DRAWING AND DISMEMBERING POULTRY 357 



Washington. (Many of the Bulletins are free; some 

 have a small price attached. A list, with details, can be 

 had upon application.) I will say only that the great 

 improvement turns almost wholly on quick and thorough 

 bleeding, and on preserving the skin from breaking, and 

 the flesh from bruising. " Just how " to make every 

 motion is taught. 



In marketing poultry products locally, and to private 

 custom, it is necessary to follow the methods of the mar- 

 ket poulterer and the large handler only in essentials. 

 The essentials are good bleeding, clean work, with skin 

 as little broken as possible, and, in many localities, 

 "drawing" the carcass. For the home table, there is 

 still one process which may be looked upon as modified 

 dissection. Partial dissection is often the one reliable 

 aid toward the avoidance of " repeats " in the matter of 

 mistakes in feeding, or in the case of diseases of various 

 kinds. Scalding the fowl is often permissible, and quick 

 severing of the head with an ax is the easy manner of 

 killing. Inasmuch, however, as fowls are most commonly 

 sold with the heads on, it is customary with those who 

 sell drawn birds, minus the heads, to figure in the weight 

 of the heads, unless the price asked has allowed for this 

 loss of weight. 



In all towns, the majority of those house mistresses 

 who are free buyers are likely not to know how to pre- 

 pare undrawn fowl for the table. If the servant be 

 equally ignorant, the situation may appear even tragic 

 to those most deeply concerned. It will, in most cases, 

 probably be necessary to draw the fowls for private 

 custom, on this account. The operation takes little time, 

 after one has attained skill through frequent practice. 



