1894 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
5o3 
f 
i 
I 
window are both on the south side. The other three 
sides are practically air-tight. The door is always 
kept closed. The window extends from near the floor 
to near the roof. The roosting poles are placed on 
the side farthest from the window and door, with roof 
sloping to near the fowls’ beads when they are on the 
roosts. I ventilate by sliding the window horizon¬ 
tally. There is no chance for a draught, as the foul air 
must go out of the same opening that the pure air 
enters. Of course the fresh air enters the lower h\lf 
of the opening, and the foul air leaves through the 
upper part of the same opening, but it is not noticeable 
two feet from the window. I did not have the win¬ 
dows closed more than half a dozen nights last winter. 
I keep them open 8 or 10 inches in zero weather. 
One house was not closed last winter. The ther¬ 
mometer was 10 degrees below zero one morning, yet 
my S. C. B. Leghorn r oster’s comb was not frozen. 
Among my 600 hens, I did not have a case of roup 
last winter.” 
“ Do you think," said the doctor, “ that there is 
no danger of getting a bank of impure air in the rear 
of the room ? ” 
“ Certainly not in a room of that size (10 x 12 feet). 
There is a column of fresh outdoor air nearly the 
whole height of the room abutting against the inside 
air; and it is impossible to keep the pure oxjgen of 
the outside air from diffusing itself through the room 
It would be as impossible to sink such a room full of 
fresh water in the ocean, with the window open, and 
keep the salt water from entering. Fresh-water fish 
would have a poor show in there.” 
“ I am very much pleased with that idea. I shall 
have my windows altered to open horizontally as soon 
as possible. How would you apply your principle of 
ventilation to a stable ? ” 
. “ It may be a little difiScult on account of the addi¬ 
tional size of most stables. If more than one window 
were opened, the air might enter one and leave by the 
other, thus causing a draught between the two. When 
I build a new stable, I intend to try the following 
plan : The stable must be as nearly air-tight as pos¬ 
sible. Near the center of the building will be a ven¬ 
tilator shaft extending from the floor over the cows’ 
heads to the cupola, and open at the top. I will have 
an air shaft or trunk leading from the outside air 
along the floor of the stable to a point on the floor 
immediately under the ventilator shaft. This should 
have a slide to open or close at pleasure. Of course, 
as long as the stable is kept closed, there can be but 
little draught up the ventilator shaft, as warm air can 
go out no faster than a fresh supply is available. As 
soon as the slide in the air trunk on the floor is opened, 
I expect to see the foul air of the stable move up the 
shaft, and the fresh air from the air trunk diffuse it¬ 
self throughout the stable without any draught, unless 
it be from the mouth of the lower shaft directly up 
to the ventilator shaft, which could do no harm. This 
plan is only theory as yet with me, but the single 
window with perpendicular opening, I have tried to 
my satisfaction. One winter I kept the windows closed 
most of the time, and the frost would collect on the 
glass nearly every night, sometimes an eighth of an 
inch thick, showing the air to be very damp. Last 
winter, there was no frost, either on the windows or 
roof, showing that the air is free from moisture, be¬ 
sides which the hens were in good health and laid 
finely. From five pens of 200 Brown Leghorn pullets 
hatched in May and June, I gathered from 90 to 100 
eggs a day.” 
While the doctors are settling disputed questions 
about tuberculosis, farmers would better give their 
cows the best possible hygienic care and surroundings. 
O. W. MAPES. 
WHOLESALE CHICKEN KILLING. 
POULTBY FOLLOWS THE DUKS8ED BEEF TBADE. 
A Successful New Business. 
The R. N.-Y. has told its readers several times that 
the Armour Packing Company have established a 
plant at Kansas City for slaughtering and dressing 
poultry. It is an old story now how the dressed beef 
trade has revolutionized the cattle growing business. 
These immense slaughter houses have concentrated 
the trade and changed it so that the character of 
farming in many States has been changed with it. It 
was supposed that the poultry shipping and slaughter¬ 
ing trade would remain in the hands of the smaller 
dealers and butchers who have handled it so long; 
but even that seems to be changed. The following 
facts about the Armour poultry business were obtained 
from Mr. H. E. Finney, superintendent of the poultry 
packing department: 
“ Where does your poultry come from ? ” 
“ Mostly from Missouri and Kansas, northern and 
southwestern Missouri, being one of the finest poultry 
sections in the United States. Last fall we collected 
our poultry by means of the Live Poultry Transporta¬ 
tion Company’s cars, but we found this unsatisfactory 
for many reasons and have discontinued it. We re¬ 
ceive the bulk of our stock now by express, and dur¬ 
ing the cold weather, by freight. We have had a few 
shipments from as far South as Indian Territory and 
Texas, but the stock from that section is poor and 
thin and does not compare with poultry from northern 
Missouri and Kansas.” 
