both properties, will make the heaviest return, and in an article of superior quality, for the quantity of meat consumed. The best PORK, in course, must be expected from the smallest, most delicate, and fine-fleshed va- rieties ; for example, as has been before observed, those which have resulted from crosses with the southern stock, or with the wild boar of the conti- nent. All our reputed porking breeds have this mixture in various degrees. But I must here put in my plea of objection more strongly, and in the name of good old English ROAST PORK, against the mo- dern principle of sacrificing every thing to fat, and consequently against those breeds, too frequently and deeply crossed with the foreign forms, which produce no lean. In bacon or salted pork, all fat may be tolerable, and even may be preferred by some palates ; but in roasted pork, it is not possible but that a certain portion of lean flesh must be de- sirable, scarcely a taste of which is to be found in 186 ALL-FAT — CRACKLIN — BREEDING. the hinder loins, at any rate of the species under consideration. The little flesh, too, yielded by such pork, is of an inferior greasy quality, and insipid flavour, perhaps necessarily, from being so tho- roughly saturated with the fatty material: and should pigs of this description be slaughtered before they have become ripe or fat, their pork will be or- dinary, and their weight very short of the profitable standard. On such considerations, the western pigs, chiefly those of Berks, Oxford, Beds, and Bucks, possess a decided superiority over the eastern, of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk ; not to forget another qualification in the former, at which some readers may smile, namely, a thickness of the skin, whence the craMin of the roasted pork is a fine gelatinous substance which may easily be masticated ; whilst the cracklin of the thin-skinned breeds is roasted into good block tin, the reduction of which would almost require teeth of iron. The western porking breeds make handsome sides of delicate bacon and hams, for superior family use. The eastern pork is how- ever smaller, and perhaps apparently more delicate, than that here described as in reality far superior. The eastern are also the quickest feeders. BREEDING. The DURATION of LIFE in the swine, is said by naturalists, to extend to twenty or thirty years, who report that the BOAR continues to grow to the end of the term. Swine are ready for procreation at the age of seven months, but the male is unprofitable for that purpose until twelve months old, and is in PROLIFIC — BREEDING MONTHS. 187 his prime at two years. In other respects, the age of swine is matter of small concern, since they are never kept until they are old ; and it is the custom with many breeders to slaughter even their most pro- lific sows in the second year. The young sows to be preserved for breeding, should be chosen with deep and capacious bellies, the full number of teats, and of the most extensive or widest general form. The term of GESTATION in swine is four months, or one hundred and fifteen days, with a very few days va- riation, producing three litters of from five to twelve pigs each, in about eighteen months, supposing the pigs to be weaned ; but in two or three months less time, the pigs being suckled for roasters. Greater numbers to a litter are often produced, more par- ticularly by the China breeds and its crosses, the most prolific of swine : and we had a late instance in Essex, of a sow of that breed, the property of Mr. Tilney, of Writtle, which farrowed 301 pigs in 13 litters, out of which she actually brought up 177, or more than 13 to a litter. I have, however, found, and more especially in the large breeds, that a litter of a moderate number is most profitable, since in the numerous litters there are generally several un- dersized and weak individuals, which never attain much proof. Thus a litter of nine or ten good pigs may bring more profit than a litter of thirteen or fourteen. After receiving the BOAR, for which the middle of SEPTEMBER and the middle of MARCH are the most advantageous seasons, the sow should be con- fined until her irritability has ceased, which will re- 188 - PARTURITION — PRECAUTION. turn within a few days of her parturition, a sign which demands attention. After she has become heavy, she should be securely lodged by herself, lest others injure her by lying upon her ; and, at any rate, during the time of bringing forth, as other swine would devour her offspring as they fell. Ac- cording to the above breeding periods, the pigs will come in the middle of January and of July ; in the first month, with the spring before them, and their nursing mother, in the interim, to defend them from the winter's cold ; in the other, they are nurtured in a warm season, weaned in the harvest-field, and then enabled to endure the rigours of the approach- ing winter. It has proved generally unsuccessful to rear pigs in the winter season, although they may be bred for roasters. SIGNS of approaching PARTURITION, in addition to the one above noted — swelling of the bags of milk, decreased size of the belly, sleepiness. A vigilant swineherd, solicitous to preserve all the pigs, will watch and attend the farrowing sow, day and night, because some sows are so unwieldy, or so careless, as, perhaps at every farrowing, to lie upon, and crush to death, a part of their young ; others, from an irregular and vicious disposition, will devour a part, or even all of them. As one precaution, the breeding-sow ought not to be kept fat and heavy, yet in good heart and full strength. Few keepers will, or ever do, go the length of attending the sow, satisfying themselves with the persuasion that she will be safest left to her own care. To those who are willing to undertake such an office, a hamper or PIGGING-HOUSE — CLEANLINESS. 189 basket of straw, will be found convenient, in which to withdraw the pigs from danger when it may be needful, in order to replace them properly, as occa- sion may suit ; which practice it may be necessary to repeat during two or three days, until the pigs shall have acquired strength and caution sufficient to secure themselves. It may indeed be profitable to lose part of a too numerous litter, but accident will not respect the quality of the pigs, and the most puny and worthless may escape. None must be saved beyond the number of teats, and upon an average, NINE is a sufficient number. Would the sow submit quietly, STRAPPING her jaws during the first day and night, with the trouble of releasing her at her meals, would be an effectual security, in case of unnatural voraciousness. As to very numerous litters, our newspaper columns are periodically stocked with triumphant accounts. The PIGGING-HOUSE should be warm and dry, and secure from the inroads of foxes and other vermin, which have been known to steal sucking pigs from the sleeping or absent sow. Short straw is prefer- able for a bed, but in not too great quantity, lest the pigs be smothered beneath it ; this should be renewed with due regard to cleanliness, and as the unwieldy sow is apt to crush her young against the wall, it is proposed, in the New Farmer's Calendar, to append an inclining or projecting rail, around, beneath which the pigs may escape, on the down- lying of the sow. Sows which are given to devour their pigs, or have teats too large and coarse, or yield too thick and unwholesome milk, should be 190 FIRST FOOD— CUTTING AND SPAYING. discarded as breeders, but a small number of pigs at the first litter is no valid objection. The FIRST FOOD should consist of warm and nour- ishing wash, whether from the kitchen or dairy, thickened with fine pollard or barley-rneal. A por- tion of strong beer may be added as a cordial, should circumstances render it necessary. The com- mon wash, pollard or meal mixed with water, if scalded, the better. The same diet is proper for the pigs to partake of whilst sucking. The sow can scarcely be too well kept during this period, and in addition to two meals as above, should be allowed a middle one of dry meat ; for example, a pint of peas or beans, with half a peck of carrots, boiled pota- toes, or the like. Potatoes alone are a poor and watery dependance, nor should pigs be fed with them or any loose vegetable trash, until three months old. The sow may be let out to air herself at plea- sure, and after a while with the pigs to accompany her, but never in bad weather. CUTTING and SPAYING the young pigs, is per- formed at six or seven weeks old, according to their strength : in a week after which, they may be WEANED. After weaning, shut up the sow closely, feed her well, and on the reflux of the milk, she will express very loudly her desire for the company of the BOAR. It is necessary to repeat, that sows are voracious, and occasionally fierce and savage animals, and have actually devoured young children. The sow is SPAYED whilst she gives suck, and the boar safely CASTRATED at any age. RINGING the snouts of pigs should be performed RINGING — KILLING — ENCOURAGEMENT — FOOD. 191 at weaning time, and after they shall have recovered from castration. In Cheshire, they cut away the cartilage, or gristle of the snout, in place of in- serting a ring, a practice which I have not hitherto essayed. KILLING. The following extraordinary expedi- tion, particularly for the country, was lately used by Frederic Green, Governor of the Poor-house at Brewood, in Staffordshire. Having betted ten pounds that he would kill, scald, well and completely dress, open, &c. eight pigs in four hours, without any other assistance whatever, than having the scalding water conveyed to him as he wanted it. This task he performed in three hours, fifty-six minutes. One of the pigs (surely hogs) weighed 3801bs. and none less than 2401bs., or thirty stones, London weight. Green however, had the advant- age of a windlass to draw the pigs out of the scald- ing tub. , ENCOURAGEMENT TO PIG BREEDERS. " Lancashire, April, 1813. Pigs of six weeks old, which sold two months ago at four shillings each, are now worth twenty shillings each." STORE-FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT. WEANLINGS should have, at least, one month of delicate feeding, warm lodging, and care. The same kind of food should be continued to them three times a day, to which they were at first accustomed with the sow. Corn and pollard are indispensable in pig feeding ; they may, indeed, be reared more 192 STORE-FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT. cheaply, but not then so profitably ; and the breeder who sagaciously plumes himself on the hardiness of his stock, of whatever species, will not always have to boast of form, size, and good plight, into the bargain. On the other hand, it is readily acknow- ledged, that the round and barrel form of a pig, making all fat, is most cheaply maintained, and the soonest ripe. GROWING STORES and sows are fed through the winter with the run of the barn-yard, upon roots of all kinds, including rutabaga and mangold, cabbage, &c. a ration of corn of some kind being allowed, with wash. Meal of any kind — bean, pea, oat, bar- ley, rye, buck-wheat, or tare, and linseed, boiled with potatoes, make good wash. Pea-wash alone scours young pigs. Pulse, or corn of any kind, are advantageously given in the straw to pigs, which are good thrashers. In autumn, and a plentiful season, swine will subsist themselves abroad upon acorns : in summer, upon clover, lucern, or tares ; but very young pigs particularly, ought not to be left abroad in continual rains, and will always pay for a daily moderate feed of old beans with the clover. Swine turned to shift upon forests or com- mons, are apt to stray and hide themselves for a considerable time ; the ancient and ready method to collect them, is by the sound of a horn, with which they have been accustomed to be fed. Where a considerable herd is kept, and they are shifted upon the waste, they should be attended by a boy to prevent trespasses. FATTENING WEANLINGS. 193 FATTENING FOR PORK AND BACON. Pigs will FATTEN either in confinement or at large in the yard. When in sties care should be taken that the pigs be all ringed, or they will not lie quiet ; also that, when a number are fed together, any one at which the rest may have taken a distaste, be im- mediately withdrawn, or in probability they will tear him to pieces. For the same reason, a stranger should never be introduced. The fewer together, the more quietly and speedily they fatten, and by consequence, they succeed best singly. The troughs with SLIDING BOARDS before the meat, giving way to the snout of the pig, and shutting on his with- drawing his head, generally used in Hants and Berks, greatly prevent waste. They used, I recol- lect, to be provincially denominated witches. WEANLINGS are fattened for delicate pork, chiefly in the dairies, where they are made ripe in a few weeks. Generally a pig of five or six months old will be fattened in seven, or eight, or twelve weeks, dependent on his condition. Small bacon hogs will be fattened in twelve weeks, the larger in sixteen to twenty. They should be kept perfectly clean, dry, and comfortable, for which daily attendance is ne- cessary; and it is preferable, where time can be spared, to feed thrice in the day. The most correct feeders, and those largely concerned, endeavour so to apportion the meal, that the trough may be en- tirely cleared, and yet the appetite of the animal thoroughly satisfied ; a plan which has been proved in a thousand examples to fatten the most speedily, and make the fattest hogs : so totally opposite, ne- 194} FEEDING — METHODS. vertheless, to the ancient and still too common country method of filling the troughs at every feed- ing hour, whether empty or not. I have witnessed an old farmer repeatedly urging his servant to the performance of this duty, whilst the hog-trough remained constantly replenished with a mingled mess of meal and dung, of equal use to the hogs to lie and wallow in, as to feed upon. To speak guard- edly, I have no doubt that, in former days at least, one bushel of corn in three, has been in this mode converted to dung, without ever having entered the bodies of the animals. Two or three years since, a farmer published the following experiment, as an improvement of the established mode of pig feeding. He took two pigs of the same litter, and of equal weight, and fed them apart, one in the usual way on barley-meal mixed with swill, the other ate his meal dry, and had his drink given him an hour af- terwards. At the end of six weeks, both hogs were weighed, when the one fed on dry food was a stone heavier than the other ! The reader will judge whether this difference arose from the constitutional superiority of the heaviest pig, or the superiority of the new mode of feeding. Experiments on the point may be easily made. The following is also ' Newspaper information. On December 29th, 1828, two pigs of the same litter were killed by Mr. Wil- liamson, at Scarby, near Brigg, one weighing 43 stone lOlbs., and the other 47 stone 61bs. They were little more than three months old. This being correct, is a more profitable instance of pig breed- ing than ever came within my knowledge. I wish Mr. Williams had stated the breed of these pigs. FATTENING ARTICLES. 195 Various articles for FATTENING swine. — Skimmed milk, and pea, oat, or barley meal, rank first in point of excellence with respect to the quality of flesh, milk- fed pork being superior to any other description, not only in delicacy of flavour, but in substance and weight, none weighing so heavy in proportion as the milk-fed animal. Hence the bacon of the dairy coun- ties is superior. Milk will fatten pigs entirely, without the aid of any other food, a practice sometimes in the dairies; which, however, as I have been lately in- formed by Mr. Chappell, has been long discontinued in Beds, and the best dairy counties, where a quantity of corn is always allowed with the milk, rendering the pork more substantial, and of superior flavour. CORN-FED pork is next in value, PEAS, OATS, and BARLEY being the best adapted grain. BEAN-FED pork is hard, ill-flavoured, and indigestible ; being potatoe fed, it is loose, insipid, weighs light, and wastes much in cookery. A similar character is given of pork fed on maize or Indian corn, by an experimental feeder in Warwickshire. To mix po- tatoes in the food of fattening pigs, is deceptious, deteriorating the pork in exact proportion. Hence the ordinary Irish pork and bacon are generally inferior to the English, and the market price so in proportion. This inferiority has lately been stated to me, by the estimation of Mr. Charles Cotterill, an eminent dealer in Irish provisions, at three ounces per Ib. upwards. CLOVER-FED pork is yellow, un- substantial, and ill-tasted : fattened on ACORNS, it is hard, light, and unwholesome ; on OIL-CAKE, SEEDS or CHANDLERS' GRAVES, it becomes loose, greasy, and K 2 196 DAIRY PORK — LARGE HOGS. little better than carrion ; on BUTCHERS' OFFAL, lus- cious, rank, and full of gravy, but of a strong and disgusting scent. Compared with the general con- sumption of pork, the real DAIRY-FED meat bears a very small proportion, and the sale of it in the me- tropolis is in comparatively few hands, always com- manding a superior price. In some parts of France, they SKIN their pigs intended for fresh meat. A pig will eat two or three PECKS of corn or meal per week, in fattening ; a hog upwards of a bushel, in proportion to his size. The following is an exam- ple of successful feeding. " In the spring 1805, Mr. Ivory of Whitchurch, Salop, killed a hog of two years old, one side of which weighed 4101bs. the other 4141bs. total 46 scores 14£lbs. or about 111 stone, dressed country fashion. lie was purchased very lean at two years old, price four guineas, was fattened in between seven and eight months, and then valued at eighteen guineas ; subsequently, twenty-five guineas for him were offered and re- fused." This hog probably made upwards of thirty pounds at the then price, and might have 'consumed full forty bushels of corn. I have at length, through Mr. Squire, obtained the weight of Mr. Crockford's hog, bred and fed at his fine farm near Newmarket, scarcely, I under- stand, to be paralleled in England, for its excellence of arrangement, convenience and style of buildings. The hog, when killed, was two years old, and weighed seventy-eight stone, horseman's weight, fourteen pounds to the stone, or one hundred and thirty-six stones and a half, London weight. The hams weighed six stones each, the head fifty pounds. This hog PEDIGREES — CROSSING. 197 having been got by a boar bred at Mr. Crockford's farm, out of a sow bred in the neighbourhood, is warranted of the true Suffolk breed. That it was bred in Suffolk, or near to that County, there is no question; but having known the Suffolk breed, through a long course of years, as one of the small- est in England, and not being aware that it has been yet changed, I must beg leave to question its being, uncrossed, able to produce a hog of such a size. Such a chance is not upon the breeding cards. The fact is, pig breeders, though in the vicinity of New- market, are not quite so correct in regard to pedi- gree, as the breeders of running horses. In truth, not only pigs, but stock of other kinds, never fail to be periodically introduced from districts where large stock is bred, into those, where the small are established, and such individual introductions are no longer recollected or noticed after a while, produc- ing only limited and occasional enlargement of size. In Essex, for example, the up-eared breed, which was originally, by comparison, small, became par- tially enlarged, and the ear changed to the pendant, by the introduction, many years since, of Berks, Hereford, and Shropshire boars. The original prick- eared breed yet remains, and it would be surely im- possible to select a pure individual of that kind, ca- pable of being fattened to equal the high weights of which we occasionally hear. THE DISEASES OF SWINE. Little success has hitherto attended the doctoring of swine, which are the most stubborn and intract- able of patients. Thence, PREVENTION is the only K 3 198 DISEASES CASE OF GORGING. remedy deserving of any considerable share of the keeper's attention. This should chiefly extend to the avoidance of infection by foul air, of damps and cold, and of the extremes of either starving or gorg- ing the animals. Sulphur and madder are the best alterants, in foulnesses of the skin or habit. In the SWINE POX, the same medicines in small quantities, with treacle in the wash, fresh brewers' grains, or sweet pollard, the sties being well ventilated, or the animals aired abroad. Inflammation of the lungs, or HEAVINGS, seem to admit of no remedy, and is some- times found to be constitutional or hereditary in swine. When the EARS of swine crack, and become scabby in the field during the summer heats, they should be frequently anointed with tar and lard. Four or five and twenty years ago, the late Mr. Tattersall requested of me to choose him a store pig to put up for fattening. I applied to Mr. Wynt, the then salesman, and we chose one at Finchley, out of a fine drove of Hereford*, not then out of fashion. After the hog had been at Mr. Tattersall's two or three days, I received a letter from him to tell me it was taken very bad, in fact, dying. On inspec- tion, I found the animal sleepy and torpid, refusing food, but occasionally throwing up the contents of its stomach, which consisted of half-digested meal. I immediately perceived the cause of the patient's malady. The feeder, determined to lose no time, had been assiduously filling the trough with food, which the hog, empty after a long journey, vora- ciously devoured until its stomach was filled, and its digestive faculty totally overpowered. My prescrip- tion was abstinence from corn, a moderate quantity IMPORTATION OF PIGS FROM IRELAND. 199 of sweet grains, thin wash, sulphur with it, and in a few hours the hog was perfectly recovered. In the sequel, the feeder held up his hands with astonishment, at the possibility of a hog being gorged with food ! Imported into Liverpool from Ireland, in 1829, (the number deficient by five weeks omitted) 153,000 pigs. — Liverpool Mercury. I have been favoured by a very old friend with the following successful and instructive case, which I give from the MS. received : "In the autumn, 1828, one of my sows, four years old, a good mother, remarkably good tempered, a cross between the Ox- ford and China breeds, with eleven fine pigs by her side, which had been farrowed three weeks, was suddenly seized with fever and inflammation. In twelve hours she became unable to stand, was very restless and apparently in great agony, no evacuation having taken place during two days. In consequence, I called in the aid of a noted cow-leech of the vici- nity, who with much gravity promised me — he would do what he could for her, but that all would be of no use. The operations of bleeding, anointing and medicine were carried on for three days, at a charge of thirty-five shillings, when the sage doctor dis- missed the case with the consolation to me, that — he could do no more for the patient, and that it was impossible she could live. " I then took her in hand myself, bled her and gave her a strong dose of salts and jalap, which I succeeded in delivering, her jaws being held open by a rope attached to each. In about an K 4 200 SUCCESSFUL CASE. hour thereafter, she had three pints of warm gruel. In less than three hours, I had the satisfaction of observing symptoms of great tranquillity and im- provement in my patient ; and after leaving her at night on a clean and comfortable bed, I was gratified by finding her upon her legs the, next morning, in a fair progress to recovery. I then repeated the above dose, somewhat reduced in strength, and still keeping her on warm gruel two days, my satisfaction was complete, on finding her quite restored to her for- mer health, saving a little inconvenience from the obstruction of her milk. Of the pigs previously removed, nine did well, and the sow became freed from all relics of her disease in ten or twelve days. I did not choose to risk another farrow with her, therefore put her to the boar in October, and fed her for the knife. She was killed at Christmas, and made excellent bacon. Thus I saved a fine hog by calling in Doctor Common Sense, to atone for the insufficiency of the most skilful leech then and there going; and if my brethern, pig-breeders and feeders, would follow my example, in most cases, I humbly opine, it would be to the benefit both of their pockets and their pigs." THE MILCH COW. 201 SECTION XVII. The Milch Cow. THE genus bos, commonly called neat, and some- times black cattle, stands at the head of our domes- tic animals destined for the use and food of man ; and more especially for that most precious alimen- tary production, MILK, of such importance in rear- ing our children, and adapted to such a variety of other family purposes. For a constant supply of this invaluable resource, we depend on the female of this race, the harmless and docile cow, which is compelled to produce and part with that secretion, intended by nature for the support of her own progeny. K5 VARIOUS BREEDS — SIGNS OF MILK. For a more extensive view of this subject, as well as that of SWINE, the reader is referred to " Law- rences General Treatise on Cattle' — the present object is to impart such a degree of practical know- ledge, as shall be sufficient for the private family dairy, to minister to the convenience of proprietors, and to shield them from disappointment and impo- sition. Our neat Cattle are divided into various breeds or races, each distinguished by peculiar qualities, the most important of which are the natural pro- pensity to breeding milk, or making beef; with the former of which lies our most material business. The English milky breeds chiefly are — the Lan- cashire and Midland County LONG-HORNS — the Yorkshire, or Holderness SHORT-HORNS — the Suf- folk DUNS — the Natty or hornless Red Devons. In Scotland the AYRESHIRE and the famous DUNLOP cows — the Fifeshire and Orkney — Homebreds, or mongrels, to be found in all parts, many of which prove useful dairy cows, — the Alderney. The long- horned breeds generally excel in the quality, the short-horned in the quantity of milk, individuals of the Holderness cows having been known to produce the enormous quantity of nine, and even ten gallons in a day. Such great milkers must necessarily afford but a thin fluid, not so well adapted to the butter-dairy, as to the sale of the milk, excepting with respect to that material branch of the dairy business, pig-feeding. The signs of productiveness of milk in the cow are generally — " a thin head and neck, clean chaps, free from leather, deep and SELECTION — COW- JOBBERS — DEEP MILKERS. £03 rather flat carcass, wide hips, the bones perhaps inclined to be pointed, capacious udder, and large plain milk-vein ; the last two signs worth all the rest." — New Farmer's Calendar. The next considerations for a private buyer, are, SELECTION, and the means within his power to make it. These will depend materially on his situation, and whether his aim be to obtain something capital in this way, or to be content with the choice offered him by the markets or fairs of his vicinity. In the former case, his only method is recourse to some salesman or jobber, on whom he can depend, to supply him with a milch beast of the highest reputed established breed, for which he must expect to allow a proportionate price. Should he prefer to take pot-luck nearer home, let him beware of relying on his own judgment solely, unless that be very mature, for cow-jobbers and horse-jockeys have ever been cater-cousins ; and I, who have considerable expe- rience of them both, have never seen the least symptoms of their probable degeneration. He ought to be reminded, also, of another fact, lest his expectations should be too sanguine ; it is, that great and deep milking are sufficiently rare, even in our most milky breeds, and that among cows, great milkers are about as scarce as good horses. In- deed, this produce is so extremely valuable, that a constant great milker is worth almost any price, will amply repay the highest expense of keep, and should be kept to the latest period of her age, should her milking continue. On the other hand, no cow should be kept beyond the period of good KG 204 NUMBER — SIZE — AGE. milking, but should be immediately replaced by a young and fresh milker. It will immediately occur, that a single cow can- not possibly yield a sufficient annual supply of milk and butter for a family, however small, both on ac- count of the necessary decrease of produce, as she advances in her pregnancy, and of the period in which it will be proper for her to go dry. Two cows will therefore be necessary for even a moderate family, and any surplus produce of this kind always finds a ready disposal. The second cow may be pur- chased at convenience, with respect to time and need of her in the dairy. SIZE is a matter of importance which must be re- gulated by the quantity and nature of the keep, which a proprietor may have at command. If he have a sufficient range of good grass-land, in course, he can afford to keep the largest breed of cows ; but if he possess but little, and ordinary grass, or intend to shift his cows upon a common, he must make choice of small stock, which will shift with a moderate bite, and are not too heavy to labour through the day in order to fill themselves. How- ever, on such provision only, excepting perhaps at the height of the season, the smallest heath-crop- pers, even if good milkers in proportion to their size, will make but a poor figure in the dairy, with- out a good allowance of extra provision. Inexperienced persons often suffer loss and dis- appointment, by purchasing a stale milker, perhaps an old and worn out cow, from some neighbouring dairy, by the disposal of which the seller is much CALF— QUALITY— STOCKING — BREEDS. 205 accommodated. It is generally most advantageous, to have a fresh five-year old beast in full milk, that is to say, with her calf a few days old by her side, or she nearly ready to calve. The calf may be either immediately sold as a suckler, suckled at home for the butcher, or reared, according to cir- cumstances ; but the first method is doubtless the most profitable, milk, butter, and pork, being arti- cles of the greater worth and convenience. If a small, common-bred, low-priced cow be the object, no other consideration is necessary than her health, age, and milky indications, particularly that she have large tackle, in plain English, a capacious udder, and that she be a quiet milker. This last is a matter of some consequence, since it is not quite sufficient that a cow produce a large quantity of milk, unless she will also render it quietly, and suffer you to take it away. The sooner a cow is milked dry after purchase, the better, since they are inva- riably stocked for sale ; that is, their milk is suffered to remain perhaps two days, in order to distend the udder to the utmost, by way of recommendation : a cruel and absurd trick, by which these animals are tortured, and many of them annually ruined, from inflammation of the milk-vein, and coring of the distended parts. As to a CHOICE of BREEDS for a private family, none in England, probably, combine so many ad- vantages as the Suffolk dun-cows. They excel both in quantity and quality of milk ; they feed well after they become barren ; they are small sized, and polled or hornless ; the last a great convenience. 206 CHOICE OF BREEDS — COLOUR NO OBJECT. The horns of cows which butt and gore others, should be immediately broad-tipped. There is a breed of polled Yorkshire or Holderness cows, some of them of middling size, great milkers, and well adapted to the use of families, where a great quan- tity of milk is required, and where price is no object, and food in plenty. If richer milk and a compari- son of the two famous breeds be desired, one of each may be selected ; namely, the last mentioned, and the other of the Midland county, or long-horned species. Colour is so far no object, that neither a good cow nor a good horse can be of a bad colour ; nevertheless, in an ornamental view, the sheeted and pied stock of the Yorkshire short-horns, make a picturesque figure in the grounds. The Aldemey cows yield rich milk upon less food than larger stock, but are seldom large milkers, and I believe, are particularly scanty of produce, and tender in the winter season. They are, besides, worth little or nothing as barreners, not only on account of their small size, but their inaptitude to take on fat, and the ordinary quality of their beef. I regretted much to be informed several years since, in Norfolk, that, from the difficulties of the times, the old and valuable breed of Suffolk dun cows had been suffered to degenerate, and that there was a danger that it might be even lost. These cows, together with the Alderney and Guernsey, or heif- ers and yearlings of those breeds, are procured and sent to customers by Mr. Fowler, Little Bushey Farm, near Stanmore, Middlesex, or others in that vicinity ; or dealers who attend Smithfield market. COW-HOUSE — QUIET COW — FOOD — KEEP. 207 It is pre-supposed that, a dry and comfortable COW-HOUSE has been provided, containing a stall or two, and a calf -pen, and it is recommended, in the General Treatise on Cattle^ to confine the hinder legs of a cow, whilst milking, as well as the head, the former of which is most securely effected by two stumps of wood fixed in the ground, to which the hinder legs may be strapped. They who aim at perfect security, as nearly as that may be ob- tained, will perhaps be induced to make it a rule, never to milk a cow with her head and legs at liberty ; but most, as has always been the practice, will incline to put confidence in the quiet cow ; many such, however, have I seen accidentally kick down a swimming pail of milk, and that may very probably happen when the article, being scarce, is of the most consequence — the unfortunate attend- ant, male or female, then marches into the house, with a grave step, a long face, an apology, and an empty pail. The provision of FOOD for the cow must be looked upon as the prime concern in the dairy busi- ness, for such a constant daily draught upon the animal juices cannot be answered, but by aid of the most ample supply, even to satiety, of nutritious and succulent victuals ; not that, according to the ab- surd notions of many persons, keep regulates and equalizes milking, be the breed whatever it may, since in some breeds, the keep turns to milk, in others to beef; but because the truest and largest milker will very soon lose that precious faculty without proportionate, that is to say, high feeding. 