APRIL 303 



bird. Any fowls that are going to be killed ought to be 

 shut up for twelve hours without food. Turkeys and 

 geese require rather longer. Home-grown poultry is 

 much better not plucked or cleaned out till just before 

 cooking. Very young chickens are best eaten quite 

 freshly killed. 



For Preserving Eggs. Put some fresh eggs in a 

 large basin or jar, and pour lime-water over them. Two 

 days after, take out the eggs and look through them 

 carefully. Put away those which are at all cracked. 

 Those which are quite in good condition put into a 

 second jarful of lime-water, and stand this jar in the 

 cellar. See that the eggs are always covered by the 

 lime-water. They will keep for quite six months or 

 more. The first jarful of lime-water can be used to try 

 another lot of eggs. 



This is another and even simpler way of preserving 

 eggs, which we find answers perfectly well here : Fill 

 a small shallow box deep enough to cover the eggs 

 cardboard does quite well with chaff. Put the fresh 

 eggs, just laid, into this with the points downwards. 

 Tie on the lid ; and when you have more than one box, 

 they can be tied together as they fill. The whole reason 

 of this plan is that the box should be reversed once 

 every twenty -four hours. If this is really done, the 

 eggs keep perfectly fresh for weeks so fresh that they 

 are not to be distinguished from new-laid eggs, except 

 that they poach beautifully; which, as everyone knows, 

 a new-laid egg does not, any more than a stale one. If 

 the boxes are tied together, it is no trouble turning them 

 over beyond remembering it. The natural history of 

 this is that when the egg is laid the germ is alive, and if 

 the egg lays on its side the germ is not only alive, but 

 grows for many days. When the germ in the egg has 

 consumed its nourishment, it dies from cold, and in- 



