The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1889-07-06
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Meats (estimated) ................,7 f6 O0Q0 200
Corn, 1855. Al. 00s bushels :. 6l0sfi.o0I
Hay. Al, S96 400 tons. -. 352 437 600
Wheat 45z. slS0D bushels. ......... 3f4226 020
Cotton. 3.Iy7, 2sn 233 pounds .... 25729s,3s7
Oats. 659. $4,000 bushels. ... 1856 I3a, 931
Dairy products (esumated)... ...... $50, 001 600
Fowls testimated). ........-.... 175,000,0oo
foultry product ..................... 1SGO)0,OOJ
My estimate poultry, say......... 3,2,00o,0N
Poultry is the fifth product in value.
Poultry stands among the great prod
ucts. and is one of the greatest food
products for man.
Vast as the product seems. we do
not supply home demand for eggs. In
1872 We imported G, ZOO. 900 dozen eggs.
In 1882, $4,000. 900, and in 1888, A..
000,0 The statistics of the imports
and the exports at Washington. for
fiscal year from June. 1886, to June.
1887, show we imported 1886. 054
dozen. value IA cents-$l. $50, 1896. We
export about So, 900 in value. to-wit:
Import 1s,6s6,o54 Dozen invoice value u, $50 $50
Exports, domestic, 81, 792 dozen, go, 606
Re-exports, li,756. q. 727............ o2,413
Balance against us. u. 687, e63
These eggs came mainly from Cana
da. and Belgium partly, about $22. 900.
We are largely an agricultural people.
Fowls are peculiarly an agricultural
product, yet we import an increasing
number of eggs annually to eat. Cana
da mainly. and Belgium partly, supply
these eggs Subjects of Britain and
Belgium feeding the sovereigns Of
America This would seem great re-
Fiction upon the dung-hill fowl of
America. But / do not 60 consider it.
1t is a reflection rather upon the poultry
culture than the fowl OF the country.
The dung-hill has done we'll under the
circumstances. He has literally had
to '.go alone" He has roasted in trees
in weather fair and foul He has
picked up" his living as best he could,
about the dung-heaps. Without much
care of himself or consideration for his
product, he has rivaled and outstripped
every other fostered and carefully
nurtured industry of the country. No!
Nobly done. old fowl of the dung-heap!
We, however, should not only make
home supply, but export largely of our
poultry product. To do this we need
improved breeds, fowls bred TO high
product of meat and eggs. We need
transportation facilities to carry speed
lily our country product to city markets.
We need education or information as
to points of economy and thrift
in fowl culture. Above all, we
nsed to be taught the importance
of this product; the profit it
yields when intelligently pursued,
and the merits of different breeds Of
fowls. In word, we need to be taught
the value of poultry to the country;
the profit of intelligent culture, and
how to get the greatest output with
least outlay.
There is no danger of over-produc-
ton SO long as We import eggs to eat.
Home demand steadily increases. In
1880 we had $1,000, 900 populations; in
1890 we will have IS, 900. 000 the great
er proportion of increase being non
producers, needing to be fed by the
farmer. win poultry pay?
Mr.. Felch, in his book, Poultry
Culture" says: MIR. Mansfield, in
1861. with 100 hens Gree range). 80
bushels corn or equivalent. no chicks
raised. produced 147 eggs per hen.
yielding net profit per hen of $1.35.
and manure 25 cents, profit SLIGO. 9th
err similar experiments in Massachu-
sets yielded 81. 90. 1925, and s.. so per
annum. Mr.. Whitman, in 1873, with
81 Leghorn hens, laying an average of
207 eggs per hen, and sold at 81 cents
per dozen, made net profit Of $4.04
per hen per annum."
Mr.. Felch also states, and gives the
figures to show it true, that Light
Brahmas and Boston market, and
product of eggs and chickens COM
bined. he can make S. per hen per
annum. Rev. j. Y. Hoyt, Of Bedford,
N. Y, states that in 1885 he bought
twenty-five hens at 20 cents-$18.75-
and sold the coming year S.040 eggs
for $63.30; sold 200 chickens for
$I1250. and had fifty left valued at
$50; expenses $125, and net profit for
year 800. His coops were small. and
had northern exposure, and in winter
were often filled with snow.
DIR. T. B. Spalding, in his work.
STANDARD and Commercial Poultry
Culture by Artificial Process" says
''that actual and varied experiments
prove that chicken can be raised
from shell to maturity-say six
months-for a maximum costs cents
per pound, the chick will gain on av-
erage of one-fourth of a pound each
week for the first twelve weeks. After