574 PHYSIOLOGY AT THE FARM. 



being dressed ; but if not so soon used, it should hang in the 

 larder for three or four days in winter. An old fowl will be- 

 come the more tender on being kept for a week before being 

 used. The criterion of a fat hen when alive is a plump breast 

 and the rump feeling thick, fat, firm on being handled laterally 

 between the finger and thumb. The skin of the abdomen 

 should be thick and fat, and fat should be found under the 

 wings. White flesh is always preferable, though poulterers 

 insist that a yellow- skinned chicken makes the most delicate 

 roast, which I very much doubt. A hen is deprived of life by 

 dislocation of the neck on being overdrawn, and there the blood 

 collects and coagulates. 



" Turkeys being hatched in May will be full-grown in stature 

 by winter, and if they have been well-fed in the interval, will 

 be ready for use. Indeed, the Christmas season never fails to 

 create a great demand for turkeys ; and, it must be owned, 

 there are few more delicate and beautiful dishes presented at 

 table, or a more acceptable present to a friend, than a well-fed 

 turkey. Young cocks are selected for roasting, and young hens 

 for boiling, and both are most relished with a slice of ham or 

 of pickled ox-tongue. The varieties in common use are white, 

 black, or mottled-grey ; and of these, the white yields the fairest 

 and most tender flesh. Young turkeys attain to great weights. 

 I have had, year after year, young cocks weighing at Christmas 

 18 Ib. each in their feathers. Norfolk has long been noted for 

 its turkeys, where they are fed on buckwheat, and large droves 

 are annually sent to the London market. A turkey is deprived 

 of life by cutting its throat, when it becomes completely bled. 

 The barbarous practice of cutting out its tongue and hanging 

 by the feet to bleed slowly to death, for the alleged purpose of 

 rendering the flesh white, ought to be strictly forbidden. 



" Geese having been hatched in the early part of the summer, 

 will also be full-grown and fit for use in winter. I believe 



