240 TO KEEP BIIIDS. 



or, if wanted in a hurry, it may be picked, wrapped 

 up in a cloth, and thus buried in the earth for a 

 few hours, before it is dressed. This is the custom 

 abroad, where I have supped on wildfowl, perfectly 

 tender, that were killed since an early dinner on the 

 same day. 



Birds, that are dressed so soon after being killed, 

 as scarcely to have become cold, are more tender 

 than if put by, for a night, and afterwards not kept 

 long enough. On the other hand, if you want them 

 kept a very long time, for any particular purpose, 

 powdered charcoal (for game, venison, or any thing) is 

 the best recipe that I have yet been able to procure. 



Keep your game in a safe, or a well secured larder, 

 to avoid flies : and to get rid of rats, you have only 

 to leave out, for their supper, a red herring, which 

 you must first split open, and then occasionally heat 

 before the fire, while you put over and into it about 

 as much corrosive sublimate of mercury as would lie 

 on a half-crown. The rats, when they have eaten 

 of this, will shortly afterwards adjourn to the water ; 

 and, instead of returning, there drink themselves to 

 death. This is a far more certain recipe to destroy 

 rats than the mercurial ointment, which was before 

 named in this work. It may be worth while to ob- 

 serve also, en passant, that the corrosive sublimate of 

 mercury is a never failing remedy to destroy bugs, 

 if mixed with spirits of wine, and well worked, with a 

 paint brush, into the joints and crevices of furniture. 



