breeders and commission men kill, dress and 

 market diseased poultry. In a State which we 

 need not name, we have seen fowls in all stages of 

 roup, chicken-pox, canker, etc., offered for sale 

 by the poultry dealers and commission men, for 

 table use, in the same markets and stores with fish, 

 meat and game. Hens so badly diseased that they 

 could not eat, and those with heads swollen to 

 almost double their normal size, were dressed 

 heads off. Never sell a fowl that you cannot leave 

 the head on. Never buy one with the head off. 



Of course you indignantly disclaim any idea of 

 selling diseased fowls, and we are inclined to be- 

 lieve that you would not do so intentionally ; but 

 unless diseased fowls are killed and burned as soon 

 as discovered and the utmost vigilance exercised 

 to discover them, you are very apt to be the unin- 

 tentional assistant in such business. For instance 

 you have a lot of fowls to sell, in order to make 

 room for growing stock. A buyer or huckster 

 comes along and makes you an offer for the entire 

 lot. You have not been diligent in examining them 

 of late, and a mild form of some disease has got 

 among them without your notice, or you have a 

 few quarantined, and you let them go just as they 

 are, because, in the latter event, he tells you that 

 he thinks he can cure them ; and they all go into 

 the coopi together. When he gets them to his 

 killing house he cures the worst ones first, with 

 knife or hatchet, whichever way looks best. Some 

 eggs look best scrambled ; some fowls look best 

 " heads off." 



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