In cramming, the attendant has the buckwheat pellets at hand with a bowl of clear water; she takes the first fowl from its cage gently and carefully, not by the wings or the legs, but with both hands under the breast; she then seats herself with the fowl upon her knees, putting its tail under her left arm, by which she supports it; the left hand then opens its mouth (a little practice makes it very easy), and the right hand takes up a pellet, dips it in the water, shakes it on its way to the open mouth, puts it straight down and carefully crams it with the forefinger well into the gullet; when it is so far settled down that the fowl cannot eject it, she presses it down with the thumb and forefinger into the crop, taking care not to fracture the pellet. Other pellets follow the first, till the feeding is finished in less time than one would imagine. It sometimes happens in cramming that the windpipe is pressed together with the gullet; this causes the fowl to cough, but it is not of any serious consequence, and with a little care is easily avoided. The fowl when fed is again held with both hands under its breast, and replaced in its cage without fluttering; and so on with each fowl. The chickens have 2 meals in 24 hours, 12 hours apart, provided with the utmost punctuality. If they have to wait, they become uneasy; if fed too soon, they suffer from indigestion, and in either case lose weight. On the first day of cramming only a few pellets are given; the allowance being gradually increased till it reaches 12-15 pellets. The crop may be filled, but before the next meal the last must have passed out of the crop, which is easily ascertained by gentle handling. If there be any food in it, digestion has not gone on properly; the fowl must then miss a meal, have a little water or milk given it, and a smaller allowance next time; if too much food be forced upon the animal at first, it will get out of health and have to be set at liberty.

The fattening process ought to be complete in 2-3 weeks, but for extra fat poultry 25-26 days are required; with good management you may go on for 30 days; after this the creature may become choked with accumulated fat, waste away and die.

The fowls are killed instantaneously by piercing the brain with a sharp knife thrust through the back of the roof of the mouth.

After plucking and trussing, the chicken is bandaged, until cold, to mould its form; and if the weather is warm it is plunged for a short time into very cold water. A fowl takes usually rather more than a peck of buckwheat to fatten it. The fat of fowls so managed is of a dull white colour, and their flesh is covered with a transparent, delicate skin. Plucking should be done instantly the fowl is dead, as the feathers then come off with the greatest ease, and the skin is not liable to be torn. (W. B. Tegetmeier.)

Packing Eggs.—Packing in newspaper is found to be the best for the inside protection, and a wooden box better than anything for holding the eggs. Baskets and hampers are of no use at all; they are sure to get pressed in travelling, and cardboard boxes would be crushed directly. A wooden box, not necessarily of thick wood, resists all pressure, and the eggs are not likely to suffer from anything short of an actual fall if properly packed. Newspaper is best, and the Times best of all for packing them, the paper itself being so much stiffer than other newspapers. Tear the paper into pieces about 8-10 in. square; slightly crumple it in the hand in wrapping a piece round each egg, so as to show a rough surface; on no account rub it or make it soft, as it is the stiffness which gives support, and prevents the eggs getting too close together; they must neither be very near each other, nor to the sides or bottom of the box. Put a good layer of the crumpled paper at the bottom, then the eggs one at a time, each in its own crumpled wrapper; they must be so arranged as to fit closely and firmly together, the paper giving enough pressure to keep them firm; there must be no spaces; every corner must be filled with the crumpled paper, of which there must also be a good covering before closing the box.

Ducks

Ducks.—With regard to the variety that should be kept, two circumstances have to be considered. If large size, early maturity, and white appearance for the market are required, the Aylesbury will be found pre-eminent. If, on the other hand, small size with a strongly pronounced suspicion of wild duck is required, then choose a smaller variety, as the small black, called with equal inaccuracy East Indian, Buenos Ayres, and Labrador, or, still better, the tame-bred wild, or a cross between the two; but for family use Aylesburies must be relied on.

The great error in the usual management of ducks is not bringing them to rapid maturity. A duck should be so fed as to be large enough to kill under 10 weeks old. If it is allowed to live longer, it begins to moult, and consequently is not so good in flavour, and the nourishment given to it goes to form feathers, and not to increase its weight. It is obvious that if one duck can be made ready for the market in 2 months, it must yield a larger profit than another that is not fit for use till it is 4 or 6.

Ducks should be always shut up during the night, as they generally lay at that time, and, if allowed to be at large, drop their eggs in the water, where they sink and are lost. As early as possible in the season they should be set under large hens. A good-sized Cochin, Brahma, or Dorking will cover 12 or 13. The hens should not be set in the crowded, vermin-infested nest places that are usually seen in fowl-houses, but on the ground or in a circular basket or American cheese box, nearly filled with moist earth, and covered with a very little bruised straw, not hay; this earth should be kept moist during the whole time of setting, so as to imitate the conditions of the nest in a state of nature.

The young should be hatched on the twenty-eighth day, that is, the same day of the week one month after they are placed under the hen.