The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1902-10-18

From the Washington Post.
If all the product Of lS99 were loaded
in Ordinary refrigerator cars. the train
would be S6s miles long. or longer than
the distance between Washington and
Chicago.
Hold on; please state your subject,
said the reporter TO Mr. George Fayette
Thompson, who had just made the above
observation. and who is the editor for the
Bureau Of Animal ministry
F,g4s. he rerlled i,ggS are eg.s
f.sss .iays, and are a produetzof the farm
that ought to be reckoned with in our in
tsrnal commerce. They have received
too little credit for what they have done
toward opening up our frontiers and the
development Of our country. Indeed there
are three invaluable factors which have
been prominent in the settlement of our
frontiers; / refer to the patient housewife,
the gentle COW, and the helpful hen. The
part that each Of these has taken, directly
or indirectly, in the making of farms out
of forest land, prairie land and desert land
has received too little attention from. a
people that owes so much to them.
"a generation ago, when prairie schoon-
ers were so numerous on the Western from
tiers, it was rare thing to see one that
did not have chicken coop tied on the
endgate Of the wagon, or a COW following
close behind, oftentimes driven by the
wife, herself Oh foot. In the new home
to 5e--the wife, with equal fortitude, en-
dures all the trials and privations that come
to the husband, and while he subdues the
forest or breaks the prairie she cares for
the COW and the chickens, in addition to
her household It requires time for the
husband work TO bring results; her COW
and her chickens are already giving results
indeed, have been doing so all along the
journey. The subsistence of these pioneers
for a time must necessarily be upon eggs,
poultry and milk, and the surplus eggs be-
came the exchange medium at the coun-
try store. Money seems to abhor frontier
store Just as nature does vacuum.
But about that egg story interrupted
the reporter.
Sim coming to that, as they say in
Congress. The hen adapts herself to all
conditions Of environment. She consumes
the grain that would otherwise 80 to waste,
and feeds upon insects that would prove
harmful; if not provided with a home of
her own, she will roost with contentment
upon the best farm machinery; rob her
nest today and she will lay there again to-
morrow, and also the next day and the next,
and SO on, until she see she need of more
chickens to lay more eggs, and then she
may argue couple Of weeks about the need
of her sitting, whether she has eggs to sit
upon or not.
THESE conditions have all made it pos
sible to find the hen upon almost every
farm, and the few upon many farms make
a total that is astonishing. Many a
mickle makes a muckle' is the old Scotch
proverb. The census of 1900 shows that
there were nearly 5000, 900 farms in this
country, and it is safe to presume that
chickens were found upon nearly all of
them. There would be very few excep-
lions.
But my purpose was to tell you not of
the fowls upon the farms, though it would
make startling story, but of the eggs and
poultry product, that which was consumed
or sold off the farm. So I started by say
ing that the eggs produced on farms in
1899 would fill train of cars that would
reach from Washington to Chicago. Look
at the figures: l ,293, 818, IA dozens, or
43, 127, 272 crates of 30 dozens each.
These were worth S144, 286, $40. In
1889 the product was 474, 1876, 228 fewer
than in 1899. The average price per
dozen ranges from TT cents in Texas to
43 cents in Alaska. The average price
for the whole country was Ii. Is cents per
dozen. There were 203 eggs for each Of
our population, and these were worth
$1.89.
In the production of eggs Iowa leads,
with SO, 621, 900 dozens, worth $40, ole,
707. Ohio comes into second place as to
amount, with go, 766, $50 dozens, worth
$40, $50, 769. Illinois taken third place,
with sc, 402, $40 dozens, worth So, 942,
401, and Missouri comes next, with 85, :
2O3, 29O dozens, worth So, 315,371
Another fact that will no doubt come as
surprise to most people is that the egg
product of 1899 was valued at a higher
figure that the combined gold and silver
product of the United States during any
year since 1850, except for one year of
1900, when the precious metals exceeded
the value of the eggs by SO, 418, 125.
The same statement is true of the poultry
product, if we except the years of 1899
and 1900, when the excuses of gold and
silver combined were, respectively, 81,
967, 123 and SIG, 812,618
The surprise occasioned by these fig
ures is still further heightened when we
are made aware that the poultry and eggs
together, in 1899, were worth more than
either the gold or silver product of the
world for any year since the beginning of
records-in 1493-excepting the two
years of 1898 and 1899, when the poul-
try products fell below to the extent of
$5,701 ,453 and s25, 800, 553, respect
lively.
Pursuing the comparisons further,
we find that the poultry and eggs of 1899
out-valued the total exports of animals
and animal products during all the years
down to and including 1909. The amount
Of wool produced during the same year
was worth S91, 16S, 1873 less than the
poultry and $98, SOB, 232 less than the
eggs produced The poultry and eggs
taken together exceeded in value the
wheat crop of 28.and the corn crop of 20
states. Poultry and eggs take seventh
place among the farm products of the
United States, being valued by ami
mals sold off farms, hay and forage, dairy
products, corn, wheat and cotton Poul-
try and eggs were worth more than the
product of pig iron in the United States
in 1901, more than the bituminous coal,
and more than the Pennsylvania anthra-
cite.
sBptyou have not said how much the
poultry and eggs were worth yet
"The poultry sold off the farms in ! 899,
the year for which returns were made to
the census, were worth $136, 891, 877
and the eggs S144. 2S6. $40. a combined