Show HOW TO RECOGNIZE GOOD TABLE X 0 I 1 i T v x Y A 4 V k fc x 9 4 v h jj r TYPICAL CAPON A BUFF WYANDOTTE from the united states department ot agriculture the importance of age per exercise food end and care as influencing tenderness and flavor in poultry Is pointed out by home economics specialists of I 1 the united states department of agriculture ri in a professional paper bulletin just published thero thera Is much less difference the bulletin states in the digestibility or healthfulness of tho the meat of different kinds of fowls than Is commonly supposed po neu nearly aly ill all the nutrients and ani or energy ergy of poultry ns its of other meats it Is pointed out are utilized by the health normal body in all kinds of poultry table quality depends primarily on tenderness and flavor and these in turn are influenced by ago age sex nex exercise food band care freshness Is also till in important factor but this to Is not lot merely a question of ho a bird has been dead but rather of how for far developed are tho chemical and bacteriological changes which when they tire carried too far cause what wo we call spoiling or decomposition n the betit the microorganisms which cause dangerous changes tire are likely to bo be introduced by careless and brij handling and for this reason cleanliness should bo be insisted on the changes take anko place most rapidly in tho ilia presente presence of warmth and moisture hence cleanliness cold and dryness tire at tho the bottom of till all tho the methods 1 of caring for poultry on the alie bartu faridi i tho warehouse at the market and la in tho the home general considerations in regard to the general considerations to be observed in n choosing poultry the bulletin calls attention to the fact that lint while the relative cost of different kinds binds of poultry depends primarily on the alio price the proportion of V it X V toulouse goose edible to inedible material and tile the thoroughness with which tho the edible portions can bo be utilized should also bo be kept in mind well grown birds with good sized masses of moderately tat flesh flash are more economical than either young or ted ones at ordinary retail prices full grown chicken en to 13 the only poultry which compares in real economy with tho the clion per cuts 0 of I 1 beet beef and pork but young chicken medium sized turkey goose and guinea fowl are often na as economical as tile the more expensive grades of other meats cold storage poultry in discussing the use of auld storage fowls the bulletin says saya tile the way in which frozen birds I ara anro thawed makes a great difference in tao length of time they keep in condition it used to vo bo customary to thaw them thein by soaking in cold water but this has been proved undesirable not only I 1 because 0 the wa terla terIs very likely not to bo be clean but also because soaked birds igo go oft in quality very rapidly soaking in hot water as Is sometimes done in market for a rush order la is even worse A much better way Is to keep P the birds for 24 hours qt at ordinary icebox tee temperature 45 degrees to arces fahrenheit As has been already thu sooner tho the birds are thawing the better anil vh ever possible sible should be stiff and thawed at home this buying poultry a day before it is n need ead I 1 ed but it Is the surest way of having baying it pr properly oberly thawed in warm weather it should be put in the refrigerator to thaw haw but in cold weather leather a moderately cool room in will do rs ns well it if it J ls is impossible to do the thawing at home the should not bo ba allowed allotted to do it until a short time before delivery although frozen poultry Is hardly to be chosen when frosh fresh birds are in the market it undoubtedly has the ad vantage outage of furnishing chickens tur tiar keys antl other birds when the natural j supply Is lacking and thus thug increasing the variety of the ment meat list good table poultry the following statement of tho the methods by which good table poultry can bo be recognized by tho the purchaser Is made in the bulletin in a freshly killed bird the feet feel moist bolst soft and limber and it if it was dressed with the head on the eyes look bright and full As it becomes stale tho eyes shrink and the feet dry and harden when too stale 1 e when decomposition Is well under way tho body turns dark and greenish or becomes alamy tile cleall should be neither flabby nor stiff but should give evenly and gentle when pressed by the finger it Is very ory difficult to io distinguish between good cold storage and freshly killed poultry one of the commonest ways of testing the ago age of dressed poultry Is to io take tile the end of the breastbone farthest from the head between thumb and finger and attempt to bond bend it to one side in a very young bird say a broiler chicken or a green goose it will bo be easily bent like the cartilage in the hurrian human car in a bird a year or so old it will ivill be brittle and in till an old bird tough and hard to bond bend or break Ud unfortunately fortunately there are sometimes tricky dealers who break the end of tile the breastbone before showing the bird and thus render the test worthless if tho the feet are left on the carcaba carcass they fur furnish nili a mark of age in n young bird they are soft and smooth becoming hard and rough ns as the bird grows grow a older the claws are arc short and sharp in a young soung bird growing longer and blunter with ago age and use spurs generally occur on oil malo male abick chickens ens on malo male broilers and tender roasting chickens they are arc small on older high or er flavored ones dries they aro are prominent but flexible on cocks they are long nna attached to the hones bones of tho the legs on capons camons they seldom develop until tile the second year of age turkeys Tur keis up to a year old are said to have black feet which grow pink up to three years old and then gradually turn gray and dull the age of pigeons can sometimes bo be told by tho the color of the breast which becomes becomes more and more purplish its aa tile tho bird grows older red feet are also said to be a sign of age in a P pigeon igeon in ducks and geese the flexibility of tile the windpipe Is a mark of youth it can be easily squeezed and moved when the bird Is young but later inter grows rigid and fixed it the tips of t the lie quills nt at tile the end of the wing are sharply pointed alje bird la Is probably young the blunter they fire arc the older the bird when capone sang has been properly done the head Is fa small tor for the size of tho the body and comb and wattles are pale and withered thi the body plumper rounder and larger than in nn an ordinary fowl nod aud the spur abortive if the operation was incomplete the head bend will be like that of nn an ordinary bird and the body less rounded such birds knowin as ag slip islip capons camons are I 1 1 1 1 inferior to true capons camons |