8 208 MILK DIFFICULTIES — AMATEURS. Keep short and meanly, and your milk and butter produce will be in exact proportion, and the cow, when dry, emaciated and of little worth. A farmer, some years since, kept eighteen cows upon a common, and was often obliged to buy butter for his family. The common was inclosed, and the same person supplied his family amply with milk and butter, from the produce of four cows well kept. Great Milkers seldom carry any flesh upon their bones, and are perhaps as seldom made fat, but they pay as they go, and never retire in our debt. The difficulties in cow-keeping are these — the expense of their food is considerable, more especially with respect to any which must be purchased, and if the produce be inconsiderable, it may be a losing con- cern. You may be feeding a sparing milker into flesh, and if you stint her, or allow only ordinary food, you get neither flesh nor milk. Amateurs in this line should procure the largest milkers, and I had almost said give them gold, could they eat it. In this case, it may be depended on, milk is always of more value than the best cow-food, which is the jit ; and a cow, the natural tendency of which is to breed milk, will convert all nourishment, however dry and substantial, into that fluid ; in fact, will require such solid kind of nourishment, to sup- port her strength, and stimulate her to procreation, in which otherwise, great milkers are very apt to be deficient, and frequently to miss their bulling at the proper season. But should corn be allowed, oats are the most proper; they should be ground or m VALUE OF MILK — CORN — WINTER MILK. 209 bruised, and moistened with water, as the cow would otherwise swallow the oats whole, which would not only fail in giving nourishment, but might be productive of obstruction and disease. Fine pol- lard also, moistened or mashed, is a nourishing food : the milch cow, however, should always have exer- cise, and it is more especially necessary, when ex- traordinary and substantial food is allowed. Another great object for our crack cow-master and lady of the snug rural mansion, is to have milk, cream, and butter, in a generous abundance and high quality, throughout the winter, as well as the summer season ; and of these, if they will take care enough to walk in our old and well-trodden paths, they shall not fail. The method is by contriving to have a fresh milker in the winter, with an ample store of the best provisions for the season. I will here just touch upon a point which ought to be of great interest to humanity. Should a family of the description here indicated, have milk, either new or skimmed, to spare, the poor labourers in the vicinity will be glad and ready purchasers. It is a trouble my family most willingly incurred. To the great disgrace of the land, flowing with milk and honey, and eaten up with religious zeal, the wretched poor, to whose toil and exhaustion we owe all our luxuries and comforts, have never been able to obtain milk for the sustenance of their offspring and their own most innocent enjoyment, even in the dairy counties. SUMMER FEEDING : and let it always be recollected, that economy is the leading feature of our plan. Natural grass is the first and best of all food for 210 SUMMER FOOD — CALCULATIONS. our domestic animals. Of the artificial grasses, lucerne stands first, and green tares are a very suc- culent and nutritious food for Milch Cows. The saving method of managing grass, and it will be found excellent economy where the proprietor may have only a small close or two, is to keep it constantly shut, and free from the tread of the cows, and to cut the grass as soon as of sufficient length and sub- stance, and carry it to them ; no more being cut at once than can be consumed in a day, the cutting being made in the morning. This to continue throughout the season, and as late in autumn as any growth can be obtained. According to Mr. Curwen's experience, some years since, three acres of grass cut and carried, supplied thirty milch cows with two stone each, or twenty-eight pounds, during two hundred days. He observes that, to have supplied them with two stone of hay each, during the same period, would have required seventy-five acres of land for its pro- duction. And to have grazed such a number of cows at liberty, that length of time, it is obvious, must have taken a very considerable number of acres. To enable the meadow to support this ex- haustion from the scythe, it should be cleared at the end of every autumn, from all kinds of weeds and rubbish, and fresh grass seeds of the best kinds, cast upon the bare places. A coat of good manure should be then allowed, consisting of all that can be collected from the household, or procured elsewhere, mixed up and augmented with virgin earth. The garden will assist with its superfluity in feeding the ECONOMY WINTER FEEDING. cow, and lettuces, as a change of diet, will help to force the secretion of milk. Should the green food scour the cow, a small quantity of good hay must be allowed daily. The few advocates for the ECONOMICAL mode of feeding cows, always direct them to be kept entirely in the house, both summer and winter, a practice to which I have strong objections, not only on the score of the animals' health and comfort, but that I have always experienced exercise abroad to in- crease the quantity of milk. Thus the cows may be turned upon the common waste, to remain or come home at their liberty, being fed to the full, with cut grass, morning and evening, with the constant cau- tion of allowing them shelter in the fly season. They may lie abroad during summer nights, in a well-littered yard, or secure waste, a sufficiency of cut grass being at their command. Pure water is of great consequence to the health and productive- ness of the cow. If one beast drive the other, al- ways at feeding times tie up the mistress. WINTER-FEEDING. The chief dependence for cows is rowen, or after-math hay. This must be either grown at home, or purchased. It is a piece of extravagance to allow a good milch cow dry straw, because milk is worth more than hay ; but should the necessity exist of using straw, none other is fit than oat straw. ROWEN, or after-math is ge- nerally supposed to force milk, but in poor pastures perhaps the first crop may be preferable ; and I have lately been informed by a London cow keeper, a good feeder, that he has discontinued giving rowen 212 FOOD — MILK-FED PORK — EXPOSURE. to his cows, finding the best hay most profitable. CARROTS are an excellent winter food, indeed the best of the root kind ; MANGOLD or BEET also, affords a plentiful supply ; which last, however, must be dis- pensed with caution, cows having been hoven by it. If POTATOES be given to cows, they should be steamed or baked ; those who venture to give them raw and mashed, should allow hay with them, as in the raw state and freely dispensed, they seldom fail to bring the scouring rot on cows. Bruised FURZE-TOPS are very good, and help to make capi- tal winter butter. CABBAGES may be given mode- rately, but TURNIPS make thin milk and bad butter, in spite of all the nostrums which have been recom- mended as preventives. The miserable practice of giving OIL-CAKE to cows, insures greasy, unsubstan- tial, ill-scented butter, and has a similar effect on veal. When substantial food appears necessary, a daily moderate feed of oats broken, or fine pollard, moistened with water, is most proper. With the two cows in full milk, may be kept well, a BREEDING sow, or two or three young PIGS ; and should the proprietor desire a specimen of the finest milk-fed pork, he may feed a pig upon skimmed milk, with the addition of a very small quantity of barley or pea-meal, making it thoroughly fat in two months. MILCH BEASTS should never be exposed by NIGHT to the inclemency of the winter season, which chills them, and dries up part of their milk, keeping them backward in all beneficial respects. At any rate, they should have a well-littered shed, in which they ANNUAL CONSUMPTION — PRODUCE. 213 may repose in comfort, and with their loins dry — a matter of great consequence to their health. The ANNUAL CONSUMPTION of food per cow, of grass and hay, if turned to grass, is from one acre to an acre and a half of hay in the summer, and from a ton to a ton and a half of hay in the winter. A cow may he allowed two pecks of carrots per day. The grass heing cut and carried, will economize it full one third. The ANNUAL PRODUCT of a good fair dairy cow, — during several months after calving, and either sum- mer or winter, if duly fed and kept in the latter sea- son, she will render an average of seven pounds of butter per week, from five to three gallons of milk per day. Afterwards, a weekly average of three or four pounds of butter from barely half the quantity of milk. It depends on the constitution of the cow, how nearly she may be milked to the time of her calving, some giving good milk until within a week or two of that period, others requiring to be dried eight or nine weeks previously. I have heard of truly wonderful quantities of but- ter, made from the milk of a single cow in seven days ; but I have never been fortunate enough to ob- tain one that would produce more than twelve pounds per week, although I have had a Yorkshire cow which milked seven gallons per day, yet never made five pounds of butter in one week. In 1790, residing at Sudbury Green, near Harrow, a servant whom I bad from a farmer in the neighbourhood, in- formed me of a long-horned cow on that farm, from the milk of which given in seven days, was weighed 214 PRODUCE — DAIRY — UTENSILS. twenty-two pounds of butter : and in the present year 1829, Mr. Joshua Salt of Lounsley Green, near Chesterfield, has a short-horned cow that milks upwards of twenty-one quarts daily, from which three pounds of butter are churned, making twenty- one pounds of butter weekly, sixteen ounces to the pound ; she calved in Chesterfield race week. On the average, three gallons of good milk will make one pound of butter. The DAIRY must be the seat of the most exquisite and punctilious cleanliness, in every part of its ma- nagement. Hence all sluts, snuff-takers, and dandles — away to the dust-hole and cinder-heap ! — a proper inscription to be placed in an advantageous light. The room must be airy, and both glazed and lat- ticed, and floored with flag-stones or broad brick. Lead is dangerous, and well-glazed earthen pans are the best and most convenient receptacles for milk: these must be scalded perfectly clean, outside and in, beside being frequently boiled in a copper con- veniently posited, well scrubbed with a brush, and rinced in plenty of clean water. Milk should be set immediately : if the weather be cold, put warm water at the bottom of the milk pan ; if warm, cool the dishes previously with cold water. Skim off the cream, in summer every twelve, in winter every twenty-four hours. Shift the cream into clean pans daily, in winter; twice a day, in summer; generally stirring it several times a day, with a clean wooden spatula. To make fine butter, cream should be churned within three days, in hot weather. In se- vere frosts, it is best to churn the whole of the milk CLEANLINESS — CHURN. 215 daily, according to the practice in Scotland, a frozen cream always making rank butter. German stoves, burning charcoal, are useful in a dairy. The milker should never be suffered to enter the dairy in a DIRTY APRON, COVERED WITH HAIRS FROM THE COW HOUSE ; on this head, three reprimands, the last accompanied with a discharge. An upright HAND- CHURN, or BARREL- CHURN, will either of them answer the pur- pose. The quantity of milk being large, the latter will be most con- venient. Baker of Lon- don has invented a box- churn, with a spindle, which turns in the man- ner of a hand-organ, and which, as calculated for a small dairy of two or three cows, seems likely to supersede the old upright hand-churn. It may be placed on a dresser or table. Price, for one to make fourteen pounds of butter, 21. 16s. It may be had of any size. It is said that * the Shakers' of Endfield, New Hants, U. S. America, have a still higher claim to ingenuity in the case, since they churn their butter by wind, attaching small sails to the churn, to be moved by a light breeze ; now whether this report be merely a shake vox et prceterea nihilj a windy hoax, I leave to curi- ous enquirers. Much has been said and written on the difficulty of making butter come ; it is, however, no less true 216 BUTTER BACKWARD — SALTING. that butter which comes too quickly is not likely to be too good, nor ought any to come indeed, under nearly an hour's labour. The difficulty exists only in cold weather, when the churn may be placed near to the fire. In summer, cool the churn with cold water ; in winter make it warm. Strain the cream through a fine sieve or linen cloth. It should be remembered, however, that the use of warm water or taking the churn near the fire, always prejudices the butter, and in course, should not be practised but in case of absolute necessity. First of all, when the butter is backward, at the time it ought to come9 not before, put in half a gill of good vinegar mixed in a small quantity of warm milk. In summer heats, the cooler you churn the better, even to setting your churn in cold water. The PROCESS being complete, and the butter MADE, strain off the butter-milk and put the butter into cold water, dividing it afterwards into small lumps upon a sloping board. Beat it well with wooden pats, not sweaty hands, until entirely free from the milk, and quite firm, cold water being at hand to throw over the board occasionally, and to wash the pats. Salt with find beaten-salt as much as suf- ficient. The butter being made up according to the custom of the place, let the lumps be spread sepa- rately on a cloth, that they may not adhere. A highly-esteemed Norfolk friend writes me, " butter is better without washing." The affair is then left to the discretion of the practical reader. In Lancashire, the milk is not skimmed for mak- ing butter, on the contrary, the whole produce of LANCASHIRE AND VARIOUS MODES— POTTING. 217 the cow is placed in mugs till it becomes sour, when it is churned ; and thus is produced butter, accord- ing to the provincial opinion, at least equal, if not superior, to that of any other part of Great Britain. The butter milk, thus produced, is perhaps superior to skimmed milk, and forms a wholesome and nutri- tious beverage for the poorer classes of that populous county. Though this practice is ancient in Lanca- shire, and partially in the vicinity, the farmers of our chief dairy counties which supply the metropolis do not seem to approve, by their neglect of it. At any rate, it must occasion much additional labour. The following Recipe for making butter without churning, I have never tried. It seems calculated for small quantities. Put the milk into a flat earthen dish, let it stand twelve hours, put it over a slow fire until scalded, not boiled ; then let it stand twelve hours, take off the cream, and put it into a round earthen dish, stirring it round with a clean wooden spoon, and it will come to butter in about five or ten minutes. The cream cannot be kept too cool during the time you are stirring it, whence it is best to place the dish in cold water. As soon as the butter shall be so forward that you can take off a little butter milk, continue putting in cold water and washing out the milk. The cream may be kept after scalding, three or four days, before making the butter, without injury. " To put BUTTER down for KEEPING let the salt be perfectly fine ; a layer of salt at the bottom of the firkin or jar ; beat the butter down with a hard wooden rammer, not hot fists, and cover the top L 218 CHEESE MAKING ANECDOTES. with salt/' The best colouring for butter is good keep for the cows. — New Farmers Calendar. Previously to a few general remarks on the pro- cess of cheese-making, of which neither my wife, my prime minister, nor myself knew any thing prac- tically, I will give an anecdote or two, which occured within our knowledge, whilst resident in Middlesex. A curious gentlewoman in the vicinity, native of Gloucestershire, who kept half a dozen cows, took it for granted that the inferiority of Middlesex cheese subsisted merely in the defect of Gloucester intelligence and skill. In conformity, she procured a skilful cheese dairy woman from her own county, and under her own superintendance, the experiment was made ; the result, however, un- fortunately, was Middlesex cheese even to the third season, which produced conviction and abandon- ment. I, however, not to be discouraged or dis- tanced in the career of improvement, became inocu- lated, and communicated the affection to a near relative in Essex, who had meadows producing the most fragrant butter to be conceived. I sent her the Cheshire process, from which, personally superintending it, she manufactured indeed, some of the richest of cheese, but about equal to Cheshire, whether new or old, as home made British is to foreign wine. It was fat, milky, insipid and void of all strength or flavour. My enquiry as to the cause of this failure, has been answered by the assertion that, superior cheese making depends on the peculiar and local nature of the herbage. I wait for further light. All things THE CHEESE DAIRY. 219 change, who then can say that anon, the best Glou- cestershire and Cheshire cheese may not be made in Middlesex, Essex and Suffolk? The process of CHEESE-MAKING is generally well understood in the regular cheese-making districts, which supply the rest of the country with such an admirable commodity, whether of the fancy or use- ful kinds ; but it is not worth repetition elsewhere, being, as the case stands, merely an inducement to people to waste good milk. The bang of Suffolk and Norfolk is misapplied, it ought to be cut into latches for gates, a use to which I have formerly seen it applied in those counties. THE CHEESE DAIRY. I have just now observed that, to make ordinary cheese is merely to waste good milk, which, however, must be understood as refer- ring only to private families, since farmers who have a number of servants to feed, can scarcely be ex- pected to go to the price of Cheshire or Gloucester thin cheese, when they have a home-made substi- tute which does not cost them above one-third of the money ; and the practice of making this ordi- nary commodity is universally known in the country. Cheese making, however, is a more operose pro- cess than that of butter, requiring more attention and labour, and a greater number of utensils and conveniences ; more particularly so in the regular cheese dairies, where the best cheese of commerce is manufactured. It is in them kept distinct from the butter dairy, requiring several separate rooms, namely, a PRESSING-ROOM for making and pressing the cheese, which ought to join the milk-room, and L 2 220 UTENSILS — CHEESE-TUB—KNIVES. be provided with a fire-place. A SETTING-ROOM, paved with stones, or smooth plaister, and laid on a descent, in order to carry off water, should also be furnished with a table or shelves, on which the cheeses may be deposited, and turned over occa- sionally, until ready to be removed. A CHEESE- ROOM or loft, in which the cheeses are stored until ready for sale. The floor of this room is carpeted with coarse grass or rushes, which are supposed to have a beneficial effect on the new cheese. This loft, in some of the great dairies, is found over the cow-houses, not only for convenience sake, but on the opinion that the ascending warmth of tempera- ture from the cattle, has the effect of accelerating the ripening of the cheese. These lofts are more con- venient when the walls are lined with shelves, and stages placed in the middle of the room. But the arrangement followed in North Wilts, as Marshall describes it, seems superior in point of convenience. The cheese-room with its shelves, is there placed immediately over the dairy, and the loft over the cheese-room, each floor having trap-doors through which the cheeses may be handed down. The UTENSILS for cheese making are, first, a CHEESE-TUB, in which the curd is broken and pre- pared. These tubs, in course, vary in size propor- tional to the quantities of milk used, and are in form, either round or oval. A CHEESE-KNIFE, of the spatula form, of wood, wrought to the thinnest possible edge, or with a wooden handle, four or five inches in length, and two or three iron blades twelve inches long, one inch broad near the handle, taper- CHEESE-BOARD — CHEESE-PRESS. ing down to the breadth of three quarters of an inch at the point, and shaped like an ivory paper- knife, the blades about one inch asunder, very thin, and ranged with their flat sides towards each other. These are used in Gloucestershire, and are to be preferred to the wooden knives. In some of the continental dairies, these knives are furnished with six or seven blades. The CHEESE-BOARD is circular, of wood that will not warp, and planed smooth on both sides, about an inch or an inch and a half in thickness. Upon these boards, placed upon the shelves of the cheese- room, the fresh made cheeses are placed. The boards are of various sizes, and of a form to pass within the hoop-part of the vat, and to receive the weight or power of the press. The VAT, hoop- formed, must be strong, and its sides and bottom perforated with holes, through which the whey may run off as the cheese is pressed. In every consider- able cheese dairy, there ought to be vats of various sizes in readiness, in order to adapt those used to the quantity of curd which the cheese-tub may con- tain, and to avoid the addition of overplus, which, kept from meal to meal, frequently spoils a whole cheese. The CHEESE-PRESS, which forces the whey from the curd, should be skilfully constructed, and with sufficient power. This power may be either derived from a SCREW, (at present most in use) a LEVER, or DEAD-WEIGHT ; but, under whatever form, the power must be in proportion to the thickness of the cheese to be made. Should it not press level, L3 CHEESE-TONGS — MILKING. or have too much play, so as to incline, or become tottering, leaning to the one side or the other, and not fall perpendicularly upon the cheese-board, one side of the cheese will not only be thicker than the other, but one side may be thoroughly pressed, while the other is left soft and spongy. In the com- mon dairies, where both butter and cheese are made in the same place, an exception should be observed with regard to the cheese-press, which should never be fixed where the milk and butter are kept, as they are liable to be affected by acid evaporations from the whey and curd. The CHEESE-TONGS, a kind of wooden frame, are occasionally placed on the tub, when the vat is upon it, and the whey draining from the curd. Making fine cheeses, even from the best herbage and the richest milk, is a critical business, depend- ent on a variety of incidental circumstances. The cows should ever be milked, during the summer season, very early in the morning, and at the latest convenience in the afternoon, in order to avoid the ill effects of the solar heat. Again, the cows should not be driven any considerable distance to be milked, by which the milk becomes heated in the udder ; nor should the milk be carried any distance, as the motion and agitation occasioned by carriage, has nearly the effect of churning it into butter, and rendering it unfit to be made into cheese. Milk in this buttery state will often be four or five hours before it will curdle, and here we have the cause of that defect on cheese, called hoven, or split. It is one of the greatest advantages in a cheese dairy, to SETTING THE CURD AND PRESSING. 223 have the cow pastures as near to home as possible ; and should the herbage be insufficient, the cows might still remain on the home pastures, their food from other parts of the farm being cut and carried to them. Dr. Anderson recommends milking the cows three times in the day, and, probably, more milk might be so obtained, but the additional labour is considerable, and the cows are too much disturbed by it. The milk ought to be conveyed as quickly as possible to the dairy, and poured into different vessels for the purpose of cooling it with the least delay, more especially in summer, to avoid fermen- tation ; and to this end it is the custom repeatedly to draw off the milk and pour it back again into the coolers. Leaden utensils, indeed, cool the milk more expeditiously than any other, but their danger, from the poisonous properties of the lead, combined with the lactic acid, are sufficiently known. SETTING THE CURD AND PRESSING. The best cheese, of course, is made in season, from the be- ginning of May to Michaelmas, or in a favourable Autumn to mid October. In the regular dairies, particularly when the trade is encouraging, cheese is made throughout the year, but winter made cheese is inferior, and besides requires a longer time to ripen for use. The cows, however, must be full fed during the winter, and upon the most nourishing and succulent food, at the head of which stand hay and carrots. Indeed, under all circumstances, milch cows should be equally full fed during winter as summer, if the view be to obtain the greatest L4 224* TEMPERATURE — RENNET. possible profit from them. Where twenty-five cows are kept, a cheese of sixty pounds weight may be made daily, from May to the end of July. The milk placed for setting the curd should be of the temperature of 85 to 90 degrees of heat ; if from cows fed upon poor clays, it will require the highest temperature. Some dairymen heat the milk, which being too often burnt to the bottom of the pot, it is generally held preferable to acquire the requisite warmth by the addition of boiling water, the quantity of which is regulated by the use of the thermometer. The admixture of water is said to accelerate the effect of the rennet in the co- agulation of the milk. RENNET. The article in common use, as rennet, or for the purpose of coagulating the milk, is the maw or stomach of a calf which has been fed on milk only, and killed before digestion has been per- fected. This should be perfectly sound and un- tainted. The maw of a house, or milk, not grass- fed lamb, may possibly answer the purpose. Take out the curd and wash the bag, after which, replace the curd with a considerable quantity of salt : put down the bag or bags in a jar, with a very strong brine of salt and tepid water, in the proportion of two quarts to each bag. After some days, the maws may be taken out, and with an additional quantity of salt, each stretched upon a bow, and hung up to dry for use. The usual application is as follows ; — the night before cheese making, one or two inches of a maw is cut off and steeped in a few table-spoonfuls of warm water ; on the follow- ARTIFICIAL COLOURING. ing morning the liquor is strained off, and poured into the milk. One inch is generally held sufficient to curdle the milk of five cows. Some persons put rose-leaves, sweet-briar, cloves, and various aroma- tics into the rennet, for the purpose of imparting a fine flavour to the cheese. The rennet bag, again salted and dried, during a week or two, near the fire, may be of further use. Any acid will coagulate milk, and in the Dutch dairies, the muriatic acid, or spirit of salt is used, but it imparts to the cheese a sharp and disagreeable saline flavour, which, how- ever, is said to have the advantage of being destruc- tive to mites. Various substitutes are in print for the rennet of the calf's maw, such as a decoction of the flowers of yellow-ladies'-bed-straw, or of spear-grass, the lesser spear-wort; but I much doubt the efficacy of such simples, and in case of necessity, and to prevent disappointment, it is best to have recourse at once to the muriatic acid, using it with great caution, and in the smallest efficient quantity. ARTIFICIAL COLOURING. The native colour of cheese, skilfully made from rich new milk, will incline to a bright yellow, which, being the favourite colour, inclines the makers to heighten it artificially, a practice which also serves to impart to lean and ordinary cheese, an appearance of richness. For this purpose, turmeric and marygold leaves were formerly used, but the Spanish arnatto has long been the universal cheese-colouring. There are various ways of using it, but the most expeditious and equally effective mode is to dissolve a lump of L5 226 COAGULATION AND BREAKING THE CURD. arnatto of the size of a hazel-nut in a pint of warm milk, the night before the cheese is made, and infuse it in the milk immediately on the rennet being put in. COAGULATION, or curding, will take place in from one to two hours, the milk having been set in its proper state ; otherwise, as has been said, the curd may not come under more than double the time. Should the milk be in a heated and unfavourable state, the immediate addition of cold fresh spring water is the usual remedy. The quantity of water added must be regulated by experience, and the use of a thermometer. The milk must remain covered. So soon as the curd shall have been fully formed, the first operation is to cut it in all directions with the many-bladed knives, that the whey may rise through the incisions and the curd sink. This cut- ting must be repeated, until the curd shall be re- duced to the smallest and most even particles. The cheese tub is then again covered, and must remain until the curd has sunk to the bottom, when the whey is laded off. In a short time the curd will settle and become solid, and may then be broken into the vat, where it again goes through the opera- tion of cutting, and pressure is applied until it be perfectly drained of the whey. The utmost atten- tion is required in this stage of the business, to lade off all particles of slip- curd, namely, such unsub- stantial parts as have been loosened from the solid mass, and will be seen floating on the surface of the whey; such, if not removed, will dissolve in the cheese, and occasion whey-springs, which greatly reduce its worth, producing early unsoundness. FINAL PRESSING. 227 The whey being of a green colour is the indication of a perfect make ; but if white, it is a sign of imperfect coagulation, and that the cheese will be sweet and of inferior quality. The curd being fully consolidated is put into several separate vessels, and again broken with the hand, as small as possible ; salt is then added and intimately mixed with it ; and it is often the practice to over-salt poor and inferior cheese in order to impart to it some semblance of strength and relish. PRESSING. Breaking and salting finished, a cloth is spread over the vat, which is pierced with holes, in bottom and sides, to facilitate the escape of every remaining drop of whey, and when the cheeses are large they may be pierced with iron skewers for the same purpose. A smooth round board is then laid over the covered vats, which is usually filled to the height of one inch above the brim, least the curd should shrink below its sides. The whole is then put into the press for two hours, when the cheese being withdrawn is put into a tub of scalding whey for an hour or two, to harden its coat, which is sup- posed to render it more fit to stand a sea voyage, but is apt to render cheese tough and horny coated, thence scalding is better omitted with such as is in- tended for home consumption. In small dairies, having no press, the substitute is a broad hoop, open at top and bottom, perforated with holes, and placed upon a board also perforated. The hoop being filled with curd and another board placed upon it, a moderate but adequate weight may be laid thereon to press the cheese, which should be L6 22S THE CHEESE-ROOM — MANAGEMENT. turned twice a day, until sufficiently firm. On re- moving the cheese from the vat, it should be wiped dry, and when cool wrapped in a clean dry linen cloth of a fine texture, and afterwards pressed during six or eight hours. The cheeses being turned, are taken to the SALT- ING-ROOM, and rubbed on both sides with salt, and wrapped in a fresh dry cloth, finer than either of the preceding, which change in the degrees of fine- ness in the cloths is used to the end that, the least possible impression may be made on the coats of the cheese. Pressing again, and for the last time, takes place for twelve or fourteen hours. Should any pro- jecting edges remain, they are to be pared off smooth, and the cheeses being laid upon a dry board are turned daily. Cheese after been pressed and perfect- ed, should be kept warm, until it have gone through its sweat, and become as dry and stiff as can be ex- pected ; since that state of firmness is not only for- warded by warmth, but also the ripeness and rich- ness of the cheese. The CHEESE-ROOM or LOFT, should be dry and well ventilated, but hard and soft cheeses should not be deposited together in the same room, since the moisture of the latter will be imparted to the hard cheeses, occasion them to soften, and their coats to become thick and ill coloured. On the con- trary, when cheeses become too hard, whether from scalding or other cause, the practice is to heap five or six cheeses, one upon another in a warm room, which can be ventilated, and to turn them daily. Moist cheeses set on edge, are apt to warp, and get HOVEN — CHEESE POWDER — FANCY CHEESE. out of form. Cheese left to acquire age for market, require constant attention and turning for their due preservation. Our best British cheese is not in perfec- tion until at least twelve months old, when its coat will have acquired the favourable blue tinge. Large cheeses, in some dairies, are smeared with fresh but- ter, twice or thrice a week, during several weeks, and kept moderately warm, no partial currents of air being admitted into the room, which may cause the cheese to crack. When cheese from imperfect mak- ing, becomes hoven, a remedy is attempted by prick- ing with skewers, or by rubbing a composition, known by the name of cheese powder, upon the cheese, at the second and third pressing. This powder is composed of armenian bole and nitre, and from the disagreeable flavour imparted by it, the remedy is, at last, full as bad as the disease. The best remedy is attention to turning and drying the cheese, the inferior flavour of which, from the ori- ginal error, may perhaps not be so disagreeable as that, certain to result from the pretended cure. In some dairies, the edges of the cheeses are rubbed hard with a cloth, and the floor cleaned and rubbed with fresh herbs. Our chief British fancy cheeses, the CHEDDAR (Somersetshire, perhaps the richest and finest of cheese), STILTON, (Hunts.), the PARMESAN, of Eng- land, being made of the richest materials. The COTTENHAM is a thicker kind of Stilton cream cheese, the superior flavour and richness of which are attributed to the fragrant and nourishing her- bage of the vicinity. The BRICK-BAT cheese of Wilts, made of that form, where also fancy cheese 230 CONTINENTAL — PARMESAN AND SAGE CHEESES. is made in the forms of various animals, hares, rabbits dolphins and others. DUN LOP (Ayreshirc N. B.) These last indeed are not to be ranked as fancy cheeses, but are of excellent quality, in size from twenty to sixty pounds weight. Among the various CONTINENTAL cheeses, the Parmesan has ever borne the bell in this country. It is extremely dry, delicate and simple flavoured, and well merits the name of the ladies' cheese. It is made entirely of skimmed milk, and the curd is slightly coloured with saffron. Three or four years are required to bring it to perfection, though it is exported to all parts of Europe at six months old. It is said to derive its peculiar excellence from the cow pastures of the Dutchy of Parma being watered by the Po river; fed on which the cows not only give a superior quantity of milk, but of such quality, that the skimmed equals the pure milk of other countries. SAGE CHEESE. In a sufficient quantity of milk, steep two parts sage, one part of marygold leaves and parsley. Two handfuls of the former and one of the two latter, are deemed enough to green a cheese of ten or a dozen pounds. After the infu- sion shall have been stirred up, on the following morning the coloured milk is strained off, and mixed with about a third of the quantity intended to be run or curded. The green and white parcels of milk are run separately, as the two curds must be kept a part until ready to be put into the vat, where they may be mixed either generally and evenly, or in an irregular and fanciful manner, as they are often seen. CHEESE DACRY — MANAGEMENT OF THE COW. 231 The above rules for cheese making, which I have extended considerably beyond my first purpose, are chiefly extracted from the Board Surveys, and from Mr. Marshall's works, from which I apprehend the most authentic practical documents are to be obtained. As to common country cheese making in company with butter, under which the quality of the cheese is little considered, so that cheese it be, and the process is not over complex, or any extra conveniences in requisition, every ordinary dairy maid is fully au fait. The intelligent reader will, however, perceive that there is much labour, atten- tion, and perseverance required in the manufacture of good cheese for public use, and that even on peculiar cheese soils, an equal degree of cleanliness and nicety is indispensable in the cheese, as well as the butter dairy. The five principal cheese dairy districts of England are those of CHESHIRE, GLOU- CESTERSHIRE, WILTS, DERBY, and WARWICKSHIRE. Management of the Cow. The AGE of neat cattle is determinate by the teeth and horns. They, as well as sheep, are destitute of teeth in the upper jaw ; but the mark of age, as in the horse, is to be found in the corner incisory teeth of the lower jaw. The first front teeth, or calves' teeth, remarkable for their whiteness, are shed at two years old, and replaced by others not so white. Every succeeding year, two other calves' teeth, next to the front, are also replaced ; and at five years old, the incisory or cutting teeth being 8 232 AGE BY THE TEETH AND HORNS — GESTATION. all renewed, are of good length, whitish and even, and the beast is full mouthed. From that period, as in the horse, the teeth are gradually filling up, until six years, when the mark is complete. The teeth afterwards become discolourd by age, some- times long and irregular. The HORNS, at three years of age, are shed and replaced by others, which continue. The indica- tions of age from the horns are as follows — in the fourth year of the bullock's age, a ring appears, en- circling the base of the horn. In the course of the year this ring moves, being pushed forward by another which succeeds, and the process continues to the end of the animal's life, its years being deter- minable by the number of these rings upon the horns, three years being reckoned for the first ring. It is common with cow-dealers to dress up the beast for sale, by shaving the horns, and thereby conceal- ing the age. Indeed the mouth remains as an index, but who but an adept can adroitly lay hold of the animal's horns, and put its head in a pos- ture proper for inspecting the teeth ? Thence our advice to unprofessional, never to purchase without the presence and assistance of a practical man. Period of GESTATION in the cow, according to an average, two hundred and eighty seven days, or forty one weeks, with a bull-calf; a cow-calf comes a week sooner. The cow's desire for the bull, every three weeks of the season, should be particularly attended to, so that her milk may be renewed. These animals are extremely liable to abortion, and should be kept from alarm, as much as possible, and COW AND CALF— CLEANING MILKING. 