The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1893-03-25
GAME IN COLD STORAGE.

Birds Eept for Months In n Temperature
of I2 to Is Degree Above Zero.
New Workers eat great quantities of
game. 1t comes high, for much OF it is
scarce, but they must have 1T and are
willing to pay the price. Down in
Fulton and Washington markets thou
sands of grouse, quail partridge, wood
cock, ducks, plover, snipe, venison and
every other kind of flesh known COM
monty as wild is offered for immediate
sale, while almost as much is kept in
store for the demands of the later
season.
During the season from October to
December ~ the supply exceeds the de-
mand. The excess is kept in cold
storage Next January and February
you may eat quail at your hotel which
were shot in the Indian territory or in
Connecticut in September, and the meat
will be even sweeter and finer favored
than if the bird had been served upon
the day of its killing.
They are preserved by keeping them
in temperature of IL to Is degrees
above zero. Stand in one of them a
few minutes and your fingers will get
numb and your ears begin to Jingle.
The birds are also put through cold
process and packed closely before ship
ping to New York. 1t not only takes
an expert to cook canvasbaclS, but 1t
also takes an expert to shoot him, pack
him and preserve him.
In the receiving rooms of these cold
storage houses nowadays are hind-qua
tiers of venison from Minnesota in great
piles, barrels of canvasback ducks from
Maryland, and cases of quail and wood
cock from almost everywhere.
Within the cold storage rooms small
rabbits from the east large rabbits
from the west and occasionally big En-.
glish hares hang in pairs. There is
little demand for squirrels, but here
and there hangs bunch of a dozen or
a score Canvasbacl, redhead and ruddy
ducks from Havre de Grace are packed
in barrels. Their head and necks are
frozen stiff to the side of their bodies
The soft plumage is as pretty and
smooth as the day when the fowl was
shot, but itcovers flesh as hard and cold
as n stone in January. The venison,
like the geese, is inclosed in sacks
Chickens are not considered game save
in sporting circles, but it may be inter-
esting to know that the spring fowl you
will eat in April was packed two months
ago and is now lying in wait in this
frigid chamber of death" until the day
of roastin :.
Ice was used formerly. 1t was less
cleanly, less satisfactory and more ex-
pensive than the ammonia process now
in vogue. Four stories in one of the
largest storage houses are devoted to
the preservation of game, each floor
being divided into six chambers. Inter-
secting pipes, crystallized with snow,
run through the whole area and are
supplied by the large engines in the
upper floor. 1t takes a feathered bird
two days and picked bird one day to
become frozen.
Supply and demand regulate the
price of everything. and game birds are
hard to get. Woodcock are very difficult
to secure in amounts anything equal to
the demand. They are found chiefly in
and the Indian Territory.
In the Nutmeg state it is unlawful to
sell this choice and dainty morsel of
outside of the state; her legis-
lators have ruled that natives alone
should enjoy it. But quail from Con-
necticut are served up at New York
tables everywhere.
cartridges and grouse are closely re-
lated. The Rocky Mountain grouse
lakes its name from its habitat, and Is
D bird ardently sought after The
prairie hen is not SO good, but is
brought cast in great numbers, just the
same Never refuse one if presented to
you. The best cartridges come from
Rhode Island. Little Rhody is also re-
sponsible for the mangel goose, which
IS raised in great quantities there.
They say a mans stomach is next to
, mans heart. Certainly the canvas
back has long held sway over us He is
a diver and finds his food underneath
the water The rudy duck is of the
same habitat as the canvasback, and
of the same habits as well. His meat
has all of the excellent qualities of the
besides being juicier He is
also noted for the beauty of his plu-
mage The redhead of the same family,
who is not diver, is not so highly priced.
The mallet and the wild duck are
Found on our western lakes, and this is
the best time to shoot them.
When you eat venison do not believe
The deer your steak was cut from came
from Long Island or the AdirondackS
He did not. 1t is only occasionally an
antler is taken In these districts, and
then only by huntsmen who are there
Tor sport only. All deer for the market
come from Minnesota.
The daw bird comes from Kansas II
Is scarce and very succulent
Among the imported game the
ptarmigan from Norway, English
pheasant and English hare are now in
season, and constitute nearly all the