POULTRY. HIT 



the fowls come in contact with each other, and if there should 

 happen to be a bit of dust in the straw, the paper will keep it 

 from the fowls. Unprinted paper can be obtained at any print- 

 ing office, and costs but a trifle. 



" The poultry will sell better if it runs even through the pack- 

 age. When packing large lots, put the largest and best in one 

 box, the medium size in another, and the smallest in the third. 

 Do n't think that by mixing a few large fowls in with the 

 smaller ones that it will help the sale of the small ones ; it will 

 be more apt to spoil the sale of the whole lot. And if you have- 

 a lot of chickens that are really inferior, don't send at all; dis- 

 pose of them for what you can get in your local market. Do n't 

 pack turkeys, ducks, geese, and chickens all in the same box; 

 have a separate box for each kind. 



"Mark the address of the commission house to which the 

 goods are shipped plainly on the cover; also the kind of poultry 

 and weight. Have your own name and address, or some partic- 

 ular mark or brand of your own on all packages, and if you ship 

 first-class poultry your brand will soon be in demand. The 

 marking should be done neatly, for the better your packages 

 look on the outside the more favorably will they strike the eye 

 of. the buyers at the first view. 



"When you ship your poultry send at once by mail a cor- 

 rect invoice of the shipment." 



For shipping wild turkeys, wild ducks, and smaller wild 

 fowls, Messrs. Van Valkenburg & Ronk, New York, give the 

 following advice : " Wild turkeys, wild ducks, and the smaller 

 birds should be packed in the natural state. Prairie chickens, 

 woodcock and quail, in cool weather, reach us in better order 

 and sell-more readily when wrapped in paper, the feathers being 

 first laid smoothly in place. Grouse, when shot, should be 

 hung up by the feet, so that all the blood may run out of the 

 mouth. If the weather is very cold, so as to freeze at once, it 

 is better to stroke the feathers down smoothly and hang up by 

 the neck. All animal heat should be out of the birds before 

 packing. Press firmly into the package; two hundred pounds 

 may thus be packed into a common flour-barrel. The freight on 



