320 POULTRY CULTURE 



Shaping. The operation of shaping is done sometimes as the 

 birds are cooling, sometimes as they are packed. The object is to 

 make the bird appear as plump as possible. The advantage is 

 greatest with poultry in fair condition but not noticeably well 

 meated. In Europe a number of methods of shaping are practiced, 

 some even going so far as to wrap each bird tightly in cloth while 

 cooling. A more common method there, used to some extent in 

 Canada, is to place the birds in a squatting position in V-shaped 

 troughs, with a weight on the back of each bird. A similar but 

 simpler method is used by some packers in the United States, the 

 birds being held in a squatting position on a rack by strips from i g^ to 

 2 inches high, about 6 or 8 inches apart in front and coming together 

 at the rear, a board the length of the rack serving as a weight for 

 all the birds on it. With good, plump stock there is little occasion 

 for such shaping for American markets. The object of it is evi- 

 dently deceptive, — to press in the breast and hip bones and give 

 an appearance of greater meatiness than exists. Good stock does 

 not need this treatment for these markets. All that is necessary is 

 to pack in such position that the carcass will present a symmetrical 

 appearance and show for just what it is. 



Grading. The proper sorting and grading of dressed poultry is 

 of less importance to the ordinary producer than to the packer, 

 but still it should have his attention. Packers make many grades, 

 according to weight, quality, condition, etc. Producers marketing 

 their own poultry usually make no more than three grades of any 

 one kind of poultry, — firsts, seconds, and culls, — and unless oper- 

 ations have been very unsuccessful, the proportion of seconds and 

 culls should be small. 



Firsts are choice, well-finished birds, not damaged in dressing. 



Secotids are slightly inferior birds, and firsts slightly damaged 

 in dressing. 



Culls are decidedly poor and badly damaged birds. 



Whether selling single birds to individual consumers or selling 

 in quantity, the poultry keeper should carefully avoid putting in- 

 ferior stuff with his better grades. The object of grading is not to 

 pass off all that he has with the highest grade that it can get by, but 

 to assort it in conformity with the general scale of prices and de- 

 mands of the trade. There is nothing to be gained in money by 



