254 PROFITS IN POULTKY. 



loss. For fattening fowls, the following arrangement 

 will be found effective: A long, low box (a shoe box, 

 laid upon its side, answers very well), is lathed up and 

 down in the front, leaving an opening all along the 

 front, a bar being fitted across the box, three inches 

 above the bottom. This bottom opening is to clean out 

 the box with a scraper, once every day; after which dry 

 earth is thrown in. This box will hold six fowls, and a 

 feeding trough, and a water can should be fitted in front. 

 A number of boxes may be tiered one over the other, 

 and when the fowls have fed, the front should be cov- 

 ered and darkened by hanging bagging over it. This 

 will keep the fowls quiet. Two weeks of this treatment 

 will fatten them. The finest flesh is made by feeding 

 corn-meal and boiled potatoes, mixed with skimmed 

 milk, quite thick, and four feeds a day should be given. 

 Fowls are best slaughtered and dressed as follows: A 

 barrel is provided, with a number of nails driven in 

 around the open edge. A number of loops of twine, 

 about six inches long, are also provided. The bird is 

 fastened by noosing the loop around the legs, and is 

 hung in the barrel, head downwards. The head is then 

 taken in the left hand, and a sharp pointed knife is 

 pushed through the throat, close to the vertebra, and 

 drawn forward so as to cut the throat clear through, by 

 which sensation is at once arrested, and the fowl bleeds 

 to death rapidly and painlessly. Being confined in the 

 barrel, the splashing from the fluttering is avoided, and 

 everything is done in a cleanly and easy manner. Dry 

 picking is preferred by the marketmen, but the extra 

 price will hardly pay for the trouble over the scalding 

 of the fowls, and the easier picking in that way. To 

 scald a fowl, take a pail three-quarters full of boiling 

 water, and plunge the bird into it, drawing it up and 

 down a few times. Keep the water up to the scalding 

 heat by adding a quart of boiling water occasionally. 



