The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-10
GOVERNMENT ADVICE
 FOR POULTRY SHIPPERS
Precautions That VIII Avoid. the Heavy Losses of Last Years
 Disastrous Season.

calam1tous dressed poultry season of 1913 wrecked many handlers of poul- try, sent tens of thousands of pounds Of chickens. turkeys, ducks and geese to the crenatory, and left the con- sumer with such a. strong ayersion to the taste of the poultry thai reach ed the market in 'toff'' condition that sales have suffered ever since, is be- ing used as the text of the sermon which experts in poultry handling in the United States Department of Az riculture7 saret preaching to poultry shippers all over the country
 Shippers agree that the spoiIase of dressed poultry during the autumn of 1913. was unparalleled and that the rest of the year has been financially one of the worst on record despite the scarcity or meat. Specialists in the Department consider that the blame rests chiefly upon the man who killed, picked. chilled and packed the poul- try and sent it to market This man bought the birds alive, hence they were not decayed when he got them. The railroads, in general, have worked
 diligently at their refrtgerator lines and it is well known that shippers who packed their good properly found the railroad service last au- tumn sufficiently satisfactory to de- liver the product in good order. The receivers of poultry were hunting for
 stock that could be sold to a high | class trade-but the inspector did net have to look far for poultry that
 was absolutely unfit for food.
 The Department accompanies it's words of warning with words of ad- vice to the poultry dressers, telling them how to handle the birds to en-
 sure high quality and a minimum
 change in composition.
 First; The packer. as soon as the
 birds are received, should transfer them to ssholding batteries,'' which are really GOODS so, constructed that only a few birds are in the same compart- ment, All have an equal chance to
 get food, each has an abundance of | fresh air and absolute cleanliness is easily rnaintained.
 Second: For i24 hours before kill | ing the bird is not fed, but is given
 plenty of clean water In this way the | crop is emptied and the flavor of l the flesh is improved, as well as it's keeping quality. Of course. the bird l does not weigh as much when emptied 1 of food but it is better to be paid for a. few pounds of poultry than to re- ceive only a freight bill-
 Third: Killing should be done by 1 cutting the veins of the neck from in side the mouth; while the bird Is sus- l pended by its feet-CircuIar 61 of the Bureau Of Chemistry. gives the details of how to bleed and to
 'tbrain''--that is to loosen the fea-
 ther muscles so that the birds may
 be dry picked. not sca1ded. Scalded | birds have their keeping quality | greatly reduced.
 Fourth: Holding the bird while removing the feathers is best accom- p1ished by the .sframe'' method. The
 second best way is what Is known as 1 the string method, and the worst
 methods are the 'sbench. and Tap Fifth: After the birds are bled and
 picked the animal heat must be re
 moved. The best method of doing so is to hand them, head downward, l in a room havng temperature be- l tween 80 and S5 degrees Fahrenhet, l where they should reman for A hours. The temp perature must now go above 1 35, nor below 29 degrees, and the at l mosphere cannot be depended upon to 1 remain within these limits, hence me- i chanica1 refrigerators is an absolute necessity If the packers last season I had adhered to this one regulation 1t I is safe to assert that the inspectors in
 the markets would have had to hunt a 1 long time for a "green-strlck1 an tson }conditionedss chicken. Putting
 the birds in cold water, or water and 1 ice to cool them is unred eemably bady l and packing them in fine ice with a heavy lump of ice on top of the bar and often very disastrous method. f Sixth: Pack the chilled birds in standard boxesH12 ? to the box-or in small kegs if they are to be hard frozen, and see that each bird in the package is an exact match in qua1- l ity, size, color and perfection of dressing for every other bird This is the height of the art of grad | ing.''
 Seventh: Have the refrigeration car in which the dry picked. dray packed | poultry S to be shipped, iced with a
 mixture of broken ice and 10 to 16 l per cent Of salt for 24 hours before l loading. When loaded, the tempera- l ture of the car midway between the | doors four feet from the floor, must
 not exceed 35 degrees Fahrenheit To | ensure the best of handling during i transp ortation, dressed poultry should be shipped in carlots. If you cannot l get the minimum quantity for, your i self, get together with other nearby 1 shippers and make up a joint car- You may have to bury some hatchetss1 but 1 that is better than having your bank acnount showed under. Get together! l Remen Der that every bad chicken 1 sold flinders or prevents the sale of | g. number of good chickens. The l housewife remembers only that her | family did not like her choice of food.
 Generally she does not know whether
 the bird was dry picked or scalded. | dry packed or iced. What she wants l is a fine favored product. Your pro
 duct may be good, but if your neigh | bor's is bad yours will also suffer. eGt
 together! In this emergency the good i of one is the good of all i Circulars 61, GA and TO. Bureau of | Chemistry, and Yearbook article No. 591, all dealing with the handling of
 dressed poultry, will be sent on ap- l plieation to the Department of Agri-
 culture. as long as the supply for dis | tribution lasts
 NEW NToNRoED DOCTRINE
 FOR PACIFIC
 we feel that it cannot be a bad