134 -A F W Business Matters. 



the fowls are to be sent to the city, it will probably pay best to 

 send them alive, unless there are enough of them to make it 

 profitable to hire plenty of help. In some cities dressed poultry 

 is sold with heads off and drawn. In New York the heads and 

 legs must be left on. Cutting off the heads is the quickest and 

 most humane way to kill poultry. For New York the birds 

 are killed by pushing a narrow keen knife through the roof of 

 the mouth so that the bird bleeds to death. The knife should 

 be thurst far back into the brain and thus cause less pain and 

 hasten death. It is also well to stun the bird first by striking 

 its head against a post or board. Before getting cold the birds 

 are plunged into hot water and held there just long enough to 

 warm them skin-deep, when the feathers will pull out easily and 

 quickly. Care must be taken not to tear or bruise the skin in 

 picking. "Plumping" follows. This is done while the car- 

 cas is still warm. It is again dipped in hot water and imme- 

 diately plunged into very cold water. This hardens the skin 

 and flesh and gives the bird a plump appearance. After 

 " plumping" the birds are hung up by the feet in a dry, cool 

 place till they are cold all through. In cold weather they may 

 be shipped in boxes or cases with layers of rye-straw between 

 the layers of poultry, or for extra-choice shipments each bird 

 may be wrapped in white tissue or parchment paper. In warm 

 weather ice must be used. In this case the poultry is shipped 

 in barrels a layer of ice at the bottom and the birds packed 

 with backs outward all around and feet to the center, till a full 

 layer is formed all around. Then the spaces are filled with 

 ice and another layer put above, then more birds and so on. 

 Poultry should always be sent by express. 



