26 BULLETIN 1385, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
the side of the last bird until the trough is full. The wings are 
folded against the side of the body. When the trough is full a board 
4 inches wide and about one-half inch shorter than the trough is 
placed across the backs of the carcasses just behind the wings. On 
this board are placed heavy bricks or weights weighing up to 100 
pounds or more per rack. The fowls remain in the rack until cold, 
sometimes for several hours, sometimes overnight, and are thereby 
set in shape. Cooling is usually done without refrigeration, although 
a few packers have ice-cooled rooms for the warmer days. 
This method of shaping produces a flat-backed carcass with the 
feet pressed into the breasts. This is the position in which the birds 
are usually exposed for sale in the markets, where they are placed on 
a shelf that slants toward the purchaser, so that the backs of the 
birds show most prominently. The blood left in the neck is concealed 
by approximately 2 inches of feathers which have not been removed 
in picking. 
PACK INC. 
After the Surrey fowl is cooled it is generally packed in an especial 
box or crate and shipped to the London market. This shipping box 
is called a " ped " and holds upwards of 100 pounds of poultry. It is 
made of thin splints, reinforced .with slats of thicker wood, and 
resembles in appearance the bread or laundry boxes used in this 
country. Kadi box is approximately 20 inches wide, 18 inches deep, 
and 30 inches long. The birds are packed in the ped between alter- 
nate layers of straw. Two rows of squatted birds, packed breast 
down with the heads to the center, compose a layer. The straw used 
in packing the poultry is straightened before being placed in the ped 
and between the Layers of poultry, so the Mesh shall not be unduly 
bruised. Care is taken that the package be packed firmly, so that 
there is no shifting of the birds during transit. 
Before the war fatted poultry from the Sussex, Surrey, and Kent 
districts were shipped to London by train. Now practically all are 
transported by automobile 1 trucks. Trucks leave this district late 
every night and deliver the poultry to the wholesale or retail markets 
in London the following morning. 
QUANTITY PREPARED 
During the war, because of the restrictions on feedstufl's and 
transportation, together with the scarcity of labor, the volume of 
the Surrey fowl industry was greatly reduced. Before the war the 
output in the fattening district, as nearly as can be estimated, was 
approximately :> .000.000 pounds yearly/ Not enough poultry was 
raised locally to fill the requirements of the fatteners and it was nec- 
essary to bring in poultry from surrounding counties and even from 
Ireland. It is stated that about 300,000 head were brought from Ire- 
land to the Uckfield and Heathfield districts each year. At present 
there are no importations from Ireland, and the poultry fed is 
largely of local production. 
Estimates made in the London market and in the Heathfield 
district indicated that the production for 1924 was not in excess of 
1,500,000 pounds. But production is increasing and it may be ex- 
pected that in four or five years the volume will equal that of pre- 
