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POULTRY— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



POULTRY, Bones to Pulverize for.— 



Put the bones in a stove and allow them 

 to burn white, when they can be easily 

 pulverized; then mix with corn meal, 

 and feed twice a day. 



POULTRY, Woundi of. — Wounds 

 caused by fighting, or by accidents, 

 should be kept clean, and the parts 

 washed with Venice turpentine. 



POULTRY, Ulcers in.— (See Poultry, 

 Wounds of.) 



POULTRY, For Market, Killing and 

 Preparing. — If you wish to prepare your 

 poultry in the nicest manner for the mar- 

 ket, so that it will invariably secure the 

 best price, observe the following rules, 

 viz. : First, fat them well, and allow them 

 to remain in the pens twenty-four hours 

 without food previous to being killed. 

 Then, when you kill them, instead of 

 wringing their necks, cut their heads off 

 at a sing 7 e blow with a sharp axe or cleav- 

 er, and then hang them up by their legs 

 and allow them to bleed freely, and pick 

 them immediately, while warm. Some, 

 however, prefer to run a small pen-knife 

 into the jugular- vein by the side of the 

 neck, just under the joles. In this case, 

 let the heads remain on. In picking, 

 great care should be taken not to tear the 

 skin ; the wings should not be cut off, but 

 picked to the end. If the head should 

 be cut off, the skin of the neck should be 

 neatly tied over the end. Most persons 

 like to see the heads of fowls left on ; it 

 makes a better show. The heads of 

 ducks and geese should always be cut off. 

 No cut should be made in the breast ; all 

 the offal should be taken out behind, and 

 the opening should be made as small as 

 possible. 



Some persons send their poultry to 

 market with their intestines in. This, to 

 say the least, is a dirty, slovenly practice, 

 doing great injury to the flesh, as it par- 

 takes of the flavor of the excrements 

 when suffered long to remain undressed, 

 and is otherwise impaired from the stag- 

 nant blood. After removing the intes- 

 tines, wipe out the blood with a dry cloth, 

 but no water should be used to cleanse 

 them. With a moist cloth take off the 

 blood that may be found upon the car- 

 cass, and hang them in a cool, dry room 

 until ready to carry to market, or other- 

 wise to be used. Do not remove the 

 gizzard from its place ; but, if the fowl be 



very fat, make a larger hole, turn the 

 leaves out, and fasten them with a small 

 skewer. When prepared in this way, 

 your poultry will be much nicer, and en- . 

 titled to a better price than when butch- 

 ered and dressed in the ordinary way. 



We have often noticed the careless,, 

 slovenly manner, and little attention paid 

 to external appearance of poultry offered 

 for sale in our markets; and we have no- 

 ticed the quick sale and higher price 

 when due regard was paid to have the 

 skin all sound and clean; the breast not 

 mutilated by a long cut, the shrinking 

 skin exposing the drying meat covered 

 with hay-seed or chaff, but well covered 

 all over with fat, of a rich, golden yellow. 

 Much of the poultry exposed for sale has 

 been through the process of scalding to 

 facilitate picking; this practice should 

 never be resorted to. It turns the rich 

 yellow of the fat into a tallowy hue, and 

 oftentimes starts the skin, so that it peels 

 off unless very carefully handled. 



Much care and attention is required 

 after the poultry is dressed and cool. It 

 should be carefully packed in baskets or 

 boxes, and, above all, it should be kept 

 from the frost. A friend who was very 

 nice in these matters, used to bring his 

 turkeys to market in the finest order pos- 

 sible, and always obtained a ready sale 

 and the highest price. His method was 

 to pick them dry, while warm, and dress 

 them in the neatest manner; then take a 

 long, deep, narrow, tight box, with a 

 stick running from end to end of the box, 

 and hang the turkeys by the legs over the 

 stick, which prevents bruising or disfig- 

 uring them in the least. 



Too much should not be exposed at a 

 time for sale, nor should they be hauled 

 over too often. Appearance is every- 

 thing with poultry, as well as other ar- 

 ticles, and has great influence on the 

 purchaser. 



POULTRY, Age of.— Farmers usually 

 sell poultry alive. Poulterers in towns, 

 on the other hand, kill and pluck every 

 sort of fowl for sale, so that the purchaser 

 has it in his power to judge of the car- 

 cass; and if he buys an inferior article at a 

 high price it must be his own fault. It is- 

 easy to judge of a plucked fowl, whether 

 old or young, by the state of the legs. If 

 a hen's spur is hard, and the scales on the 

 legs rough, she is old, whether you see 