“ How much do you handle ? ” 
“ During the season we handled from two to six car¬ 
loads a day, working a force of 75 to 150 men and wo¬ 
men. We find that women make better pickers than 
men, as they do cleaner and more satisfactory work. 
Of course our stock is shipped in our refrigerator cars 
to all parts of the country. Our experience teaches 
us that dry-picked stock will carry all right if chilled 
in our coolers and packed dry for shipment in refriger¬ 
ator cars ; while scalded stock must be cooled in ice 
tanks and packed in ice, except in extreme cold 
weather. We have no dressing or picking machines, 
doing all this work by hand, although there is a kill¬ 
ing machine which we understand works very suc¬ 
cessfully.” 
Why the Business Was Started. 
“ What caused you to think of packing poultry on 
such a large scale ? ” 
“ The improvements in refrigeration have so 
changed the meat business that the poultry trade 
grew of itself. The great meat packing establish¬ 
ments of Kansas City at first received orders from 
hotel stewards for beef and pork tenderloins, and 
similar cuts of meats which their local butchers could 
not supply. These were packed in boxes with ice and 
shipped by express. When refrigerator cars came 
into use, hotel men who wished to serve the best 
meats to their guests, ordered all kinds of meats di¬ 
rectly from the packers, and then included in their 
PoBTABLE House fob Poultby. Fio. 133. See p. 509. 
orders fish, chickens and game, which the packers 
purchased on the market and shipped with the meats. 
Orders for fowls of all kinds so increased in volume 
that it became necessary for us to supply the demand 
ourselves instead of buying.” 
“ How do you get the birds ? ” 
“Our agents throughout the country buy from the 
farmers, and ship to us in car-load lots.” 
“ What are the details of killing and dressing ? ” 
“Men do most of the dry picking. A turkey, for 
instance, is hung by the legs to a cord attached to the 
ceiling. Its throat is slit, and while bleeding, the 
picker plucks it with amazing rapidity, first the breast, 
then the neck and thighs, after which it is swung 
around and the back is cleaned of its feathers. The 
tail and wing feathers are then carefully plucked and 
thrown into a pile, and the turkey, perhaps not quite 
dead, is taken down and handed to a girl, who is 
called a pinfeatherer. This girl pulls out all the pin¬ 
feathers, and cleans the bird in good style. Dry picked 
chickens are treated in the same way. Dry pickers 
are paid two cents each for chickens and five cents for 
turkeys, out of which they pay their pinfeatherers from 
75 cents to $1 a day, according to their experience. 
Some of these dry pickers earn as much as $5 a day. 
The fowls are taken to the cooling rooms where they 
are hung on racks, and the animal heat gradually 
taken from them. The birds are not drawn until the 
time comes to pack them for shipment, as some mar¬ 
kets prefer the fowls drawn, others undrawn.” 
“ Nothing is lost, we suppose ?” 
“ Oh, no. At night, all the feathers are carefully 
gathered, the breast feathers taken to a steam renova¬ 
tor in which they are steamed and cleaned, and after¬ 
wards dried. They bring four to five cents a pound 
for chicken feathers, and 35 to 50 cents a pound for 
prime duck and goose feathers. The wing feathers 
are carefully sorted by girls into bunches containing 
common wing feathers, prime wings and pointers. 
These are made into feather dusters, the ‘ pointers’ 
being used to stiffen the brushes and give them 
strength. Feathers are sold in Germany and exported 
principally by St. Louis and New Ycrk. Nothing goes 
to waste in the dressing room. The homely gizzard 
and toothsome liver are placed in boxes and sold to 
the local markets to be used in “ giblet stews” in 
happy homes, restaurants and hotels. The entrails, 
heads and legs go to the fertilizing vats.” 
Where the Poultry Goes to. 
