POULTRY. 575 



Health, as well as other considerations, should be sufficient reasons why all poultry should 

 be carefully drawn as soon as practicable after removing the feathers. In so doing, the 

 opening should be made as small as possible, that the fowl may not look torn or mangled, 

 and the heart, liver, and gizzard placed inside each fowl. In some markets the heads are 

 left on, but we see no advantage in this. Hang the poultry up until quite cold and stiff, 

 but never, under any circumstances, permit it to freeze. Hard freezing produces discolora 

 tion in the meat, and will depreciate the price in market. 



Packing and Shipping for Market. Having been well prepared for market by 

 being carefully picked, the heads cut off and the skin drawn over the stump and neatly tied, 

 or when preferred, as is the custom in some localities, the head maybe left on the 

 poultry should never be packed for shipment until perfectly cold; in fact, the nearer the 

 freezing point, without being frozen, the better. The flesh should never be cut or bruised, 

 or the bones broken. Clean boxes, free from dust, are better for packing poultry than 

 barrels, as they are not so liable to become twisted out of shape in these as in the latter. 

 Packages containing two hundred pounds are sufficiently heavy. &quot;When packing a variety of 

 poultry, it is best to put different kinds of fowls into different packages, the kind being dis 

 tinctly marked on the cover. 



Clean rye or oat straw, free from dust and quite dry, is the best material for packing. This 

 should be put af the top and bottom of each box, also at the sides and between the layers of 

 poultry. In packing, the bird should be laid breast down, with the legs out straight, the head 

 bent under and to one side of the breast bone. Lay a row of fowls across the box from left 

 to right, packing close, row by row, until the place for only one row is left; then reverse the 

 heads, lay them nearest the other end of the box, putting the feet under the previous row of 

 heads. Fill all the interstices with straw to prevent shifting; also pack straw enough over 

 each layer of fowls so that they cannot touch each other, and so proceed until the box is 

 filled. 



Straw should be liberally used at the top and bottom of each package, also at the sides 

 and between the layers. There should never be any shaking about, or the birds will become 

 bruised. The box should be firmly nailed, with, the number of fowls and variety plainly 

 marked upon it, also the name of the shipper, and the person to whom it is consigned, with 

 the full name, street, and number. The receiver will therefore be more liable to get it 

 promptly, and it will be known by a glance what the box contains without unpacking to find out. 



Preserving Eggs. Eggs that are packed in salt, in layers, with the large end down, 

 so as not to touch each other, if put in a cool, dry cellar, will keep fresh from six to eight 

 months, and can scarcely be distinguished from fresh eggs. Another method which is pre 

 ferred by some is to add half a peck of new lime to four gallons of boiling water, stirring 

 it well until the lime is dissolved ; when cold, strain it through a course sieve to remove any 

 hard lumps; add ten ounces of salt, and three ounces of cream of tartar, and mix the whole 

 thoroughly. Let the mixture stand two weeks before using. The eggs for packing should 

 every one be perfectly fresh. Pack them as closely as possible in a jar or tub, and keep 

 them constantly covered in the pickle. It is said that eggs may be kept fresh by this means 

 from one to two years. A writer in the English Mechanic gives the following method of pre 

 serving eggs: 



&quot; I have preserved eggs so perfectly that, after a lapse of six months, they were mistaken, 

 when brought to the table, for fresh-laid eggs, and I believe they would have kept equally 

 good for twelve months. My mode of preservation was to varnish the eggs as soon after 

 they are laid as possible with a thin copal varnish, taking care that the whole of the shell was 

 covered with the varnish. I subsequently found that by painting the eggs with fresh albu 

 men, beaten up with a little salt, they were preserved equally well and for as long a period. 



