244 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



fected by small shot fired from a gun at the head, sufficiently 

 near to prevent the scattering of the charge. 



The remarks which I have already made as regards pro- 

 ducing insensibility by a blow upon the brain, may equally 

 apply to poultry. The almost universal method of killing by 

 chopping off the head of a fowl, and allowing the body to 

 flutter about upon the ground, is not an agreeable sight, and 

 has certainly a demoralizing effect upon those who witness it, 

 especially upon the young and those who are not yet callous 

 to such sights. The same may be said also of the practice of 

 opening the blood-vessels in the necks of poultry, and allowing 

 them to bleed to death more or less slowly. Therefore, to 

 produce insensibility, make use of either of the following 

 methods, — 



1. Grasp the bird by the legs, place its head upon a block, 

 and strike it a smart, quick blow with a small club, or Avith 

 some equally efficient weapon, and then immediately sever 

 the head from the body by a sharp cleaver or hatchet. Re- 

 tain the body in the hand until all fluttering has ceased. 



2. Taking the bird up, compress the throat between the 

 thumb and finger for a minute. Retaining the grasp, swing 

 the body round several times, and then remove the head as 

 just descril)ed. Here insensibility is produced by suffocation 

 and loss of motion by the twisting of the bones of the neck. 



3. A very sharp blow, with a small but heavy stick, behind 

 the neck, at about the second joint from the head, will injure 

 the spinal cord so as to destroy sensation and motion, if prop- 

 erly executed ; the head to be afterwards severed from the 

 neck. 



4. Hang up the bird by the legs and thrust a long, narrow, 

 sharp-pointed knife, like a pen-knife, into the brain through 

 the back part of the roof of the mouth. Death is instan- 

 taneous. To do this considerable dexterity is required. 



It has been observed that fish which are instantly killed on 

 being taken from the water are vastly superior, in taste and 

 in solidity, to those which are allowed to die, as is the uni- 

 versal custont with us. And why should this not be the case? 

 Why should we make a distinction in this respect between 

 animals that swim and those that fly or run? No one of us 

 would think of eating beast or bird that had died a natural 



