The San Francisco call., 1901-12-08

average profit per hen Is 81 to 81 50 net
per annum One man about three miles
from Petaluma has succeeded by special
care, neatness and good selection of fowls.
in making his hens pay tr1fie over 81
each per annum-
If the eggsheIls were only as valuable
as the eggs what duplicate store OF
riches would accrue to many. The In
cubatorS leave behind them a vast num-
Der of shells, which are carted away by
the wagon load for use in the tannerieS.
or are crushed and fed to their near rela-
tives, the chicks. Perhaps the biggest
wagon Load on q record rec i i was made d py the
cubator. Encased in wire netting they re-
sembled case Of huge popcorn
The average poultry ranch is Of about
ten acres, on which can be kept $500 hens,
with plenty of room for a horse and to
raise kale and cabbage for dry season
food for the chickens, and plenty of bar
ley.
One of the biggest income producers
near Petaluma is the Freeman ranch at
Fallon, with 1000 hens, bringing In $50 per
day. The StrantZ brothers, known as the
most progressive pouItrymen. having the
prettiest ranch in the surrounding coun-
try, with over 1900 thoroughbred white
Leghorns, make $40 net per day. The
Purvine brothers have among them the
largest poultry interests Of the county,
perhaps, there being seven or eight Of the
brothers, each having ranch with from
5000 to 5000 hens. The farm of w. Purvfne
contains S1S acres. A few people go in
for fancy breeds, but there Is practically
any extent. H. r. Campbell makes spe-
cialty Of barred Plymouth Rocks and has
some of the finest in Sonoma County.
Many poultrymen make a specially Of
others to keep up their hocks. In 1880
much wheat was shipped from Petalumas
now. twice the quantity is shipped into
years ago anything could be sold for
feed; now the demand is for choice mill
ing wheat. The dealers buy in immense
- md aa1l
1t may be said that the Petaluma hen
practically lays her egg on Front street,
San Francisco.
BY the steamer Gold cases Of eggs are
delivered in San Francisco every day to
dealers and the empty cases returned TO
Petaluma for 20 cents per case. This is
less than the carriage would be from the
ferry to the buyer in San Francisco. The
dealers aim is to make one-half to one
cent per dozen on eggs shipped. The pro-
ducer gets, the balance. Eggs marked
dozen more than those from other
sections Petaluma eggs keep bet
ter than others in cold storage.
Dodge, Sweeney & Co. Is no small help to
the poultryman. The company is now
shipping seventy-hve or eighty cases per
day, and last year in competition shut out
1900 cases of Eastern storage eggs from
the San Francisco market. The storage
room Of this company in Petaluma viii
accommodate 10000 cases Of eggs.
Though many broilers are marketed IN
San Francisco every year from Petaluma.
yet 247 carloads OF poultry came
into the San Francisco market from
the East last year, with from
5000 to 5000 fowls in a car. which
would suggest that some one might
make a profitable speciality Of ta-
BILE fowl raising in this town Of SOnoma
County. When San Francisco needs big
order of eggs and poultry at once for
shipment to Honolulu or for any other
purpose Petaluma is drawn upon at ad-
vanced prices.
The difference in the cost Of transporta-
ton and the certainty Of best values in
Petaluma as compared to other more
remote, or not so naturally favored local
tiles, amounts to the saving Of an enor-
nous tax Figure 1t on a medium sized
ranch one that sells six cases Of eggs
per week and saves say ten cents per
case on his freight and gets one cent per
dozen more for eggs than is paid for the
product OF other sections for a run Of
say ten years.
One half million Of hens within a ra-
case on freight and gets one cent per
ter fed and give the egg collector a
chance oftener than in any other known
spot Truly, PeLaluma and vicinity muse
be the ideal hennery OF the world