The Savannah morning news., 1902-10-13
POULTRY FOR PROFIT.

One hundred dollars a day income
for a larger part of the year from a
farm of 200 acres is not at all bad.
That is what Mr.. Henry Van Dresser
says he gets from his 2oo-acre farm at
Cobbleskill, N. Y, and he expects to
do much better. He devotes his land
and his time to poultry. He grows the
feed he needs for his chickens, but
poultry products are what he is after.
He has upwards Of 1000 white Leghorn
hens, and he obtains from them a con-
tinuous supply of eggs. Indeed, he has
found the means of inducing each hen.
to lay nearly all the year around.
Every day he is in a position to send
fresh eggs and fat young "fryers" to
market. and the demand is always
good at fair prices. The chickens are
housed in building 376 feet long and
10 feet wide. The matching is done by
the incubator method. Mr.. Van Dres-
er studies his chickens carefully and
applies scientific principles to the TAX
ing care of them. He follows the poul
followed the peach business in this
state and Connecticut, and the results
have been in each case the same-high-
ly profitable. One of Mr.. Van Dresser
most valuable discoveries is how to
hasten the moutins season and reduce
its time to a minimum. The moulting
season usually lasts something like two
months, during which laying is sus-
pended and hens looks bare and miser-
able. About the first of August Mr.
Van Dresser keeps his hens in confine-
ment for ten days and reduces the
amount OF their food much below the
normal. At the expiration of the ten
days he gives the hungry fowls all the
food they will stuff into their crops
This sudden change" he says. "causes
them to moult. and in less than a week
their bodies are almost bare. New
feathers start at once. The extremely
nourishing oil in the sunfiower seed
causes the feathers to grow rapidly;
so that instead of moping for at least
two months, ragged, lean and spirit
less, and laying none at all, or very in
termittently throughout the fall and
winter, these fine Leghorns are shortly
In good condition and about Oct. they
begin to lay. Thenceforth for the whole
year they lay steadily"
What Mr.. Van Dresser has done in
New York state can be duplicated in
Chatham county; and in all probability
Chatham county poultry farm run as
he runs his, scientifically and for pro-
fit, would be more remunerative than
that of Mr.. Van Dresser. In the first
place, the land employed would repre-
sent much smaller investment. Lands
are much cheaper in this section than
they are in New York, as are also the
materials for building the necessary
houses and fences. Labor is cheaper
here and more easily controlled. And
the market is practically as good. Sa-
vannah sends to Tennessee, Missouri.
and other states every year tens of
thousands of dollars to pay for the
chickens and eggs which she consumes.
This city alone would absorb the pro-
ducts of several large poultry farms,
and absolutely fresh eggs brought in
from the farms every morning would
command a shade better price than
that obtained for the Grated eggs
brought from a distance. There are
numerous sites in Chatham county
that would make ideal poultry farms,
and there is money in the business.