[Illustration: A BAD STYLE OF SLAUGHTERING.]
Fat is not a necessary part of any animal body, being the form which
superabundant nourishment assumes, which would, if needed, be converted
into muscles and other solids. It is contained in certain membranous
receptacles provided for it, distributed over the body, and it is turned
to use whenever the supply of nourishment is defective, which should be
provided by the stomach, and other great organs. In such emergencies it
is taken up, in the animal economy, by the absorbents; if the latter,
from any cause, act feebly, the health suffers. When, however,
nourishment is taken into the system in greater quantities than is
necessary for ordinary purposes, the absorbent vessels take it up; and
the fat thus made is generally healthy, provided there is a good
digestion.
A common method of fattening fowl is to give them the run of a
farm-yard, where they thrive upon the offal of the stable and other
refuse, with perhaps some small regular daily feeds; but at
threshing-time, they become fat, and are styled _barn-door fowls_,
probably the most delicate and high-flavored of all, both from their
full allowance of the finest grain, and the constant health in which
they are kept, by living in the natural state, and having the full
enjoyment of air and exercise; or, they are confined in coops during a
certain number of weeks, those fowls which are soonest ready being taken
as wanted.
Fowls may also be fattened to the highest pitch, and yet preserved in a
healthy state--their flesh being equal in quality to that of the
barn-door fowl--when confined in feeding-houses. These should be at once
warm and airy, with earth floors, well-raised, and sufficiently
capacious to accommodate well the number desired. The floor may be
slightly littered down, the litter being often changed; and the greatest
cleanliness should be observed. Sandy gravel should be placed in several
different layers, and often changed. A sufficient number of troughs, for
both water and food, should be placed around, that the fowls may feed
with as little interruption as possible from each other; and perches in
the same proportion should be furnished for those which are inclined to
avail themselves of them; though the number will be few, after they have
begun to fatten. This arrangement, however, assists in keeping them
quiet and contented until that period. Insects and animal food forming a
part of the natural diet of poultry, they are medicinal to them in a
weakly state, and the want of such food may sometimes impede their
thriving.
The least nutritious articles of food, so far as it can be done
conveniently, should be fed out first; afterward, those that are more
nutritive. Fattening fowls should be kept quiet, and suffered to take no
more exercise than is necessary for their health; since more exercise
than this calls for an expenditure of food which does not avail any
thing in the process of fattening. They should be fed regularly with
suitable food, and that properly prepared; and as much should be given
them as they are able to convert into flesh and fat, without waste. The
larger the quantity of food which a fattening animal can be made to
consume daily, with a good appetite, or which it can digest thoroughly,
the greater will be the amount of flesh and fat gained, in proportion to
the whole quantity of food consumed.
Substances in which the nutriment is much concentrated should be fed
with care. There is danger, especially when the bird is first put to
feed, that more may be eaten at once than the digestive organs can
manage. Meal of Indian corn is highly nutritive; and, when properly fed,
causes fowls to fatten faster than almost any other food. They will not,
however, bear to be kept exclusively on this article for a great length
of time. Meal made from the heaviest varieties of corn, especially that
made from the hard, flinty kinds grown in the Northern and Eastern
States, is quite too strong for fowls to be full-fed upon. Attention
should also be paid to the bulk of the food given; since sufficient bulk
is necessary to effect a proper distending of the stomach, as a
necessary condition of healthy digestion.
One simple mode of fattening, which is adopted by many, is the
following: Shut the fowls up where they can get no gravel; keep corn by
them all the time, and also give them dough enough once a day; for
drink, give them skimmed milk; with this feed, they will fatten in ten
days; if kept longer, they should have some gravel, or they will fall
away.
Oats ground into meal, and mixed with a little molasses and water,
barley-meal with sweet milk, and boiled oats, mixed with meat, are all
excellent for fattening poultry--reference being had to time, expense,
and quality of flesh.
