SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by ALICE HALL "WALTER 



Address all communications relative to the work of this depart- 

 ment to the Editor, 67 Oriole Avenue, Providence, R. I. 



CONSERVATION MEASURES 



While the attention of the nation is centered upon ways of conserving all 

 available food and economic products, it is a fitting time for Audubon Societies 

 to consider the ultimate uses to which birds are put, and especially, dead birds. 



In the preceding issue increased production of poultry and game was 

 urged with a view to supplying more families with fresh, palatable meat and 

 to improving present market conditions. No account was taken, however, 

 of what might be called the by-products of dressed poultry and game, namely, 

 feathers, and in the instance of poultry which is not put into cold storage, 

 feet, heads and entrails. 



If the estimate of a practical poultryman is approximately correct, there 

 are about eight thousand feathers on every fowl. For commercial purposes 

 these feathers are divided into two classes — quills and feathers. The first, so 

 far as the writer knows, are of no use as the trade is now managed, except to 

 make artificial flowers or to be used as quills for miUinery purposes, and since 

 quills from larger birds than fowl and game are in greater demand, poultry- 

 men are quite as apt to throw away wings and burn them on a dump-heap as 

 to waste time trying to save them. On poultry-farms where only a thousand 

 fowls are kept, this waste is considerable, while in larger establishments the loss 

 would annually net an appreciable sum of money. 



There may be several ways of utilizing wings or 'quills' (which include, 

 of course, tail-feathers), but the most apparent one is the following easy 

 method. Recalling the homely inventions of our grandmothers, everyone who 

 can think back two generations must have seen or heard of the familiar 'wing' 

 used about the store, hearth or house in general for dusting and brushing pur- 

 poses. To this day a good wing, that is one which has been properly cured and 

 handled, is quite, if not more, desirable than a cheap bristle brush, since the 

 latter wears rapidly and unevenly, and is becoming more and more expensive 

 along with brooms. 



To make a wing usable and durable for household purposes, it should be 

 dried a short time and then neatly bound at the cut end with a piece of cloth 

 tightly sewed about it. A loop or small brass ring attached to the cloth handle, 

 by which it may be hung up, completes the simple process unless one takes pains 

 to disinfect the feathers. The wings of Turkeys and Geese are larger and more 



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