A COMMERCIAL POINT OF VIEW. 117 



would appear incredible that one man can kill and pluck 

 at the rate of one fowl per minute, or sixty per hour : the 

 price paid for this work is about one farthing per head 

 for lean and one halfpenny for fat poultry. The system 

 of killing differs, however, in this, that whilst in Paris 

 they make a gash in the throat, in the country they stick 

 the poultry in the back of the roof of the beak ; but both 

 cause immediate death ; the latter, however, is the clean- 

 est and most desirable. They deprecate our system of 

 twisting the neck, as cruel, discoloring the flesh, and 

 causing early putrefaction of the coagulated blood. 

 When a man kills, he has three baskets near him, into 

 which he drops the feathers according to size ; and the 

 reason of plucking the fowls instantaneously after death 

 is the great saving in time, and the prevention of tear- 

 ing the skin, which latter cannot well be avoided when 

 the fowl once gets cold. 



The Dressing. 



The lean fowls are immediately emptied of their intes- 

 tines ; but not so with the fat stock, which contain a large 

 quantity of valuable fat, which is used for basting, and 

 to give flavor to lean poultry. 



With chickens they take care to leave the down on, as 

 an index of their age, and in all fowls they leave about 

 half a dozen feathers in the rump, which gives a very 

 pretty appearance. 



As soon as the fowl is plucked, and before cold, it is 

 laid on its back on a bench, and wrapped round with a 

 wet linen cloth to mould its shape, and to give the skin a 



