Mexico weekly ledger., 1901-08-29
THE LARGEST ONE IN THE
WORLD DESCRIBED.
CORN BOUGHT BY THE CAR LOAD.
Is Located at Dallas Pennsylvania, and
Covers Righty-two Acres of
Ground Can Hatch Twen-
ty Thousand Eggs at
One Time.

Dallas, Penn, has what is prob
ably the largest poultry farm in the
world, says a writer In the New Or
leans Times Democrat. The Meadow
Brook farm, situated a short halt
mile from the railroad station, covers
50 acres Of ground. The building and
yards Of this immense plant cover over
35 acres, and the amount Of floor space
under roof amounts to a little more
than liz, 900 square feet. 1t is lighted
by electricity, heated by steam, and
watered by system of pipes which
are fed by an immense living well on
the premises.
The business Of the plant consists
of supplying young ducks and chick
ems to summer hotels, clubs, restaur-
ants, steamship lines and market deal
ers who cater to the best trade of the
big cities. Eggs are also furnished in
large quantities for Matching purpo-
ses. The plan Of conducting such an
immense business Is an interesting
one
The incubator building contains 50
large incubators each holding 400
eggs. The total capacity of the incu-
bators in use is 10000 eggs. 1t takes
21 days for chicken to hatch In these
machines and 28 days for a duckiing
to come through. II all the machines
discharged their chicks and ducklings
at the same time they could not be
handled to advantage, so to overcome
this difficulty some Of the machines
are loaded with eggs each day, 50 that
some Of them discharge their young
broods daily. BY this system the age
Of the stock is graduated SO that the
number required for market natures
daily, and is cooped and shipped with
out being kept on the premises an
hour longer than necessary.
When the little chicks come from
the incubators they are herded into
pens. They advance from stall to
stall through these pens from day to
day until they are 80 days Of age,
when they are driven into the coops
and sent to market. The squad that
leaves the machines to-day are sup
posed to keep each other company
from the incubator to the frying pan,
barring those that are puny and have
to be put back few days, or those
that are particularly hardy and can
stand to be moved up pen or two,
consequently there must be thousands
of birds on hand constantly to enable
the proprietor to fill his daily orders.
The sale Of eggs for the table is an
other large source of revenue. Two
thousand hens will lay from 1000 to
1900 eggs per day. These are gathered,
the date stamped upon them, wrap
ped nicely In tissue paper, packed in
boxes holding a dozen each, and in
from six to twenty-four hours all are
on the cooks table in the different
eastern cities.
The killing house, where the poult-
ry is dressed for the market, is deserv-
ing of especial mention. In the height
Of the season men go to work at 3
o'clock in the morning. A little
tramway traverses the entire plant,
and the live birds are brought to the
killing benches, which extend the en-
tire length Of one side Of the building.
Each operator has a window to afford
him plenty Of light. There are scald-
ing vats, feather bins, cooling troughs,
dripping racks, packing benches, ,feath-
er presses, billing desks, ice breakers,
platform and hanging scales, and
numerous other contrivances so that
thousands Of birds can be turned out
with speed that seems incrediable.
Everything about the place is con-
Quoted on a large scale. There is a
root and vegetable storehouse, where
thousands Of bushels Of beets, carrots,
turnips, cabbage, etc., are stored away
every fall for winter use. This house
is built below the level of the ground
to protect its contents from frost.
In one Of these buildings there is an
immense food cooker, which viii hold
a thousand gallons. 1t occupies two
stories, being loaded from above and
emptied from below. Several barrels
Of fresh meat and bone are dumped in