IX. 
THE CAPONS IN MARKET. 
HOW TO KILL, DRESS AND PACK THEM. 
“THE first thing is to decide about the market. 
Have some understanding with a good com- 
mission house in the city, or with a large hotel or 
retail dealer, and act on advice and suggestions 
received from your buyer or middleman. Keep the 
birds in confinement at least twenty-four hours be- 
fore killing, entirely withholding food and water. 
You want their crops to be entirely empty. 
You need a thin-bladed, sharp-pointed knife, the 
regular French killing knife which retails for 50 
cents, being, perhaps, preferable to all others. For 
killing and dressing select or arrange a cool, well- 
lighted shed. Fasten two pieces of strong twine to 
a beam overhead, say a foot apart, and let the lower 
ends, each of which has a “slipping 
noose,’ hang down to within three or 
four feet from the ground, or just at proper height 
to be most convenient for plucking the fowl. Fasten 
one of the capon’s legs in each of the nooses, letting 
his legs hang downward. Then holding the knife 
in the right hand, take hold of the bird’s head with 
the left, and open his bill widely. Ifthe light shines 
Killing Capons. 
