Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1881-02-02
ARTIFICIAL POULTRY
BREEDiNG.
THE FAILURE OF sucn ATTEMPTs-DE
rERIoRIATIoE or CHICKENS AND
TURKEYS VIEWS OF A PROM.
lNENr DEALER.

iNENr DEALER.
From The Ns,o York Ersaiay Post
Mr.. Halsey W. Knapp, well.known
poultercr Of Washington market, was
questioned the other morning by re.
} porter of the Eueaihg Post as to the
success of the attempts to raise chick
ems and of late turkeys, by artificial
! means, scheme which promised some
years ago to revoluiionize the poultry
industry in this country At present
the supply of ponllfy is said to be in
sufficient for the demand. "You come
TO bad quarter for news Of this
scheme SAID MI Knapp, ''ior al.
ways dlscourags Z BE- attempt to do
better than nature, I went to France
to study tho matter, for If il can be
made to succeed it will make an i'm
menso fortune, as II has already done
in Paris was delighted with what
| saw there, and the matter at frat
sight seems to be so fascinating that |
do not wonder that new men here are
always ready to take hold of il as soon
US those who have bought dear expe.
rience are only too glat TO get out OF it.
Even elergymen and actors are bitten
with the desire to transform so many
pounds OF corn into so many pounds of
spring chicken. The now successful
manager (Mackaye) spent about
$1,000 in constructing hatching.ma.
chimes and artificial mtthers in COnneo
tiout, bat he found that the stage paid
better, and bis expensive devices may
now be bought for thovaluo OF old tin
Enthusiasts will tel you that by the
new discovery, chickens may be made
out Of corn with absolute certainty.
la Paris this has been done: but the
conditions arc entirely different here.
There the land ia valuable, and they
cannot devote large fields to a few
hundred chickens; the French climate
Is so uniform that the markets of Paris
cannot DO supplied from the South |
with produce which ripens or natures
before that Of the neighborhood off
Paris the price OF ehi.keGs is 80 high |
and labor go cheap that more care can |
be given with profit to one spring
chicken than ono Of our poultry raj |
sers could give to dozen, Here we
have plenty Of land the climate south
of us is 50 far advanced in warmth
that even with steam we cannot raise
poultry ahead OF the South, and the
margin Of profit is 30 small that one
failure with u large batch Of chickens
sweeps away the profits from several
successful experiments
"When persons wanted me TO 90
into the project declined, and was
called an old logy. 0ne man spent Il
fortune on the enterprise in New Jer-
sey, and at first was hailed as u public
beueactOr. What was the result of
all this outlay and work ? Ho man
aged to hatch quantities ofyoung chick.
ems every February, but, although be
could iatten them by placing them in
boxes and forcing fattening mixture
down their throats, be could not make
them grow they had no exercise
they remained puby little things, and
another defect soon appeared though
fat, they were tough and stringy.
The breeder sent lots Of them to me,
and they looked fat and tender but
my customers complained that they
couiu NOV % young Ior they were
tougn ana 'as'elesS ana that ! must
nave solu lhem aged dwaris under the
name OF oprlhgcnlcRens' TWAS iouhd
necessary 10 let them run out
o' uoors as soon Us lhe Wealher allow
'u u ana oy inc uIne that lhey were
ready Tor market Tue southern chick
ehs were mere ana coEld DC sold Tor
Tess thah those Ihe upshot oil the
business Is 'hat lhls breeder mas sofa
out ana another man has now taken {
hOId oi asmall parto his old establish \
hent 10 Try other methods OF making 4
I u success As to raising turkeys IN Z
nat manner, 1t VIII tall more dl'as- I
rous'y lhah the chicken business. :
SIZE anu weight are wanted 10 turkeys, s
ma That reminds me- continued Mr.. i
hnapp, that the newspapers ought TO {
impress the country people with the /
necessity OF Improving Their ponltry
itock breeding IN aud IN Is running J
poultry every year the stock We re I
'eive is deterlorating, and this is the {
'anse could glveyuu some striking
Examples from my experience Of forty ,
'curs n the business Some years ago I
To poulteters thought that ducks we're )
,oing to disappear IRON bills Of fare alto. I
,elher; they were tasteless, worthless I
sland a farmer made experiments in ,
ou,,h 49, an oIi;.,o,,r and ,h, oor,,,,,, '