In _fattening ducks_, it must be remembered that their flesh will be
found to partake, to a great extent, of the flavor of the food on which
they have been fattened; and as they are naturally quite indiscriminate
feeders, care should be taken, for at least a week or so before killing,
to confine them to select food. Boiled potatoes are very good feeding,
and are still better if a little grain is mixed with them; Indian meal
is both economical and nutritive, but should be used sparingly at first.
Some recommend butcher's offal; but, although ducks may be fattened on
such food to an unusual weight, and thus be profitable for the market,
their flesh will be rendered rank and gross, and not at all fit for the
table.
To _fatten geese_, it is necessary to give them a little corn daily,
with the addition of some raw Swedish turnips, carrots, mangel-wurtzel
leaves, lucerne, tares, cabbage leaves, and lettuces. Barley-meal and
water is recommended by some; but full-grown geese that have never been
habituated to the mixture when young, will occasionally refuse to eat
it. Cooked potatoes, in small quantities, do no harm; and, apart from
the consideration of expense, steeped wheat would produce a first-rate
delicacy.
Those who can only afford to bring up one or two, should confine them in
a crib or some such place, about the beginning of July, and feed them as
directed, giving them a daily supply of clean water for drink. If from a
dozen to twenty are kept, a large pen of from fifteen to twenty feet
square should be made, well covered with straw on the bottom, and a
covered house in a corner for protection against the sun and rain, when
required; since exposure to either of these is not good. It will be
observed that, about noon, if geese are at liberty, they will seek some
shady spot, to avoid the influence of the sun; and when confined in
small places, they have not sufficient space for flapping their wings,
and drying themselves after being wet, nor have they room for moving
about so as to keep themselves warm. There should be three troughs in
the crib: one for dry oats; another for vegetables, which ought always
to be cut down; and a third for clean water, of which they must always
have a plentiful supply. The riper the cabbages and lettuces are with
which they are supplied the better.
SLAUGHTERING AND DRESSING. Both ducks and geese should be led out to the
pond a few hours before being slaughtered, where they will neatly purify
and arrange their feathers. The common mode of slaughtering the
latter--bleeding them from the internal parts of the throat--is
needlessly slow and cruel.
Fowls for cooking, that are to be sent to a distance, or to be kept any
time before being served, should be plucked, drawn, and dressed
immediately after being killed. The feathers strip off much more easily
and cleanly while the bird is yet warm. When large numbers are to be
slaughtered and prepared in a short time, the process is expedited by
scalding the bird in boiling water, when the feathers drop off almost at
once. Fowls thus treated are, however, generally thought inferior in
flavor, and are more likely to acquire a taint in close, warm weather,
than such as are plucked and dressed dry.
In dressing, all bruises or rupturing of the skin should be avoided. A
coarse, half-worn cloth, that is pervious to the air, like a wire sieve,
and perfectly dry and clean, forms the best wrapper. The color of
yellow-skinned turkeys--equally well-flavored, by the way--is improved
for appearance at market by wrapping them for twelve or twenty-four
hours in cloths soaked in cold salt and water, frequently changed. For
the same purpose, the loose fat is first laid in warm salt and water,
and afterward in milk and water for two or three hours. Some dust with
flour, inside and out, any fowls that are to be carried far or to hang
many days before being cooked.
The oldest and toughest fowls, which are often pronounced unfit for
eating, thrown away, and wasted, may be made into a savory and
nutritious dish by jointing, after the bird is plucked and drawn, as for
a pie; it should not be skinned. Stew it five hours in a close saucepan,
with salt, mace, onions, or any other flavoring ingredients desired.
When tender, turn it out into a deep dish, so that the meat may be
entirely covered with the liquor. Let it stand thus in its own jelly
for a day or two; it may then be served in the shape of a curry, a
hash, or a pie, and will be found to furnish an agreeable repast.
Old geese, killed in the autumn, after they have recovered from
moulting, and before they have begun to think about the breeding time,
make excellent meat, if cut into small portions, stewed slowly five or
six hours with savory condiments, and made into pie the next day. By
roasting and broiling, the large quantity of nutriment contained in the
bones and cartilages is lost, and what might easily be made tender has
to be swallowed tough. Young geese, as well as the old, are, also, often
salted and boiled.