10 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[January 



distinct industry. For its main wholesale 

 supply this city depends chiefly on the interior 

 of the State and tlie West. There are numer- 

 ous very extensive poultry dealers in this 

 city, and, when in season, the arrivals are 

 calculated by the ton. 



Poultry has always been a largely consumed 

 meat with the people, and in its increased 

 production it has only kept pace with the in- 

 crease of the population. Its packing for 

 transportation is an important feature, and 

 the experiences of both shipper and receiver 

 have prompted and caused to be carried out 

 such improvements in the way of packing 

 dressed poultry, that it now arrives from tlie 

 Far West in a solid, compact form, free from 

 bruises.and sweet and inviting in appearance, 

 almost equalling that brought to market for 

 retail sales by the neighboring farmers. For 

 a year past there has been a noticeable de- 

 crease of poultry— chiefly chickens— the 

 causes of which are given more in detail be- 

 low. 



Chickens — Their Supply and Prices. 



Chickens dressed or alive are in market the 

 whole year round. They are considered al- 

 ways in season, but the consumption is much 

 less in the city in summer time than at other 

 seasons, the seaside resorts and hotels con- 

 suming the greater portion of the supply. 

 Notwithstanding the fact that there are nu- 

 merous breeds of chickens raised, from the 

 diminutive sprightly bantam to the great 

 lumbering hoarse-voiced Shanghai, the com- 

 mon barnyard fowl holds its own as a favorite 

 for the table. It is easier raised on account 

 of its hardiness and little attention required 

 in its growth, its capability of being easily 

 fattened and its convenient size. The mode 

 of killing and dressing chickens now in vogue 

 is a decided improvement over the old way fif 

 chopping ofi their heads, and leaving a re- 

 pulsive-looking neck visible to disgust pur- 

 chasers. Now a knife is dextrously inserted 

 in the principal vein in the neck, and the 

 chicken slowly and painlessly bled to death, 

 leaving an almost invisible mark of the man- 

 ner of the chicken's "taking oil"." A still 

 neater way of depriving them of life is by 

 bleeding in the mouth, by which all signs are 

 removed. The feathers are now removed by 

 what is called '-dry picking." This process 

 is accomplished by removing the feathers 

 without placing the fowl in hot or boiling 

 water, as was formerly the custom. The ope- 

 ration is commenced before the animal heat 

 has left the body. Immersing the feathered 

 fowl in boiling water frequently scalds the 

 skin, or it is pulled oft' in places with the 

 feathers, making what is now pretty gener- 

 ally considered an unmarketable article. 

 Preparing for Market. 



By the dry process the feathers are easily 

 removed and the skin left smooth, unbroken, 

 and of an attractive appearance. In the further 

 preparation of chickens for market the "un- 

 opened " practice is almost universally fol- 

 lowed in most sections of the country, but in 

 New York, and it is believed in Baltimore, 

 they are required to have their intestines re- 

 moved. The healthfulness and unhealthful- 

 ness of the two modes has been debated pro 

 and con, but the question is still unsettled, 

 with the chances in favor of the " unopened " 

 chicken, the farmers and growers especially 



siding with the latter, as they get paid for 

 half a pound or more material. ' Chickens on 

 farms are allowed the run of the fields and 

 pastures, and generally manage to pick up 

 sustenance sufficient to keep them in good con- 

 dition during the summer. In the fall those 

 intended for market are placed in coops and 

 liberally fed with corn and other rapid fat 

 producing foods. Farmers in this State and 

 New Jersey, residing within driving distance 

 of the eity, usually prepare their chickens for 

 retail sales from their wagons or directly to 

 their customer consumers. The careful pre- 

 paration of these chickens, their fresh, attrac- 

 tive, unrumpled— so to speak— appearance, 

 not possessed by the packed article, despite 

 the care now practiced in packing make them 

 meet with more ready sale and at one or two 

 cents per pound higher than the regular mer- 

 cantile chicken. But few of them are brought 

 to market in the summer season. As an arti- 

 cle of sick diet and for consumption in hotels 

 and seaside resorts, the demand for chickens 

 continues all summer, but, of course, to a 

 limited extent. To supply this demand the 

 supply must come from distant points by rail- 

 road, and in order to preserve them fresh in 

 the hot weather they are packed up in ice, 

 which considerably increases the cost of trans- 

 portation, which, with -other charges and 

 risks incident to the season, keep the price up 

 to a sum equal to more propitious seasons. 

