84 PROFITS IN POULTRY. 
liver from the-gall. Take the gizzard to the pail and 
open and skin with another knife. Cut off the head and 
legs, putting these ina pile. When cold, cut them up 
and put them into the pail for your hens. This refuse 
thus disposed of is worth at least one cent per fowl. By 
scalding one can dress about six in an hour, while dry 
picking is much slower.” 
—to+—— 
SAVE THE FEATHERS—FEATHER-BONE. 
Few persons are aware that the coarse wing-feathers 
of turkeys and ducks, which cannot be used for dusters, 
and are generally a nuisance about the farm-yard, are of 
any value. Large poultry-raisers especially will be glad 
to learn that a recent invention of Mr. E. K. Warren 
of Michigan has created a demand for these hitherto 
worthless feathers, and that a company is now manu- 
facturing, out of the quills of feathers, an excellent 
substitute for whalebone, which, by the way, is becom- 
ing scarce and dear. 
The feathers are first stripped of their plumage by re- 
volving shears, then the quill is divided into halves by 
delicate machinery, after which the pith is removed to 
be used as a fertilizer. Analysis has shown it to be 
rich in nitrogen, and therefore very valuable on the 
farm. The split quills are cut into narrow shreds and 
braided into strong strands by machinery. These 
strands are in turn combined until there is produved a 
firm elastic band so strong that great power would be 
required to break it. This is sewed lengthwise many 
times through with colored threads, the feather-bone 
taking various colors from the kind of thread used. 
Though the business is only a few months old, a hun- 
dred persons are employed, and it is daily increasing. 
Patents have been secured in the leading European 
