The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-10-25
THE CHICKEN
ON THE FARM
Good Poultry Pays Equally as
Well as Good Cattle.
A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS
Nothing Brings Better Returns for the
Amount OF Capital Invested than
WelI.Selected Flock in the
Poul ry Yard.
tsnec,a, to The T,mes.Dispatch.>

tspecial to The Times Dspatch)
NEGRO ARM, VA. Oct. A.-ln every
barn-yard in our county there arc to be
found some Of the feathered tribe. In
many, far too many instances, 1t Is
flock that does neither the owner nor
itself any credit, being made up Of mon
grels.
AS practical farmer and poultry
man, take It that every farmer should
have as much pride in his poultry as IN
any other stock upon his premises, ana
bestow upon 1t the necessary attention
to produce from 1t best results. With
most the days OF cross breeds or no
breeds in cattle. horses, hogs and sheep
have passed and they have properly
equipped themselves for the successful
rearing of the pure breeds. The same
attention should be given the poultry
house and las occupants.
CONDITIONS FAVORABLE.
The farmer should be the successful
poultryman. Ills surroundings are such
that he has every advantage over Inc
villager or his city cousin. who attempts
to rear chickens in the confinement or
city lot. and who must procure all OF ms
feed by purchase, and II his eggs are
sold OH the open market III many m
stances the balance is on the wrong sac
of the ledger.
Now any business to be successful, as
men count success. must yield an income
above the cost Of conducting It. Our CITY
cousins do succeed and purchase every
ounce OF feed given their fowls thereby
teaching our rural friends lesson III
economies. If they can and do succeed
and I am writing now OF the purely
market side of the question, should not
the farmer be pre-eminently the success
full poulterer? Let us look at the conol'
lions by which he Is surounded-ample
range for large flocks. an abundance
of feed at the cost of production, grain
grass, grit, and the meat that Is so
much talked Of is. easily supplied by milk,
sweet or sour, and an abundance OF cot
tage cheese.
The farmer that is not the successful
poulterer has no one TO blame put nm.
self. and perhaps has failed to see that
he need not send his egg money to some
far away advertiser for a patent egg pro,
ducing food, but simply mako Intelligent
use OF what he has at hand
A GREAT INDUSTRY.
The Virginia farmer does not, appa-
rently, realize the magnitude OF the IN
dustry nor the profits accrung from It,.
The entire poultry output IN our state
according to our commissioner OF agrlcul-
ture. is about Sc. 600. and, as large as
that may seem. it Is not much In excess
of the product Of single counties IN
other States. There is in New York one
farm from which the product Is 500 per
day. and there are a good number OF men
whose annual sales exceed $4,000 year.
Not one of these men have the ideal
local conditions that surround the VIZ
GINA farmer. and yet we are content ~
Mod along lin tho way our fathers trod
and leave It for those of more enterprise
than we are apparently possessed or 10
reap the harvest. With the present dill
ficulty Of securing competent labor on
our farms, It seems to the writer that
our farmers would do we'll to 1orshke
some of the fossilized ideas that they
are now possessed Of and devote some
attention to poultry and fruits LOT profit
A CASE IN POINT
That the seeming outlay for pure bred
poultry may be shown to be fallacy.
and that 1t pays to keep good blood.
rocte one instance. Last March the
writer sold a pen OF White Wyandottc
fowls. consisting OF four hens and
cockerel, for SIS. Shortly afterward one
OF the hens died from ovarian trouble
leaving but three hens: yet mark the
success. Besides having eggs and fowls
for home. the party writes me: I'VE have
about forty magnificent young stock.
about evenly divided between pullets and
cockercls." With no advertising they
Will easily net him 800. Can any other
| Investment show so large yield OF
nror,to ]. II. SLEDD.