This should be in ten Aveeks at most. The best jdan for fattening is the French country jilan. Give the birds as much rice and milk, boiled to a stiff paste and mixed Avith a little Indian corn meal, as they can jAossibly eat. Do not coop them, but reduce their run. In ten days they should be quite fit for table. If necessary, fatten still more Avith Indian corn meal boiled to a jiaste with kitchen grease or SAveet oil✪ Fattening Plan for Chickens, and made into jAellets, Avith which the birds must be fed. About six hens should be alloAved to each cock if rearing is to be carried on ; but if the produc- tion of eggs is the object, the feAver cocks the better. Ducks. — The best breed for India is the Rouen, as the young birds are very hardy. Indian sweepers will insist on feeding ducklings Avith a feather, on a mess of ground dal (lentils), garlic, and water. It is not in the least necessary. If you have a foster-mother, ducklings, chickens, and young turkeys Avill all thrive together on the same food, so long as there be j^Rnty of green stuff and plenty of variety. The Avriter has seen young Rouen ducklings, three weeks old, Avhich already reminded her irresistibly of green jAeas. This Avas the result of a foster-mother, no Avater to splash in, and plenty of drij food. The old ducks, hoAvever, rejoice in a slightly different diet. The daily ration should be increased to three ounces by the addition of bran, and the Avhole 122 The Complete Indian should be made liquid by skim milk or water. Wheat need not be given, a feed of split gram .soaked being substituted tor It. Ducks in India are peculiarly liable to rheumatism, and, as tiiey do not really require water, it is best only to allow them an occasional swim, and even then to limit the time. Rouen, Pekin, and Aylesbury ducklings, if kept dry and fed on barley meal mixed with Indian corn meal, will be quite fit to eat at six weeks old. They never require fattening, as a duck will eat till it cannot stand; so will young Houdan chickens. The writer has seen them huddled up almost unconscious, simjily from having gorged themselves. Young ducklings often suffer from a mysterious inability to stand on their legs ; they topple over backwards, and lie sprawling on their backs. An incredible but nevertheless practically effective remedy is to cut their tail feathers to the quick with a pair of scissors. It sounds useless, but the writer’s piactical experience has proved that in most cases it is a cure. Imkcijs are very easy to rear in India, at any rate in Northern India, owing to the dryness of the climate. The chicks, which at home require the utmost care, thrive splen- didly, and seem as hardy as ordinary fowls. One great advantage of the foster-mother is that the young turkeys can be brought up with chickens, who by their superior liveliness seem to brisk up their companions and incite them to eat. One great secret of success is the giving of fresh sweet milk curds, made by coagulating the milk with alum. With this and a plentiful supply of chopped green food, notably cress, thei’e is no difficulty in rearing turkey chicks. Ihey will shoot the red, and jiass through the fledging without any drooping, or necessity for jieppercorns. Turkey chicks love warmth, and will stand being hatched out later on in the season than either fowls or ducks.

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This should be in ten Aveeks at most. The best jdan for fattening is the French country jilan. Give the birds as much rice and milk, boiled to a stiff paste and mixed Avith a little Indian corn meal, as they can jAossibly eat. Do not coop them, but reduce their run. In ten days they should be quite fit for table. If necessary, fatten still more Avith Indian corn meal boiled to a jiaste with kitchen grease or SAveet oil, and made into jAellets, Avith which the birds must be fed. About six hens should be alloAved to each cock if rearing is to be carried on ; but if the produc- tion of eggs is the object, the feAver cocks the better. Ducks. — The best breed for India is the Rouen, as the young birds are very hardy. Indian sweepers will insist on feeding ducklings Avith a feather, on a mess of ground dal (lentils), garlic, and water. It is not in the least necessary. If you have a foster-mother, ducklings, chickens, and young turkeys Avill all thrive together on the same food, so long as there be j^Rnty of green stuff and plenty of variety. The Avriter has seen young Rouen ducklings, three weeks old, Avhich already reminded her irresistibly of green jAeas. This Avas the result of a foster-mother, no Avater to splash in, and plenty of drij food. The old ducks, hoAvever, rejoice in a slightly different diet. The daily ration should be increased to three ounces by the addition of bran, and the Avhole 122 The Complete Indian should be made liquid by skim milk or water. Wheat need not be given, a feed of split gram .soaked being substituted tor It. Ducks in India are peculiarly liable to rheumatism, and, as tiiey do not really require water, it is best only to allow them an occasional swim, and even then to limit the time. Rouen, Pekin, and Aylesbury ducklings, if kept dry and fed on barley meal mixed with Indian corn meal, will be quite fit to eat at six weeks old. They never require fattening, as a duck will eat till it cannot stand; so will young Houdan chickens. The writer has seen them huddled up almost unconscious, simjily from having gorged themselves. Young ducklings often suffer from a mysterious inability to stand on their legs ; they topple over backwards, and lie sprawling on their backs. An incredible but nevertheless practically effective remedy is to cut their tail feathers to the quick with a pair of scissors. It sounds useless, but the writer’s piactical experience has proved that in most cases it is a cure. Imkcijs are very easy to rear in India, at any rate in Northern India, owing to the dryness of the climate. The chicks, which at home require the utmost care, thrive splen- didly, and seem as hardy as ordinary fowls. One great advantage of the foster-mother is that the young turkeys can be brought up with chickens, who by their superior liveliness seem to brisk up their companions and incite them to eat. One great secret of success is the giving of fresh sweet milk curds, made by coagulating the milk with alum. With this and a plentiful supply of chopped green food, notably cress, thei’e is no difficulty in rearing turkey chicks. Ihey will shoot the red, and jiass through the fledging without any drooping, or necessity for jieppercorns. Turkey chicks love warmth, and will stand being hatched out later on in the season than either fowls or ducks.

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