 Chickens for more than a year past have been 

 unusually scarce and high in price. Last 

 spring a year the entire Western country was 

 visited with long continued wet weather, 

 which it is said completely drowned out the 

 first "hatchings," the numbers so destroyed 

 being estimated by perhaps over-sanguine 

 dealers at one million. Up to the present 

 time the market has not been enabled to re- 

 cuperate from these losses. These disasters 

 to the poultry world in the West did not reach 

 sections nearer the city, and these latter 

 poultry raisers with their usual supply have 

 been reaping a rich harvest in the enhance 

 prices obtained for their chickens. The pres- 

 ent wholesale quotation for dressed chickens 

 is 19 cents per pound, the former midsummer 

 price being 12 cents. 



Incubators at Work. 

 The high and remunerative price ol)tained 

 for chickens has stimulated the introduction 

 of incubators for the production of chickens 

 without the aid of the mother hen. In Chester 

 and Delaware counties, and near-by sections 

 of New Jersey, the incubator has been largely 

 adopted. Science has brought the machine 

 to, it is claimed, as near perfection, especial- 

 ly in its automatic arrangements as to heat, as 

 it is possible to reach. It is said that with 

 properly selected eggs from 70 to 90 per cent, 

 of chickens are produced. The fatality among 

 xhickens hatched by this system is somewhat 

 greater than those hatched "in the good old 

 way," owing to the difficulty of bringing the 

 young brood successfully through its early in- 

 fancy for want of a good "hen mother." 

 There have not yet been enough of these 

 " new process " chickens placed in market to 

 affect the prices of the regular supply. Chick- 

 ens in all stages of their lives, like nearly all 

 other articles of food, have their enemies. 

 Minks, rats, dogs, cats and hawks delight in 

 killing them ; cholera, gapes and other dis- 



eases carry them off in large numbers, while 

 the "midnight ornithologist," as the chicken 

 thief is not inappropriately designated, de- 

 pletes entire lien-roosts in a night. Spring 

 chickens may be considered a luxury that can 

 only be indulged in by the wealthier portion 

 of the community, at the high priced hotels 

 and restaurants and by the fastidious convales- 

 cent. Chicks weighing three or four pounds 

 a pair will bring early in the season from 50 

 to 60 cents a pound, 'mt wholesale dealers are 

 at this writing holding them at 2-5 cents per 

 pound dressed, and -20 cents alive. Live full 

 full grown chickens are at this season of the 

 year, brought to market in considerable num- 

 bers, and are quoted at 17 cents. Caponized 

 fowls are but seldem sold in this market. 

 What few are so treated and sold are disposed 

 of in the New York markets, where they 

 readily sell for 27 and 30 cents per pound. A 

 full sized capon will weigli from 10 to 12 

 pounds. Their meat is firmer, whiter, and 

 they are considered more delicate eating than 

 the common chicken. What few capons are 

 raised are by New Jersey farmers. 

 The Supply of Turkeys. 



Turkej's have the same white and dark 

 meat, and they only difler in size and external 

 appearance. The raising of turkeys is much 

 restricted on account of their deficient egg- 

 laying propensities, although a recent instance 

 was recorded of a turkey in Chestei' county 

 that had already laid 70 eggs this season, and 

 was at last accounts still "keeping it up." 

 Owing to this defection, together with the 

 frequently long intervals " between eggs," it 

 has been found difficult to keep the eggs in a 

 hatching condition long enough to accumulate 

 a "setting." After the young brood is 

 hatched its early life is precarious. The 

 youngsters' restless activity and inclination 

 to run among the wet grass early in the morn- 

 ing and get lost, together with the numerous 

 other fatalities attending young fowls, are 

 among the difllculties attending the rearing of 

 turkeys. It is said that some farmers are 

 finding turkeys more "bother than they are 

 worth," as tliey are destructive to crops and 

 are great ramblers, and they have quit raising 

 them for market. The markets at present 

 are almost bare of this species of fowl, the few 

 that are consumed at seaside resorts and 

 large hotels being furnished to order. The 

 price generally rules . about two cents per 

 pound higher than that of chickens. 



Scarcity of Geese and Ducks. 



In comparison to turkeys and chickens 

 their consumption is limited at all seasons of 

 the year, there being none of either m market 

 at the present time. Some spring ducks were 

 held a couple of weeks ago by one or two 

 wholesale dealers at 20 cents per pound. 

 Were old ducks in market, the dealers say 

 they would not command more than 12 cents. 

 For geese there are no quotations. The sup- 

 ply to this vicinity comes, when in season, 

 mostly from Delaware and Maryland. Ducks 

 when hatched near a body of water are easily 

 raised. They take to the ponds and streams 

 before the shells are hardly off their backs, 

 and there they spend their lives mostly, their 

 chief enemy when in their infancy being large 

 fish and water rats. Their food is chiefly 

 small fish, grass and pond debris. The state- 