233 out of the way of carrion and ill scents. They are ladies as subject to hysteric passion as their betters. They should not, particularly, be driven and harassed about, by rude and heedless boys or girls. The cow's time having been regularly noted down, it is better to watch and let her bring forth under shelter, in a roomy place, but absolutely ne- cessary in the winter. She should never be tied up, when near calving, as it might occasion her to lose the calf, by being smothered, or otherwise. Give the cow WARM water, and a warm mash or two, with some sweet hay. The CLEANING or after-burden should almost immediately follow the calf, and should be forthwith removed. It may be retained from cold caught, in which case the cow must be kept warm, and fed as above, since she will be entirely ruined should it not come away. The calf should be permitted to suck the first milk or beastings, until the flow be abated and no danger remain of inflammation. If the calf be weak, it should be held up to the teat. Some young cows have the udder greatly distended and inflamed two or three days previously to calving, and may be re- lieved by part of the milk being daily drawn away. The HOURS of milking should be regular, and it is of the utmost consequence that the cow's udder be perfectly drained of milk, to the very last drip- ping, the habit of leaving milk in the udder being in the end greatly injurious. The last milk, more- over, is always the richest, according to the re- mark of an experienced Cheshire dairyman, " each succeeding drop which a cow gives at a meal, excel- 234 CLEANLINESS — ANECDOTE. ling the preceding one in richness." A cow in full milk cannot be well drained under twenty minutes, by the best hand. The udder should be kept well trimmed, and with it the teats should be perfectly clean before milking. The tail, also, should be free from dirt, and every risk avoided of fouling the milk. Upon the continent cows are curried, dressed, and clothed like horses : without going to that ex- treme, they may be rubbed with wisps and kept clean, that their appearance may be creditable to the family mansion. The following anecdote, which dates seven or eight years since, may serve to exemplify the nature of these animals, and to shew the necessity of both their kind and careful treatment. Mrs. Bell, a widow in Anan, N. B., went to milk her cow, when another cow, which was grazing in the same meadow, ran at her, threw her down, and was in the act of gor- ing her, when her own cow came running up, at- tacked the other with great fury, and succeeded, not only in relieving, but in all probability saved the life of her mistress. This act in the cow may indeed be referred to mere instinctive impulse, urging her to attack the other cow ; but with equal reason, to the motive of defending her mistress, since the instances of attachment in animals to particular persons, and the demonstrations of it in acts of kindness and de- fence, are innumerable. The denial of a limited portion of the faculty styled reason, to brutes, can only result from superficial thinking, from silly, over- weening human prejudice, and defective observation. In fact, what is reason itself, but discriminative in- REASON OF BRUTES — ANECDOTE OF A CAT. 235 stinct, common to both human and brute animals, with the latter certainly in a regulated, subordinate, and immensely inferior degree ? Still they do dis- criminate and reason, as certainly as man himself does. In years past I had a fine tomcat, which we named Buonaparte, and which we suffered to retain that plendid name, until his godfather became an apostate and a tyrant. A poor aged stray cat, deserted by some unfeeling wretches, appeared »on the tilings of an outhouse, and a more starved, distressed and miserable creature I never beheld ; yet having been probably so much frightened and harassed about, it would suffer no one to approach with relief. It attracted the attention of Buonaparte, who (he was surely intituled to the personal) approached it with compassion and kindness, not always shewn to dis- tress by the monopolists of reason. At his meal- time he carried to his unfortunate fellow-creature a share of his meat, in which he regularly persisted until it was observed, and the curious tidings were then brought to me. On the next occasion, I watched this pleasing trait of humanity in a brute, from my window, and several times afterwards, I saw Buonaparte sitting upon his haunches, appa- rently with a consciousness of feeling and gratifica- tion, whilst his poor protege was feasting on his bounty ! And this I saw with mine own eyes, and it stands dated in my common-place book. The old animal, at length, judging of our benevolence by that of our cat, lost his fearful apprehension of us, and we took him in. But he was too far gone ; 236 COW AND CALF — WEANING AND REARING. and after keeping him in comfort a day or two, as the next and greatest benefit I could confer upon him, I expedited him to his best home, the feline Elysium, in such way that he had no previous dread of the stroke which instantaneously destroyed all sensibility of pain. I have now before me his por- trait, a most correct likeness, by the celebrated James Ward, and now sitting by my side one of his great, great grand-daughters. The CALF may be sold as soon as it has drawn off the beastings, or first milk, unless any coring or defect in the cow's udder or teats may render it de- sirable for the calf to suck a few days, in order that the action may clear off any obstructions, for which the butting of the calf's head is generally the best remedy. If intended to be FATTENED for the butcher, it must be kept in a pen, particularly dry and clean, suckled twice a day at regular hours, always have the first, which is the thinnest of the milk, and not be permitted to overcharge its stomach. Lumps of soft chalk are usually placed for the calf to lick, as an absorbent to neutralize those acidities engen- dered in the stomach from feeding on milk. It sel- dom pays to fatten a calf beyond ten or twelve weeks. WEANING AND REARING CALVES. A calf may be weaned by being gradually accustomed to suck milk in a pail through the fingers. Many are reared upon very little milk mixed with hay-tea, linseed, or other slops ; fed on straw in the winter, and in summer upon the common. Such cannot be expected to turn to much account. The best cattle are reared SINGLE COW — MR. CRAMP'S PRACTICE. 237 from the teat, well wintered in good shelter, and full fed, until they attain their proper growth. Warmth and dry lodging are of the utmost conse- quence to the improvement of all young animals. Calves may, however, be reared to good proof, by being suffered to suck a very moderate quantity daily, the bulk of their food consisting of skimmed- milk, thickened with oat or wheat meal ; their win- ter food being carrots or Swedish turnips sliced, and oat-straw, with a small quantity of hay daily. To such of my readers as desire to make the most of a single cow, I cannot do better than recom- mend the perusal of a small pamphlet, published a few years since by the board of Agriculture, enti- tuled " Hints to Dairy Farmers ;" being an account of the management, food, and produce of a single milch-cow kept by Mr. Cramp, keeper of the House of Correction at Lewes, in Sussex: an account which will prove to demonstration, and to the regret of every well-wisher to his country, that our dairy business, the product of which is so precious, and never equal to our consumption, is by no means managed in general upon a profitable or the most productive plan. Cutting and carrying the green food for cows, was recommended many years ago ; and I experienced its full warranted utility, with the exception that my cows, when entirely kept in the house, fell off with their milk, whilst they increased in flesh ; but recovered their milk again, when al- lowed a range. Mr. Cramp, who so well merited the honorary silver medal of the Board, allowed his cow the small range in his power, and cultivated her 238 FOOD AND MANAGEMENT. green food within the verge of the prison. He also seems to have added, by his experience, a new milky breed to our old stock. His cow was a Sussex bred one, and in all probability, and in his opinion, that famous breed has not hitherto had a high dairy cha- racter from mere disuse, and application, solely al- most, to the purpose of rearing for beef. Mr. Cramp's cow was seven years old, had pro- duced five calves, and had been two years in his possession. She was fed in summer on clover, rye- grass, lucern, and carrots, three or four times a day. In winter with hay, bran, and grains, properly mixed, and often fed, particularly when milking. The manger kept clean, and no sour grains, rotten or mouldy vegetables given, on any account, and the cow never suffered to overcharge her stomach, but to be well filled, and kept with a good heaHhy ap- petite. She was never tied up, and always had her choice to lie abroad, or in the house. Always when milked, dripped clean to the last drop. Being so well kept, she went dry only seventeen days before calving. The country is under great obligation to Mr. Cramp for such an example, by which it is hoped our dairymen and housewives will not fail to profit. It is a useful practice of Mr. Cramp to give his cow a double-handful of malt-dust, mixed with a feed of grains and pollard, without exceeding that quantity of the malt-dust. Potatoes given to cows may be ground in a common apple-mill, or pounded in a trough ; my experience, however, will not warrant me in allowing much commendation to that root, as food for any kind of live stock. QUANTITIES OF PRODUCE — MR. HARLEY. 239 Quantities of Milk and Butter produced by Mr. Cramp's Cow, between April 1807, and April 1808. From 6th to 20th April — milk 8 quarts per day, butter Gibs, per week. From April 21st to June 1st — milk 22 quarts per day, butter 181bs. per week. From June 2d to October 5th — milk 20 quarts per day, butter IGlbs. per week. From October 6th, to November 30th — milk 15 quarts per day, butter 131bs per week. From December 1st to February 8th, 1808— milk 13 quarts per day, butter lllbs. per week. From February 9th to March 14th — milk 10 quarts per day, butter 81bs. per week. From March 15th to April 4th — milk 7 quarts per day, butter 51bs. per week, — dry for calving. Sale of the Year's Produce and Expenses. £ s. d. Sale of calf 14 days old—butter at Is. 4d. — skim-milk at Id. per quart — dung, ^ valued at 3/., in all 76 7 3 Total expenses, including II. 5s. for 10 Sacks Malt Combs, and a Farrier's Bill, 12*. 6d. 24 14 2 A year's net profit on a single cow, . £51 lo 1 I introduce the Harleian Dairy System, so styled by Mr. Harley in his publication, as a sequel to the practice of Mr. Cramp, and as a wholesale proof of the ill effects upon the cow, of constant confinement within doors, an unfair practice, which nothing but necessity can warrant. Mr. Harley fully establishes 240 ANECDOTE — THE DISEASES OF COWS. the fact of these ruinous effects, by the acknow- ledgement that no cow can endure them beyond a twelvemonth ; after which it is necessary to change the stock, their legs being swoln, their feet sore or foundered, and their flesh and milk greatly reduced. A pamphlet was published upwards of twenty years since, on this subject ; but the practice has never been in repute, nor probably ever will be. I have already noted my experience of the falling off in the cow, of her quantity of milk, in consequence of con- finement. In the case of a deficient quantity of herbage for the number of cows, it is most profitable to cut it green for them, at the same time, allowing them to remain abroad their due time, either upon the mown lands, or a common. A person resident at Scawby, near Brigg, pur- chased a cow, for which he paid twelve guineas : he kept her twelve years, in which time she bore twelve calves ; all of them were carefully reared, and sold at the times' prices, and as a remarkable circum- stance, he sold her at last for the same price she at first cost him. THE DISEASES OF COWS. The chief of these are — scouring, the hoose, or chronic cough, foul in the foot, loss of cud, yellows, black and red water, clue-bound, milk fever, wither- ing. With respect to the above, and other diseases to which cows and calves may be subject, the best advice in my power to give to the reader, is the PREVENTION of them, which is, nine times out often, possible, and even easy, to those who possess the PREVENTION — REMEDIES. 241 proper means for cattle-keeping ; and in every view, the cheapest and only profitable plan. With respect to medical remedies, I must again refer those who have occasion to employ them, to the " General Treatise on Cattle, the Ox, the Sheep, and the Swine" — and more especially with regard to those fanciful and pretended remedies, with which the common cattle-books are stuffed ; as cautionary against which, the late Mr. White, in his Farriery, says, the Treatise above referred to ought to be in every one's hands, who is interested in the subject. Bad keep, and exposure to cold, wet, and dirt, will bring scouring upon the cow, but should such a one chance to be purchased, the reverse of all those, with dry substantial food, will cure her, if sound. CLUEBOUND generally arises from the beast feeding, or rather starving, upon dry straw, and it will be cured by nourishing and opening food. The FOUL in the FOOT may be occasioned by the animal being constantly kept in wet poachy grounds, or long dewy grass, during the autumnal or winter seasons ; or from having been driven long journeys. It should be taken in time, when washing, cleanliness, paring, caustics, if necessary, and keeping the cow upon a dry and clean layer, are the chief and most effective remedies. Neglected, the cow never recovers the perfect use of her feet, and both her milking and feeding are thereby reduced. In withering, or re- tention of the cleaning, for any length of time, I have never known any remedy, which shews the necessity of due care at the time of calving. Malt-mashes, or M 242 CURIOUS EXPERIMENT. half malt and half fine pollard, warm, are excellent cordial medicines for cows. In general, these useful animals will rarely be troubled with disease, if con- stantly fed with a sufficiency of proper and nourish- ing food, and well sheltered during the winter sea- son from wet and cold, and from the effects of those atmospheric vicissitudes, to which our climate is so peculiarly liable. Some exceptions, however, may be made with re- spect to preternatural cases in CALVING, arising either from constitutional defects or accidents. But I do not profess, in this small treatise, to engage, except cursorily, with the extensive subjects of veterinary medicine and surgery ; with respect to the latter particularly, I refer the reader to Mr. Skellet's really practical work. In all difficult cases, more especially of parturition, immediate recourse should be had to an experienced practitioner, instead of trusting to the rude and unskilful efforts of servants, by which many a cow and calf have been lost. The following curious experiment proved suc- cessful, some years ago. One of the fore-legs of a cow, the property of Mr. Little, of Herseford, Corn- wall, being accidentally broken, and he being un- willing to kill the animal, caused the leg to be ampu- tated immediately below the knee joint. The wound being perfectly healed, a pad and wooden leg were braced upon the part, by which the cow was enabled to walk about, lie down, and rise with facility. Imported into Liverpool from Ireland, during the year 1829, (the number short, by five weeks being omitted,) cows 45,541. Calves 10,&58. — Liverpool Mercury. HONEY COUNTIES — PRICE. 243 SECTION XVIII. Bees. PREVIOUSLY to the year 1787, although we had ac- cidentally caught a swarm of bees, we had paid little attention to the culture of honey, our domestic occasions for that article being very limited : and in that year, whether or not the quantity collected or imported was so considerable, or the demand so re- duced, the first and pure honey was sold in Hants, Essex, and various parts of the country, at and even under the price of two-pence per Ib. The middle district of the county of Essex, in the vicinity of Bocking and Braintree, produces probably some of the best of English honey. It is usually collected from the cottagers, by higglers in their carts, the price, in 1824, about sixpence per pound, that of wax about eighteen or twenty-pence. Persons of property in a parish, desirous of promoting the culture of the Bee among the labourers, might very safely purchase the produce of their hives at a some- what higher price, and render the bee husbandry still more encouraging. Such a PRICE as the first above quoted, affording the prospect of loss, in every view, instead of that of due remuneration, could not fail to damp the spirit of Apiarian culture on the ground of profit ; M 2 244 EXTENT OF CULTURE DISCUSSED. and perhaps we are to look to this fact generally, as the radical cause of the neglect of bees in Britain and Ireland, of which our enthusiastic Apiarians have been in the constant habit of complaining. The importation of the foreign article cannot properly be adduced as an impediment, or rival to the growth of honey in this country, on the consideration of its constant superior price, since our native produce, if not generally preferred, is fully equal in quality to all purposes, domestic or medicinal, and since it is obvious that the home culture, if adequately pursued, would soon, not only prove sufficient for the national use, but would require the aid of an export trade. So far as I have considered the subject, in the course of a great number of years, such must be the inva- riable result ; thence there can be no temptation to push the bee culture in England to any great extent beyond its accustomed limits. An export trade in honey seems altogether out of question, even absurd. The southern nations would always excel us in the fine, if not the solid quality of the commodity ; and all nations in cheapness of production. In truth, the culture of this article to any commercial extent, is the object rather of countries abounding in forests and waste lands, the labouring classes of which are glad of any occupa- tion to engage their spare time, and to make an ad- dition to their scanty earnings : which is as much as to say, such a concern can never interest, in any material or extensive degree, the attention of a great agricultural and manufacturing nation. On this side of the QUESTION also, it has been urged that — " if the country were stocked with MISCHIEVOUS HABITS OF THE BEE. 245 bees, to the utmost possible extent, it might be questionable, whether the diminution in produce of beef, mutton, and wool, hides and tallow, from the impoverishment of the pasture, would not more than compensate the return in value, from the increased production of honey and wax." These insects were formerly held, by their depredations on the pollen and farina, to detract from the fragrance and beauty of flowers, and to hasten their decay ; and by their operations on the blossoms of fruit-trees, depriving them of their nectarine juices, to occasion the withering and premature decay of much of the fruit. This ancient opinion receives some countenance from the fact asserted by our modern gardeners, that if the flowers of any of the radish or brasstca tribe, have been much laid upon by bees, the purity of the seed cannot be warranted. In addition, the mischievous and revengeful disposition of these insects is urged as extremely dangerous both to human and brute creatures, insomuch that some farmers have de- clared, they might as well be surrounded by nests of hornets, as by multiplied stocks of bees. Accidents of animals stung to death by these furious and vin- dictive insects have ever been of periodical occur- rence, several within the present year. Lately, a female child had a fortunate escape. Its face, head and breast were covered with the insects, swelled and inflamed to an enormous size. The case was pe- rilous, but by the child being immediately found, the bees brushed off her, and proper remedies ap- plied, she soon recovered* The juice of onions first, and vinegar afterwards, are said to be specific. M 3 246 BOTH SIDES OF THE QUESTION. On the OTHER HAND, it is asserted that the bee never deranges the flowers which it visits, or ob- structs generation by injuring the little embryos ; and that it is even somewhat questionable, whether those visits are not of great use in promoting the fructification of flowers and blossoms, by conveying the dust or seed of the male flowers into the re- ceptacle of the female ; and whether or not the sole use of the honey of plants may be merely to tempt insects. Much of the above, on one side or the other, seems, at present, to consist of questionable specu- lation. One point, however, may be looked upon as established, bees have never yet been kept in this country to such an extent as to produce any palpable injury either to our fields or our gardens : and as it is not very probable that they ever will be, the as- certainment of the fact in question is of the less consequence. Our object is to caution the reader on the enthusiasm, however well intended, of the professed and too sanguine Apiarian, and to point out the true and rational grounds on which the business of the hive may be pursued in this country, together with the best instructions in our power to furnish, for the attainment of success. To come at once to the point : having the leading argument above in view, it does not appear that to keep bees with the expectation of commercial profit, can possibly answer the ends of any but our la- bouring cottagers. Were the counties of Essex, Hants, or Surrey, to enter into this branch of rural economy, to the extent recommended by those writers, who, astride upon their hobby-horses, urge them for- RATIONALE OF BEE-CULTURE. 247 ward with such eagerness and impetuosity, but for one successful season only, the price of honey and wax, during the succeeding, would be reduced almost to nothing; and the production, however intrinsically valuable, worth little else, might be bestowed as manure upon the land. It must yet be allowed, that a considerable sum is annually expended in the import of foreign honey ; to the extent, it was averred, a few years since, of 240,000/. The rational MOTIVES for keeping these interest- ing insects in England are, the gratification of natu- ral and scientific curiosity, the national supply of their productions, and, in particular, to form a ne- cessary article in the rounding or completing the plan of a country-house, as sketched in our preface. The culture of the bee has been known and prac- tised from almost the earliest ages of which we have any record, and its wonderful instinct, subtilty of contrivance, and proverbial industry, have never failed to attract the notice, and engage the investi- gation, of some of the most learned and enlightened men of every age. Indeed, the total neglect of the bee must appear, to the eye of reason and of science, as a barbarism and shame to any age or nation. The estimation in which this insect was held in ancient times, will be evident from the splendid character bestowed upon it by men most celebrated for their genius and learning, — Virgil styles the bee a ray of the divinity.— Plutarch calls it the magazine of vir- tues,— and Quintillian avers, that it is the greatest of geometricians. The effects of instinct in the bee, forms one of nature's most marvellous exhibi- M 4 £48 NATURE AND CHARACTER. tions ; and its governing attribute is, in this respect, superior even to the boasted reason of man, which can enable it to construct its habitations and needful offices, in the full exactitude of pure mathematics, independently of the aid of either rule, line, or compass. * Our Shakspeare, the prince of poets, and the industrious bee for collecting all the sweets of poesy, has beautifully, and with true practical correctness, described the bee of nature. It is to be observed, that the principal bee, of which every community of these insects has one or more, was formerly styled the king ; which modern discoveries proving to be a female, have metamor- phosed into a QUEEN. The bee is one of those creatures destined by nature to congregate, like the human, and live in communities under the guidance of an inferior kind of reason, denominated instinct. Thus qualified, the bee wears out its extremely li- mited term of existence in unremitting labour, not for its own individual, but for the common benefit. And, according to the continued observations of studious and curious Apiarians, these insects are actuated by those leading passions which sway the human breast, and endowed with that degree of ap- prehension and discrimination, which enables them to know the persons of their attendants. The simple consideration of a close fellow-feeling, in all respects, of suffering and enjoyment, between brute animals and man, should teach him the great and bounden duty of compassion and of mercy towards them. The BEE, or honey-fly, according to naturalists, is of the fourth order of Insects, and has four wings ; Bnd the community or hive, contains three kinds, STRUCTURE — FORM. 249 namely, the queen, or mother-bee, the drone, and the working-bee. In examining the STRUCTURE of the common work- ing bee, says BufFon, the first remarkable part that offers is the trunk (proboscis) which serves to ex- tract the honey from flowers. It is not formed like that of other flies, in the manner of a tube, through which the fluid is to be sucked up ; but like a besom to sweep, or tongue to lick it up. The animal is also furnished with teeth, enabling it to work upon the materials collected, the pollen and farina of flowers, from an elaboration of which in the stomach of the bee, are to be derived both the honey and wax. In the thighs of the hinder legs are found two cavities, fringed with hair, and into these, as into a basket, the bee deposits the pellets it has collected. Thus employed, it flies from flower to flower, in- creasing its stores, until the pellet or ball upon each thigh acquires the size of a grain of pepper ; when, having obtained a sufficient load, it returns home- wards, making the best of its way to the hive. The BELLY of the bee is divided into six rings, which, by slipping one over the other, shorten the dimensions of the body. Pliny held that the body of the bee is furnished with pores, through which the animal breathes, and to this opinion, Lisle, the Agri- cultural writer, has assented. The contents of the insect's belly, besides the common intestines, are the honey-bag, the venom-bag, and the sting. The honey-bag is transparent as crystal, containing the honey which has been collected : the greater part of which is deposited in the hive, being passed into the M5 250 THE STING. cells of the honey-combs, whilst the remainder serves for the insect's nourishment, as, during the summer or labouring season, it never touches the store laid by for winter. The STING, which serves to defend this little animal from its enemies, is composed of three parts ; the sheath and two darts, which are extremely small and penetrating. These darts have several small points, or barbs, like those of a fish-hook, which render the sting more painful, the darts rankling in the wound. Still, however, the infliction from such an instrument would be very slight, had not the bee power to poison the wound. The sheath, which has a sharp point, makes the first impression, the darts act next, after which the venomous fluid is infused. The sheath sometimes urged, perhaps, by the degree of excitement in the insect, sticks so fast in the wound, that it is left behind, and causes more permanent inflammation. The bee, in consequence, soon after dies, from an eruption of the intestines. It might, on first consideration, appear well for mankind, if the bee had not the power of inflicting such wounds, but on farther reflection, it will be found, that the little animal would have too many rivals in sharing the profits of its labours. Nu- merous other animals, fond of honey, and of obtain- ing it free cost, would intrude upon the sweets of the hive, without armed guardians for its protection. The venom of the insects appears to be an original material in their composition, imparted to them by nature, for the purposes of defence or revenge, and not formed like honey, the ingredients of which are collected from without. INSTINCT — -INDUSTRY — PARTIALITIES. 251 It has been observed, that bees are endowed with the faculty of knowing the persons familiar to them, which, indeed, seems sufficiently obvious from their power of distinguishing individually, their own kind, and their friends from their enemies. Instinct has placed them not only under one of the most regular of commonwealths, with a queen at their head, but instructed them so thoroughly, in the division of labour, and each of them in every separate branch of it, that each one indiscriminately engages in that part which may, at the moment, require his industry. Bees are weather-wise, and generally remain close at home, on their sense of the approach of unfa- vourable weather. Like all armed insects, they are passionate, revengeful, and active, but will scarcely ever attack keepers who have been acknowledged by them, and who take care constantly to approach them quietly, and without roughness or cause of agitation. It appears, however, to be an ascertained fact, that there are persons who, probably from the peculiar scent of their perspiration, are either pleas- ing and attractive, or disgusting to the olfactory nerves of bees. Thence it has occasionally hap- pened, that a swarm of bees shall have alighted upon the human head and face, and the patient being of the favoured class, not the slightest injury has been sustained ; on the contrary, it has full often occurred, that persons have been stung dangerously, and as it would seem revengefully, by these insects. It is perhaps the same with respect to strangers visiting an Apiary. There are VARIETIES of the bee, more, I think, in M6 252 VARIETIES — THE QUEEN DESCRIBED, other countries than in this, where we pay little at- tention to that matter. To the queen, or mother of the whole community, however, it is necessary for the intended bee-master to give the strictest atten- tion, as, without a queen, it is useless to possess a hive, since neither can the generation of fresh swarms proceed, nor will those which may be present, labour, but either emigrate, or languish and die. It being then so necessary to have the distinguishing form and features of a queen familiarly in the eye, I shall give a description of her, and for correctness sake, from Mr. Huish, a most able, practical, and compre- hensive writer on the subject. The form of the QUEEN is wholly different from that of other bees. Like the drones, she neither has nor needs the triangular store cavities in her hinder thighs ; her teeth are smaller than those of the working bee, but larger than those of the drone, and she has no bunches of hair or bristle near her feet ; she is longer in her body, and more tapering than the drone. Her belly is of a golden colour, and the upper part of her is of a brighter hue than than that of the common bee. But the most un- erring rule to judge of the queen bee is from the shortness of her wings, which extend only to the third ring of her body, whilst those of the working bees, and more particularly those of the drones, cover its whole length. Thus she flies with greater difficulty than the working bees ; however, it is mere accident, if in the course of her life, she should have any occasion for \vings. She is said to be armed with a crooked sting, which yet she seldom uses, or if ever, very slightly ; a provident care of GENERATION — QUEEN. 