80 ANNUAL REPORTS OK DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the branches of the industry. No problem of gathering, killing, 

 chilling, shipping, holding, etc., is without meaning in this investi- 

 gation, and all the work done has been of value to the consumer and 

 lo the industry in the betterment of the product and in securing more 

 stable financial returns. Throughout the industry there is not only 

 the spirit of cooperation, but an effort to push the inquiries and ob- 

 tain information as rapidly as possible because of the growing ap- 

 preciation of the value and the necessity for work on the betterment 

 and conservation of perishable foodstuffs. The specific problems 

 attacked this year have included a comparison of the effects of " dry 

 packing " with water chilling and " ice packing," extensive field and 

 shipping experiments having been made from plants in Atchison, 

 Kans., and in Nashville, Tenn., to New York, with careful inspection 

 and laboratory examination from the killing until marketing is com- 

 pleted. The results obtained are of the utmost practical value, and in 

 the course of the work a mass of scientific data on the composition of 

 fresh chicken flesh and the bacterial and chemical changes in same 

 due to temperature have been obtained. The same data under condi- 

 tions of routine marketing have been determined. Other problems of 

 handling have included methods of killing and a comparison of the 

 rate of decomposition of drawn and undrawn poultry, based on ex- 

 perimental work and bacteriological and chemical examinations, while 

 some of the transportation and storage features of the problem have 

 been discussed. 



The practical results of the scientific work and the industrial ap- 

 plication of the same are given to the industry as promptly as the 

 facts become a certainty. Publication of the details of all the work 

 is made according to the class of readers to which it especially 

 applies. But the essential facts, which will help at once to get better 

 poultry to market, are given to individuals or organizations or in 

 answer to inquiries whenever they can be helpful, since this work is 

 essentially for immediate betterment all along the line. 



A demonstration of killing, picking, chilling, packing, and ship- 

 ping poultry and also of the details of candling and handling eggs 

 was given at the present field laboratory, which is in a packing house 

 at Nashville, Tenn. The interest manifested by the shippers, their 

 keen appreciation of what the work meant to them, and especially 

 of its value in the development of the poultry and egg industry in 

 Tennessee and Kentucky, was extremely encouraging. This demon- 

 stration was followed by an illustrated talk in New York, that the 

 receivers might know of practices prevailing in the producing sec- 

 tions and have a more definite knowledge of the reasons for the con- 

 dition of their poultry receipts. As a practical supplement to this 

 talk a shipment of poultry killed 1,000 miles from New York, dressed 

 in various ways and shipped under refrigeration, was exhibited in 



