The Portland daily press., 1880-11-16
AGRICULTURAL.
Feeding Poultry for the Table.

-NCo thC AOllOW'uS uuCCbiOlio AoA ihouAiiS
white, plump and tender chickens for the
able, as obtained from celebrated cook in
the south of France. To get good weight
and delicate color, only meal from the last
years growth should be used in the fatten-
ing process, and the water employed in the
mixing of the food should be mixed with
salt in the proportion of ten grammes to the
litre (three-eighths of an ounce avoirdupois
to quart of meal.) Further, a small qua',-
tity of coarse gravel should be added to the
paste hus made, so as to assist the birds
digestive functions. Special care should be
taken not to give them any heavy meal for
at least twelve hours before they are to be
killed, so that the intestines may be empty
at the time OF death, and the acid fermenta-
ton OF their contents, which would other
wise ensue, and which facilitates decompo-
sition may be avoided. Nor should he be in
TOO great hurry to pluck them; if feathers
are pulled out while the blood is still fluid,
the vesicle at the root of each of them will he
gorged and the skin gets spotted. A fowl
killed while digestion is going on will hardly
keep eek. By attention to the above d.
reciions. they may be preserved for fort
night in mild, wet weather, and three weeks
or more when the weather is dry and cold.
A few pieces of charcoal put inside will as
sist in preservation.
iA1LLlN0 AMI DhESSlN0
Food in the crop Injuries the appearance,
is liable to sour, and purchasers object to
paying for this worse than useless weight:
therefore, keep from food for twenty-four
hours before killing. All poultry, but more
especially turkeys, should be killed by bleed
ing in the neck, and picked while the body
is warm; and in no case should the poultry
be scalded; wet picked poultry is not wanted
in this market, and will not sell for more
than half urice. AS soon as the poultry is
picked. take off the head at the throat, and
strip the blood out of the neck, peel back
the skin little, remove a portion of the
neck bone then just before packing except
in warm weather. draw the skin over the
head and tie and trim neatly, draw the in
testines, making the incisions as small as
possible, and leaving the gizzard, heart, etc /,
in. Pull out the wing and tail feathers
clean.
PACKING.
Poultry should be entirely cold but not
frozen before being packed. If packed with
the animal heat in, it will be almost sure to
spoil. Sort your poultry carefully and have
the No. stock Of uniform quality. Pack
the No. Q stock in separate packages. If
you have any old bull turkeys pnt them in a
separate package or with the No. stock
Line the boxes with clean paper but never
use straw in packing and never paper wrap
poultry. Pack as closely as possible, backs
upward, legs out straight, and see that the
boxes are so full that when the covers are
allied on there can be no possibility of the
contents shifting about. Boxes are the
best packages and should contain from 100
to 200 pounds. Larger boxes are inconve-
nient and more liable to get injured.
MARKING AND SHIPPING.
Mark the kind on the cover, the gross
weight and correct tare. Never practice
any deception in tares of packages or in
packing the poultry, for the buyer will find
it out, and your commission man will have
TO make it right and the reputation of your
mark is injured, and will be avoided when
kno n as not reliable. The address of the
firm to which the package is shipped should
also be marked on the cover, and the
initials or shipping mark of the party ship
ping. Send fnll advices and the invoice BY
mail Immediately after the goods are shipped.
HOW TO PACK EGGS IN BARRELS.
Put little long, soft straw or hay, say
two or three inches in thickness, event.
over the bottom of the barrel, then fine,
kiln-dried cut straw or hay, to the depth OF
two or thr inches, then a layer of eggs
laid upon the sides, evenly imbedded in
the packing, with the ends toward the bar
rel, but about an inch from the slaves.
Cover the layer with packing to the depth
of about one inch, rub well in between the
eggs with the hand. It is well to shake the
barrel gently after each layer is put in,
first placing light follower upon the layer.
Place about three inches of packing over the
last layer, then about the same quantity OF
long straw or hay as at the bottom, filling
so high that the head must be pressed to its
place by lever or other mechanical power
thus holding the contents SO firmly that they
can never shift or loosen in the barrel
Great care should be taken not to pack In
| new oats, straw or ehaff; they will sweat
AID rot the eggs in short time. Dry oats
make good packing, but too expensive as
they become injured by absorbing broken
what they cost They are now very little
used. One of the chief causes of failure in
packing eggs is the using of too little pack
ing at the top, bottom and sides of the bar
rel. Eggs are often much broken from
crowding too many into the package. Fol
an ordinary -four barrel, so to 70 dozen
are quite sufficient. Put say ~ dozen in
the first layer, and increase ! dozen to the
layer up to 81 or dozen in the two middle
layers, then decrease agaiu at the same
rate.
TO COOK POULTRY OR MEAT QUICKLY.
Any kind of poultry or meat may be
cooked quicker by adding two tablesooo
Of vinegar to the water in which it is boiled
1T will remove the faint of fish, flesh or fowl
by soaking in it and scraping.
and readings. The social opportunities of
the rainy day have generally been sought in
the lounging places of the nearest village.
10 say that the occasions of companionship
are not so easily arranged for in the country
as in the .own is only to say that more pains
should be taken to secure them. 1t is not
so easy to get the mail or call in the doctor,
but no one expects, for that reason, to 90
without newspapers or quinine because be
lives in the country. There is the district
school house-how much brighter its desks
and wall would seem to many boy and girl
If 1t were associated with the merry evening
meetings, the winter through, for debates
and lectures and entertainments that it
would be in the power of little home en-
terprise to provide. There has been no need
that farm life should be as lonesoue as the
young folks have sometimes found It,
As to its drudgery-whatever has been
the case IL the past when there were stumps
to be pulled and mortgages to be lifted from
almost every field; when it was long way
to market and the buyer paid for produce in
''trade;" when almost all implements were
IaINN Av1nvrv bows L