318 POULTRY CULTURE 



make a good, fast picker. Aptitude consists largely in working methodically 

 when removing the feathers, and in picking as clean as possible at every step. 

 As to the division of the work, practice varies largely according to the quality 

 of help to be obtained. Where enough capable pickers can be obtained, each 

 finishes his own bird ; where the supply of good pickers is short, the skilled 

 pickers often rough pick the birds and employ less expert persons to remove 

 the stubs and pinfeathers. 



Scalding and dry picking compared. After the knack of sticking is acquired, 

 dry picking is often more convenient. Unless the bird is properly killed, it is 

 usually much easier for a novice in picking to get the feathers off by scalding, 

 even if he has to build a fire and wait for the water to heat. In the results of 

 inexpert use of the two methods there is little to choose, but, judging by the 

 comparative scarcity of good scalders, it is much easier to acquire the knack of 

 sticking than to learn to scald right. A poor scalder is apt to disfigure all his 

 birds and, if he has never seen poultry well scalded, to think that it is unavoid- 

 able. In dry picking it is not possible to miss seeing the difference in good and 

 poor work, the inexpert picker's great difficulty being to avoid tearing the skin. 

 He can therefore judge his own work better, and with practice is almost sure 

 to become passably expert. Dry-picked poultry is said to keep longer in cold 

 storage than even the best scalded poultry. For use within a few weeks after 

 killing, the advantage of dry picking over good scalding is not apparent. The 

 use of methods, however, is not a matter of choice with the producer who 

 dresses his own poultry. He must follow the custom in his market, and scald 

 pick or dry pick, or perhaps do some of both, according to the disposition 

 to be made of his stock. 



Market requirements as to picking. The large eastern city mar- 

 kets and pleasure resorts prefer dry-picked poultry. Inland, western, 

 and southern markets, almost without exception, want the poultry 

 for local consumption scald picked ; but at many of these points 

 poultry shipped to eastern markets is dry picked. Customs, how- 

 ever, are not consistently governed by the market preference ; con- 

 ditions affecting shipment and the disposition of the goods may 

 determine the method, and the poultry trade presents some striking 

 anomalies in practice at this point. Thus, while the East prefers dry- 

 picked poultry, a large proportion, perhaps the greater part, of the 

 ducks produced there are scalded. Eastern turkeys are often scalded, 

 while western turkeys for the eastern market are mostly dry picked. 

 Poultry from the states in the Mississippi Valley east of the river is 

 often scalded, even by the packers, for the eastern market ; while in 

 the states west of the river the poultry going east is all dry picked. 

 The poultry from points nearest the market, reaching it quickly and 



