The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1901-01-10
CHICKENS IN CALIFORNIA.
Some of the Difficulties of Poultry Raising
Set Forth by Resident.
By ERNEST HoRsrAI1 RYDALL.

Coming along the railway before one
ascends the Great Divide, those rugged
mountains that mark the beginning of the
| arid wastes that extend from Kansas to
California, the passenger on the palatial
| Pullman car has frequently noticed that
somewhere in the neighborhood of Me
| PherSon, Kan, n ear loaded with squawk-
| ing chickens is invariably attached to
the end of the train for transfer to the
mining districts of New Mexico and Ari-
IONA.
Every year 80 carloads of cold-storage
eggs are carted over the mountains from
Missouri and Kansas to the hungry
multtudcs that dwell upon the Pacific
Slope. This will mean 100000 eggs an
nually for Los Angeles ami vicinity.
alone; fully twice that amount goes to
San Francisco. This tells the story, in as.
plain and few words as possible, of the
failure of the chicken industry in Cali,
fornia; and yet. perhaps, this term fail
ure'' is too radicals to apply TO pursuit
that is engaging some of the most thought
full men and women in California, has in
duced large amounts of money to be in
vested and has resulted in the building
up of town and the accumulation of a
fortune by large incubator company in
the manufacture of incubators alone.
There are so many radical difficulties
in the way of successful poultry raising
III California that n short account of them
in n most general manner may be useful;
yea, even if this script should prevent
| some brave or fair capitalist starting for
the land of the setting sun with the frAit
of hard earned efforts to be invested in
chicken raising in California, it will have
served n mission.
California is strewn with all kinds of
| wrecks. There are orange-raising failures
of all kinds; disappointed lemon farmers,
who have seen their assets waited away
in nights frost: olive growers who will
swear that the olive industry in Califor-
mia is an absolute failure, and in this they
are supported by the Los Angeles Times,
| the leading paper in Southern California !;
and as to chickcn-growing failures, their
| name is legion; they are sprinkled all the
way from Mount Shasta to San Diego
Bay, and in the neighborhood of the three
| large cities of California-San Francisco,
Los Angeles and San Dego-they may
be safely said to line both sides of the
street. The Belgian hare industry is Of
| fering some sOlace to these bereaved
| hearts, but the surfeit has already been
reached in this direction in Southern Cal
ifOrnia, and it is to export alone that the
| local hare-raisers of Los Angeles look at
this time for relief. Every fad has its
day. The lessons of experience are the
| best learned.
First and foremost among the cificul-
| ties that beSet the chicken farI,
| fcrnia is the want of experience. b, lore
he invests his money in stock in This arid
land, this New Palestine, n few months
apprenticeship. be he ever so good a iour-
neyman, will be extremely advisable; for
it is an art, this raising of chickens in
| California, as many have found to- their
cost. As the editor of a local poultry
magazine said to me the other day: Il
would no more advise a man to 20 into
the chicken business or anything else in
| California without experience than I
would advise him to go into the iewelry
business. the hat business. or ANYTHING
with which he was unfamiliar"
! The California hen requires constant at
| tention, the best medical treatment and
food specially prepared. The conditions
Of the climate, while ideal for the propo-
CATION of standard poultry, are also ideal
for the culture of numerous parasites.
Next to want of experience is this mat
ter of vermin. The hen-newspapers are
| filed with advertisements testifying as to