14 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



PRErAIUNG AND PACKING POULTRY. 



Poultry should be fat and kept twenty-four 

 hours from food before killing to have the crop 

 empty; food in the crop soms and blackens 

 the skin, injures the sale of poultry, and buy- 

 ers will not pay f(jr this extra weight. Open- 

 ing the vein in the ]ieck, or bleeding in the 

 mouth, is the proper mode of killing. If bled 

 inside the throat the bill should be pried open 

 with a piece of a chip and the poultry to be 

 hung up by the feet on a line. Tills makes 

 bleeding free and jjrevents bruising. Tlie 

 head and feet should be left on and the inter- 

 nals in. Tlie tiesh should not be mutilated in 

 any manner. Turkeys and chickens dry- 

 picked keep much longer and sell much higher 

 than when .scalded. If the 'picking is done by 

 scalding the water should be heated just to the 

 boihug point, and the poultry held by the feet; 

 dip in and out of the water tour or live times, 

 counting three each time in or out. The work 

 should be done quickly, neatly and thoroughly. 

 After picking, hang up. 'the poultry by the 

 feet in a cool, dry place, till all animal heat is 

 out and the poultry thoroughly cold and dry. 

 Avoid freezing, as poultry will not keep long 

 after thawing. Wrap in thin, light, strong 

 paper. Brown and dark heavy paper, having 

 too much acid in it, injures the poultry. The 

 head should be wrapped separately. Always 

 pack head downward. Tliis throws the soft 

 entrails on the breast bone, the poultry keep- 

 ing longer in this iiosition. Pack in clean, 

 dry, tight flour barrels. 



Geese and ducks after being killed should 

 have all the feathers picked olf, then rub all 

 over thoroughly with fine resin, after which 

 dip them in boiling hot water in and out seven 

 or eight times, then rub off the pin-feathers, 

 after which wash off the fowls with warm 

 water, using soap and a hand brush. Imme- 

 diately after rinse them well in cold water, 

 then hang them up bj' the feet in a cool, dry 

 place, till thi-y are thoroughly dry, when they 

 can be wrai)]ied, and jiack as before suggested. 

 Poultry thus dressed and packed well, in 

 moderately cold weather, keep sweet and fresh 

 for fifteen or twenty days, and can be shipiied 

 from the extreme west with safety, by freight. 



X ever pack poultry in straw, as in damp or 

 in warm weather it causes it to sweat or heat. 



Game, deer, rabbits, coons, oppossums and 

 squirrels should be opened, all the entrails 

 taken out, leaving only the kidney fat ; then 

 the insides should lie wi|)ed perfectly dry, 

 with a soft clean cloth, after which wrap tlie 

 small game in pajier, packing back downward. 



Wild turkeys, ducks, geese, grouse, iiheas- 

 ants, quails, piireons, and birds of all kinds, 

 should always have the entrails left in them, 

 and the head and feet left on. Tliey should 

 never Vie mutilated in any manner. Drawn 

 birds sour in a short time, and sell for less 

 than the undrawn, even if sweet. Wrap the 

 head seiiarately in paper, then the body. Pack 

 the head downward in tight, clean barrels, the 

 same as poultry. Shijipers should remember 

 Well that all game should be thoroughly cold 

 before being packed, otherwise it will soon 

 sweat and heat. IJarrels are the best packages 

 that shippers can ship in. — Muri/hmd Farmer. 



on the animals and well rubbed into the hair, 

 and a taljlespoonful of ginger in nieal daily 

 for a week, is the simplest surest, and safest 

 remedy he has ever tried. 



NEW STYLE OF BARRELS. 



The paper barrel factory at Decorah, Iowa, 

 has already turned out several hundred liar- 

 rels. Much interest centres upon the exjieri- 

 ment there. If that is successful, as it pro- 

 mises to be, the barrel-making Inisine^s will 

 be revolutionized. By this process barrels are 

 made entirely out of paper. They can be 

 made at half the cost of tlie wooden material, 

 and as they weigh only onc-tliird as much, 

 there will be also a great saving in freight.- 



INSECTS ox CATTLE. 



