Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1901-05-02

quarters In Chicago that would not be
stumped If called upon to furnish twice
that quantity in the course of a couple
of months. They would simply set to
work among their business connec-
tions over the, country and call for all
that could be supplied at stated times.
The question of the ability of the
hens to produce the eggs called for by
these big advance orders does not
seem to be doubted by the handlers
of that product. 1t is called to mind
that throughout the western states
from the beginning of the warm days
which are the forerunners of spring
there is constant flow of eggs to the
markets. From every farm come the
little trucking streamlets which flow.
ten, Is and 20 dozen each week into
the small towns where the farmers and
their wives trade These accumulated
stores flow out to the jobbers and city
commission men swelled todozens and
hundreds of cases, each case carrying
360 eggs. Thousands Of these latter
dealers are direct and daily shippers
to the great commission centers,
where the output of hundreds of thou
sands of farms and poultry yards is
collected and distributed to the other
dealers, who supply the consumers.
1t would be from these channels that
a big order for 100000 or 5000, 900
dozen eggs would be supplied, and
South Water street could do it, in the
opinion of those who conduct the busi-
ness of that bustling quarter.
Dealers who are brought in daily
contact with this large accumulation
from many thousand small sources APP
preciate more fully than outsiders can
the Importance of the apparently small
output of eggs from each farm. In
some sections of the west where the
farmers took up government and rail-
road land and started life with little
or no money and sometimes large
debts the hens were depended upon to
supply all the ready cash needed by
the family fer its support. There are
thousands of prosperous farmers in
the western states to-day who can re-
call the time when all the food, cloth
ing and extras which were bought at
the villagesstore were paid for By the
sale of eggs produced on the farm 1t
comparatively noiexpense. The .hen.is
o good forager and will live through
most of the year without any extra
feed or care. While the farmers Of the
prairie states continue to keep their
few hundreds Of hens, there are every
year more and more poultry raisers
who devote their whole attention. to
fowls, and these help to swell the sup
ply of eggs which finally get to the big
markets. These exclusively poultry
men, however, are not the main source
of supply. This is and must continue
to be for many years the individual
farmer, whose wife keeps few hens
comparatively as an adjunct to the Sc.
rious business of raising hogs, corn
and cattle.
Denizens of Kansas remember with
gratitude how, in the gloomy times of
drought and crop failure which af.
ficted that section for two or three
successive years, the small collections
of eggs made daily served to supply
the absolutely necessary articles which
would have otherwise been unattain.
able. The hen could live and thrive
under conditions which ruined field
crops and caused the ordinary domes-
tic animal to become enfeebled and
unproductive. Kansas poets have EN-.
balmed the hen in verse, and rightly
too, and when an eastern buyer comes
in and places an order. the profitable
filling of which depends upon the flu
ture attention of the hen to business,
the produce dealer banks on the in
tegrity of the hen, and he will win.