172 PROGRESSIVE POULTRY CULTURE 



the thumb and index finger, the tongue is held down by 

 the finger, the end of the tube is inserted and passed 

 down the throat, which should be held straight. The 

 right hand of the operator guides the end of the tube 

 safely by the entrance to the wind pipe and prevents the 

 tube passing too far into the crop. Pressing lightly wii^i 

 the foot on the lever forces the paste into the crop until 

 it is full. The bird is then returned to the coop. The 

 feeder should have an assistant to take the chickens, one 

 by one, from the fattening coop, hand them to the oper- 

 ator and take away the chickens as fast as crammed. 



IMPROVEMENT IN SELLING. 



On farms where fowls are endured rather than en- 

 couraged, very primitive ways of preparing and dispos- 

 ing of the poultry products have sometimes bee,n prac- 

 ticed. 



The eggs were gathered when someone happened to 

 think it time or when the cackling of a hen suggested 

 that the search for eggs would be rewarded. Fresh eggs, 

 old eggs, clean eggs, dirty eggs, partially incubated eggs 

 a miscellaneous collection were put in a box or 

 basket and taken on the next trip to the village grocery. 



Naturally, not a very high price was obtained for 

 such eggs and perhaps the goods taken in exchange, es- 

 pecially in the days before the food laws were in opera- 

 tion, corresponded quite closely in value to the hetero- 

 geneous eggs. 



The chickens raised at random were caught before 

 the holidays, the pullets reserved and the cockerels put 

 in heavy crates or unwieldy boxes, and carted alive to 

 a market and "sold for what they would fetch." 



In some localities there was an improvement on this 

 plan because hucksters came to the farm, bought the 

 chickens at intervals and took them away, but the prices 

 realized did not point to the profitableness of poultry 

 production. 



On many farms where these careless, neglectful, 

 wasteful ways once prevailed there are now much better 

 methods in vogue. 



