294 Farm Poultry 



quently placed on what is known as a "forming 

 machine," prepared for the purpose and weighted, 

 in order to make the bodies appear plump. The 

 legs are folded underneath the body, which gives 

 a plumper appearance. Before the fowls are 

 placed on the machine the breast bone is some- 

 times broken down, though not always. The 

 stern of the fowl is pressed firmly against a 

 smooth, hard object in order to give it a flattened 

 appearance. This appearance is still further in- 

 creased by the use of the machine on which the 

 fowls are placed. They are left on the shelves 

 until cool. Sometimes, however, they are sent to 

 a near-by market before the animal heat has left 

 the body. The English method of preparing 

 fowls for market has some advantages over that 

 in use in the United States. There is no doubt 

 that fowls will appear plumper when cooled 

 on a "forming machine," after the English fash- 

 ion, than when hung up by the feet to cool ac- 

 cording to the almost universal custom in America. 

 The "forming machine,"* see Fig. 92, is made 

 by arranging conveniently a series of shelves so 

 that each shelf has a backboard placed at nearly 

 a right angle to it. The shelves slope backward 

 somewhat, which keeps the fowls which are placed 

 upon them snugly in the angle formed by the shelf 

 and the backboard. The width of the shelf is 



Fattening Fowls," E. Cobb. 



