Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1906-07-03
Fattening Poultry BY Ma
chinsry.
M ANUFACTURING chickens by

al aLNuiAiAllElANs 10 ~ ANctA al
/ accomplished fact that the man who
raises fowls for the market by the
natural method finds his birds neg
lected on the butchers hooks while
those of his up-to-date competitor
go rapidly at high prices. Mans indie.
lpendence of the hen has made long
strides within the last few years. No
mechanical device has yet been fash
toned to dispIace her as All egg pro
ducer. Neither has inventive gen.
Jus discovered way to dispense with
nature in building the fowls frame.
Other processes in the development
of the chick. however. are accom-
plished in spite of the natural OBJ
stinacy Of the fowls themselves.
AS mother, the hen was put out
of business by the incubator and the
brooder. The first of these appl-
ances obviated the necessity of
wooing Mrs. Hen into a willingness
to sit on eggs for three weeks. The
brooder Invested her of an oppor-
tunity to satiate her greedy appe-
tite through gobbling up her little
ones cornmeal or the worm that His
Highness, Mr.. Rooster, scratched
out of the barn heap.
Following these appliances come
the examining machines to free the
poultry raisers from the caprices of
the chickens designed for the heads
man. The rosy combed young pull
let may dote upon her slender form
and try to starve herself to retain it,
but if the city table is to be her fate
she must become plump and fat in
spite of her whims What is more,
she must develop that peculiar kind
of flesh that tickles the palate of
the epicure. Her dark muscles must
put off their duskiness and tough
ness for a through and through tex
ture of whiteness, tenderness and
succulence.
The examining machine is a de-
vice for fattening chickens by
forced feeding. Europe is response.
bic for the Innovation in the United
States. The practice of compelling
fowls to grow fat and tender by arti-
fetal means originated in the green
valleys of France. Long ago the
Toulouse goose was transformed
into a dainty fit for the god,
through having corn rammed down
its throat with stick. The humble
. aasant in wooden shoes and gaiy
frocks discovered that the
goose could digest a lot more corn
than it would voluntarily eat So
the peasant resorted to the stick as
a means to fill the goose's crop till it
could hold no more AS fast as the
the crop became empty it was
crammed full again with the stick
In consequence, the goose fattened
so fast that the peasant could almost
see it grow. When the bird was
slaughtered its flesh was found to
possess a juicy character hitherto
unknown The Toulouse became
famous, for the epicures of Paris
esteemed the Toulouse goose as did
the Romans of old the dainty dish Of
tongue.
The French confined their artif-
cial fattening to geese: The Eng
glish, however. extended the pro-
cess 20 chickens and invented a ma
chine to take the place of the
Frenchman's stick. From England
the examining system was intro
1uced into America. In the United
States efforts have be IN made to
fatten all kinds of poultry with the
machine, but these have
failed in the case of turkeys and
been only partly successful with
lucks. Turkeys proved to be consti-
too delicate to withstand
artificial fattening. In the case Of
chickens the examining machine has
wrought wonders.
So remarkable are the results of
he forced fattening of chickens
hat several Of the great packing
houses maintain big plants, where
hey fatten all the fowls they
,uy, before placing them on the
market. They buy millions of