253 nature, perhaps, for the protection of a personage of so great importance, from the fatality consequent upon that act. The GENERATION of the bee and larger insects, contrary to that of the common fly, appears to be after the rule of fishes. According to the prevailing opinion, there is no sexual congress among bees, nor is the possibility conceivable, for obvious rea- sons. The QUEEN lays the eggs, which are after- wards fecundated by the drones. Her body contains an ovarium or egg-bag, of which certain insecto- anatomists have actually or fancifully discovered two, terminating in a common channel, which two are filled during the breeding season. Her fruit- fulness is almost beyond conception, and she con- tinues to deposit eggs, as long as a cell remains vacant for them. The title of queen is a mere fiction ; she would be, with far more propriety, styled mother of the bees, as she really is; for although her indispensable existence obtain for her a kind of royal state, she possesses not the smallest power above any other individual of the hive, or any kind of direction in its concerns. As a proof of the veneration of these communities for royalty, should more than one queen remain after the swarms have gone off, the supernumeraries are infallibly and loyally massacred. The young queens never lay eggs in the parent hive, but depart with the swarms, in order to find their place in a new establishment. The queen is hatched in a CELL of a totally dif- ferent construction from that of any other bee. Her cell is perpendicular. Those both of the drones and working bees are horizontal. The cell of the 254- CELLS — DESERTION — EXPERIMENTS. drone is of an irregular form, that of the working, or common bee, a perfect hexagon. On the side of the middle combs the cell is constructed, which is destined to receive the egg, of which a young queen is to be born. It has been discovered by the cu- rious, that nature imparts the wonderful faculty to the queen, of fore-knowing the kind of egg she is about to lay, and of choosing the particular cell in which it ought to be placed. A queen is known to lay four or five hundred eggs in a day. Such are the discoveries or opinions of practical Apiarians. Should the number of labouring bees be insuffi- cient for the purpose of constructing the necessary cells, the queen will most probably forsake the hive, however well supplied with provision, and will be most ready to take this step in fine weather. All, or part of the stock will follow, assisting her, it is averred, when wearied, from being accustomed to flight, by bearing her up with their legs and wings. The old remedy to prevent this desertion, was to place empty combs in the hive, which does not always succeed, from the disgust taken by the queen- The preferable method is supposed to be, when there is a hive at hand, the colony of which has died during the season, to place over it the hive about to be deserted. The eggs left in the borrowed hive will thus be hatched, and a colony raised in suffi- cient numbers. The accidental death of the queen, or departure, will occasion the bees to forsake their hive. Some years since, according to report, the Rev. Dr. Dunbar, by a series of experiments in Scotland, ascertained that when a queen bee is wanting in a hive, she may be produced from the THE DRONE — FATE OF DRONES. 255 egg of a working bee. In one experiment, the queen being removed, the bees set about construct- ing royal cells, and placing common larvae in them : in seven days, two queens were formed. One of these killed the other, and though, while in a virgin state, the surviving queen was treated by the bees with no distinction whatever, she no sooner began to lay, than she became the object of constant soli- citude and respect, by her admiring subjects, who watched, fed, and waited upon her. The DRONE, or male bee, is the largest ; full at the extremity or tail, which the wings cover, except- ing a small angle which has a blackish appearance. Beneath, are two small protuberances, which are the supposed indications of the masculine gender. The drone, as every one knows, is left by nature unarmed, the organs of generation in him being found in the place of the sting in the working bee. The antenna and probosces of the drones are shorter than those of the labouring bees, and their teeth smaller ; nor have they those cavities on the thighs, which distinguish the latter, their sole destined em- ployment being the propagation of their kind, for which they are furnished with food from the common stock, towards the collection of which they never give, nor are expected to give, any assistance. The fate of the drone bees is a singular proof of the in- stinctive predominance of the interested motive in animal nature, which may be traced equally to hu- man nature in the savage state, and before the aspe- rities of that state are mollified and worn away by the expansion and culture of the reasoning faculty. The drones are hatched at the beginning of the 256 THE LABOURING BEE NUMBER TO A HIVE. season, and having completed the duty of fecun- dating the eggs, they are all to a unit, towards the end of the same season, destroyed by their brethren the working bees, and their carcasses dragged from the hive. The MODE in which this execution is perpetrated by the bees, is said to be by driving the victims from their combs and weakening them by starvation, after which they are finished by being bitten beneath the roots of the wings. This carnage continues during three or four days, and is seen in front of the hives. Several bees at once seize upon a drone ; he makes no resistance, and they do not quit him until they have fulfilled nature's mission. The assassins should be assisted in their work, and a wooden spatula will serve the purpose. The life of the drone *thus extends, upon the average, but from April to August, or September. The drone is particularly distinguished by the humming noise which he makes in his flight. The number of them in a hive, proportional to its size and to the number of working bees, is from four to five hundred, to upwards of a thousand. Keys says, in his Bee Master's Farewell, that a good swarm of bees ought to consist of a peck and half, or about thirty thou- sand in number. Many jokes have passed on the idea of measuring bees by the peck ; nor does the correct tale of them by the thousand, appear a much more feasible undertaking. The common mule, OR LABOURING BEE, is smaller than the drone, and its most obvious distinction is its complete snug covering, to nearly the extremity of the tail, by its wings. Having no concern in generation, RULES AND CAUTIONS. 257 this bee is of no sex, neither male nor female. Its province is solely that of labour, of which it per- forms every species which is needful for the com- munity. Gathering in the harvest from the flowers, constructing and filling the combs, feeding the young, murdering the useless, and preserving the hive in that state of cleanliness and neatness, in which these industrious and astute insects take so great delight. This bee is furnished with natural implements, extensive and strong, in proportion to the labour which it has to perform. It has two hard teeth or jaws, which enable it to collect the wax, knead it, and construct the cells ; also to re- move any substance of which it is desirable to be ridded. The proboscis, of a shining chesnut hue, exclusive of its sweeping property, by which the farina of the blossom is attracted, is likewise fur- nished with a channel through which, by a muscular power in the organ, honey and liquids are drawn into the gullet. It is supposed that the collection of honey and farina, by the bee, is a distinct operation, and that it never enters the hive laden with both. For the following rules and cautions, furnished by a judicious practical Apiarian, and friend to the work, the author holds himself much obliged. " It is not to be expected that any one can possess an intuitive knowledge of the management of an apiary, and especially of some points of the utmost consequence to the prosperity of the hives. A per- son is generally, in a certain degree, a judge of the goodness or badness of the article which he wishes to purchase ; but how few are there, who when they establish an apiary are able, from their own expe- 258 METHOD OF ESTABLISHING AN APIARY. rience, to decide on the badness or excellence of a hive ; and thus, perhaps, at the very outset of their undertaking, a failure ensues, and the pursuit is re- linquished, arising from a groundless idea of the difficulties which attendSts prosecution. " The usual methods of establishing an apiary are, either by the purchase of stocks or of swarms — or, in some instances, by the settling of a vagabondizing swarm in your garden, which by the country house- wives is always considered as a real God-send ; — remembering to forget that, they have as much legal right to the swarm, as they have to the cow or pig which may have strayed into their premises. In the purchase of stocks, the following essential points should be attended to, without a knowledge of which, the young apiarian will find himself deceived, at the very moment when his expectations of ulti- mate success are raised to the highest pitch. It is with a bee hive as with a wife, never take one on the recommendation of another person, but be your own judge of its merits and defects. If it be your intention to purchase a stock, repair to the garden in which it stands, about the middle of the day, and placing yourself before it, pay particular atten- tion to the actions of the bees. If you observe them crowding in and out of the hive, and a considerable number of them having little yellow pellets or balls on their hinder legs, a very favourable opinion may be formed of the health and condition of the interior, and especially of the prolific state of the queen. If the examination take place previously to the swarm- ing season, pay particular attention to the number of drones; this is an infallible criterion of the po- ADVICE TO THE YOUNG APIARIAN. 259 pulousness of the hive, and the purchaser may then confidently look forward to the possession of the usual swarms. If, on the other hand, the examination take place in the autumn, the previous massacre of the drones must be ascertained ; the omission of this act, on the part of the bees, is a certain sign of some radical defect, most probably on the part of the queen, and the prospect of the bees surviving the winter becomes thereby highly problematical. If the bees appear irascible and bold in their attacks on their enemies, particularly the wasp, it is a good sign of their condition ; if on their return from the fields their bodies appear cylindrical, it is a certain proof that the bees are busy in the collection of honey, and consequently a good estimate may be formed of the interior richness of the hive. In re- gard to the exterior of the hive, on no account select one which is old and decayed, as such hives are always infested with vermin. No prudent Apia- rian will ever put a swarm into an old hive, and in this respect it must be admitted, that in a great degree the most culpable carelessness exists, on the part of the cottagers, who, perhaps, from a principle of false economy, put their swarms into old and rotten hives, rather than be at the expence of purchasing new ones. A new hive to every swarm ought to be the leading principle of every keeper of bees, and it is to the want of due attention to this point, that so many failures occur in the management of an apiary. f ' The examination of the interior of the hive is at- tended with greater difficulty to the young Apiarian, 260 CAUTION IN PURCHASING A SWARM — A FRAUD. and yet this examination is indispensable to the knowledge of the goodness or badness of a hive. The original colour of the combs is white, and it follows, therefore, that in proportion to the differ- ence of shade which the combs present, so is the age of the hive. In old hives the colour of the combs approaches to an absolute black, and there- fore all idea of its purchase should be rejected. A golden colour may be considered as the medium, and if the side-combs appear filled with honey, which may be known by the cells being sealed, little risk can be run in the purchase of the hive. A number of queen cells is an infallible criterion of an old hive, and although a swarm may be obtained from it the succeeding year, yet it would not be ad- visable to purchase it. " In regard to the purchase of swarms, it is to be regretted, that a system of deception is often prac- tised by the cunning cottager, which, as it is very difficult of detection, except by the experienced Apiarian, the fraud is generally attended with suc- cess. It is the general practice in the purchase of swarms, when they are bespoke, to send the hives into which the swarms are to be put, as the intended purchaser may entertain a fancy to a hive of a par- ticular shape, and the removal of the bees from one hive to another is an operation too difficult to be undertaken by the young Apiarian. At the regular time, the cottager informs his dupe that the swarm is safely housed, and it is taken away under the supposition that it is a first swarm ; for which, per- haps, the price of a guinea has been paid. The truth, however, will soon disclose itself, that the NUMBERS IN A SWARM. 261 cottager has retained the first swarm to himself, sending the second swarm to the ignorant pur- chaser ; and the question now presents itself, how is this fraud to be discovered ? — the solution is im- mediately at hand. In the formation of the combs, there is one invariable principle peculiar to first and second swarms, which is, that a first swarm always commences the erection of their combs in the middle of the hive ; a second swarm always begin their combs at the side. Let, therefore, the purchaser, previously to the removal of the swarm, gently lift up the hive, and so arrive at the position of the combs, if the foundation commences at the side, pay the price of a second swarm, and no more ; the better plan would be to reject it altogether, and leave the cottager to congratulate himself on the successful issue of his intended fraud. The weight and size of a swarm are good criteria by which to judge whether it be a first or second, but they can- not always be depended on, and it is only the pro- fessed Apiarian who is able to arrive at a just and definite conclusion." It has been observed, by some Apiarians, that a good swarm should consist of between forty and fifty thousand; by others, perhaps with more truth, of between twelve and fifteen thousand. Such a swarm, hived in May, will have bred many thousands, con- sidering the number of eggs laid by the queen, be- fore the end of June ; and during the whole season, which extends nearly to Michaelmas, the number of bees hatched will, with common success, amount to upwards of five thousand. These, added to the ori- ginal number of the swarm, will swell it to the 262 DESTROYING OR DEPRIVING. amount, as some reckon, of upwards of threescore thousand, at the conclusion of the season, (Michael- mas) when the stock is either destroyed, or, techni- cally speaking, deprived. Under the latter dispensa- tion, the mortality of these insects is sufficiently great, since the numerous stock above stated, would not, in all probability, by Christmas, consist of many be- yond five thousand. Even at Michaelmas there are seldom found, in a good stock, more than eight thou- sand. Thus the life of a working bee, upon the average, is not above six months ; incessant labour, and the accidents to which insectile life is necessarily subject, contributing to this constant mortality. The bees bred at Michaelmas, and which nurse the young swarms in the succeeding spring, are sup- posed to be the longest lived, as not having been exhausted by labour during the first four months of their existence. It has been said, upon the autho- rity of Mr. Huish, that the life of a queen bee might extend to four years. This may be as proper a place as any, for a few words of discussion on the old question of the expe- dience of destroying the bees, in order to take the honey, or depriving, that is to say, driving them from the old to a fresh hive. Mortimer, who wrote about a century since, adverts to this disputed point, and decides, from practice, in favour of the common method, destroying the bees. A late French and practical apiarian writer holds the same opinion, for which he advances, apparently cogent reasons. All our late English Apiarians, Mr. Huish at their head, oppose themselves redoubtably to the practice of destruction. As to the grand point, PSEUDO PHILANTHROPISM. 263 that of interest, little has been hitherto advanced on either side of a very preponderating nature. Under the system, almost universal, of destroying the bees, no deficiency of those insects, of which I have ever been apprised, has occurred. On the other hand, perhaps some small deterioration of the quality of the honey may accrue from the fumigation by which they are destroyed. With respect to the argument of HUMANITY, it is by far too fine spun, to endure the wear and tear of ratiocination. Boasting, as we bipeds do, of our reason, and all that, I shall not insist on the argu- ment of the lex talionis, furnished by the cruel con- duct of these half-reasoning insects to their fellows. Yet since drones are murdered, why not murder their murderers ? Did we not suffocate them, their fragile lives would naturally cease in two or three little months, or many of them would perish mise- rably, by the thousand accidents to which they are liable. The grand argument of Mr. Secretary Isaac — ' the Creator has not authorized me to destroy one without cause,' is thoroughly seasoned with the flum- mery and blarney of modish pseudo-philanthropism. We find special good cause for the slaughter of lambs and calves, and of every living thing which it appears to be our interest to kill ; and therein we follow a primary law of universal nature. The cow- ardly and irrational dread of putting a period to animal life, is the constant source of protracted and horrible animal misery. The most exquisite inflic- tions of savage barbarity have never equalled, in effect, the slow and lingering tortures conferred upon unfortunate animals, by the graces of a left-handed 264 TECHNICAL TERMS — HONEY IMPORTED. philanthropy. In fine, let the bee-master make fair experiment of both the methods, and then his elec- tion. I shall anon give the common rules of both. It may be perhaps worth a note, that in India the hive has a sliding valve in the centre. When the hive is full, a great noise is made within and behind, which drives the bees out. The valve is then closed upon the bees, until the honey be removed. Mr. Isaac, in his useful little tract, gives the fol- lowing definition of a few APIARIAN TECHNICALITIES. I copy them as being rather more precise than those to which I have been generally accustomed. By Colonies, are to be understood bees in double or treble hives. Stocks designate bees generally, at the end of the season. All bees, from the season of hiving, till its conclusion at Michaelmas, are called swarms ; subsequently, stocks, if in single hives ; colonies if in double. A swarm having thrown out a swarm, becomes then a stock, although it may have been hived but a few weeks. Such superabundant swarming in this climate is disadvantageous. Swarm- ing, generally, continues between two and three weeks. Mr. Brown, of Renfrew, N. B. had a hive which cast three swarms in 1807,—Jive swarms in 1808, — three swarms in 1809, — and four swarms in 1810, the parent hive still in good strength. In 1826, Mr. E. Day, of Coldblow farm, Hucking, took from four- teen stocks of bees 5761bs. of honey. In the year 1814, imported in the Aurora, from Papenberg, honey 41 casks, 68 cwts. 1 qr. 23 Ibs. In another ship, 8,424 Ibs. From Amsterdam, 4 hhds. and 12 casks, 50 cwt. 2 qrs. 14 Ibs. BRITISH AND FOREIGN HONEY — WAX. 265 The VIRTUES of honey, and the various uses of wax, the staple articles of our subject, are too uni- versally known to need recapitulation. It is probable, however, that honey is better adapted to occasional and medicinal, than general dietetic use ; and also that in some constitutions, it has the effect ascribed to it by the ancient naturalists, of exciting melan- choly. Some twenty odd years since, during the early attempts to abolish the slave trade, it was pro- posed to substitute the use of honey for that of sugar, which was but too truly stigmatized as the blood and sweat of human beings : the abolition of sugar, and of slavery, however, had then equal success. British honey is more solid, more apt to granulate and crystallize, and generally more pure and free from adulteration, than the fine Southern and Me- diterranean species. The superiority of the latter, which is liquid, consists in its fine fragrant flavour, often scented with wild thyme and odoriferous herbs. The present retail price of the Minorca, or best fo- reign honey, in London, is two shillings and sixpence per Ib. — of the English, equally good perhaps in es- sentials, two shillings. Dr. Reece tells me, that in his late experiment of distilling honey, comparatively with sugar, a pound of honey yielded considerably more alcohol, or spirit, than a pound of sugar. Of WAX, the consumption is, necesssarily, far more extensive than of honey; and of the former this country has always stood in need of a consider- able import, a circumstance not be regretted, since there must be some commercial reciprocity, or how N 2C>6 . PROPOLIS — SITUATION — AIR SOIL. is commerce itself to subsist ? In Mortimer's time, we find wax was an article of never-failing ready sale, and the price was then from five to six pounds per cwt., the present, from six to eighteen guineas. The method to obtain pure wax, is to preserve the hives constantly free from water and damps, and in- deed, all foulness ; to insure which, they must not be retained in use after becoming worn with decay. Propolis is that viscous matter or cement, of the nature of wax, with which, notwithstanding its vis- cosity, bees, as they are commencing labour, glue up all the crevices of the hive. This somewhat duc- tile substance is of a dark brown, and sometimes auburn hue, and in countries abounding with odori- ferous flowers and shrubs, it emits a grateful per- fume. It is of a resinous quality, and has medicinal uses ; is also a varnish of a superior kind. It is effi- cacious in hoarseness, appeasing the cough. Undoubtedly, the best and most promising situa- tion for establishing an apiary, is the vicinity of woods and commons, and of brooks, rather than of large lakes or rivers, in which the bees, when drink- ing, are often driven away and perish. A dry air and a light soil, productive of odoriferous shrubs, are also, perhaps, essential to the production of the best honey and the finest wax ; but as bees are little injured by cold, they may be kept upon any soil which will feed them, on the condition of their being preserved free from moisture and damps. The bee will travel to the distance of six or seven miles in search of food, guided by an instinctive power of smelling at a distance, that which is most agreeable 8 BEE FOOD PLANTATIONS. 267 to its nature. It has the labour of returning home laden, and of repeating that labour through the day. All keepers of bees, therefore, who desire to profit by them, should plant to a certain degree for their provision, perhaps in any situation; but in those which are unfavourable, ample successions of those shrubs, flowers, or plants, most agreeable to their taste, should be cultivated. It is obvious, the shorter journeys the bees have to make, the quicker and more ample will be their returns, and that chosen food of the best species must also contribute to ex- cellence in the quality, as well as the utmost increase in quantity, of the honey and wax produced. Hereafter follows a list of the chief articles of BEE FOOD, which may easily be enlarged, if necessary* by enquiries in the country. Lisle and the old Bee-masters recommend turnips to be kept, the blossoms of which are the earliest spring food ; the meadow and hedge-row flowers soon succeed. The blossoms in May, of all fruit trees ; all of the turpentine or pine class, and the Linden tree. Vetches, beans, white clover, lucern, and sanfoin ; but it is said the humble bee only is able to feed on broad clover, from the length of its proboscis. Buck wheat is an article of great conse- quence, where food is raised expressly for the use of bees. Heath, furze, and broom stand in the first rank, as most sought and most salubrious to the insects. With the view of imparting a fragrancy of flavour to the honey, the odoriferous shrubs, thyme, laven- der, sweet marjoram, and their like, with strawber- 268 VARIETIES OF FOOD — THE APIARY. ries and raspberries, should be planted. The sun- flower, holly-hock, and poppy. Burrage-flowers, from their long blooming, are of the greatest use. Marsh-mallows abound in farina. Melilot, a bien- nial plant found in hedges and underwood, which flowers in July, is much sought by bees, and greatly productive of honey. It was formerly said to equal lucern as food for horses, thence worthy of a mo- dern trial, which I gave it in 1828 and 1829, on various soils, finding it immensely productive. It is, however, not a favourite food with horses or cat- tle, until they become accustomed to it ; the case with nearly all . artificial grasses ; yet it is in con- stant use on the continent, and was formerly cul- tivated in this country. Mignionette is supposed to be the richest in honey of all flowers ; bees are par- ticularly fond of those of the verbinia and ster- tian, cabbages and cauliflowers : in Autumn, oak- leaves, and those of all trees on which the honey- dew is found. The APIARY should be fixed in a dry and shel- tered situation, and so far detached that it may be well defended from every kind of vermin, the bee having many enemies. A south-west aspect is re- commended by the elder apiarians, on the ground that, from the South-East, the bees are disturbed too early, and thence do not work so late in the evening, by which they are losers. Whether the use or curiosity of this idea predominate, I have not sufficient experience to decide ; but certainly in some situations a S.W. aspect may be improper, and shelter from high winds is at any rate indispen- ASPECT — SHELTER — HIVES. 269 sable. The apiary should not stand contiguous to shrubs or plants of a height equal to the entrance of the hives, which may impede the flight of the bees heavily laden, on their return home : never- theless, low trees, shrubs, bushes, and espaliers, close at hand, are necessary, on which the swarms may alight. The BEE-HOUSE or hives should be so posited, that access may be had around them, for the purpose of detecting or removing any nuisance ; and the ground should be kept free from weeds, or any harbour of vermin, and in a state of per- fect neatness, in which the bees delight. Gravel walks and flower borders, are the useful and the ornamental features of the apiary. HIVES either stand in a bee-house, box, or shed, or under a thatched or other kind of roof. The STAND on which the hive is placed, should always be kept clean, particularly so in the spring, at the commencement of the working season. If it.be at times sprinkled with a little salt, it will be very con- ducive to the health of the bees. In short, all im- purities should be removed from within and without the hive, in order to save the cleanly insects the un- profitable labour of the removal of nuisances. BEE-HIVES have ever varied much, both in their form, and the materials of which they have been constructed. In the natural state, these insects, of course, take possession of any hollow vacant spot, convenient for their domicile and laboratory — a hollow tree — chasm in the rock or bank — or the wall or roof of a deserted building. In such places they inclose themselves, always dwelling and labour- N3 270 FORM — POSITION. ing in the dark. Taken under the protection of man, they will remain in any kind of dwelling ap- propriate to their purpose, and hives have been made of wood, for example, of a cask ; of wicker work plastered, and of straw : the latter material in England particularly, has long had the preference. There are glass hives, for the purpose of inspection. Common straw hives are to be had in any part of the country ; in London the price of them is half a crown, and three shillings per Ib. extra for any glass in them which may be required. Apiarians have not yet agreed on the most ad- vantageous form of the hive, a great number of them tasking their invention, and each recommend- ing his own form. Mr. Huish, as the last, ought to be, on that account, and from his great practice is, most to be depended on in this particular. Indeed, he is the author to be studied by those who are ambitious of obtaining a complete theoretical and practical knowledge of bees ; his Cottager's Manual, and that of Isaac's, being equally convenient for those to whose use they are addressed. The Huish hive is conical, and approaches to a square as nearly as the materials will admit of, having a con- vex top or cover, with the great convenience of being moveable, and which is sufficiently plastered to prevent the admission of light into the hive. This hive is materially calculated for the plan of deprivation and preserving the bees. On either plan it appears also to be superior. Mr. Huish, as Mortimer formerly, decries the common method of placing hives upon benches, from the dangerous SECURITY — TIN ENTRANCE. 271 and fatal quarrels to which it exposes the bees, and other objections, preferring to place them upon separate stools or pedestals of wood, in addition to which, Mr. Huish has invented a chain, which encompasses the hive, and is locked to the pedes- tal as a security against robbers. The back part of the hive may be fixed within half an inch, or an inch, of the edge of the pedes- tal ; but in front, a space of three or four inches is necessary as a landing-place, on which the bees may alight. The tin entrance, invented by Mr. Huish, of which we adjoin a sketch, should be attached to every hive. It consists of three tin slides, two of which are perforated with small holes, and the third has an entrance only sufficiently large to admit of the ingress of one bee at a time. These slides are raised or let down as the occasion may require, and, in case of an attack from wasps or maurauding bees ; or when snow is on the ground, at which time the bees should be closely confined; the utility of this machine will be at once discovered. Mr. Huish mentions an instance of a most extraordinary battle which he once witnessed, by the bees of 28 hives furiously attacking each other/ and he attributes the salvation of the hives entirely to the use of this little instrument, for he was able immediately to contract the entrances, so that only N 4} ARRANGEMENT — SITE — ENEMIES. one bee could enter at a time, and the besieged were, therefore, able to beat off the besiegers with the loss of a very few lives. The hives should be ranged in a right line, front- ing, as has been said, the S.E. or S.W. They may be placed two feet apart, and about the same distance from the ground. Should the apiary be extensive, and the hives stand in double rows, Mr. Huish advises the chequered form — 000000 00000 In which mode, the flight of the bees in the hinder row will not be obstructed by the front hives. A bee taking flight from the hive generally forms a considerable angle with the horizon in his ascent ; and should the hive stand at too great a degree of elevation, the advantage would enable the swarm to take so extensive a flight, that they might be totally lost. But if the site be not sufficiently extensive to admit of the hives being placed in a right line, it is preferable to set them one over another in double rows. The pedestal or stool should have but a single leg or support, and its top, on which the hive is to stand, should be made of seasoned and sub- stantial wood, which will not warp, and wITich should be firmly nailed to the post, in a slanting direction, in order that the rain may run off, all stagnant moisture being highly inimical to bees. Every possible method should be taken to pre- vent the access on the lodgment, in, or near the hive, of the various ENEMIES of the bee — ants, moths, spiders, wasps ; of these the MOTH and the ANT are the most destructive. Many birds, also beside the WASPS TO EXTIRPATE. 273 torn-tit and sparrow, are bee-killers. The chief difficulty lies with the moth, the ant, and the wasp, in Autumn. When the moth has obtained a con- siderable footing, the bees will quit their hive. The prey of the moth is supposed to be the pollen, or bee-bread, in store, and the heterogeneous refuse attached to the wax. A timely renewal of hives appears to be the only real remedy — to join the bees to another hive, and save the little left by the depredators. The too fatal sign, according to Huish, of a hive taken possession of by the moth, is an inaction of the bees, during ten days or a fortnight, whilst the bees of other hives are in activity. The ascent of ants may be prevented by TARRING the lower part of the hive pedestals, and constantly repeating it when too dry. In a thickly cultivated country, like England, it is an enormous scandal to breed and feed WASPS, when the fact is known, that to destroy a queen wasp in in March or April, is to prevent the hatching of a whole nest. Thus, if all the queen wasps in a country were destroyed, the whole race would be exterminated, and had effective measures been taken, as with wolves formerly, our country might at this day have been as free from wasps as wolves. The mother wasp is known by her superior size and greater brilliancy of colour beyond the common wasp. In a season between 1788 and 1792, wasps being in immense multitudes, I very soon killed fif- teen hundred with my own hands, but could per- suade no neighbour to follow my example. Merely stopping up the outlets of a wasp's nest, is not at N 5 274 BEE CULTURE — PROFITS — SUCCESSFUL YEAR. all to be depended on ; sulphur and gunpowder are the only specifics. It has been ludicrously said, that were the bee-culture, in a country like this, carried to the extent recommended by our sanguine Apiarians, the honey-bee would, in no great length of time, become as great and dangerous a nuisance as the wasp. To keep bees in the common mode of our own country, and I suppose of all others, is an occupa- tion of little trouble, and of trifling uncertain gain. To manage the apiarian husbandry with effect, is a work, although not of expensive outlay, yet which requires much attention and indefatigable vigilance, at certain seasons most particularly. Our country labourers, who have wives and children to assist in this business, are the part of our population most probable to be benefited by it. It should be encou- raged among them by their employers, and a market always found in the parish for their honey and wax. This, however, was, until of late, in few parts defect- ive. Mr. Mavor, in his account of Berkshire, some years since, relates that a poor cottager cleared in one season, TWENTY-SEVEN POUNDS by his bees : such a prize, I apprehend, has been seldom drawn in that lottery ; but a poor family, with care, might almost depend on saving the amount of their rent, perhaps of their shoe-leather into the bargain. Rare in- stances have happened, in our western counties, of a hive producing forty pounds of honey in the sea- son : twenty, down to twelve or fourteen pounds, are far more in course. But superior culture and attention will produce greater quantity of honey and PURCHASE— REMOVAL — SWARMS. 