KILLING POULTRY 319 
Fia. 68. Location of cuts in mouths of badly bled chickens (lower jaw removed). 
(Pennington and Betts) 
chickens. The knife in common use is much too large, both too 
long and too broad for the most successful work. Generally it is 
provided with a heavy handle, large enough to be grasped easily 
by a large, strong hand. As has already been observed in this dis- 
cussion, the heavy slashing inside the bird’s mouth is not only fre- 
quently futile so far as cutting the veins goes, but is really harmful 
in that it makes a pathway for the entrance of bacteria and the con- 
sequent hastening of the bird’s decomposition. The operation calls 
for accuracy rather than for strength, and therefore it is desirable 
that the knife should have a smaller handle, which can not be gripped 
so hard. The blade of the knife should be about 2 inches long and 
one-fourth of an inch wide and of a heavy piece of steel, so that it 
will not bend. It is advisable, therefore, to have the back of the 
blade about one-sixteenth of an inch thick. It should be made of 
good hard steel and ground to a sharp point with a straight cutting 
edge, the slope for the point being taken from the back rather than 
