622 TuAXSACTioys of the American Institute. 



ures. The manner in which poultry is brought to market for sale is 

 another fraud on the public which rec[uires better regulations. Some 

 cities require all poultry brought to market for sale to be cleanly dressed, 

 with the giblets left in, and the head cut off near the body. It often 

 happens that turkeys and fowls of all kinds, are well fed with corn 

 before they are killed fur market, with the corn left in the crop, 

 head on, and entrails in the fowl. A turkey weighing from twelve 

 to twenty pounds, with the corn in the crop, and head and entrails, 

 will add one to two pounds to its weight, a considerable item in the 

 cost of a turkey, when selling at thirty -five to forty cents per pound. 

 Let poulterers charge what they please for their fowls, but let them 

 be divested of every part that is not eatable, except the bones which 

 hold the body together, then the purchaser will not be compelled to 

 purchase corn at thirty-five cents per pound at retail, when he is not 

 in want of the article. The unwholsome meats that are offered in the 

 markets for food, is another evil that should be reached. If any 

 member of the Club will go through Washington Market for six 

 days in succession, he can see the flesh of scores of veal calves that 

 never were born. The prices paid for beef by retail is extortionate. 

 The highest price for first quality bullocks, the dressed meat averages 

 for a long time past, sixteen cents per pound. It is an old saying that 

 a bullock makes five quarters, or, in other words, the hide and tal- 

 low make the fifth quarter. The average weight of the dressed meat 

 of first quality bullocks is 850 pounds. The cost of the dressed meat 

 at sixteen cents is $136. In cutting uj) and retailing, one half (425 

 pounds) will bring twenty-five cents per pound, which is $126.25 ; 

 medium cuts will bring sixteen cents per pound, which, for 225 

 pounds, is thirty-six dollars ; the rough meat, 200 pounds, twelve 

 and a half cents per pound, is twenty-five dollars ; the hide will aver- 

 age eighty-five pounds, nine and a half cents per pound, is eight 

 dollars and eight cents ; tallow will average eighty-five pounds, at 

 six and a half cents per pound, is five dollars and thirty-three cents, 

 making $180.80 cash realized for the bullock. The bullock costing 

 $136, leaves a clear profit of forty-five dollars and seventy -six cents 

 on the outlay of $136. The great cause of keeping up starvation 

 prices for produce of all kinds brought from a distance, and prevent- 

 ing competition and a liberal supply at all times, is the tell-tale 

 telegraph wire, which prevents all produce from coming into tlie 

 market into greater quantities than a supply sufiicient to command 

 extortionate prices. Fish, both scale and shell, reach the market only 