275 wax. Of the latter, one pound and a half per hive is the usual product. *•••>« In the year 1 822, remarkable for early honey ga- thering, several Oxfordshire Apiarians had stocks, the gross weight of which was sixty to sixty-seven pounds. In Lincolnshire, seven swarms were ob- tained from two old hives : that is to say, two top swarms, two second swarms, and from the two top swarms, two virgin swarms, and from the latter a second virgin swarm. The first swarm was hived May 2, the last June 27. Another hive threw out four swarms within sixteen days. The object next to purchase, is the REMOVAL of the bargain homewards, which is always effected most conveniently and safely by water-carriage. In those cases wherein recourse must be had to land-car- riage, it is managed by two men, having a pole be- tween them, upon which the hive, wrapped in a sheet, is slung. But the most convenient method of removal is by a common hand-barrow, by means of which several hives may be removed at the same time ; previously to which, however, the utmost caution should be used in stopping up every cre- vice or aperture by which a single bee can make its escape. Mr. Huish mentions an instance in which this precaution being not sufficiently attended to, the active little insects discovered an aperture whence they effected their escape ; and the consequence was a furious attack on the porters, who very unceremo- niously threw down their burthen, and the total destruction of the hives was the result. Previously to removal, the entrance of the hive should be closed N6 276 DRESSING HIVES — MILD AND SEVERE WINTERS. with a tin-plate, pierced with small holes, to prevent the suffocation of the bees. In our climate, although the bees may SWARM se- veral times in a season, it is found, with a few excep- tions, that the first swarm only is worth preserving, and as the first labour of these wonderful insects is to sweep and garnish their dwellings, and remove all obstacles to their industry, as much as possible of this labour must be done for them, by rubbing the interior of the hive with a hard brush, in order to remove all loose and projecting straws. The spring and summer duty of the Apiarian, is to watch the motions of his bees, to protect them from enemies, to secure the swarms, and move them temporarily, on a deficiency of food at home, to a more plentiful pasture, which is customarily done with safety and success. In the winter months, the chief care is to feed the stocks when needful, and to protect them from every annoyance, particularly that of damps and moisture, and the melting of snow. Mr. Roberts, of Battle, Sussex, had a hive of bees which swarmed in the last week of February, 1822, one of the mildest winters on record, all over Europe ; but mild winters, from the moist state of the atmosphere, are inimical to bees ; a cold and severe winter is favourable, particularly to weak hives, on account of the torpid state into which the bees are thrown, and consequently the small quan- tity of honey which they consume in that state, must, on the principle of economy, be highly advan- tageous to them. No cold of this climate was ever known to destroy a hive, although ignorance may SEASONS — SWARMING. 277 have given it as the cause, and indeed the practice In some counties of wrapping up the hives in blan- kets, and other warm coverings to protect them from the cold, is founded on antiquated prejudice and error. The months of MAY and JUNE are the periods of swarming, but the precise departure of the swarm depends in a great measure on the state of the weather. The swarming season is the most import- ant and anxious period of the labours of the Apiarian, for on its successful issue depends the chief part of his profit. It should he the aim of every keeper of bees to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the chief symptoms of the departure of^ swarm, for his ignorance on this point will expose him to a certain loss. Circumstances may possibly so com- bine, as that the most experienced Apiarian may be mistaken in his calculations, but in the majority of cases, the prognostics of a swarm are so decisive, that the precise period of its departure can be defi- nitively fixed. The vacating of a hive may be con- sidered as the preliminary symptom, as it bespeaks an active and increasing population ; and the bust- ling disposition of the drones about mid-day, is con- firmatory of the approaching swarm. The surest criterion however, is, the clustering of the bees on the front of the hive ; and whenever this circum- stance takes place, it becomes the proprietor to be on the alert, and to keep a strict watch on the hive, from nine A.M. to about two P.M. Previously to the swarm leaving the hive, the bees are observed in a great bustle about the entrance — running in 278 MUSIC USELESS — NEW SWARMS — NEW HIVES. and out of the hive, and on any one approaching it, the bees evince an uncommon degree of irascibility, attacking indiscriminately any object that presents itself. A small hive generally swarms earlier than a large one. The rise and departure of a swarm is a most curious and gratifying, and, to a degree, anxious spectacle to the proprietor : but to any un* fortunate animal upon which the swarm may alight, almost certain destruction, against which, the nu- merous examples ought to excite every possible caution. The accustomed music of warming-pans and tongs on this occasion, is an ancient fallacy of no kind of use ; or was perhaps originally practised to announce the proprietor's title to the swarm, which he had a right to follow into other person's grounds. In re- gard to the clustering of bees, a great mistake is sometimes made by the inexperienced Apiarian, when he sees his bees after the swarming season clustering about the entrance, for he immediately concludes that he is going to be enriched by another swarm, whereas it is merely an indication of a want of room in the hive, and the remedy is very simple ; by placing an eek under the hive, the bees will cease from clustering, and proceed immediately to fill up the vacant space. Early drones, early swarms — new swarm, new hive : the latter ought to be an indispensable apia- rian rule, though so often infringed by cottagers, who do not scruple to swarm their bees in old shat- tered hives, already swarming with vermin. The swarm being overtaken should be hived with all MANAGEMENT FIRST AND SECOND SWARMS. 279 possible expedition, lest they take a second flight. This duty can better be performed by experienced workmen or women, than here described. The hive should always, if possible, be put under the swarm, and the bees shaken or brushed into it with a goose wing or bow. The hive is then to be co- vered with a sheet or table-cloth. On this and all similar cases of danger from the sting of the insects, the too common practice of acting without cover for the exposed parts of the body, is most rash and in- discreet. The injury received may be considerable, and besides, a person without defence cannot act with the necessary coolness and effect. The neck, hands, and legs should be covered, the face de- fended by a mask of thin iron wire, and a linen hood or cloth thrown over the cap upon the head, the hood to fall and be fastened below the shoulders. The SWARM may divide itself into several clusters, in which case there are several queens ; on being hived together, the bees will kill the supernumerary queens. But when an undivided swarm is hived and the bees are restless and discontented, it may be judged that they have no queen, in course, that they will not remain. A queen must be immediately provided for them from the parent stock. Queens are discovered by their being surrounded by small groups of bees. FIRST swarms from different hives uniting, must be separated. The management of second swarms forms a very interesting branch of the apiarian science, as its success depends so much on the skill and experience of the proprietor. In saying that first swarms only are worth preserv- 280 QUEENS OF SECOND SWARMS — JUNCTION. ing, we speak of general cases, for it is demonstrated by Mr. Huish, that a very good stock may be formed by the union of second swarms. It, however, sel- dom happens, except in very extensive apiaries, that two second swarms come off at the same time, so as to enable the Apiarian to take advantage of the junction, and it is on such points that the whole skill of the proprietor must be put forth. The fol- lowing particulars must principally occupy his atten- tion— the size of the swarm — the earliness or late- ness of the season — the richness or poverty of the country in food — all of which must be more or less consulted in the management of second swarms. In the majority of cases, it would contribute to the interest of the proprietor, and also to the prosperity of the parent hive, to destroy the queens of the second swarms, and return her emigrant subjects to their original domicile — nor is this operation at- tended with any difficulty. Second swarms are sel- dom large, and whilst the bees are in a cluster on the place of their swarming, it will be a very easy task to take the queen bee a prisoner, but by no means should the captor immediately become a regi- cide. Confine her for a day under a tumbler, or other similar vessel, and in the meantime, return the bees to the parent hive. A few hours will determine if their former companions will receive them hospitably, and if such be the case, (and the contrary very seldom happens) the murder of the imprisoned queen must be the consequence. Instances are by no means rare, in which second swarms have individually prospered well, and have collected HIVING THE LARGER SWARMS — DEPRIVING. 281 a sufficiency of food to support them during the winter. The junction of second swarms is a very nice ope- ration, and requires great judgment in the manage- ment. Supposing that two second swarms come off together, the queen must be taken from the smaller one, as in the preceding case, and kept a close pri- soner. Proceed then to hive the larger swarm, and immediately after shake the bees of the smaller into the same hive. It would be advisable in this stage to have some sweet liquid at hand, wherewith to sprinkle the bees copiously, for the purpose of con- founding their respective scent, and then deposit the hive at the place where the smaller swarm settled. A very short time will determine the terms of intimacy which subsist between the two swarms ; if they agree, their combined numbers will insure the pros- perity of the hive, and on the contrary, if they dis- agree, it is most probable, that the bees of the smaller swarm, having lost their queen, will return to their parent hive, and this is by no means to be regretted by the proprietor. DEPRIVING, or gathering the harvest of honey from the hive, should be performed in August, im- mediately after the swarming season, for which Huish gives the satisfactory reason, that the bees, from that period to October, may replenish the vacuum left in the hive. The improved hive is far the most, perhaps the only convenient form for this practice, which is sufficiently simple and easy. As^ certain the weight of the hive, and the quantity of honeycomb proper to be extracted, and commence THE MODE — BY SUFFOCATION. the operation as early in the evening as the bees shall be at rest. Revert the full hive, and place an empty one of precisely the same diameter over it ; being fitted, that the bees cannot escape, tie a large sheet or cloth round them where they join. Beat the sides of the full hive with the hand or a stick, in those parts to which the combs are attached, pa- rallel with the entrance. The bees alarmed, will all ascend into the new hive in a few minutes, which will be known by a general humming, and the hive may be then placed upon the pedestal. The old hive must be then taken in-doors and the honey-comb cut out secundum artem, and to the proper extent, leaving the bees a winter store, that is, the weight of the hive should not be under eighteen or twenty pounds. Atten- tion should be paid, not to cut into two or three combs at once, but having commenced cutting one, to pursue it to the top of the hive. This business finished, the hive should be inspected and made perfectly clean. It may now be returned to its pe- destal, and the other hive containing the bees being reversed, the old one placed over it> and being so left till morning, the bees will be then found in their native domicile. The common mode of destroying bees by SUFFO- CATION, in order to take the whole produce of the hive, is as follows. The easiest method of perform- ing this operation is to dig a hole, in which put a bundle of matches, or pieces of linen impregnated with sulphur, which having ignited, place the hive, covered by a thick cloth, over it late in the evening, DRAWING OFF THE HONEY — UTENSILS, &C. 283 when all the bees have returned from the fields, and the sulphureous exhalations will prove their instant death. Mr. Huish, however, recommends in those cases where recourse is had to suffocation, to obtain the produce of the hive, not to make use of sulphur, but of dried leaves, or any other substance which emits a good volume of smoke, and by this means merely to stupify the bees, and then to join them to any of the weak hives of the apiary. The fume of the sulphur is said to injure the quality of the honey, but that opinion certainly is not corroborated by the experience or complaint of the body of consumers, although perhaps nine parts in ten of the honey consumed is obtained by suffocating bees. Drawing off the virgin or first honey, squeezing the second sort, management of the wax, and stor- ing the whole, must necessarily be confined to prac- tical and experienced hands ; and with respect to those Apiarians who are desirous of entering exten- sively into the culture, their own personal attention will be necessary, and they will find their account .in proceeding with Mr. Huish's comprehensive Treatise in their hands. A considerable stock will require a storehouse or room, expressly for the purpose, having a south aspect; and the bees, should they have been suf- fered to live, should be completely shut out, as they will instantly smell the sweet spoil, and soon cover it if admitted. EARTHEN VESSELS, HORSE-HAIR CLOTHS, LINEN CLOTHS for pressing, BUCKETS, or GLAZED EARTHEN two-handled vessels, are the im- plements for use, and CLEAN WASHED HANDS with 284 QUANTITIES WAX — FOOD. general cleanliness are highly necessary. The combs are cut into small pieces, always best in a horizontal direction, that is, not across the middle, but twice at the top and the bottom. Warm sunny weather suits this operation best. All the utensils, cloths, &c. should be taken to the apiary, after having been used, when the bees will clear them of every sweet particle left: but this should be per- formed in the morning of a fine day, and no old or candied honey should be given them, because it daubs and adheres to their feet and bodies, and may destroy them. In this country, one hundred pounds of honey-comb will yield from three to five or six pounds of wax ; in some of the southern countries nearly double that quantity. Transparent white honey is to be preferred to the higher co- loured ; new to old, and that of the spring to the summer or autumnal honey. The WAX being crumbled or pressed, must be boiled in water, and then strained from bags into a tub of water. The water being strained when the wax is cold, it may be collected, boiled, and when cool, will be found in a cake on the surface. It is refined by repeated boilings in fair water. The feeding of bees, though slighted by some writers, is attended with the greatest advantage, not only to weak hives, but even to the most po- pulous ones : and the practice is generally recom- mended by our most experienced Apiarians, to give every hive, whether weak or strong, a certain quantity of food in the spring. It cheers and en- courages the bees at the outset of their labours, and FOOD — DISEASES. 285 it is a fact well ascertained, that a hive which has been fed in the spring will swarm sooner than one which has not been fed. This alone is no trifling consideration, and the expense is so trifling, and the trouble so little, that to neglect it is highly cen- surable. The cottagers, however, adopt in general a most erroneous method of feeding their bees, which consists in putting a small quantity of coarse brown sugar into a narrow wooden trough, which is put into the hive at the entrance, and this is what they ignorantly call feeding their bees. A hive may be fed either exteriorly or interiorly ; the latter method is to be preferred, as no risk is thereby run of an attack from other hives, which is too often the case when the former is adopted. Honey is naturally the best food for bees, but as a substitute, boil a pound of coarse sugar in three pints of ale — let it stand till cold, then pour a portion of it into a plate, and placing some straws over, deposit it on a fine day in the immediate vicinity of the apiary, and the bees will soon convey the whole of it into their respective hives. This may be called general feed- ing, as the whole apiary partakes of the food ; but in private feeding, the plate should be put into the hive at night, carefully closing the entrance, either with the tin sliders, or with any substance which may be conveniently at hand. On the following' morning the whole of the liquid will have been con- veyed into the cells, and the plate must be taken away. If a little salt be mixed with the ale and sugar, it will contribute greatly to the health of the bees. It is a gross error to believe that feeding 286 REMEDIES — STORING TO CLARIFY HONEY. makes bees lazy ; on the contrary, it raises their spirits, and induces the queen to commence the lay- ing of her eggs much sooner than she otherwise would do. The chief DISEASES of bees, generally arising from damps, cold, or poverty, and occasionally from the excessive heat of the sun, when shelter is neces- sary for the hive — are dysentery, or looseness, tor- por, falling in flight from vertigo, or giddiness, lice. Care and good feeding seem to be the only reme- dies, on which much dependence can be placed. Good old red port mixed with honey, and toast soaked in old beer sweetened with honey or coarse sugar, are the chief specifics in repute. Keepers of bees should always have at hand pure olive oil as a remedy for the STING of those insects, to be dropped instantly on the wound : or Venice treacle, which some mix with oil. The juice of onions and salt mixed, are also used for the same purpose. To STORE, or preserve honey, the vessels or jars in which it is kept, should be well and tightly co- vered or corked, and the store-room be quite dry, as honey imbibes damps, by which it is deteriorated in quality, and in the end turns sour. Honey is often adulterated with flour and similar substances, to increase its weight. To clarify honey, place the vessel containing the honey in hot water, and take off the scum as long as any arise, afterwards stop close. METHEGLIN, or MEAD. The once common drink of this name, was a mere unfermented mixture of MEAD. 287 honey and water. Economists rince the linens which have been used for filtering the honey in this mixture. The FERMENTED mead is made in the proportion of one pound of honey to three pints of water ; or by boiling over a moderate fire, to two thirds of the quantity, three parts water and one part honey. The liquor is then skimmed and casked, care being taken to keep the cask full while fermenting. During the FERMENTING PROCESS, the cask is left unstopped and exposed to the sun, or in a warm room, until the working ceases. The cask is then bunged, and a few months in the cellar ren- ders it fit for use. Mead is rendered more vinous and pleasant, by the addition of cut raisins, or other fruits, boiled after the rate of half a pound of raisins to six pounds of honey, with a toasted crust of bread, an ounce of salt of tartar in a glass of brandy, being added to the liquor when casked ; to which some add five or six drops of the essence of cinnamon ; others, pieces of lemon peel with various syrups. This ancient beverage has, however, been many years neglected, and the small quantity made is confined to private families, the duty upon it for public use, having banished it as an article of commerce. From late and somewhat extensive enquiries, even in those districts apparently best calculated for the apiarian husbandry, I find it very little attended to, either by farmers or labourers. The whole at- tention of the former is unfortunately absorbed by far heavier concerns ; and the pauperism and demo- ralization of the latter, allow them neither ability 288 MEAD — FRENCH HONEY — PRICES. or inclination for the pursuit. I am informed by a labouring man in Surry, who has a property in two or three closes of grass, that in 1827 he (the only one in his parish or vicinity who kept bees) had a few hives, but finding a difficulty in disposing of the honey, he converted it into mead, which he sold more readily, at eighteenpence the bottle. He ex- perienced much inconvenience and loss from the attacks and depredations of wasps ; but much greater from those of distressed, but barbarous and vindic- tive wretches, unemployed and let loose upon the country. They beat down and took away his hives, out of mere wantonness and malice, leaving them, with their inmates, spread about the highways. He has since kept no bees. He found a difficulty in supplying the bees with winter food ; and no hucksters, or dealers in honey, ever attended that part of the country, as is usual in some, but at present, few other parts. The following information I have derived from Mr. Hagger, a considerable oilman in Lamb's Con- duit-street, London. The previous neglect of the bee culture, and the bad season of 1829, have so reduced our stock of native honey, that a still greater reduction must be expected. Foreign im- port has been gradually increasing during past years. Of all the honey imported from the Conti- nent, the French is the most pure, far more so than our own ; which, however, in quality, and for medi- cinal use, is found equal to any foreign. Price per Ib. of the best foreign, eighteen-pence to two shillings upwards — of English, eight-pence to 'PRICE OF BEES WAX OF HONEY — CULTURE. 289 eighteen-pence upwards. Our honey is chiefly col- lected by the London and country dealers, from the labourers in husbandry, by whom the culture of it has long since been so much neglected, that not half the quantity formerly gathered can now be obtained. Very few farmers trouble themselves with it. In Mr. Hagger's opinion, it might be of great use and benefit to the labourers, were they in a state to attend to it, as in former times, when five guineas per annum has been so acquired by a cottager. Bucks, Herts, and Essex, perhaps furnish the metro- polis with the most considerable quantities of honey. In past years, Mr. Hagger has collected as much as half a ton in a season, from Herts, where lately it has not been possible to obtain half that quantity. The chief customers for honey, are the druggists and considerable families ; the labouring classes seem entirely to neglect it. Scarcely any demand remains for the purpose of mead, that liquor being nearly out of vogue. Bees-wax is imported chiefly from Africa and from Russia, price from six to eighteen guineas per cwt. The English wax is esteemed the best. The opinion seems to prevail generally, that the old custom of destroying the bees is the most advantageous. Preserving them may succeed in a plentiful year of honey, otherwise the winter stock of bee food must be defective, and the hives most distressed will attack and rob their neighbours ; or it may happen, that bees with a short supply will abandon their hives, carrying the stock of honey away with them. ;*V' o 290 BREWING— INTRODUCTION. SECTION XIX. The Brewery. MALT LIQUOR, or BEER, is styled the natural bever- age of Englishmen : which being rendered into plain English, will stand thus — our country produces the materials, and custom, almost immemorial, has es- tablished the manufacture, and sanctioned its uni- versal use. There is, moreover, another sanction of superior rationality to mere custom. The quality of genuine malt liquor, when of sufficient age, but not old, is peculiarly nutritious, adapted to the moist and variable climate, and to the constitutions of the people of this country. To speak first of the PUBLIC BREWERY. It is to be lamented that, commercial and fiscal interests have interfered, most mischievously, in this great article of human sub- sistence. The BREWERY represents one of our mpst considerable and profitable manufacturing con- cerns ; from its universality, the most convenient and ready instrument of taxation. The consequence has been, that the health and interest of the people have, on this, as on every other occasion, been sacrificed to fiscal and trading profit. The exigencies of the state have demanded an enormous impost on malt. This the brewers cannot afford to pay, preserving at the THE PUBLIC BREWERY — TAXATION — RESULT. 291 same time their commodity at the fair standard of quality, without a rise of price too considerable for the ability of the great body of consumers. Other measures must then be resorted to. Recourse has, in consequence, been had to scien- tific and chemical aid, in order to enable the brewer to find substitutes for the prime material, and so draw a greater length from the usual quantity of malt : in plain terms, to produce a factitious or com- position beer, from the least possible quantity of the most precious article. Of late, the process of adulteration seems to have been in the hands of the publicans of the metropolis ; great numbers of whom have been detected by the excise officers within the present year, and fined one or more hundreds of pounds each,without any hope of mitigation. Bay-salt, sugar, treacle, colouring, copperas and water, were the chief articles detected. Thus taxed, malt has given place to less salubrious and substantial articles, and to untaxed and potent drugs ; and, unfortunately for the health and habits of the people, the beer of commerce has been, too generally, an intoxicating and stupifying, instead of an exhilarant and nutri- tious drink ; and to crown the evil, the public taste has been vitiated, and ADULTERATED beer has long since obtained a decided preference over the genuine and simple product of malt and hops. The nature of this composition has generally depended on the skill or ability of the brewer. With some, it has proved a liquor of luscious flavour, impregnated with a fiery, inebriating spirit ; with others, a vile, 292 QUALITY — EFFECTS ON THE LABOURERS. mawkish, ill-flavoured balderdash, to use a vulgar phrase, which experience has rendered but too ap- propriate, of the true rot-gut quality. In justice to the common brewers, it must be acknowledged that, on the occasion of a fall in the price of malt, they have customarily improved the quality of their beer. The origin of the grievance may doubtless be traced to excessive taxation, which, so materially enhancing the first cost of malt, must also operate considerably in prevention of that part of the labouring classes, disposed to brew their own beer, from so doing ; since the wages of the labourer, the agricultural more especially, are seldom permit- ted to have their spontaneous and independent rise, in proportion with the advance of the first necessa- ries. The natural, indeed unavoidable, consequence is, a resort to the public-house, where habits of society are acquired, seldom to be afterwards eradi- cated ; and enjoyments experienced of a very differ- ent nature and consequence to those which a man finds in a sober and economical home. In this introductory part of the subject of private brewing, I feel it necessary to remark on the usual mode of treating it ; and on the, in my estimation, rather too sanguine expectations of its advocates, who appear to entertain hopes of inducing, by their arguments, almost every family, without distinction or exception, to brew their own beer. My aim is, to separate the declamatory and impracticable from the rational and useful ; to address the soundest and best of those instructions, with which long ex- EFFECTS OF EXCESSIVE TAXATION. perience and observation have furnished me, to those persons and quarters only, where I know them to be really applicable. That noble national manufacture, the PUBLIC BREWERY of civilized and commercial England, has long subsisted and flourished, and must continue so to do, in full and increasing prosperity, so long as beer is the staple beverage of the country, and so considerable an article of export trade. Houses of public entertainment, or ale-houses also, there al- ways must be, in a great commercial and luxurious nation ; and it is against the abuse of these solely, that the objections and complaints of the economical writer can have any force. To digress for a mo- ment : it is not because we have brew-houses and ale-houses, or on account of the number of the lat- ter, that the manners of our commonalty are corrupt and dissolute ; the fundamental cause subsists in the excess of taxation, and the general inadequacy of the wages of labour. Hence is generated a despera- tion naturally leading to indolence, the neglect of social duties, and ultimately, or rather by conse- quence, to crime. The favourite plan of removing taxation, shifting it from one article or class to another, can have only a palliative, temporary, -and deceptive effect ; nothing short of economizing the expenses of the state, and rendering the means of living more easily attainable, can lay the axe to the root of that quantum which remains, of national difficulty and distress. Throughout the country, and among the classes of property, from the highest to the lowest degree, o 3 294 CONSEQUENCE OF LOW WAGES. the custom of private brewing has been immemorial and nearly universal. It is a favourite topic of the present day, to warrant something similar of the country labourers of former and better times. So far as my recollection extends, I have never known such a custom to be general, but prevailing only, in any considerable degree, in the rich counties, and even in those, confined to the best paid and most provident labourers. In the poor counties, and where wages are low, very little ability subsisted among the labourers, to supply themselves with home-brewed beer, upwards of three-score years ago. Within my knowledge, it was a thing con- stantly attempted, and periodically relinquished, from want of funds. Casks could not always be ob- tained, and the drink was therefore to be used from the tubs, which, in due time, from defect of the means to procure malt, stood rotting without doors. Granting, indeed, a bold push to be made by virtue of some saving or God-send, how could a wretched family contrive to brew, upon such wages as five or six shillings per week, the then standard in the Western Counties? Certainly, the practice has greatly diminished since, and its opposite, of pur- chasing beer, greatly increased, to a lamentable de- terioration of the morals of the country labourers, whose advance in the scale of society is devoutly to be wished, and to whom the custom of brewing their own beer is peculiarly appropriate ; and with re- spect to their health and well-doing, indispensable. The present topic of the comforts of the labour- ing classes, naturally introduces the modern, but TEA — ARTHUR YOUNG AND OTHERS. 295 now universal, habit of drinking TEA. The late Mr. Arthur Young, with perhaps a less profound attention than he usually bestowed on his subjects, • took every opportunity of expressing his unwilling- ness to allow to the sons and daughters of labour, their share in this common privilege ; and Mr. Young, I observe, has successors in this opinion. Tea-making, it is objected, is a great consumer of time, and the beverage itself, a debilitant, rendering those who use it, delicate and unfit for labour. It may be replied, that the most expeditious meals, necessarily, consume time ; that, in order to make the too often bitter draught of labour go down* (more especially when so much of the sic vos non vobis, is intermingled with it,) and so insure a degree of cheerfulness and good-will, some portion of res- pite and relaxation is necessary. Tea is certainly a mere diluent and detergent, altogether devoid of the nutritive properties of beer ; it is, at the same time, a cooling, sedative, and refreshing drink, ex- tremely agreeable and cleansing to the stomachs of those who are fed with the most ordinary, the hard- est, and coarsest provisions. As a relaxant, it often proves equally beneficial as agreeable to the robust, and to those of the rigid fibre. Nor have I ever known an able labourer, or any well-fed labourer, injured in his strength by the custom of drinking tea. A partiality for this Asiatic herb has long since taken possession of the whole people of this country ; and, I must confess, I see no reason for attempting to divest the great majority of their share of a common right, which really ought, in this com- o 4 296 PRIVATE BREWING IN TOWNS. mercial country, to be within the compass of their means. Why tea should be three times dearer in this, than in other trading countries, I see no legiti- mate reason ; unless it be such, to favour a mono- poly, contemporaneously with which, but not through which, British commerce has flourished. This is a subject, however, on which writers may spare their labour. The people will not leave ofT tea-drinking. Another bootless topic is the declamation against the potatoe-root, beyond question the most valuable of all edible roots, and the only efficient substitute for bread. Men will declaim — preserve me from a potatoe-fed population ! Amen — and from a bread and water fed population likewise. But either bread or potatoes, indifferently, substantiated with a quan- tum sufficit of flesh-meat, will amply and sufficiently feed any population. In the mean time, the quali- ties of the potatoe have been greatly overrated by our modern chemical theorists. In towns, it cannot be rationally expected, that the PRIVATE BREWERY should prevail in an equal degree with the country ; least of all in the metro- polis, including people of every rank. There is neither sufficient room, nor leisure, nor necessity, for the practice. There are, furthermore, greater incitements in towns for the purchase of beer, in the density of society, the proximity of numbers of public-houses, and the superior quality of the beer to be obtained. These reasons must always operate against private brewing in the metropolis, and the populous manufacturing districts of the country. The periods of war and scarcity, when the price OBSTACLES — PORTER— VARIOUS BEERS. 