THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTRY BOOK. 29 



by some dealers, and many devices practiced to eaten the eye of the un- 

 sophisticated purchaser the best side of the poultry being shown to the 

 greatest advantage. Every sort of fowl is killed, plucked and put on the 

 market, and if the purchaser buys an inferior article at an exorbitant price, 

 he has only himself to blame for so doing. 



HOW TO JUDGE THE AGE OF POULTRY. 



The age of a plucked fowl can be judged simply by the legs. If the scales 

 on the leg of a hen are rough and the spur hard, it will not be necessary to see 

 the head to determine that she is old / still the head will corroborate your 

 observation ; if that of an old hen, the bill will be stiff and hard, and the 

 comb rough and thick. The scales on the leg of a young hen are smooth, 

 glossy and fresh colored, whatever the color may be ; only the rudiments of 

 spurs are observable ; the claws tender and short, the under bill soft, the 

 comb thin and smooth. An old hen turkey has rough scales on the legs, cal- 

 losities on the soles or bottom of the feet, and long, strong claws ; while a 

 young turkey has the reverse of these marks. A young goose or duck can be 

 readily told by the tenderness of the skin under the wings, the strength of 

 the joints of the legs, and the coarseness of the skin. 



If the foregoing directions are strictly followed, in purchasing poultry, 

 we will venture the assertion that the " good housewife " will have no fault 

 to find with the length of time it takes to cook, or the toughness of her 

 Thanksgiving turkey, goose or chicken. This mode of finding out the age 

 of fowls is infallible. 



PURCHASING UNDRAWN POULTRY. 



We are one of a score of housekeepers who object, in toto, to the pur- 

 chasing of poultry unless it be drawn. The habit of forcing fowls on the 

 market undrawn, and allowing them to freeze and thaw, (generally with full 

 crops,) by which process they become fetid and turn green cannot prove 

 otherwise than unwholesome food not fit to be eaten. No fowls should be 

 purchased by housekeepers unless they are properly cleaned and drawn. In 

 many cities there is a fine imposed upon the person for offering undrawn 

 poultry upon the market for sale. 



TO PRESERVE POULTRY IN WINTER. 



This is a matter not fully understood, and for the information of the gen- 

 eral reader we cannot do better than to give the mode practiced by the ven- 

 erable Judge BUEL, in preserving poultry in winter. He says: " I pur- 

 chased a quantity of poultry for winter use early in November. The insides 

 were carefully drawn, their place partially filled with charcoal, and the poul- 

 try hung in an airy loft. It was used through the winter, till about the first 

 .of February, and although some were kept seventy days none of it was the 

 least affected with must or taint, the charcoal having kept it perfectly sweet." 



