The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1871-12-23
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
To Fatten Poultry.

Good corn meal, given alternately
raw, and cooked as thick mush, is the
best food for fattening fowls. Oatmeal.
skinned milk, boiled potatoes, sugar,
suet, and other things are sometimes
recommended, but the first two do not
particularly promote fattening, potatoes
are too loosening to the bowels to form
a chief part of the diet, sugar is too
dear, though used considerably for the
purpose in England, and suet is not
cheap enough either, unless of poor
quality, in which case the flavor of the
flesh is impaired In this land of corn
we need not be at a loss in selecting
feed. 1t contains more fat-producing
material than any other kind of grain.
Hens are more fond of it than any other,
and Of course their appetites are to be
consulted, since we wish to coax them
to eat as much as possible. TO aid
digestion, and thus help the fattening
process indirectly, give occasionally
meat and vegetables in small quantities
if the fowls are confined. Corn, wheat,
and other grains in the kernel are much
rclished by way of variety. If we were
to add anything to the above bill of
fare to produce fat it would be little
first quality of lard mixed with the meal
towards the last. 1t needs not much
change in order to be transferred to the
stores of fat in the animals body, and
it will be eaten with avidity after appo
tite for the ordinary rations flags, for
fowls are always greedy for animal
food.
In some cases it may be best to shut
up fowls in such small apartments that
they can hardly stir, for exercise and
rapid fattening are antagOnistic, but
unless a very great amount of fat is
| desired, it is not necessary to do so.-
Good, healthy fowls, fed regularly, often
and plentifully, will become fat enough
without confinement, and for ourselves
we prefer them to those that have been
shut up. AS q matter of economy it is
well enough to coop fattening fowls, in
order to add as much to their weight as
possible by means of a certain quantity
of feed.
Chickens half or two-thirds grown
must not be expected to become deci-
| dedly fat under any system Of feeding,
though we would except the Brahmas
and others of the Asiatic class. We
hear about fat chickens oitener than we
see them, for they have tendency to
turn all that they digest into frame and
feathers. \ well fed chicken is, how
ever, much more palatable and juicy
than an i'll fed one
A friend of ours writes from Ohio
that hawks have taken nearly all his
chickens, and proved such a scourge
that he offered 81 per head for all shot,
! and says that all his neighbors about
are likewise troubled He inquiries for
method of trapping them. We know
of but one and that we learned from a
description awhile since given in the
AMERICAN AGRIcULTURIsT. Our way
of constructing the trap is as follows:
In piece of board laid Pathways on
the ground insert five pieces of wire in
a perpendicular position so that they
shall describe circle seven inches IN
diameter. In the centre of the circle
tie rather small chicken down by its
feet with stout Irvine passed through
ginlet holes in the board. The tops of
the wires should be four inches higher
than the back of the chicken, and must
be sharpened to very keen points. Place
your trap, of course, far enough off from
the other chickens so that the marauder
won't take the wrong one. The board
should have covering Of dirt so as not
to attract his attention, and for the same
reason the wires should lie painted the
exact color of the soil, and few fine
stalks of grass, with leaves dropping as
naturally as possible, must be made to
stand close to each wire. The MoDUs
opERANpI of this trap is so obvious as
to need no explanation.
STOCE IoIRNAJ