297 of beer has advanced, and its quality proportionally receded, always offer some, but a temporary coun- teraction to the custom of purchasing. Citizens then, including those labourers who can possibly eke out the room and the money, begin brewing. The system continues, so long as the funds can be found, or the home-brewed maggot survives or con- tinues to bite. Anon comes the change. The poor in towns, as well as in the country, find solid reasons, already stated, for giving up brewing. Nor are the people of property behind hand; they have no leisure, generally, to pay a personal attention, but must trust to a labouring brewer, who now and then spoils them a stock of beer. The enthusiasm for brewing their own beer now cools, wearisomeness and disgust succeed ; and they find that beer may be purchased, at a much dearer rate, indeed, com- paratively no object to them, more agreeable to their palate, without the trouble and fuss of brewing at home. Away then, go mash-tun and coolers, casks and all, and the poor copper is left in pristine solitude ! Among the OBSTACLES to private brewing, the most redoubtable of all, certainly, must not be over- looked. It is the universal predilection, both of the natives and foreigners who visit this country, for London PORTER, which no private family, so far as I have heard, has succeeded in brewing to perfec- tion. It is within my memory, I believe, that drink- ing porter became universal ; but the old " butt beer," has assumed the name of porter, perhaps a century past. TWO-PENNY and ROMAN PURL have o 5 298 QUALITY— OLD RECIPE. had their day. KEEPING small beer was formerly in phrase and in use at London, where fine ales have immemorially been brewed, and where may be also found the ales of every brewing district of the country. Act of Parliament, or TABLE ALE, with intermedi- ate beer, have lately come into vogue, but they all give place, in public estimation and consumption, to porter. This favourite beverage, however, is con- demned by the physicians, as productive of bilious and liver complaints, and injurious to the female complexion. Porter is a compound drink, in which, indeed, brown, or high-dried malt was formerly the principal ingredient, but in aid of which, certain other ingredients, far less costly, but not absolutely noxious, seem, in these days, to be deemed allow- able, or rather essential, in the manufacture of this cerevisia sui generis, or peculiar beer. It is said to have been, for some years, brewed chiefly from pale malt, the colour being imparted by a certain quantity of " patent malt," roasted like coffee, until black. Brewing beer from barley, or other raw unmalted grain, ground to meal, and infused for two or three hours in the liquor, at a heat of about 150 degrees, is said to be in practice. I should apprehend that, good keeping beer cannot be so produced. Other ingredients, which have been too often used, are proscribed by law, under very heavy penalties. It is curious to read in the treatise by Ellis of Gaddesden, the recipe for brewing porter. He tells us, the brewers in his time, commonly drew a barrel and a firkin, or a hogshead of porter from a MODERN LENGTHS — PURE HOME-BREWED. 299 quarter of brown malt ; which porter they sold for twenty-three shillings per barrel. From my own personal knowledge, a London brewer, half a cen- cury since, drew from a quarter of the best Herts white malt, only two barrels of fine ale, which he sold to publicans at forty shillings, and to private houses at two guineas, per barrel. It was perhaps a singular instance, he used no adulteration what- ever. The immense lengths which have been drawn since, both in the porter and pale beer brewery, are an abundant proof of the virtue of taxation, in im- proving the art, by exciting the chemical skill of the brewer. A late observation of Mr. Woodhouse, in parliament, is the best commentary on this : the honourable gentleman observed, that notwithstand- ing the vast increase of population, the consumption of malt has not increased, during upwards of the last thirty years : and the patriotic Lord Teynham, at a late meeting in London, on the malt and beer duties, those disgraces to our national finance, repeated the following extraordinary fact ; at the present moment there is a less consumption of malt, by two-thirds, than there was in 1773 ! Mr. Ma- berly's motion for changing the duties, merits the most serious attention from every Englishman who values his own, or the interests of his country. Having thus cleared the way, I proceed, address- ing myself particularly to those who already do, or seriously purpose to brew their own beer ; assuring them of the vastly superior salubrity of the pure extract of malt and hops, over the most luscious, stimulating, and palateable compound, however sci- o 6 300 QUALITIES AND SPECIES OF MALT. entifically brewed : with the farther assurance, grounded on all experience, of the nutritious and sanative quality of the pure home-brewed drink, and its real medicinal efficacy in weak cases. Its superior cheapness, during our present state of tax- ation, needs merely the recital instead of an argu. ment — beer brewed at home will cost the consumer little more, perhaps not so much, as half the price of that which is purchased, and yet prove superior to it, in good and substantial quality. Of MALT. This precious article has not, I ap- prehend, been made, of late years, from any other grain than barley. In former, and comparatively untaxed days, malt was currently made from wheat, and oats likewise. The only instance of this kind within my knowledge, was of a Mr. Dobson, a maltster at Ipswich, Suffolk, in 1767, who made a con- siderable quantity of wheat malt, wheat being then at about 28s. per quarter. Wheat malt produces a strong-bodied, fine, and high-flavoured liquor ; oats, a light, mild, and pleasant beverage. I have heard much commendations of oat-ale, as a summer drink, but have never tasted it. The QUALITY of malt is not to be determined by the weight, since the heaviest may, in reality, be the worst, as imperfectly made ; tough, hard or steely, and still partaking of the nature of barley. The kernels of the best malt are thin skinned, plump, and when bitten or bruised, yield throughout a soft, mellow, and sweet-scented flour. A kernel of well- made malt, rubbed till broken, against a dry board, will leave a white mark like that made with chalk. PROOFS OF GOODNESS — DIFFERENT KINDS. 301 The necessity will be easily apprehended, of exa- mining the bulk as well as the sample of malt ; and the private brewer, who can make it convenient to accommodate himself with a mill, to grind his own malt, will thereby ease himself of a number of sus- picions which, right or wrong, have gone abroad, respecting fraudulent mixtures. The GOODNESS of a sample of a malt is ascertained by biting the kernels, or immersing them (entire un- cracked ones) in water, in which they ought to swim, until saturated with the liquid. The SPECIES are four — white, pale, amber, and brown. Perhaps white malts are not so much in use as formerly, when a soft, balsamic, almost colourless ale, was in more general request. The colour and qualities of malt depend on the degree of heat and length of time allowed upon the kiln. The pale malts, in course, are those allowed the longest, time, the brown or high dried are made with more dispatch, and the amber forms a medium between the two ex- tremes. The slack, or gradually-dried malt, retains most of the substantial quality of the corn, makes the most nutritious beer, and that which may be pre- served sound to the longest period. A greater quan- tity of beer also in proportion, may be extracted from it, and it commands the highest price. Brown malt is supposed to make up in spirit what it loses in substance ; and with respect to the private brewery, is used by those who prefer that colour and spirit, or the flavour which high- dried malt imparts. Pale and amber malts are used indifferently by private persons. Hertfordshire has been imrnemorially, and 302 QUALITIES OF THE HOP — SUBSTITUTES. still continues, celebrated for the finest malt, and there is, at present, more malt made at Ware than at any former period. There is no doubt, I believe, of the superior quality, and also cheapness, of wheat malt, at a certain comparative rate, with the malt of barley. The HOP, formerly held injurious to health, has long been proved an indispensable ingredient for the preservation of beer, and equally conducive to its salubrity. The qualities of the hop, that is to say, of that part of the plant which is used, are opening, diuretic, and discutient, and held by the old physi- cians to be effective in removing obstructions in the liver, kidneys, and lower bowels. The ancient no- tion has, indeed, been fully and practically disproved, that the hop in beer renders it productive of nephri- tic complaints (gravel and stone). In all probability, such effect ought rather to be attributed to the hardness or impurity of the water used in brewing ; since, with all due respect for modern medical science, the incontestible fact remains, that in those districts where beer, from necessity, is generally brewed with well, or hard water, the inhabitants are most subject to the above diseases. Formerly, in dear seasons, many substitutes have been used for the hop, or in addition to it, worm- wood, sweet flag (calamus aromaticus), horehound, broom, and various bitter herbs. The hop, or husk of the plant, must be pure and unmixed with any other of its parts. Its moist, adhesive feel, and aromatic scent, are well known. It requires prac- tical skill to judge of the age, colour, and condition JUDGMENT IN HOPS — BEST WATER FOR BREWING. 303 of the hop. The brown colour is not always an in- dication of either age or bad condition ; it is the natural colour of some, as the pale green is of others; for example, of the celebrated Farnham hop. The colour and qualities vary with soil and situation; clay lands producing the strongest and harshest hops. Nevertheless, a brown colour, with a dry and harsh feel, and hardness of the seed, in- dicate either age, or the deteriorating effects of a bad season. OLD HOPS will doubtless preserve beer ; and, in fact, good-conditioned old ones are to be preferred to new which are bad ; but, generally, new hops, or those of an immediately preceding season, are far the most valuable to a consumer, age necessarily despoiling the hop of great part of those volatile, aromatic, and peculiar qualities for which it is used, and perhaps the whole of that material part, its farina. In fact, age works a considerable change in the properties of this article. The soil being proper, the cultivation of the hop, to the extent of family consumption, may answer the purpose of a country resident devoted to rural pursuits. The WATER best adapted to the purpose of brew- ing, is the soft, or that which will most freely and easily lather with soap ; it will not only render the most pleasant, wholesome, and best-keeping beer, but also a considerably greater quantity from an equal measure of malt. It must be understood, nevertheless, that the water be pure, or as free as possible from injurious impregnations. Thus rain, river, or pond water, may be soft intrinsically, yet 304 SEASONS — BEERS OF THE PRESENT TIMES. contain various impure mixtures ; the rain from the building over which it descends, the pond from mud, and the slime of fish, perhaps often disturbed by the feet of cattle, and the river water from heavy rains, floods, or other causes. The quality of the water generally depends on the nature of the soil, whence well and spring water, notwithstanding their common character of hardness, may be soft and well adapted to the present purposes, on a chalky soil. It results that they who brew, cannot always command the quality of their water, but only the necessary precautions in that respect ; and that pre- supposing a due degree of skill, those districts, in which the softest and best water is found, will al- ways produce the best beer. The soundness and goodness of the beer will much depend on the sea- son and weather in which it is brewed, and the coolness, dryness, and aptitude of the place in which it is kept. Spring and Autumn, September, Octo- ber, and March, are the well-known months for brewing ; but drinkable, though not keeping beer, may be made throughout all seasons, according to the necessity of the case, both of the common and private brewers ; by the latter, in the smallest quan- tities which his means and situation may require. The beers of the present time, for fashion directs and regulates every thing, are PORTER, BROWN STOUT, and beer or ale, varying in colour, from the almost colourless to the high amber. The porter, as has been already observed, is an acknowledged compound, or it would not answer to its name; ADULTERATION. 305 thence, granting the adscititious ingredients to be not absolutely noxious, no stigma can attach to the brewer. The pale beer brewer cannot boast of such advantage, nor of acting bona fide, whilst boasting that his commodity is the genuine product of malt and hops. I speak generally, craving pardon of tjie exceptions, wherever they may be, since it has so seldom been my fortune, in a great number of years, to taste unadulterated purchased ale, whether brewed in the Metropolis, or in the brewing districts of the Country. In these ales, at present, the chief articles of adulteration, most of which my well-prac- tised palate can discover, are seeds, sugar, and salt, perhaps bay salt, coriander seeds, Spanish juice, hartshorn shavings. Coculus Indicus, (Indian berry,) a most intoxicating and deleterious drug, the flavour of which I well know, was formerly much in use ; and, if that be not the case at present, it is difficult to conceive why such large quantities of that drug should be annually imported, since its use in medi- cine is almost or entirely unknown. The brewers, however, find a sufficient apology in the pressure of taxation, and the vitiated taste of the public. I was never aware, until informed last year, that animal matter entered intp the composition of porter. It was stated to me, that the London brewers boil in it the coarse pieces of lean beef. The idea is said to have originated with a working brewer, who first conceived it from the old story of the black man boiled to death in a copper of porter, which brew- ing, according to the refined taste of the customers, 306 ADULTERATION. was superior to any they had ever before drank. This origin may be properly deemed a hoax. Dr. Paris, in his Treatise on Diet, seems dis- posed to bestow compliments on the Brewers, of which, in truth, they stand in no great need. He makes the sturdy assertion that — " it is, at all events, certain, that such adulterations are not carried on in the caldrons of the brewers." Why then, ' the carryings on' are pursued in the cellars of the Pub- licans, as various late prosecutions and convictions have proved beyond question, in the seizure of the adulterating articles. This seems to give the sem- blance of truth to the present opinion, that the art and practice of improving the national drink, has conveniently changed hands ; which, however, can only be partially true, since many of the articles of improvement require mixing and boiling with the worts. The Doctor gives the usual reason for the substitution of the term porter for brown stout, or ' entire butt beer,' which took place about the year 17.30, namely, as a * hearty and nourishing liquor very suitable for porters.' Ellis, who was probably in the London brewery at that period, is silent on this topic. In latter years, and at present, there seems to have been a considerable difference of qua- lity between porter and stout. The articles of adulteration used in the Public Brewery have been occasionally noted in these pages, the following is a summary or collection of the chief of them : common salt, bay salt, salt of tartar, sugar, honey, treacle, linseed, cassia, hartshorn shavings, SUBSTITUTES FOR THE HOP — PORTER. 307 essentia bina (sugar boiled to a thick syrup), capsi- cum, ginger, colouring (boiled sugar), coriander seed, sundries (a composition by the brewers' drug- gists), grains of paradise, green copperas, slacked lime, tobacco, coculus Indicus, opium, andnux vomica. The detection of these articles has arisen from cer- tain prosecutions. Various substitutes for, or assistants to, the HOPS. — -Wormwood, sweet flag (calamus aromaticus}, horehound, green broom, marsh trefoil, buckbean, succotrine aloes, quassia, the Indian bitter bean. The bitter of the hop is said ultimately to become acid, and that keeping beer may be brewed without hops or any bitter; as a successful instance, the fa- mous beer of Lorraine, in France, two years old. On this point I have no experience. Assuredly, to produce the usual bitter in porter, a very consider- able portion of hop would be required. It has been stated, that porter may be brewed independently of the aid of any materially noxious ingredients ; also, that it will not suit the taste of the public without certain additions and aids to the malt and hops. — Why, then, do not the porter brewers come forward candidly, and petition the fiscal department for permission to make use of the needful additional articles ? The public taste surely ought to be consulted and gratified, when that can be accomplished without injurious effects, or detri- ment to the revenue. The adulteration of ales, town and country, is infinitely more injurious to the public health, and ought to be visited by the most severe and unmitigated penalties : lamentable it is 308 ADULTERATION. that, it nevertheless has long had, and still enjoys, the public preference. A palpable instance of this I personally witnessed, more than half a century since. The brewer of genuine ale, whom I have already cited, had a publican in his vicinity, a man of pro- perty, who had a constant great draught for ale. The brewer, in course, solicited his neighbour's custom, and the favour was promptly granted, on condition that the commodity should suit the taste of his customers. A trial cask of ale was forthwith sent, and a supper for a few friends ordered at the house by the brewer. The result in the end was, that not one of the publican's customers would drink the pure ale, and thence he kindly agreed to use it in his own family. I tasted, but did not swallow, the favourite ale, and a more damnable composition never entered my lips. Salt and sweet, bitter and bite, or stimulus to intoxication, seemed to contend for the mastery in this potent drug- broth ! On the whole, it was a rare infusion of lol- lipop for grown children. As a modern instance — several years past, I observed in a daily paper, the oath of a brewer before the Lord Mayor, to the genuineness of his ale. In consequence I immedi- ately ordered a cask, and could discover in the beer no symptom of adulteration. I have heard nothing of this brewer since, and do not apprehend that his plan has succeeded with the public. A singular action at law has lately been brought by a Burton ale brewer, against the publishers of the Library (Economical Pamphlets, for a statement in one of them on the Brewery, of the adulteration prac- ACTION AT LAW. 309 tised in the manufacture of Burton ale. An affidavit was made in court of that beer's entire purity, as the genuine and exclusive produce of malt, hops, and water. Now, although I have lived too long in the world, to give unhesitating credit to oaths of busi- ness, whether of a jury, military, clerical, customs, or excise, I will allow of exceptions to general rules, and suppose this oath correct. Granting thus much, I think the prosecutor would have acted a more modest and discreet part, by simply appealing to the public in defence of his commodity, than to the rigour of the law, considering tne known and proved universality of the practice of adulteration. This candour of mine, however, shall not prevent me from stating what I know in the premises. Years ago, I always understood that Burton ale, Ring- wood beer, and others, were highly drugged ; and, as I had not tasted Burton ale lately, I repaired to a hotel and coffee-house which professed to sell the finest and purest drink of that name. On tasting, I immediately found it most amply improved by the brewer's druggist, and thence in high condition to win the public favour. It contained salt to insure thirst, sugar in plenty to gratify the sweet tooth, and of g. p. and probably coriander a full q. s. to give it a stirring spirit. I am far from making the assertion that the ale was brewed by the party above alluded to, or even that it was born at Burton, though christened BuRTotf ale. I have attended to the denouement in the public prints of that notable suit, Rex v. Baldwin and Cradock, so felicitously and facetiously convenient to 310 PURITY OF BURTON ALE. both parties. The following passage in Mr. Brougham's speech, could scarcely fail of affording me a share hi the general satisfaction — " The learned person who had written the treatise, had himself been a practical brewer twenty years, and had been misled by a circumstance which was suf- ficient to mislead any one — he found it impossible to make ale of the quality of Burton ale, without the aid of certain saline ingredients, gypsum, for in- stance, the water at Burton flowing over a rock of that substance." This gypsumized rock, then, has proved a rock of mutual defence and security ; and the Rock of Burton ! ought to become an established toast with all brewers of the pure and genuine in- gredients of ' malt, hops, and water,' one only saline addition. Should I live to see a seventh edition of my little book, I shall not fail to revise and palate the new editions of Burton ale. I think I have re- marked that the ale of the retail, or shop-brewers, which I have tasted, has been the least adulterated ; however, if I may be guided by a single instance, they also have entered upon the march of improve- ment. A bill of one recently embarked, with high pretensions to genuineness and purity, being put into my hands, I sent for a sample bottle. The beer proved as saline and tropically sweet, and as heating and stimulant to the stomach, as bay or common salt, sugar, and grains of paradise could render it. Now, after all my diatribes on this sub- ject, gentle readers, who can blame the brewers, as brewing, not for themselves, but their customers ; seeing that the English people have an inveterate 8 OPENING THE BEER TRADE PUBLICANS. 311 aversion to genuine beer, of which they probably, in the great majority, have not been drinkers during the hundred years last past. Laying open the beer trade by our ministers, who certainly appear desirous, and are sedulous in making all the reforms within their power, will, no doubt, have a partial good effect ; indeed, will do all which taxation and public taste will allow. A riddance of the abominable and degrading licensing system, against passing the act for which, the late Mr. Sheridan made a noble oration, is, in itself, no trifling advantage obtained. Indeed the restrictions, generally, upon publicans, are an insult to the citi- zens of a free state, beside being perfectly ludicrous. There is a pious party among us, who have not yet discovered, in the wisdom of antiquity, the folly and danger of " governing too much." Now, should these sage politicians be ambitious of a further ad- vance in their favourite cause, they will grant me leave to propose an additional restraint, to wit, that no publican shall kiss his wife on Sunday, under the penalty of eighteen-pence, of good and lawful money of these realms, for every kiss on that day given. A policeman may be stationed on guard. Much has been advanced on the heavy losses which must fall on the property of .publicans, in consequence of the new beer bill ; but the complain- ants, in the mean time, ought not to be unmindful of the long and heavy losses sustained by the public from the monopoly : all monopolists, indeed, not forgetting the high and mighty company of the East, ought to be aware that the days or years of BEARDED DARNEL — DELETERIOUS SCOTCH ALE. their exclusive advantages are numbered, that their period must sooner or later arrive ; that, probably, a higher interest may require the gordian knot to be cut, and that they must look for their remuneration in their profits already acquired. Thus a most unwholesome and sickening compo- sition beverage is preferred by a discerning and tasteful public, to genuine and salubrious ale, which no common brewer is encouraged or expected to manufacture. The retail brewers, under the new act, to the extent that I have tasted their commo- dity, appear to use no noxious ingredients in their ale, salt and sugar, with ginger,-perhaps, being their only aids. Their intermediate beer is pleasant and wholesome. But it is asserted, this new scheme is already on the decline. The newspapers of 1828 reported the culture, in Battersea-fields, of two acres of the lolium temulentum, bearded darnel, sup- posed to be for the use of the brewers, perhaps as a cheaper substitute for the Indian berry. Darnel has a stupifying, inebriating, and most dangerous property. Having last year purchased a small quantity of celebrated Scotch ale, as a specimen, I accidentally drank from the bottom of a bottle which had been nearly emptied the preceding day. Almost imme- diately I felt vertiginous symptoms, afterwards nausea and obstruction in the stomach. These symptoms continued some time, and I was about to chew some rhubarb, when much eructation, and drinking a small quantity of water, relieved me. Doubtless my safety is attributable to the smallness KENNET AND XX. ALES— BROWN STOUT. 313 of the quantity of the doctor which I swallowed. This beer was finely brewed, alive, with a fine head, but it heated and annoyed .the stomach, and palled the appetite ; in short, was quite the antipodes to the genuine and generous extract of malt and hops, for which, unfortunately, the great and paramount majority have no partiality. The Kennet ale, a fa- vourite in London, would indeed merit high enco- mium, did it receive no useful additions in the brew- ing. The xx ale, as the manufacturer styles it, a London-brewed Scotch ale, is most skilfully brewed, and barring g. p. sugar, &c. would be among the most vinous, smoothest, and finest ales in Britain. Although a beer, as well as a wine-bibber, but within the bounds of healthful moderation, since the date of years of discretion, it is somewhat strange that I do not recollect to have tasted stout until late years, when it was strongly recommended to .me by a gen- tleman of the law, as the most salubrious of beers. I have since drank bottled stout regularly, vicissim, with ales, and find it fully deserving the character this gentleman had given of it. It is a good even- ing drink, and its effects on my stomach are similar to those produced by Port wine. I suppose it to be the brown stout, or butt beer, of former days. It sits very light in the head and stomach, and nothing stupifying results from a moderate quantity. BROWN STOUT is an old article in the common brew- ery, and mentioned by the once-noted brewer and rural economist, Ellis, of Little Gaddesden, Herts. This conscientious writer, whose seventh edition lies before me, date 1759, in despite of the classical 314 ELLIS — ARTICLES OF ADULTERATION. rule, nee Deus intersit nisi, invokes the assistance of the Almighty, in his attempt to purify the morals of wicked brewers — whereas I content myself with an invocation of the powers below. Riding through Little Gaddesden, some forty years bygone, I in- quired respecting Ellis of an aged person, and others of the village, describing Ellis's profession and pursuits ; but none of them had ever heard of such a man; so that it would seem, neither an author nor a prophet hath honour or remembrance in his own country. Sic transit gloria of us scrib- blers on good and bad beer. The attachment, according to Ellis, even in his cheap days, both of brewers and the public, to im- proved beer, was in existence, if not in an equal de- gree with that of the present happy days of all-im- proving taxation. The brewers then used, as they had done long before — Coculus Indicus, g. p. (grains of Paradise), black malts (treacle), coarse sugar, salt, coriander seed, &c. Ale, as I have lately tasted it, well seasoned with salt, sweetened with sugar and fined with hot seeds, may be a comfort- able and exciting drink, yet not so well calculated to agree with and strengthen, as gradually to debi- litate the stomach. Ellis says that the Indian berry has the same quality as the deadly nightshade of this country ; also that one pound of coriander seeds, then sold for tenpence, being boiled in the wort, will prove equal in strength to one bushel of malt. It is certainly one of the least hurtful arti- cles, but far enough from possessing such a quantum of substance. He deems the practice, then much in 8 BE ER — GOUT — SUBSTITUTES FOR MALT. 315 use, of beating in the yeast during a long time, calcu- lated to render the drink stupifying and unwholesome. He complains of the brewers in his time for adul- terating their beer, malt being only twenty shillings per quarter, and hops in proportion; they, how- ever, drew only a hogshead from a quarter of malt for their porter and entire butt beer; whereas, I believe, our modern brewers seldom draw so little as three or four barrels. The gout and rheumatism, it seems, prevailed much among the cotemporary pub- licans and beer tippling-sinners, for which diseases I transcribe his almost infallible remedy. One ounce of gum guiacum in powder, infused in a bottle of rum, half a gill to be taken on going to bed, as a perspirant ; to be repeated if needful. Ellis gives a variety of substitutes for malt, in brewing beer, none of which are worth the paper on which they are printed. There is no known sub- stitute for malt and hops, all are equally deceptive as to the real and efficient qualities of beer ; nor can they be at all profitable, but as making a virtue of necessity. These spurious beers have ever been much in fashion on paper, if not in real use ; and of late we have had a new edition, which first ap- peared in * Ruffy's Farmers' Journal/ that justly popular depository of all things curious, as well as useful, in rural economy, and of ample miscella- neous information, British and foreign, in which I have had the honour, during a number of years past, of occasionally contributing a column. The new edition to which I refer, is, of beer from the mangold, or beet, which a newspaper writer, in 0\6 MANGOLD BEER — BREWING UTENSILS. proper character, warrants to be ' as good as any ale.' It may, for aught I know, make a pleasant diluting and diuretic drink for the dog-days. Thus it has been asserted by the scientific, that the home made arrow-root, from potatoes, is equal in sub- stance and nutritive quality to the genuine foreign, and that the quality of potatoe flour is equal to that of wheat. The above writer's recipe is as follows : —Take the liquor of 1501bs. of the roots, previously boiled, bruised, and pressed, add one pound of hops ; the infusion to remain all night, and to be reduced by a saccharometer to the strength of 28 Ibs. of saccharine matter in 36 gallons. Then boil the liquor one hour, and cool as soon as possible to 70 degrees Fahr. Add one pound of good yeast, to be beaten in after the liquor has stood 24- hours ; to be beat in again after 12 hours. The yeast then to be skimmed off, and in about 12 hours more the beer to be tunned. When working has ceased, stir into the cask a handful of the cold reserved hops, and in a few hours bung down. The produce, 16 gallons of ale, apparently very strong, of a very fine flavour, and equal to any malt ale. The whole ex- pense about seven shillings, or five pence halfpenny per gallon. To come to the operative, and concluding part of the subject ; the first step is, obviously, to provide the requiste UTENSILS, — a COPPER, fixed or move- able, of the content or size adapted to the quantity to be brewed, to which a cock is a great conveni- ence. A MASH-TUB, with spigot, faucit, and grating or partial false bottom. COOLERS, a GALLON mea- UTENSILS — ECONOMY. 317 sure, a HAIR SIEVE of proper size, HAND BOWLS, a PIGGIN, or bowl with an upright handle, PAILS, a FUNNEL, MASHING-STICK, CASKS; and, to complete the list, a THERMOMETER, for those who desire to be scientifically accurate, in taking the heat of their liquor. With respect to a MEASURE, the piggin may be made to contain exactly a gallon, or any desired quantity. The present prices of these will be here- after given, but from the reduced price of timber, brewing utensils, perhaps, do not cost so much as in former days. It is the interest of those house- keepers, who brew constantly, to purchase utensils of the best and most solid materials, not only on the consideration that they are bargaining for that which will serve them through life, but because the smoothness and hardness of the wood contributes to the purity of their beer ; as soft and porous wood imbibes all kinds of impurities, and after much use can scarcely be made clean. As to those to whom it is an object to lay out as little money as possible, in the purchase of these articles, and those who brew very small quantities, they may suit themselves at a very small expense, more especially, in the Me- tropolis. Used wine casks are extremely proper, and may be cut down and adapted to every purpose of brewing. The OAR, or stick to stir up the mash, may be either purchased at the cooper's, or made at home, being merely a long flat staff, having three cross sticks, one above the other, at the lower ends. Beer, or the WINE OF MALTED GRAIN, is made by 318 BEER, ITS NATURE AND PROPERTIES. fermenting a solution and decoction of the saccha- rine matter, or sugar of malt, and impregnating it with the essential oil and bitter quality of the hop, in order to restrict the beer to the requisite vinous fermentation, and prevent its advance to the acetous or acid. That the saccharine matter of the malt may be extracted clear of the farinaceous, the tem- perature or heat of the water must not be too high, or even at a scalding heat ; otherwise a due fermen- tation will be prevented, and the beer rendered thick and unwholesome. Beers that are dense, mu- cilaginous, and muddy, from being unskilfully brew- ed, and imperfectly fermented, sit heavily, and are indigestible by weak stomachs, in which they in- duce the acid fermentation and its consequences. On this account, the beer of common brewers, as being more carefully and thoroughly fermented than the ordinary home-brewed, has generally the advantage with respect to lightness and facility of digestion. These few remarks on the important subject of fermentation, are intended as prefatory to an account of the following NOVEL, or revived PLAN of brewing, in which, indeed, time and labour may be saved, but I apprehend not advantageously ; the experiment, however, may be easily made. It is recommended to remove the beer, hops and all, immediately from the copper, and, as I under- stand, hot as it may be, to the casks, which are left open to produce the spontaneous fermentation, no yeast being used. This, it is said, will begin in four or five days, when the beer shall have become quite cokl ; the hops will then rise and work out of NOVEL PLANS — COMMENCEMENT. 