The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1901-08-14

way travcrses the entire plant, and III,
the live birds are brought TO the killnA
house in cars. 1t has long pickins
benches, which extend the euth,
length Of one side of the building
hum plenty of light. There are scald
ing yats, feather bins, cooling tr0ughs,
dripping racks, packing benches, fcath-
er presses, billing desks, ice break
ers, platform and hanging scales, and
numerous other cOntrivanccs, so that
thousands of bids can be turned out
with speed that seems incredible.
Everything about the place is con
Quoted on large scale. There is a
roof and vegetable store house, where
thousands of bushels of bCcts, carrots,
turnlps, cabbage, ETC., are stored away
every TALL for winter use. This house
Is putt below the level of the ground
to protect It's contents from frost.
In one of the buildings there is an
immense food cooker, which Will hold
thousand gallons. 1t occupies two
| stories, being loaded from above and
| emrucd from below. Several barrels
OF fresh meat and bone arc dumped in
here at once, the door is blltcd down
and Il pressure of seventy pounds of
steam is turned into it for thirty miu-
ules, at the end oi which time The en-
tlrc substance, meat, bone and all, is
reduced to soup. Mule meat is used
almost exclusively in making this broth. |
lhc soup made from the flesh of the |
mules is used to mix with the food of |
The young fowls. Water is never mix. /
Ell with their food. They are givcr
plenty to drink. Great quantities of |
bread are feed to the growing fowls.
lhcy consume from GOO to 900 loavcs ;
daily Shell is purchased by the car |
load and ground by steam machinery
on the premises. The food is carteI
about the place on the cars Of the little
tramway. When the track runs through.
thc yards, as it must in some places, it
Is mutt on trCSllcs, 50 as not TO in lure
or disturb the young fowls.
Incrc are many curious facts in con-
ncctlon with the business. Little ducks
no not get dong as well as little chick
ems. TheJ are the greatest towards in
The world. When a stranger enters
heir pen they rush pclmcll TO the op-
poslle side and pile upon each other
several feet deep. AS a result of such
scare there will always be several
iead ducks and number Of crippled
)ncS. 1T is estimated that duck loses
II weight every time he is frightened,
so 1t Is matter of good business to
Keep strangers away from the duck
lens, and lew visitors ale allowed to 90
here. One OF the best ways to get a
lock OF young ducks to venture and
oEagc ior themselves is to put young f,
'hicken among them. They are yr a,
O follow leader, and when Young
Mister Chicken, who is not so coward ;
y, leads off tho ducks are right after
nm. But they are timid folk a
ighl has to be kept burning in their , ,
'cns all night. If they are left alone |
II the dark ii is not long until the vivid -,
Imagination of one of them will con-
ute up something TO get scared at.
lie will sound the alarm and the panic
hat follows is something terrible. The I
:c"ncrs 90 through at regular intervals
lullng the ..!gh, T"r duets become {
'cry fond OF the men who feed lncm
md care for them, but any other ..
breathing thing frightcns them. The !,
fowls that arc raised SO
Systematically lack good many Of the d
of the ordinary birds
hd have some ways not common to
he others. '
The keepers have peculiar call, =
'hich never fails to attract the fowls
rom all portions of the place. They
$50 have another sound, which is in
ended to initiate the whirring noise of c
hawks wings. In event OF storm J.
oming up suddenly they can clear the c
zen yards quicker than 1t takes to tell |
by sounding this alarm. a
The natural enemy of the young '
hlckcns and ducklings is the rat, but c
cVcral fcrrcts are kept on the place '
and the loss from the de- Il
'rcdations of the rodents is small. S