78 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
Prcscnnng Fcatlicrs. — Where feathers are obtained in great quantities, or even when it is desired to 
utilise for domestic use, the following simple system of preserving will be found useful : The wing and tail 
feathers should be discarded, reserving only those from the neck and body. 'I'hey should be spread over the 
floor of a dry room or loft, being well separated, and plenty of air should be allowed to circulate through the 
room, taking care, however, that the wind is not too strong to blow them about the apartment. 
They should be turned over about once a week, or twice if convenient. After becoming fairly dry, and 
when a sufficient quantity is collected, they should be finally cured by being placed in large paper packages 
or bags, through which holes have been perforated, to allow the escape of moisture, then placed in a cool 
oven at night time for a week or so. ^Vhere a suitable oven is not at hand, the bags may be hung up in a 
chimney, or in any dry, sunny, or draughty position, taking precaution that they do not get wet at ariy time 
during the [)eriod, when, after a month or two, they will be quite ready for use. Feather dealers hang the 
bags across lines, stretched across the room, leaving all doors and windows open on dry days. Where a 
large quantity is undergoing the process of curing, this minimises the amount of labour in handling, but is 
a slower process, though answering equally as well in the end. 
Fig. 50. — Table for Caponising. 
For local consumption Fowls do not require to be specially fattened. By being well-fed and allowed 
free range they will put on flesh rapidly ; but if it is desired to get half a dozen ready for a special occasion, 
housing for a fortnight in a dry, roomy shed, and regularly and liberally supplied with good soft food, such as 
pollard, buckwheat meal, or coarse oatmeal, mixed with boiling water into a crumbling mass, given three 
times per day, and supplied with fresh green food and plenty of clean drinking water, the effects of the 
treatment will be magical. 
Touching on the subject of caponising (which, like most innovations, is very slow in progress), very 
little need be said here, as for Table or E.xport Poultry a breed of Fowls that would not be ready for market 
at four to six months old would never pay to rear. Caponising, undoubtedly, has its advantages, such as 
assisting to provide a larger and hetter table Fowl ; but the loss of time occasioned by the bird recovering 
from the effects of the operation, and the long period required for full development, would not compensate 
the breeder of chickens who devoted his energies to the production of Fowls that at the age of four to six 
months would be ready for export, besides requiring an intelligent assistant to become accustomed to the 
work, which is, without a suspicion of doubt, a most delicate and skilful operation to perform properly, and 
if not done in a //lorjiig/ily expert manner much more would be lost than gained. However, although we 