“ What markets take your poultry ? ” 
“Our markets on dressed poultry extend from 
Savannah, Qa., in the South, to St. Paul, Minn., in 
the North ; to Boston in the East, to San Francisco 
in the West. We ship to 8.11 these points during the 
fall regularly, and all but extreme Southern points 
through the summer. We have made a poultry mar¬ 
ket out of Kansas City, and, in a measure, have made 
the poultry business in this section. Until recently. 
Western poultry was quoted at from one to two cents 
a pound less than Eastern poultry, for the reason that 
Western farmers paid no attention to their fowls, and 
the shippers were not particular in their method of 
killing and dressing. For instance, people in Boston 
must have their chickens and turkeys dressed with 
heads off and feet on, or the fowls will bring a price 
lower by five cents a pound than if properly dressed. 
Poultry for the New York market must be dressed 
with equal care. We now compete favorably with 
the shippers of Michigan, Massachusetts and Ohio, 
and our poultry is pushing the famous Philadelphia 
capon for first place on the tables of Eastern epicures. 
The poultry business in the West is increasing each 
year.” 
“ How are they packed for shipment ? ” 
“ When the time comes for shipment, they are taken 
to the packing room. There the packers and dressers 
give them the final touches which distinguish them 
as properly dressed fowls when they reach the Eastern 
markets. No ice is placed in the box®s to be shipped 
to the East, while the Southern markets call for ice in 
the boxes. If a shipment is to be made to Boston, for 
instance, large, clean packing cases are prepared, and 
lined with sheets of bright manilla paper. The dressers 
pick out clean, white birds of uniform size, which are 
taken to the chopping blocks. The heads are cut off, 
the necks tied up, the entrails drawn, the cavity 
cleaned, and the legs, being left on, are tied together. 
Then the packer carefully places them in the boxes so 
that they will not get bruised in transportation. The 
boxes are then stenciled on the end thus: 
Urawn. Dry plckea. 
Sixteen younK turkeys. 
Gross weight. 194 
Tare. 24 
Net weight. 170 
Heads off. Feet on. 
“ The boxes are then taken to the freezing room, 
where in a temperature of a few degrees above zero, 
the birds are frozen hard and stiff, and if left in that 
condition, will keep sweet for an indefinite time.” 
GETTING CORN TO THE SILO. 
HOW THEY DO IT IN CANADA. 
My neighbor’s silo is inside a basement barn, and is 
18 X 18 feet and 22 feet deep. The power, a two-horse 
tread, and also the cutter are set outside the barn. 
The power is generally used to run a milk separator. 
When the silo is being filled, the milk is set in pans for 
butter, or made into cheese, the farmer having a small 
cheese plant of his own. If the corn field is near the 
barn, the silo is filled with the ordinary farm help, 
consisting of the farmer, his son, a young man, a boy 
fit to drive a team, and two hired men. Two teams 
are used, one for the tread-power, and one to draw the 
corn He uses two low-wheeled wagons, with plat¬ 
forms extending over the wheels. When the corn 
field is far from the barn, another wagon, team and 
driver are provided. The cutter is set on a platform 
about 2H feet high; a rope leads from the brake of 
the power, to within reach of the feeder’s hand. Two 
of the men cut the corn with corn knives or sickles ; 
when a load is cut, the boy takes a team and wagon to 
the field, the cutters load the wagon, laying the corn 
across so that the butts of the corn will be next the 
table of the machine. The boy drives his load across 
the end of the feed table, changes the team to an 
empty wagon, and goes out to the field again. 
When the horses are on the power and the load of 
corn in position, the feeder slacks the brake, the ma¬ 
chine starts, the feeder unloads the wagon and feeds 
the machine at the same time. As soon as the load is 
off, the brake is put on, the power stopped, and the 
wagon run out of the way by hand; this is easily 
done, as the ground slopes from where the wagon 
stands. The other man levels and tramps the en¬ 
silage in the silo, and does any other needed job. He 
is not particular about filling the silo all at once, but 
will stop a few days if other work is more pressing. 
Sometimes he stops to let the ensilage settle, so as to 
get in more corn. He never stops on account of the 
corn being wet, or dry. If mu^ih dried by frost, he 
adds water, and has never noticed any difference in 
feeding value. That is a good idea of Mr. Gould’s to 
have a leaking can dripping water on the dry corn as 
it is cut at the machine. 
Before starting to fill the silo this last time, he had 
been feeding his cows corn, but after starting to cut 