319 the cask. It is further observed that, by this me- thod, the beer will be improved in strength, and the flavour of the hop rendered finer in consequence of the gradual evaporation of the steam. But the ob- vious risk is, of an imperfect beer from a defective fermentation ; and such is the opinion of the brewer of a great London house, whom I have consulted. Another LATE PLAN, the idea of which was con- ceived many years since, and which appears of more rational and probable use, is confining the gas or steam of the beer, whilst in the working tun, there- by preventing the evaporation of too great a portion of the spirit and virtue of the malt and hops. For this purpose, an apparatus has been lately invented, and is on trial, at one or two of the great brew- houses. No doubt but the same may be had on a small scale, for private use. To prevent evapora- tion as much as possible, seems at present a prevail- ing idea. Further, a COMPENDIOUS MODE of brew- ing has been lately advertised, with a machine or moveable iron boiler, which may be placed in a chimney or any convenient situation. This is indeed an old housewife's practice reduced to a system, and furnished with apparatus. The utensils, malt and hops being provided, and the brew-house, or place for brewing, being made ready for their reception, the next object, and one of prime consequence, is to have the utensils in the CLEANEST possible state, the casks more parti- cularly ; and they must also be strictly attended to ever afterwards : for the least taint in the casks, or impurity, called foxing, in the other utensils, will p 4 320 CASKS — MALT — MASH-TUB — COPPER. be communicated to the beer, and render it disa- greeable to the palate and stomach, or even totally useless. NEW CASKS will require some time for cleansing and seasoning, and, perhaps, dependent on the nature of the wood, some will always com- municate to the beer a slight taste of wood, on their first using. If the malt be new, after grinding, it should be exposed to the air on A DRY FLOOR, two days previously to its being used; if old, half the time may suffice. Brown malt requires a longer, perhaps double the time. MALT should be only crushed or broken, not reduced to flour by the mill, which renders the beer turbid. To speak in this place particularly of the (MASH- TUB) — it is usually, and indeed most conveniently, made with a SPIGOT externally, near the bottom, to run off the worts into the tubs ; or, in some parts of the country they make a hole in the centre of the bottom, thrusting through it A STAFF, fitting the hole, from which to let out the worts, the staff being of sufficient length above the tub, in order to being laid hold on and managed. The thing, however, being troublesome, is now very seldom used. The wooden grating has superseded the old basket, to keep back the grains and refuse, and to run the worts off fine. The entire false bottom is consequently disused. The COPPER being fitted, and every necessary preparation made, over night, let the brewer commence his operations EARLY IN THE MORNING, that his worts may be cooled in good time, and if possible set to work in the afternoon. The FERMENTATION may continue two days, ac- PROCESS — QUANTITY. 321 cording to the state of the weather. In a family, where a considerable quantity of beer is requiredj and the utensils may not be of sufficient content to brew the whole at once, it is best to take the advan- tage of good weather, and make immediately suc- cessive brewings. Always be careful to boil liquor enough, and it is perhaps the best rule to boil double the quantity of the beer intended to be brewed. It is to be observed, that liquor used in the brew- house, is the proper customary name for water ; and that, by ancient usage, the mention in the house of the word water, must be accompanied by the for- feiture of a tester. The PROCESS. In middling families, where they have room, and generally employ a brewer, five bushels of malt is a usual quantity. We will, how- ever, accommodate our rules to half that quantity, or two bushels and a half, from which we propose to draw 22 J gallons of good ale, and 13 J gallons of small beer. The gauge of the copper should be 18 gallons, from which, indeed, with contrivance, three bushels may be brewed. The mash-tub placed con- veniently near the copper, in proportion, should hold 40 gallons, the grating before the spigot-hole of which should be fixed securely, lest it be moved in stirring the mash. Two or three COOLERS are necessary, but three most convenient for expedi- tion ; their shallow form is well known, and they should hold from 12 to 25 gallons each. The mash- tub must be placed on its stand to admit a cooler under the spigot. The COPPER having been filled with liquor, and p 5 322 MASHING WASTE — TAKING THE LIQUOR. boiling, (all scum and impurity removed from its sur- face) put the contents, 18 gallons, into the mash-tub, and cover it close with sacks, or any other conve- nient covering ; fill the copper again immediately, lest 1 1 u- bottom should burn, keeping a strict account of the quantity of liquor (water) used, as on this point depends the accuracy as to the quantity of the beer to be brewed ; and it must be noted, the absorption by the grains, and the evaporation by boiling and fer- menting of the worts and other wastes, will amount, in the average, to about three out of every eight gallons, or generally to a quantity between one third and one half. This, and the proper heat of the liquor for mashing, are material points. The old, indeed the now common method of de- termining the degree of temperature, or heat, is by the rule of LOOKING-GLASS or FINGER, thus : the boiling water in the mash-tub having stood a suffi- cient time to cool, and the steam having evaporated, the face will be seen in it, as in a mirror ; it is then at the proper degree of heat for the reception of the malt ; or, when the operator can just endure his finger in it, and withdraw the finger without being scalded. It is practice only which can assure ac- curacy in these rules, under which I have drank as good beer aa ever was brewed. But the use of the THERMOMETER will, no doubt, be more certain, which instrument is to be managed as follows — tie a line to it at the top, and let it down into the liquid, the temperature of which you desire to measure ; it must remain a minute or two, then raise the stem above the liquid, to observe the de- THERMOMETER TO ASCERTAIN THE GAUGES. 323 grees at which the mercury stands in the tube, with- out drawing the bulb itself out of the liquid into the air, which would cool the mercury, and give a lower than the temperature required. For the first mash- ing 170 degrees is the usual rule. Should the heat be greater than that, or boiling, the malt, as it is phrased, would be set, and made into a paste ; on the other hand, if a lower than the proper heat be used, the substance of the malt would be but partially dissolved and extracted ; on the whole, the liquor should be taken as high as possible, without scalding, and the worts should be boiled briskly. In order to ascertain readily the QUANTITY of water in the mash-tub, the following method is in use. Having measured the quantity of one brewing, make a NOTCH in the mashing stick, or a mark within- side the tub, of the height the water stands at in each mashing, and the quantity being that which you require, it will be necessary at a future mashing of the same quantity, merely to run on as much water as will reach the MARK. The following rule for the same purpose, I have learned lately ; " take a small lath of wood for each vessel (mash-tub or cooler), and, placing the vessel on an even surface, pour in two gallons of water ; when this has settled, insert the lath, and mark with a notch the point to which the water rises. Pour on two gallons more, and again notch the stick, so proceeding till the tub or cooler be full. Repeating this on each vessel, and marking on its proper stick the vessel to which it belongs, the quantity in each p6 FIRST AND SECOND MASH. vessel may be easily ascertained by dipping in the stick." The LIQUOR in the mash tub having cooled to the proper degree, or been reduced, if necessary, by the addition of cold, pour the malt upon it gradu- ally, and let it be stirred briskly, during eight or ten minutes, to prevent its balling, or sinking in lumps, which it is said will have some influence in causing the beer to turn sour. COVER up closely, and leave the mash- tub undisturbed two, or two hours and a half (standing too long on the grains might sour the worts); then draw off from the spigot, into the sweet-wort tub or cooler, having previously racked off and returned several gallons of the wort until it run fine ; afterwards draw the whole off clear of the grains. About nine or ten gallons will run off, allowing, as has been stated, for the absorption of the malt, which will be from three to five gallons of water per bushel. When the cop- per is too small, cold water will at once reduce the temperature and increase the quantity to the re- quired amount. The SECOND MASH. The mash-tub being clear, the spigot fast, and the second copper of water boiling, reduce its temperature to 160 degrees (by thermometer or common rule as before), or ten de- grees lower than for the first mash, and pour into the mash-tub 16 gallons, stirring as before. The grains cannot absorb so much as at first. COVER, and leave an hour and a half, then draw off. As soon as the wort runs low, it is usual to pour three or four gallons of warm liquor upon the bottom, BOILING THE WORTS THE HOPS. 325 being probably about as much as will be wanted, some brewers using cold water. Run the bottom dry. About the quantity of worts required will then be run off. BOILING THE WORTS. During the running off of the second mash, is the time to put the first wort into the copper. Add the hops after the rate of lib. per bushel of malt for keeping beer, or about three quarters of a pound (or sometimes less) per bushel, the drink being for immediate spending. Separate the hops minutely with the fingers, and stir them up sufficiently in the copper. Some per- sons are curious enough to make a previous infusion of the hops for an hour or two, in boiling water, pouring the infusion into the first wort, and leaving the residue to be boiled in the second. Others boil the hops in a bag, a bag of fresh hops to each ale wort, the used bags serving for the small beer. By this they think to avoid the acrid flavour and quality of the hop, preserving only the pure aroma. On that ground, I have lately boiled the hops but half an hour in the ale wort. It is customary to BOIL the worts an hour, or until they break, as the phrase is, which is deter- mined by a basin full taken out of the copper and cooled, when if boiled sufficiently, the wort will break, or appear clear, with separated particles or atoms floating on the surface. Some are of the opinion they profit by boiling their beer much longer, in which I do not agree. Lade from the copper into a cooler, over which the sieve is placed, returning to the copper the hops from the sieve, re- 326 WORKING THE BEER — BEATING IN YEAST. plenish the copper with the second wort, and boil and strain into a cooler as before. Pigs will eat the boiled refuse hops with the grains. Having copper and tun room, some prefer mashing the ale wort at once. According to an old rule, a brewing employs SIXTEEN HOURS of time, reckoning to the period of the worts being safe in the coolers, awaiting fer- mentation. WORKING THE BEER. As it is an object to cool the worts expeditiously, the more coolers that can be put in requsition, the better. When reduced to blood warmth, the WORTS are fit for the working tun, the office of which, if necessary, may be well performed by the mash-tub, previously well cleaned. With those who use the thermometer, the proper temperature for working is 65 degrees. In very cold weather, wrap CLOTHS around the mash-tub. Stir in the YEAST, the proper quantity of which is, after the rate of six or eight table spoonsful to thirty gallons of wort, in the brewing season. In summer weather little more than half the quantity may suf- fice. The beer will begin to ferment sooner or later, as the weather may be, and the fermentation may be completed in twenty-four hours, or it may require nearly double that time. In cold weather, when the head rises slow and thin, it is usual to stir up the beer once or twice ; but the practice of beating in the yeast, and impreg- nating the drink with its particles, does not tend to rendering it wholesome, or to its sitting easy on the stomach. The beer being COLD at the end of twenty-four hours, skim off the yeast for use, or, CLEANSING — FILLING UP. 327 should the beer continue to ferment, skim again be- fore cleansing. The fermentation being strong, the head of yeast may be removed in twelve or fourteen hours. An old and practical writer says, " if beer be not sufficiently worked, it cannot clear itself; if too much, it gets weak and soon sours." The fac- titious yeasts have not hitherto succeeded, either with the brewers or bakers. The next process, CLEANSING, or putting the beer, now nearly complete, into the casks with buckets or pails — -the casks must be supposed placed on the stillings or stands with legs, which are troughs made to catch the beer working over ; in general, any sufficiently capacious tub, placed beneath the cask-stand, answers the purpose. The casks must be placed tilting, or inclining to one side, that the yeast and beer working over may have a single channel. From this overflow, settled and clear from the yeast, the cask must be attentively filled up, two or three times a day ; but it is generally necessary to have a reserve of one or two gallons, as a supply for the waste of fermentation. In three or four days, the weather being cool, the working will be over. Very particular brewers have a reserve of worts with which to fill up, not choosing to make use of the impure yeasty overflow. LEVEL the cask, FILL UP well, within an inch of the bung-hole ; if the drink be for KEEPING, add a few fresh hops ; ham- mer down the BUNG, in a piece of coarse cloth, with a piece of bladder between bung and cloth, covering it, if thought necessary, with a SAND-BAG. The 328 AGE — PROPERTIES— COMMON SMALL BEER. VENT-PEG should be left out a few days, until all be quiet, and then driven down. This ale may be drank in six weeks, particularly if brewed in spring ; will be excellent at Michaelmas, and in perfection in the following spring. DRY CELLARING, and not too warm, is the object, whether for wine or beer. The above DIRECTIONS, it has been seen, are for brewing ale only, and that of sufficient strength for any ale, even if to be kept several years, in cask or bottled ; but, as I have before hinted, old ales and beer lose much of their salubrious properties by age, acquiring others of a different character, as the deep drinkers of such soon acquire sufficient experience. Three sorts of beer are sometimes made under the same process, namely, BEST ALE, from the first worts, TABLE ALE from the second, and common SMALL BEER afterwards : but the usual and preferable mode is to make ale and small beer ; and when the latter is required to be better than ordinary, a small quantity of fresh malt is capped on for that purpose. SMALL BEER after the ale. The last ale wort having run off, and a copper of boiling water being ready, pour into the mash-tub fifteen gallons of water, reduced to about 190 degrees of heat, that is to say, at a considerably greater degree of heat than that used for the ale, but not boiling. (Cold water is also used.) It is- to be observed, that the goods (grains) being now saturated, will no longer absorb. This mash is to be well stirred, covered as before, and to be left for about one hour. The copper be- ing cleared of the last ale wort, will be ready to receive the small beer, together with the used hops, INT1RE GUILE SMALL BEER. ?. to which may added, if thought necessary, a small quantity of fresh hops, and the wort boiled AN HOUR. Some boil their small beer worts but half an hour. It must be noted/ that small beer, after ale, will not creak on the surface like ale. This time must be spent in cleaning the mash-tub for the reception of the last wort, which must be strained into it, and there left to cool for working, supposing no other cooler at hand. It will require considerable more yeast than the ale wort. I have some reason to re- mark that a careless servant may require a caution to put out the fire, before he begin to empty the copper. SMALL BEER wort may be moderately warm, when the yeast is put to it, and also when cleansed it ought not to be cold. If it work freely, it may be cleansed the day after : it may, however, be proper to re- mark, that small beer, after strong, can never be equally wholesome with small beer brewed by itself, or the ENTIRE SMALL. We have thus made from two and a half bushels of malt, a half barrel and a pin, (four and half gallons) and a firkin and a pin, of, it may be expected, good ale, and good small beer. ENTIRE GUILE small beer, or small beer brewed by itself; — four bushels of fine and good pale malt will make two barrels, or 72 gallons, in two mashings or worts, to be afterwards, when cooled, put toge- ther. The liquors to be taken at the degrees of heat stated above. Two pounds of fine hops will be sufficient, or less. For the FERMENTATION, use a quart, to three pints, of yeast. In twenty or 330 VARIATIONS AND RULES — BOILING. twenty-four hours, the weather being cool, the beer will have worked sufficiently, and the yeast skimmed from it will be very good for use. To be casked, filled up, and treated with as much care as ale. Many years ago, I was in the habit of brewing this keeping small beer, from the finest Herts white malts, and the best hops. It was of the colour of pale Sherry, and in the heat of summer was more agreeable than strong beer, indeed a most pleasant beverage. I frequently bottled it with success. At that time, Sir Edward Walpole, who had the strange habit of drinking Port wine and small beer mixed, equal parts, and could procure no good small beer in London, importuned me much to procure him a supply of fine keeping small. VARIATIONS in practice, and RULES. Instead of putting the boiling water, at first, into the mash-tun, and leaving it covered up, by way of seasoning the tun, as has been directed, some, for expedition sake, and the saving of fuel, do not boil, but only heat the water to the requisite degree of temperature, and mash with it immediately. I know of no objection to this practice. They say boiling exhausts the good qualities of the water. Others shoot only half the malt, at first, into the mash-tun, stirring it up, and afterwards adding the remainder with the liquor ; but so small a quantity as two or three bushels, poured in at once leisurely, may be well separated and prevented from balling, the opera- tions of pouring and stirring proceeding together. Some fancy that a reserve of a few handsful of malt, sprinkled over the surface, will help to retain the SACCHAROMETER FERMENTATION. 331 steam. They next make the sign of the cross upon it, by which they do not always prevent evil spirits from guzzling their sweet wort. In tending the COPPER, care should be taken, by stirring down the hops as they rise to the surface, that it do not boil over ; when boiling proceeds too rapidly, it will be necessary to setvthe copper-grate door open awhile, to damp the heat. After boiling has proceeded a few minutes, the hops will sink. In emptying the copper of worts, the necessity will suggest itself, of putting a convenience across the cooler or tub, two cross sticks for instance, in order to hold the sieve, or straining basket. Those family brewers who choose to be hyper- correct, and curious, may provide a SACCHAROMETER, the purchase of which, in a tin case, is six shillings. With this they may find the specific gravity, or strength of the wort,, previously to fermentation. Two bushels of good malt will yield full eighteen pounds of saccharum, the matter of sugar. The first wort, from malt of that quantity and quality, per barrel of thirty-six gallons, will weigh about thirty pounds heavier than water ; the second, fifteen ; and the third, or small, about nine pounds, heavier than water. The old brewers judged of their worts by weighing a pint, or a quart, the goodness being supposed to consist in the gra- vity ; the most curious of them also using a close cover to every process, in order to prevent the waste of evaporation. FERMENTATION. My brewer, in this part of the 332 FERMENTATION INGREDIENTS USED. process, took no further pains, than to distribute the yeast over, and stir it into the surface. Others are particular to put the yeast into a hand bowl, which they set afloat on the beer. In three or four hours, the yeast will work over the bowl into the beer, when the bowl is to be turned bottom upwards, and a fermentation communicated to the whole mass, or the bowl of yeast and wort mixed is placed at the bottom of the empty tub, and the worts laded upon it. Some say the first, or common method, merely spreading the yeast on the surface, has the speediest effect. Too rapid and speedy fermentation, how- ever, is not desirable, lest, by excess, it exhausts the spirit of the beer ; indeed, slow working, provided in the end it be thorough and effective, and not carried to the other extreme, need not be regretted ; but in FILLING up the beer, when in the casks, the remain- ing yeast should be well worked out, yeast being a narcotic and unwholesome matter. In cold weather, when it is difficult to raise a fer- ment, it is an old practice to fill a gallon or two- gallon stone bottle with boiling water, well corked and put into the beer, in order to infuse and spread a heat : also, to quicken the fermentation, salt, flour, and the whites of eggs are used ; but I apprehend when good yeast fails, those are not likely to succeed, and that time is the real remedy. As to the stock of beer brewed, according to the old maxim, better to have rather too much than too little, as the casks must be filled ; since if there be not ale enough, they must be filled up with small beer, or, perhaps, GENUINE LONDON PORTER — DRUGS. 333 with a decoction of malt and hops, put in blood warm, or cold. In case of a surplus, two and a half gallon cags, or stone bottles, are the proper ves- sels. LONDON PORTER. I have brewed beers, and ales, under various other names, but never porter. Now, as this beer is so universal a favourite, it may as well be brewed in a private, as in a public brew- house ; and as many cannot dispense with it, at their meals, they may perhaps be induced to try whether they cannot, as well as a much cheaper, brew an equally genuine and good porter, at home. I have already made the necessary distinction between the absolutely noxious ingredients, used in brewing por- ter, the use of which cannot be denied, since they have, in a multitude of instances, been detected and fined, and those which are necessary, at the same time not actually noxious. They are indeed chiefly diuretic, and some of them nourishing and pro- motive of accretion, as the black malts (treacle), and liquorice root. Nevertheless, porter can never be equally nourishing and salubrious with beer, which is the genuine and simple product of malt and hops. But porter is more salubrious and less hurtful than either the town or country ales of the brewers, since the ingredients in the composition of porter are sel- dom, if ever, so noxious as those used in ales, which are scarcely ever brewed without the addition of coculus Indicus, or grains of paradise, or both. The former is a most deleterious drug — a poison, of 334 QUALITY — METROPOLITAN BREWERS. which, from long experience, I can instantly detect the flavour in beer ; the latter are heating and un- wholesome. I remember in former days an ale- brewer, who, in his first essay with the Indian berry, was so liberal in the quantity used, that he did not dare to send it among his customers, but found one in a porter brewer, who purchased, at a low price, the guile, to start among his beer. Of late years, the conscientious wine dealers have used a new and dangerous drug in their white wines. Good ale or beer, however, is too heavy to dilute full flesh meals, and perhaps inferior, in that respect, to porter, to which again good small beer or water is a superior and better diluent ; strong ale being in its proper place, consorts afterwards, with the des- sert, or accompanies a light supper, or the noon luncheon, after fatigue. It is moreover due, from an impartial writer, to note that much of the vulgar ribaldry against the porter brewers particularly may well, and ought to be spared. So far as I know of the porter to be had at present, in the Metropolis, it is a brisk, full-bodied, and pleasant beer, which will bottle well, referring particularly to that of Messrs. Barclay and Co., Whitbread, and Reid. With the profits of these great and opulent traders I have nought to do, but to remark my little doubt that the patriotic grumblers thereat would not, in their own case, be too modest to accept them from a bountiful public. Having acknowledged my unacquainted ness with the peculiar method of brewing PORTER, I cannot, I HOME-BREWED PORTER. 335 believe, do better than take as a text book, a small and useful tract on the subject, written upwards of thirty years since, by Mr. Samuel Child, a brewer. He assures us, on his own experience, that as good porter may be brewed from a single peck of malt, as from a brewing on the large scale ; and that which appears to me yet more strange, another writer avers as much with respect to proportional equality of quantity, as of quality. For its singularity, I give the quotation — " I have observed, that malt brewed in these small quantities, makes a much stronger liquor in proportion ; that is, eight peqks of malt, brewed separately, will produce forty gallons of ex- cellent beer, much better than eight pecks brewed together. What the cause of this advantage is, I have not exactly ascertained, but am fully satisfied of the fact." Among the peculiar porter ingredients, however, enumerated by Mr. Child, I am sorry to find that baneful drug, coculus Indicus, which he has also given in his recipe for ale. It is well he omitted opium, which has often poisoned both porter and ale. The following is Mr. Child's bill of fare for the pro- duction of genuine porter, exclusive of the Indian berry ; and the private brewer may assure himself that, should the following ingredients fail to make him fat, at any rate they will not poison him. The expenses are calculated on the market rate of a former day, Easter Monday, 1824. — 33G RECIPE FOR PORTER. S. (I. One peck of ground malt . . 2 4 Liquorice root, bruised, Jib. . 0 2 Spanish juice, or liquorice . . 0 0| Essentia bina .,..._ . . .0 2 Colouring . . • ^. • ..02 Treacle . . . '., '.' . . .0 1J Hops, Jib . . .'•' . . . .0 8 Capsicum and ginger . . . . 0 2 Coals and wood 06 4 4 The above charge, our guide warrants, will pro- duce six gallons of good porter, for which the pub- lican now charges ten shillings, himself paying to the brewer forty-five shillings per barrel of thirty-six gallons. It must be observed, in giving the common brewer's receipt, he quotes additionally, — salt of tartar, heading, ginger, slacked lime, coculus Indi- cus, linseed, cinnamon (meaning, doubtless, cassia). We trust no brewer of repute now uses the coculus Indicus. The essentia consists of moist sugar, eight pounds to one quarter of malt, boiled in an iron pot to a thick syrup. COLOURING is also made of eight pounds of moist sugar, boiled to a me- dium, between sweet and bitter. These ingredients, the ginger excepted, which is put into the beer after it has worked, are boiled in the first wort, forming the basis of the peculiar porter quality and flavour. The HEADING is a mixture of equal parts, HEADING LENGTH — MALT— FININGS. 337 alum and copperas, ground to a fine powder, which gives to the porter its peculiarly fine frothy head. I have already observed on the innoxious qualities of the ingredients used in the private brewing of porter ; these are easily to be obtained of the grocer and druggist of any county town, and the manufac- turing labourer, accustomed to the flavour and qua- lities of porter, if economically inclined, may supply himself and family, his rib pulling with him, and standing the fag. The drink will be fit for use after seven days, but will have improved after twenty-one. Mr. Child says, the brewers in his day drew the length of FIVE barrels of porter from a quarter of malt, which great length he seems to have exceeded in his private recipe. A private brewer may be more liberal at his own option. PORTER, it seems, must be brought forward, or worked quicker than ale, and when in the cask, be watched and air given, that they do not burst. Child says, they use a mixture of pale and amber MALT with the brown ; and he inclines to prefer the use of amber entirely. A man's experimental choice will best determine this. On account of the variety of ingredients, and particularly of the essentia, this beer requires FININGS, which are composed of isin- glass, dissolved in perfectly fine stale beer, until it becomes a thin, gluey consistence, like size. One pint of finings is the usual allowance for a barrel of beer, though occasionally two or three may be re- quired ; or it may happen, in favourable weather particularly, that little, or even none, be needed* In general, stale beer not being at hand, a quantity Q 338 ALE — ADULTERATION—SUGAR — THEORIES. is drawn from the cask itself, to make the finings, but it may not be so effective. In the manufacture of ALE and small beer, Mr. Child must be no longer my oracle. He unre- servedly gives into the habitual adulterations of beer, with sweets, seeds, (lib. coriander is supposed ^qual to a bushel of malt,) and drugs, which neces- sarily produce a spurious, and vastly inferior drink, compared with the genuine product of malt and hops. I will have no COUNTERFEITS in my cellar, nor allow any addition to malt, hops, and liquor, ex- cepting a handful or two of SALT, which seasons all things ; of this, the old rule is a handful to each, and every boiling of worts. Beer, in truth, may be made from sugar, and small beer from treacle ; an excellent beverage no doubt, for a wasting jockey, or a rare article to give a poor labourer a ground sweat. I have already alluded to the theories of our che- mists on the potatoe. They infer an equality of power and strength in all essences : as another ex- ample, an equality between the saccharum of sugar, and of malt, assuring you, that in beer making, a certain number of Ibs. of sugar are equal to a bushel of malt, (Child fixes the quantity of sugar at 61bs.) They reckon without their host. The beer of su- gar is an unsubstantial, as well as mawkish, sicken- ing beverage, compared with the beer of malt. The admixture of sugar or treacle deteriorates the qua- lity of beer, however in proportion it may be made to increase the quantity. The gluten of potatoes is infinitely inferior, in substantial quality, to the gluten FAJ.SE ECONOMY — COUNTRY LABOURERS. 339 of wheat, as is fully proved in the manufacture of starch and bread. There is, moreover, an old adage, that will not always hold water. It has been said — bad small beer is better than none. I remember a poor coun- try smith, in the starvation period of the late revo- lutionary war, who, economically, brewed bad small beer, and nearly scoured out the guts of himself and his hammer-man. I saw them in the proper guise of skeletons. They cried " give us a little good beer, and the rest water." Farmers have often weakened their harvest labourers, by filling them with miserable small beer, whilst the latter have taken every opportunity of drenching the land with it. The labourer, whose wife is not fully employed, and who has a cool place for his beer, may have successive brewings of a peck of malt, the year through, of strong and small beer ; and the recom- mendation of such economical practice will be kind and patriotic in my country, particularly my lady, readers. A convenience to boil four or five gallons of water, a tub or two, and two or three small casks, will make the shift. In the country, skill will not be wanting. UTENSILS, the London price of new. COPPER is from seventeen to nineteen pence per Ib. A new one, guage 15 gallons, including iron- work, will cost between 48 and 50s. less in proportion for a larger gauge. A MASH-TUB, six shillings per bushel, for the number it will work. A TWENTY GALLON cooler, 10 shillings. Piggin 2s. 6d. In general, the 340 UTENSILS ANECDOTE MALT-MILL — VENT PEG. wooden utensils to brew two bushels will cost 21. 5s. ; for three bushels, 31. ; for five bushels, about 41. A family for brewing a considerable quantity, generally expends about 10/. in utensils, including the casks. A wine pipe cut down, as has been said, makes a good mash- tub. Price of a half firkin or pin, 4erryt depends upon the large quantity of carbonic acid gas which they contain, it is clear, that exposing any of those liquors to the atmosphere, either by racking or otherwise, must tend to destroy that briskness on which, particularly in champagne and perry, their agreeableness so much depends. Hence, too, we learn the necessity there is for keeping such vinous liquors, even in this country, in a cool place. We may just add, that according to Mr. BRANDE'S table of the proportion oj spirit or alcohol, per cent. by measure, in various fermented liquors, of Cider, the highest average is 9.87 ; the lowest 5.21 ; of Perry, 7 .26; of Champagne, 12.61 ; of Elder vine, 8.78; of Claret, 15.10; of Hock, 12.08; of Bur- gundy, 11.57 ; of Matlcira, 22.27 ; uf Sherry, 19.17; of Port nine, 22.90; of Li&sa, 25.41. The best cider, according to this statement, contains hardly one-tenth of spirit, while Lissa wine contains more than one-fourth of its bulk in spirit. Of apples and pears for culinary use, and for the dessert, it is not our province here to speak ; but we cannot avoid observing, that a garden laden with the valuable varieties of both the apple and the pear, cannot be seen without admiration; that the stubbord of summer, and the nonpareil of winter, the golden and other pippins, afford a variety to suit every palate ; that there the ber^amotte, the jargonelle, a numerous et ccctera of melting pears await us, and evince, at once, the knowledge and in- CIDER OR BEER FOR THE LABOURER? 