A COMMERCIAL POINT OF VIEW. 37 



lay larger and more eggs than larger fowls ; for this, 

 Hamburgh, Spanish, and some cross breeds may be kept 

 with advantage. As for fowls that will give, credit to the 

 breeder for their weight after being fattened, Dorkings, 

 Bramah Pootras, and Cochin Chinas, and their crosses 

 should be selected. 



Killing and Dressing Poultry for the Market. 



Almost every locality has its own system, but I may 

 advert to a few facts on this subject : Poultry, when bled 

 to death, is much whiter in the flesh. I should advise the 

 following plan as the very best, causing instant death 

 without pain or disfigurement : — 



Open the beak of the fowl, then with a pointed and 

 narrow knife make an incision at the back of the roof, 

 which will divide the vertebrae, and cause immediate 

 death : after which hang the fowl up by the legs till the 

 bleeding ceases ; then rinse the beak out with vinegar and 

 water. Fowls killed in this manner keep longer and do 

 not present the unsightly external marks as those killed 

 by the ordinary system of wringing the neck. When the 

 entrails are drawn immediately after death, and the fowl 

 stuffed, as they do in France, with paper shavings or 

 short cocoa-nut fibres to preserve their shape, they will 

 keep much longer fresh. Some breeders cram their 

 Poultry before killing to make them appear heavy ; this 

 is a most injudicious plan, as the undigested food soon 

 enters into fermentation, and putrefaction takes place, as 

 is evidenced by the quantity of greenish putrid-looking 

 fowls that are seen in the markets. 