A correspondent after having experimented 

 to his heart's conteiit with several kinds of 

 grease, tobacco, water, kerosene, ashes, aii- 

 gueiitum, etc., for killing lice on cattle, has 

 arrived at the conclusion that sulphur sprinkled 



GENERAL MISCELLANY. 

 DESTRUCTION OF THE CANADA THISTLE. 



In a brief note recently we directed the atten- 

 tion of our readers to the necessity of watch- 

 fulness against tlie introduction of vile weeds, 

 and especially of the Canada thistle. It is 

 worth while again to repeat that it does not 

 take long to annihilate pests like these in the 

 beginning, if only ]>eople will go to work earn- 

 estly and energetically. .Since writing the 

 paragraph referred to, a tact has come to our 

 notice which shows what may be done by 

 a watchful man. 



One of our friends in going over his grounds 

 last spring was amazed to find that he was 

 guilty of harboring and entertaining tlie Canada 

 thistle. There it was and no mistake, thickly 

 covering a tract of over one hiuidred feet 

 square. lie did not send to town for a Inisliel 

 of salt or wait till the full of the moon, or 

 think of any of the cheap and easy ways 

 given in the papers as substitutes for hard 

 labor ; Ijut he sent Ezra to the tool-house for 

 a digging-fork, and, loosening the ground 

 about the plants, drew them up as much as 

 possible "by the roots." The :ask, he tells 

 us, took just half an hour.- About midsum- 

 mer he examined the spot again, and found 

 that about a dozen weak sprouts had appeared 

 in the place where there were huudeds in the 

 spring. These were served as tlfe rest of the 

 gang had been served before them, occupying 

 flfteeu minutes only, all told. 



In again examining the tract recently, he 

 found but a solitary piece which had evidently 

 been overlooked before — no new ones having 

 appeared. This was drawn out by the hand, 

 breaking oft, and, as he says, leaving a small 

 nest egg, which may proliably hatch a little 

 brood to be Iqoked after next spring ; but he 

 has no doubt that fifteen minutes more next 

 spring will totally destroy his crop of thistles 

 "root and branch." Tlius in an hour of good 

 work, a man who resolved to conquer the 

 enemy will have come otY full victor, showing 

 how easy it is to cope with these pests when 

 taken in this way. 



The fact is we begin to have rather a poor 

 opinion of anian wlio allows his property to be 

 overrun with Canada thistles. A strong, 

 coarse weed like this, which can lie easily 

 Seen and handled, ought to be looked after 

 and drawn out, as well as the dock, which 

 every good fa/mer about here thinks is an 

 imperative duty, if not an intense pleasure to 

 hunt, pull and destroy. Indeed, it sometimes 

 seems, as we note the intense satisfaction with 

 wliich some of our neighbors go at dock- 

 drawing, that it w.iuld ahnost be adding to 

 their recreations for some (me to sow dock- 

 seed among their crops that tliey might 

 enjoy the pulling up of them in due season. 

 There are thousands of weeds much more 

 injurious ; at least our friend the victor of the 

 Canada thistle ]iatch, thinks so. He is sure 

 he would sooner haveadoseof Canada tliistles 

 to swallow "any day," than be bothered with 

 sorrel, toad-flax, couch-grass, or land-grass — 

 and we thuik he is right. — Gcrmantoivii Tel. 



THE REASON WHY 



The editor of Arlliuv\'< Home Mnijazhie gives 

 the following questions and answers, which 

 are iicrtinent to this season of the year: 



Why is fruit most unwholesome when eaten 

 on an empty stomach V 



Beca use it contains a large amount of fixed 

 air, which requires great jiower to disengage 

 and expel it before if begins to digest. 



Why is boiled or roasted fruit more whole- 

 some than raw. 



Because, in the process of boiling or roasting, 

 fruit parts with its fixed air, and is thus 

 rendered easy of digestion. 