363 dustry of man in training ; nature exhaustless, and never failing to supply him with an almost infinity of fruits. Of cider as a summer beverage, nothing need be said in praise ; it is one of those agreeable liquors, particularly for those using much labour in the fields, that will perhaps be never equalled, certainly never surpassed. And although we might not think quite so highly of it as John Philips, there will be no impropriety in concluding this treatise in his words : " Where'er the British spread Triumphant banners, or their fame has reached Diffusive, to the utmost bounds of this Wide universe, Silurian cider borne, Shall please all tastes, and triumph o'er the vine." The author entertains a high opinion of this essay on cider; but on one point, and that of no slight importance, he feels it difficult to agree, either with the poet, or the thoroughly informed and practical ciderist. As old English vinous luxuries, both cider and perry are certainly estimable, and will scarcely ever be neglected ; but as a drink to satisfy the thirst of the labourer, surely good fresh small beer, equally assuaging thirst with cider, and far more nourishing, ought to be preferred ; not to overlook the fact, that the body being debilitated and in a 364* CIDER OR BEER? high state of perspiration, cider has been known to occasion dangerous colics. Of the two evils, poor cider is worse than poor small beer : in point of nu- tritive power, no comparison can subsist between barley and apples. INDEX. , Page ADAMS, Mrs., an eminent breeder of poultry 30 Ale, deleterious Scotch, Ken- net, &c 311 Althorp's, Lord, annual poul- try show 71 Alum curd, how to make . . 128 Apiarian, advice to the young 250 technicalities 264 - , swarming season im- portant to the . . . '. 276 •• husbandry, causes of decline of 287 Apiary, situation for the, re- commended 2C6 , method of establish- ing an 258 Aylesbury ducks, notice of . . 97 Apple trees, varieties of 349 Apple tree, introduction of the, into England 350 Apples, various modes of ga- thering 355 Apple-mill, description of the 357 Bantam, description of the . . 17 Bee, mischievous habits of the 245 — — culture, rationale of .... 247 — • character, form, &c. of the 248 varieties of the 251 the queen, description of 252 duration of the life of the 262 enemies of the, how to guard against 272 — culture, profits of 274 Bee-hives, on the form and construction of 269 Bees, on the extent of culture of 243 , number of in a swarm, 256, 261 Page Bees, of destroying the, to take the honey 282, 262 , method of removing . . 275 , remarkable swarms of, 276, 264, 275 , severe winters not in- jurious to 276 , usual time of swarming 277 , management of first and second swarms of -7'J , advantages and method of feeding '. . . . . 284 , diseases of 286 , remedy for the sting of ib. Beer, the nutritious qualities of 290 , on the adulteration of, 338, 314, 305, 291 trade, effects of opening the 311 nature and properties of 318, on cleansing fine .... 342 to fine thick 344 to recover pricked .... ib. ropy, to clear 345 to check fermentation of, in the cask 346 Berkshire and Sussex, method of feeding 67 Boyce, Mr., an extensive feeder of poultry 104 Breeding stock, choice and treatment of 28 Brewing obstacles to private . 296. b'est water for .... 303 proper season for . . 304 utensils requisite . . 316 economy of 317 utensils, price of . . 339. Brown, Mr., on the treatment of rabbits .. 166 INDEX. Page Brown stout, salubrity of 313 Brutes, on reason in 234 Burton ale, purity of 308 Bustard, general description of the 6 Butter, instructions for making 21 6 , Norfolk and Lanca- shire systems of making . . ib. , how to make without churning 217 -, bow to pot, for keeping ib. Calves, on weaning and rear- ing 236 Capon, qualities of the flesh of, 4 Capons, how to make G5 Casks, to sweeten tainted or foxed 341 Cheese-making, general re- marks on 218 Cheese-dairy, description of the 219 Cheese, artificial colouring for 225 •-, British and continen- tal fancy 229 Chickens the least alkalescent of all animal food 4 , on breeding and rearing 21 , artificial method of rearing 47 - and fowls, on feed- ing and fattening 56 Child, Mr. Samuel, on brewing 335 Churn, description of linker's box 215 Cider, apples best adapted for making ;. 352 • ' , process of making .... 358 , component parts of. ... 360 — , virtues of 363 Cock-fighting, an apology for 12 Cocks, barbarity of throwing at ib. , origin of the custom of throwing at ib. Cow, management of the .... 231 , the age of a, how to tell ib. , period of gestation in the 232 , fidelity and attachment of a 234 Cow-keeping, the difficulties of 208 Page Cows, milch, the various breeds of 201 , summer feeding of, 209, winter feeding 211 , the diseases of 240 and calves, number of, imported from Ireland .... 242 Cramp, Mr., on management of the cow 237 Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, ex- tract from 67 Cygnets, when and where to be purchased 9 Dairy cow, annual produce of a 213 , management and eco- nomy of the 214 farmers, hints to .... 237 Daniel, bearded, inebriating properties of 312 Diseases of poultry and pigeons 73 of cows, prevention of, and remedies for 241 of bees 286 of swine 197 Domestic poultry, of the va- rious species of 1 Dorking fowl, description of the 14 Dovecote, proper situation of the 143 Drone, or male bee, descrip- tion of the 255 Duck, the tame and wild, properties of the flesh of . . 7» 96 and its varieties, habits and manners of the .... 105. 92 Eggs, instructions for keeping 53 Egyptian mode of hatching eggs 45 Ellis on brewing, notice of . . 298, 306, 313 Epicure, the, a pamphlet, no- tice of 34 Feathers or down, time for plucking 53 Fecundity, how to promote, in hens 63 Food, on the quantity and quality of, for fowls 64 INDEX. 367 Page Fowls, gallinaceous, descrip- tion and management of . . 10 , varieties of ib. Game fowls, description of . . 10 Geese, treatment of, in Lin- colnshire 54 Goose, qualities of the flesh and fat of the 8 , cruelty of plucking the living 09 dung, value of 100 , anecdotes of the 101 and its varieties 110 Gout and rheumatism, remedy for 315 Guinea fowls. See Pintada . . , when in season 5 Harley, Mr., the dairy sys- tem of 239 Hatching, remarks on 37 , Egyptian mode of 45 Hen, the ferocity of the 93 Hens, foreign varieties of . . 18 Honey, importation of, in 1814 264 , British and foreign, qualities of 284, 265 , the virtues of 265 , price of, at different periods 288, 243, 265 , proper time of taking from the hive 281 , method of preserving or storing 286 , how to clarify ib. , superiority of French 288 Hop, qualities of the 302 Hops, substitutes for 303, 307 Huish, Mr., a practical Apia- rian 252, 283 Huish-hive, description of the 270 Incubation, proper treatment of hens during 36 Lincolnshire, number of geese reared in 54 London porter, general pre- dilection for 297 Page London porter, old recipe for brewing 295 Malay hen, account of the . . 17 Malt, on the consumption of 299 — , tests of quality of 301 , different species of. ... ib. , substitutes for 315 Mangold beer, how to brew . fb. Mead or Metheglin, recipe to make 286 Milk, the value of 209 Milking, the proper time for 222, 233 Moulting, observations on . . 35 Muscovy goose, notice of the 117 Orchards, situation and soil proper for 351 , method of planting 353 Paris, Dr., on diet 306 Parmesan cheese, how made 230 Peacock, the flesh of the, coarse and ill coloured .... 6 — , natural history of the 118 Pea fowls, when in season . . 5 Perry, instructions for making 361 Pheasant, description of the . . 121 Pheasants, instructions for breeding and rearing .... 125 Pig-breeders, encouragement for 191 Pigs, importation of, from Ire- land 199 Pigeons and poultry, on the diseases of 73 — , habitudes of 132 , varieties of, 156, 153, 136 Pigeon, prolificness of the .. 142 , treatment and ma- nagement of 145 carrier, calculations on flight of 153 , penalty for unlaw- fully killing or taking .... 157 Pintada, habits and manners of the 119 Poland fowls, description and character of 15 Pork and bacon, fattening pigs for 193 3G8 INDEX. Page Pork, price of in London .... 179 Porter, genuine home-brewed 335 , on the management of 337 Poultry, domestic, of the va« rious species of 1 , general opinion re- specting 2 — — , qualities of the flesh of 4 house, situation and form of the 23 — yard, on the forma- tion of the 22 , remarks on the moult- ing of 36 , prices of .... 131, 70, 72 Rabbits, on the treatment of, 168, 158 , varieties of 162 eating their young, observations on 166 — , the produce of 168 , penalty for illegally taking 173 Rabbit bazaar, at Ampthill, notice of 174 Rennet 224 Sage cheese, how to make . . 230 Salt-cat, how to prepare, its use 152 Page Scotland, introduction of the pheasant into 130 Shackbags, the breed of, ex- tinct 18 Somerville, Lord, anecdote of 171 Sporting Magazine, extract from 88 Suffolk cow, superiority of the 205 Swan, virtues of the skin and fat of the 8 , age, habits, and man- ners of the 115 Swine, varieties of, foreign and native 175 — — -, management and feed- ing of store 191, 182 , on the diseases of 197 Taxation, effects of excessive 293 Tea, on the virtues of 295 Thieves, precautions against . 25 Turkey, flesh of the, nourish- ing 5 , natural history of the 79 , breeding and ma- nagement of the 84 Wax, the price of bees' . . 266, 280 , how to obtain pure, 284, 266 Young, Arthur, opinion of tea 295 September 1, 1832. PRACTICAL BOOKS ON Sporting £ufcjrrt0. BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF LIVE STOCK, VETERINARY PRACTICE, AND ON RURAL AFFAIRS, PRINTED FOR SHERWOOD, GILBERT, & PIPER, PATERNOSTER-ROW. JOHNSON'S SPORTSMAN'S DICTIONARY. Just published, in One large Volume, Octavo, illustrated with numerous highly -finished and emblematical Engravings, price £1:11:6, bound in cloth, A NEW AND ORIGINAL WORK, ENTITLED THE SPORTSMAN'S CYCLOPAEDIA; Being an Elucidation of the Science and Practice of the FIELD, the TORF, and the SOD ; or, in other Words, the Scientific Operations of the CHASE, the Coo USE, and of all those Diversions and Amusements which have uniformly marked the British Character ; and which are so ardently cherished, and so extensively followed, by the present Generation : comprehending the Natural History of all those Animals which are the Objects of Pursuit, accompanied with illustrative Anecdotes. BY T. B. JOHNSON, Author of the Shooter's Companion, $c. fyc. IN offering the present work to the SPORTING WORLD, the Publishers do not deem any apology necessary, as there is no Book on sale profes- sedly of a similar character, nor one that will furnish a Sportsman with that information which he may desire on the various Field Sports of the present day. Under such circumstances, the Publishers conceive that a " Sportsman's Cyclopcedia" will be not only acceptable to those who follow the Hounds, pursue the Feathered Tribes, frequent the Lake, or the Stream, or attend the Course, but also to the Public in general. They, therefore, honestly and fearlessly assert that the Author and Compiler of it is a well-known Sportsman, who has made the various subjects of the book the business of his life, and whose practical know- Practical and Useful Books published by Brown on Horse- Racing. THE TURF EXPOSITOR; containing the Origin of Horse- Racing, Breeding for the Turf, Training, Trainers, Jockeys ; Cocktails, and the System of Cocktail Racing illustrated ; the Turf and its Abuses ; the Science of betting Money, so as always to come off a Winner, eluci- dated by a variety of Examples; the Rules and Laws of Horse-racing; and every other Information connected with the Operations of the Turf. By C. F. Brown. Price 6*. boards. Brown's Anecdotes of Horses. In a thick Volume, royal ISmo. containing Fourteen Portraits of celebrated Homes, Sfc. engraved on Steel, Price 10s. Gd. cloth. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND AUTHENTIC ANECDOTES OF HORSES, and the Allied Species. By Captain THOMAS BROWN, F.L.S. M.R.P.S. M.K.S. &c. &c. '* We have now before us the pleasing fruit of Captain Brown's labour and investigation. Setting out with the early history of the horse, and tracing it to the present period, the author next goes through the various breeds, and finally enlivens the whole with the accounts of feats and other memorabilia, which are well calculated to astonish and amuse." — London Literary Gazette. " Captain Brown's work is an entertaining and instructive miscellany. Pleasanter gossip than that of horses we do not know, and richer food for it cannot be found, than in this volume." — Spectator. l< Those who have any relish for this noble animal — any wish to know its history and habits — will find all they want in Captain Brown's book. There are nine excellent plates, and nearly 600 pages of letter-press." — New North Briton. '• With Captain Brown's delightful volume of ' Anecdotes of Horses/ just issued, every one who crosses a saddle ought to be intimate."- Glasgow Free Press. Conversations on Conditioning. THE GROOM'S ORACLE, AND POCKET STABLE DIRECTORY; in which the Management of Horses generally, as to Health, Dieting, and Exercise are considered, in a Series of Familiar Dialogues between two Grooms engaged in Training Horses to their Work, as well for the Road as the Chase and Turf. With an APPENDIX, including the RECEIPT-BOOK of JOHN HINDS, V.S. Second Edition, considerably improved, embellished with an elegant Frontispiece, painted by S. Alken, price 7s. cloth. *„* This enlarged edition of the " Groom's Oracle" contains a good number of new points connected with training prime horses; and the owners of working cattle, also, will find their prolit in consulting the prac- tical remarks that are applicable to their teams ; on the principle that health preserved is better than disease removed. Elaine s Farriery. OUTLINES OF THE VETERINARY ART; or, a TREA- TISE on the ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, and CURATIVE TREAT- MENT of the DISEASES of the HORSE, and, subordinately, of those of NEAT CATTLE and SHEEP. Illustrated by Surgical and Anatomical Plates. By DELAEERE BLAINE. The Fourth Edition, considerably improved and increased by the in- troduction of many new and important Subjects, both in the Foreign and British practices of the art, and by the addition of some new Figures. Price II. 4s. cloth, and lettered. Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper. Girard on the Age of the Horse. A TREATISE ON THE TEETH OF THE HORSE; showing its Age by the Changes the Teeth undergo, from a Foal up to Twenty -Three Years Old, especially after the Eighth Year. Translated from the French by M. GIRARD, Director of the Koyal Veterinary School at Alford, by T. J. GANLV, V.S. llth Light Dragoons. Price 3*. 6rf. or, with the Plates coloured, 4s. 6d. boards. %* This work is strongly recommended by Professor Coleman, in his Lectures to the attention of persons studying the Veterinary Profession ; and who may wish to be well acquainted with the Horse's Age. " The above useful Treatise is calculated to be of considerable service, in the present state of our knowledge. We recommend the work to the Amateur, the Practitioner, and the Veterinary Student." — Lancet. A Complete Manual for Sportsmen. BRITISH FIELD SPORTS; embracing PRACTICAL IN- STRUCTIONS in SHOOTING, HUNTING, COURSING, RACING, FISHING, &c. ; with Observations on the Breaking and Training of Dogs and Horses ; also, the Management of Fowling-pieces, and all other Sporting Imple- ments. By WILLIAM HENRY SCOTT. %* This Work is beautifully printed, on fine paper, and illustrated with upwards of Fifty highly -finished Engravings, Thirty-four on Copper, executed in the most characteristic style of excellence, by those Eminent Artists, SCOTT, WARREN, GREIG, TOOKEY, DAVENPORT, HANSON, and WEBB, from Paintings by REINAGLE,CLEN,NELL, ELMER, and BARRENGER ; the remainder cut on Wood, by CLENNELL, THOMPSON, AUSTIN, and BEVVJCK. The author's object 'has been, to present, in as compressed a form as real utility would admit, Instructions in all the various Field Sports in Modern Practice- thereby forming a Book of General Reference on the subject, and including in one volume, what could not otherwise be obtained without purchasing many and expensive ones. — In demy 8vo. Price II. 18s. or, in royal 8vo. 3/. 3s. boards. « It gives us pleasure to observe the respectability of the Work entitled * British Field Sports.' In this kingdom, the Sports of the Field are highly characteristic and interesting: as gentlemanly diversions they have been pursued with an avidity as keen, and a taste as universal, as the relish of Nature's beauties: a corresponding value is set on them, and an appropriate polish is added by time and practice : the various minutiae in the knowledge of whic1! and the technical distribution of this knowledge, together with Facts, Instructions, and Anecdotes, form the basis of this valuable publication." — Fanners' Journal Laporte's Horse. THE CONFORMATION AND PROPORTIONS OF A HORSE, with the Terms generally made use of to denote his various Parts, engraved from an Original Painting of G. H. LAPUR:E, Esq. size 10 Inches by 8. Price Is. Gd. accurately coloured. Johnson on Hunting. THE HUNTING DIRECTORY; containing a compendious View of the Ancient and Modern Systems of the Chase ; the Method of Breeding and Managing the various kinds ot Hounds, particularly Fox- hounds; their Diseases, with a certain Cure for the Distemper. The pursuit of the Fox, the Hare, the Stag, &c. The nature of Scent consi- dered and elucidated. Also, Notices of the Wolf and Boar Hunting in France; with a variety of illustrative observations. By T. B. JOHNSON, Author of the Shooters Companion. Printed in 8vo. price 9s. boards. A 2 Practical and Useful Books published by JOHNSON'S SHOOTER'S ANNUAL PRESENT. Just Publinlied, THIRD EDITION, rery considerably Improved, and Illus- trated with numerous Cuts. Price 9s. bound in Cloth. THE SHOOTER'S COMPANION; or, a Description of POINTERS and SETTERS, &c. as well as of those Animals which constitute the Objects of Pursuit; of the BREEDING of POINTERS and SETTERS, the Diseases to which they are liable, and the Modes of Cure. TRAINING Docs for Ihe GDN. Of Scent, and the Reason why one Dog's Sense of Smell is superior to another'.*. The FOWLING PIT.CP. fully considered, particularly as it relates to the us- of Percussion Powder. Of Percus- sion Powder, and the best Method of making it. Of Gunpowder. Sliooting Illustrated; and the ART OF SHOOTING FLYING or RUNNING, sim- plified and clearly laid down. Of WILD FOWL and FEN SHOOTING; as well as every information connected with the use of the Fowling Piece. The Game Laws familiarly explained and illustrated. By T. B. JOHNSON. " This is a well-written and well-arranged production; containing much interesting information, not only to the professed sportsman, but to those who may occasionally seek this fascinating recreation. It is not the production of any ordinary sportsman, but of one who can enjoy the plea- sures of the library as well as those of the field." — Literary Chronicle. •« We now take leave of the work, recommending it, in comparison with most others on the same subject, as luminous to a degree; and re- flecting on the talents, experience, and feeling of the author, the highest credit." — Sporting Magazine. Elaine on the Diseases of Dogs. CANINE PATHOLOGY; or, a Description of the DIS- EASES of DOGS, Nosologically Arranged, with their Causes, Symp- toms, and Curative Treatment; and a copious Detail of the RABID MA- I.ADY : preceded by a Sketch of the NATURAL HISTORY of the DOG, his Varieties and Qualities; with practical Directions on the Breeding, Rearing, and salutary Treatment of these Animals. Third Edition, Re- vised, Corrected, and Improved. Price 9*. boards. By DELAEERE BLAINE. Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper. Stevenson's Cattle Doctor. THE SPORTSMAN'S, FARMER'S, AND CATTLE- DOCTOR'S VADE MECUM, containing Practical Hints and Receipts for preventing and curing the most prevalent Diseases of BLACK OR NEAT CATTLE, SHEEP, DOGS, HORSES, PIGS, &c. with a very copious List of the most valuable Veterinary Medicines and the manner of preparing them for Animals of every Description. By JOHN STE- VENSON, Esq. Price 5*. Lawrence on Live Stock. A GENERAL TREATISE ON CATTLE— THE OX, SHEEP, AND SWINE; comprehending their Breeding, Management, Improvement, and Diseases; with Remedies for Cure. By JOHN LAW- ' RENCE, Author of the " New Farmer's Calendar." Second Edition. In one large vol. 8vo price 12s. boards. " If the Author had not already recommended himself to the Public by his * New Farmer's Calendar,' and other works, the judicious obser- vations and useful hints here offered would place him in the list of those rural counsellors who are capable of giving advice, and to whose opinion some deference is due. His sentiments on general subjects expand be- yond the narrow boundaries of vulgar prejudice; and his good sense is forcibly recommended to us by its acting in concert with a humane dis- position."— Monthly Review. Mr. James White, in his work on Veterinary Medicine, says, Mr. Lawrence's General Treatise on Cattle, the Ox, the Sheep, and the Swine," ought to be in every one's hands, who is interested in the subject. LAWRENCE'S PHILOSOPHICAL AND PRACTICAL TREATISE ON HORSES; comprehending the Choice, Management, Purchase and Sale of every Description of the Horse, the Improved Method of Shoeing, Medical Prescriptions, and Surgical Treatment in all known Diseases. Third Edition; with large Additions on the Breeding and Improvement of the Horse, the Dangers 'of our present Travelling System, &c. In 2 vol. price £1:1:0, boards. By the same Author, 1 THE NEW FARMER'S CALENDAR; or, MONTHLY REMEMBRANCER OF ALL RINDS OF COUNTRY BUSINESS. Fifth Edition, with Additions. In 1 vol. large 8vo. price 12s. boards. 2. THE MODERN LAND STEWARD; in which the Duties and Functions of Stewardship are considered and explained, with its several Relations to the Interest of the. Landlord, Tenant, and the Public. In 1 vol. price 10s. 6d. boards. HINTS TO DAIRY FARMERS; being an Account of the Food and extraordinary Produce of a Cow ; with economical and easy Rules for rearing Calves. By W. CRAMP. Second Edition. Price 2s. THE GRAZIER'S READY RECKONER; or, A USE- FUL GUIDE FOR BUYING AND SELLING CATTLE; being a complete Set of Tables, distinctly pointing out the Weight oi Black Cat- tle, Sheep, and Swine, from Three to One Hundred and Thirty Stones, by' Measurement ; with Directions showing the particular Parts where the Cattle are to be measured. By GEORGE RENTON, Farmer. Eighth Edition, corrected. Price 2s. Gd. Practical and Useful Books published by SCOTT'S DELINEATIONS OF THE HORSE AND DOG. Beautifully printed in 4to. embellished with l-'orty highly -finished Copper- Plate Engravings, and numerous Wood-Cuts, Part I. and II. price 5$. each, of THE SPORTSMAN'S REPOSITORY, comprising a Series of highly-finished Engravings, representing the Horse and the Dog, in all their Varieties, accompanied with a Comprehensive Historical and Syste- matic Description of the different Species of each, their appropriate uses, Management, Improvement, &c ; interspers d with interesting Anec- dotes of the most celebrated Horses and Dogs, and their owners; like- wise a great Variety of Practical Information on Training, and the Amusements of the Field. By the Author of " British Field-Sports." It would be ditiicult to imagine any selection from the great storehouse of Nature more likely to merit general attention, or to excite general interest, than the one to which we now invite Public Notice. Of all the animals in Creation, (with the exception of those which minister to our carnivorous appetites,) it would be impossible to name two which are so intimately associated with our wants, our pleasures, and our at- tachments, as the HORSE and the DOG. To the former we are indebted for the power of transporting ourselves from place to place, with speed and comfort, and for the means of participating in the manly and health- ful Sports of the Field ; while the labours of Agriculture, and the pur- suits of Commerce, are no less indebted to it for increased activity and productiveness. But it is not on this ground alone that it aspires to patronage. It takes a wider range, and, by including in its design, the history, the quali- ties, and the different breeds of the Doc — that half-reasoning friend and companion of man — it enlarges its cla.ms to general reception. Who is there that has not, at some period of his life, acknowledged the influence of an attachment between himself and his dog ? Who is there thai does not recognize in this faithful, vigilant, sagacious, humble, and silent friend, the possessor of qualities, which are not always to be found in the human and more talkative friend ? It is only necessary furthec to observe, that the literary execution and graphic embellishment of this work a«e not unworthy of the subjects delineated. With respect to the latter, the Proprietors confidently Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper. anticipate that the names of the Artists employed are a sufficient guaran- tee ; while the former is the production of an experienced Sportsman. The following are the Subjects of the Plates which embellish the Sportsman's Repository : — Horses. 1. — GODOLPHIN ARABIAN, the Property of Lord Godolphin. 2. — ARABIAN, the Property of the Right Hon. Henry Wellesley. 3. — ECLIPSE and SHAKSPKARE, two celebrated Racers. 4. — KING HEROD and FLYING CHILDERS, the Property of the Duke of Devonshire. 5.— STALLION, Jupiter, the Property of Lieut.-Col. Thornton. 6. — CHARGER, the Property of Major-General Warde. 7. — HUNTER, Duncombe, the Property of George Treacher, Esq. 8. — RACEK, Eleanor, the Property of Sir Charles Banbury, Bart. 9. — HACKNEY, Roan Billy. 10. — COACH-HORSE, the Property of Henry Villebois, Esq. 11. — CART-HORSE, Dumpling, the Property of Messrs. Home and Devey. 12. — PONIES, Shetland, Forester, and Welsh, the Property of Jacob Wardell, Esq. 13.— A MULE, the Property of Lord Holland — and an Ass. Dogs. 11. Greyhound. 12. Irish Greyhound. 13. Italian Greyhound. 14. Blood Hound. 15. Southern Hound. 10. Beagles. 17. Harrier. 18. Terriers. 19. Lurcher. 20. Water Dog. 21. Bull Dog. The Work complete comprehends Ten Parts, price 5s. each : or with Proof Impressions of the Plates on India Paper, price Is. 6 riety from their Achievements on the Turf, at the Table, and in the Diversions of the Field ; the whole forming a complete Delineation of the Sporting World. By FIERCE EG AN. New Edition, with coloured Plates and Illustrations, price 12*. in boards. THE SPORTSMAN'S PROGRESS; a Poem; Descriptive of the Pleasures derived from Field Sports. Illustrated with Thirteen appropriate Cuts. Price Is. THE ANGLER; a Poem, in Ten Cantos; comprising Proper Instructions in the Art, with Rules to choose Fishing-rods, Lines, Hooks, Floats, Baits, and to make Artificial Flies, Receipts for Pastes, &c. By T. P. LATHY, ESQ. With upwards of Twenty Wood-cuts. Price 8f»i boards. SONGS OF THECHACE; or, SPORTSMAN'S VOCAL LIBRARY ; containing nearly Four Hundred of the best Songs relating to Racing, Shooting, Angling, Hawking, Archery, &c. Handsoim ly printed in foolscap Mvo. with appropriate Embellishments. Second Edi- tion. Price 9*. boards. Dobson on Training the Spaniel or Pointer. KUNOP/EDIA ; being a Practical Essay on the Breaking and Training the English Spaniel or Pointer. To which are added. Instruc- tions for attaining the Art of Shooting Flying ; more immediately ad- dressed to young Sportsmen, but designed also to supply the best means of correcting the errors of some older ones. By the lute W. DOBSON, Esq. of Eden-Hall, Cumberland. In One Volume, 8vo. Price 12*. boards. Curtis on Grasses. PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE BRITISH GRASSES, especially such as are best adapted to the laying down or improving of Meadows and Pastures : likewise an Enumeration of the British Grasses. By WILLIAM CURTIS, Author of the •' Flora Londi- nensis," &c. Sixth Edition, with considerable Additions. In 8vo. illus- trated with coloured Plates. Price 95. in boards. Sktllett's complete Cow-Doctor. A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE BREEDING COW, AND EXTRACTION OF THE CALF, BEFORE AND AT THE TIME OF CALVING ; in which the question of difficult Parturition is considered in all its bearings, with reference to facts and experience; in- cluding Observations on the Disease of Neat Cattle generally. Contain- ing profitable Instructions to the Breeding Farmer, Cowkeeper, and Grazier, for attending to their own Cattle during Illness, according to the most approved modern Methods of Treatment, and the Application of long known and skilful Prescriptions and Remedies for every Disorder incident to Horned Cattle. The whole adapted to the present improved stute of Veterinary Practice. Illustrated with Thirteen highly-finished Engravings. By EDWARD SKELLETT, Professor of that part of the Vete- rinary Art Price 18*. plain, £1:7:0 coloured. " We have now before us a work which will be found a very useful addition to the Farmers' Library ; it is communicated in a plain and fami- liar style, and is evidently the result of long experience and observation, made by a practical man ; every person connected with Live Stock should be acquainted with its contents, but to the Veterinary Practitioner it is invaluable." — Farmers' Journal. Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper. A Complete Farm-House Library. In Two large Volumes, in Quarto, price Four Guineas in Boards, illustrated trith upwards of One Hundred Engravings, (Thirty of which are coloured from Nature,) representing improved Implements, the various Grasses, and the principal Breeds of Sheep and Cattle, from Original Drawings, A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF PRACTICAL AGRICUL- TURE ; including all the Modern Improvements and Discoveries, and the Result of all the Attention and Inquiry which have been bestowed on this important Science during the last Fifty years : the whole com- bining and explaining, fully and completely, the PRINCIPLES and PRAC- TICK of MODERN HUSBANDRY, in all its Branches and Relations. By R. W. DICKSON, M.D. Honorary Member of the Board of Agriculture c. &c. This Work includes the best Methods of Planting Timber of every De- scription, and the improved Management of Live Stock, with a Description of Implements and Buildings; the Theory of Soils and Manures; the [>est Methods of Inclosing, Embanking, Roud-making, Draining, Fallow- ing Irrigating, Paring, and Burning; the improved Cultivation of Arable Lands, and of all kinds ol Grain, artificial Grasses, &c. ; presenting the most useful and comprehensive Body of Practical information ever offered to the Public on the interesting Science of Agriculture. Extracted and abridged from the above Work, by the same Author, in royal Hvo. THE FARMER'S COMPANION, being a Complete Sys- tem of Modern Husbandry : including the latest Improvements and Discoveries, in Theory and Practice. The leading feature of excellence by which this Work is distinguished, is that minuteness of practical detail, which renders it singularly adapted to the purposes of Agriculture. The whole scope of its contents has a constant and immediate connexion with the daily pursuits of the Farmer, the Implements of Husbandry he employs, the Modes of Agri- culture he adopts, and the System of Pasture and Feeding he pursues. These multifarious topics are all treated with simplicity and clearness ; jo that the Work presents an ample, but distinct display of every subject connected with the practical objects of a Farm. It is illustrated with upwards of One Hundred Engravings, representing improved Implements or Farming, various Breeds of Cattle, Sheep, &c. Price 11. IGs. boards. Sir John Sinclair on Agriculture. THE CODE OF AGRICULTURE ; including Observations on Gardens, Orchards, Woods, and Plantations. By the Right Hon. Sir JOHN SINCLAIR, Bart. Fourth Edition, in one large vol. 8vo. price II. in boards. This Edition is considerably improved by a number of valuable Kemarks, communicated to the Author by some of the most in- telligent Farmers in England and Scotland. The Subjects particularly considered, are 1. The Preliminary Points which a Farmer ought to ascertain, before he undertakes to occupy any extent of Land. 2. The Means of Cultivation which are essential to ensure its success. 3. The various Modes of improving Land. 4. The various Modes of occupying Land. 5. The Means of improving a-Country. Books published by Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper. MOUBRAY ON POULTRY, PIGS, AND CO\\ & A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON BREEDING. REARING! AND FATTENING ALL KINDS OF DOMESTIC POULTin , PHEASANTS, PIGEONS, AND RABBITS; including, also, an in- foresting Account of the Egyptian Method of Hatching Eggs by Artificial Heat, with some Modern Experiments thereon ; also, on Breeding, Feed- ing, and Managing Swine, Milch Cows, and Bees. By BONINGTON MOUBRAY, Esq. A New Edition, being the Sixth, enlarged by a TREATISE on BREWING, making CIDER, BUTTER, and CHEESE, adapted to the Use of Private Families. Price 7«. (id. in boards. %• " Mr. Moubray's little book on the breeding, rearing, and fattening all kinds of domestic poultry and pigs, is unquestionably the most practical work on the subject in our language. The author's aim seems to have been to avoid scientific detail, and to convey his information in plain and intelligible terms. The convenience of a small poultry -yard— two or three pigs, with a breeding sow — and a cow for cream, milk, butter, and cheese — in an English country-house, appears indispensable ; and to point out how these may be obtained, at a reasonable expense, seems to have been Mr. Moubray's object. By adopting the plan of his work, any family may furnish their table with these luxuries at one-third of the price they are obliged to pay at the markets ; and the farmer and breeder may render it the source of considerable profit" — Former'* Journal. Bucknall on Fruit-Trees, and the Husbandry of Orchards. THE ORCHARDIST; or, A SYSTEM OF CLOSE PRUNING AND MEDICATION FOR ESTABLISHING THE SCIENCE OF ORCHARDING; containing full Instructions as 4o Manure, preventing Blight, Caterpillars, and Cure Canker, as patro- nized by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. By the late T. S. D. BUCKNALL, Esq. M.P. In 8vo. price1 5«. boards. %• 1 his Work obtained for the Author the Prize Medal and Thanks of the above Society. Only tery few capita remain on hand. 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 18Jan'60C7 < -• ; General Library 09952