bird. A sharp half-turn will paralyse enough of the brain-tissue to kill instantly 

 and loosen the feather-muscles. This is all done so quickly, especially by the adept 

 picker, that the bird has no chance to suffer from the practice. Plucking should be 



Diagram of fowl's head, showing the cut for bleeding, as also groove for braining. 



commenced at once, pulling the body-feathers first, then the wing and tail feathers. 

 As soon as the fowl is rough-picked, the pin-feathering and finishing can be done 

 more quickly in a sitting position. 



In the stool method, which is used by some of the large packing-houses, the 

 picker usually stuns the bird with a club ; then it is bled from the outside by cutting 

 the jugular veins. The brain is pierced from the outside, also, at the same distance 

 employed in the string method from the inside. It is really a dirtier method than 

 the string pick, but when one acquires the knack it can be done more quickly. 



DRESSING MARKET POULTRY. 



In dressing poultry for market, dry-picking is a system which gives better 

 results than steaming. It is in the outer layer of the skin of the chicken that 

 one rinds the taste so peculiar to this sort of meat. When a bird is steam-picked, 

 this taste is taken away, because the outer layer of tissue is wholly destroyed. It 

 should be a person's aim, when picking a chicken, to have it in its best condition 

 and ready for the oven after it has been drawn. Several ideas and methods have 

 been advanced regarding the best method of removing the feathers, but if the picker, 

 when plucking, pulls the feathers in a backward position from which they grow, he 

 will gradually work out a system of his own. 



17 