Why are cherries recommended in cases of 

 scurvy, putrid fever, and similar diseases ? 



On account of their cooling and antiseptic 

 properties, and because they correct the con- 

 dition of the blood and other fluids of the 

 body when there is any tendency of pu- 

 trescence ; at the same time, like all fresh 

 fruits, they posses a mild aperient property, 

 verv beneficial to persons of a bilious habit. 



What ett'ect have vegetable acids upon the 

 blood y 



They cool and dilute the blood, and. 

 generally refresh the system. All fruits contain 

 acids and salts, which exercise a cooling and 

 invigorating influence. Apricots, peaches, 

 apples, pears, gooseberries, and currants con- 

 tain malic aciik Lemons, rapsberries, grapes, 

 and pine apiiles contain citric acid. The 

 skins of grapes, plums, aloes, etc., contain 

 tannic acid, which has a bitter taste. 



Why sliould salt be applied to vegetables 

 intended for pickling previously to putting 

 them in the vinegar ? 



Because all vegetables abound in watery 

 juices, wliieh, if mixed with the vinegar, 

 would dilute it so much as to destroy its 

 lireservative property. .Salt absorbs a portion 

 of this water, and indirectly contributes to the 

 strength of the vinegar. 



Why is bread made from wheat flour more 

 strengthening than that made from barley and 

 oats y 



Because, as gluten, albumen, and caseine 

 are the only substance in the bread capable of 

 forming blood, and consequently of sustaining 

 the strength and vigor of the body, they have 

 been apuropriately called the food of nutri- 

 tion, as a distinction from those which merely 

 support respiration. Wheat contains 8-2.j parts 

 of starch, 315 of gluten, albumen and caseine, 

 and sixty of sugar and gum, while barley 

 containes 1,200 of starch, 120 of gluten 

 albumen and caseine, and 150 of sugar and 

 gum ; hence wheat is much richer in the food 

 of nutrition. 



TURNING POINTS IN PHYSICAL LIFE. 



From 25 to 35 is the true time for all the 

 enjoyment of a man's best powers, when 

 physical vigor is at its highest. During the 

 last half of this decade a man should be assid- 

 uous to construct a system of philosopliy, by 

 which to rule his life, and to c )ntract a chain 

 of hahits intelligently ; so that they should 

 neither be their slave, nor too easily cast them 

 aside. The exact proportion of pliysical and 

 intellectual strengih should be gauged, and 

 the constitutional weakne-ss, or, in other 

 words, the disease toward which a tendency 

 exists, should be ascertained. 



Preserve, if possible, the absolute necessity 

 f(U- e-xercise, and have yourplac;of business 

 two or three miles away, over which let 

 nothing temiit yon to au omnibus or carriage, 

 save rain. The day on which a medical man 

 gives up riding to see his iwiintry patients, or 

 the use of his own legs to see his patients in 

 town, and takes to a close brougham, fixes 

 the date when sedentary diseases are set up— 

 while if, to utilize liis leisure, he reads as he 

 drives, his eyesight becomes seriously afl'ected. 

 From 35 to 45 a man should arrange with his 

 food, and avoid hypochondria. He cannot, 

 it is true, change his diathesis ; but he can 

 manage it. The liahitual character of food, 

 no less than its iiuality, begins to tell whether 

 it charges the system 'with fat, muscle, sinew, 

 fibre or watery 'iiarticles. From 45 to 55 the 

 recuperative powers should be encouraged 

 and developed. 



There is nothing like work to keep an old 

 horse sound. Sporting dogs should be thin, 

 but obesity will set in. Anxiety ought to be 

 staved, hope encouraged, sordid cares avoided. 

 If a grief exists it should not be brooded over, 

 but talked out with a friend, gauged, estima- 

 ted in its wcn-st, and dismissed to absorb itself. 

 If aman at this time is much occupied out doors, 

 and lives wholesomely and temiierately, he is 

 liretty sure to be clear of sediaitary diseases. 

 Rheumatism, coughs, and inflammatory dis- 



