The Florida agriculturist., 1906-04-04
from there to Hawaii and the Philip

from there to Hawaii and the Philip
pine islands.
Petaluma is distinctly a chicken
town. Take a walk along the streets
in any direction and you will be con-
fronted with signs everywhere an
nOuncing the fact that the business
houses which they adorn cater to a
chicken trade. You will see in addi-
ton to the ordinary country store sign
of Highest prices paid for eggs"
signs telling about poultry feed"
poultry supplies,'' poultry medi-
cines," ''egg shells bought feathers
bought" and a lot of similar signs
which show that all thoughts in the
commercial world have chicken
basis.
Even the big factories of the place
are built upon chicken foundation.
The largest factory, which builds in
cubators. in the world, is at Petaluma,
and besides this one there are numer-
Gus others devoted to the same in
dustry. In fact there are more incu-
bator factories in Petaluma than in
any other city in the world.
Another thing about this remarkable
town. Petaluma is a cash town.
chickens for goods at the store. but
pay the good money down on delivery.
1t is not a question of trading eggs and
chickens for goods at the store, but
here an egg simply means an equiva-
lent for gold or silver. You may take
a dozen or a hundred cases. each con-
tanning thirty Dozen to Petaluma and
can dispose of them with equal facili-
ty.
There is another side to this question
of money so far as it concerns the
Peta1uma hen. These chickens must
be well fed in order to induce them to
lay well. and it is estimated that pro-
perly to feed a chicken costs one dollar
a year. That does not sound large
when but one chicken is to be con-
sidered, but when we figure that there
are seven and a half million chickens
to be fed it means that it costs in
round numbers S7,5OO,O 900 every year
to feed the chicken population of the
Petaluma neighborhood. 1t will readi-
ly be seen that it takes an enormous
quantity of feed of various kinds to
keep all these chickens from going
hungry. Some of the poultrymen buy
their feed in quantities up to 1000
sacks at single purchase, and many
of them buy in carload lots.
The marketing of the poultry pro-
ducts of this territory is no simple
matter A considerable portion of the
trade is done direct with San Francis
co. Small steamers make daily trips
up Petaluma creek from the metro
polls, and in addition to these thirty
eight sailing vessels assist in carrying
the 800 to 100 cases of eggs which are
sent every day These cases hold from
thirty to thirty-siX dozen eggs each.
Besides these cases of eggs the YES
sells are frequently loaded down to the
water line with crates of chickens
Sometimes these loads are so large
that they reach from the lower deck
to the pilot house.
The hens are wanted for their eggs, !
alone, and all desire or inclination to
set and carry on the duties of mother
hood is nipped in the bud. The would |
be mother is simply told to go ahead
and get out a new supply of eggs and
let the business of attending to little |
chicks be looked after by the human
servants of the kingdom. A setting
hen in and around the city of Petalu- |
ma is almost an unknown quantity, |
and after the hen has served her use
fulness as an egg layer, she is con-
signed to the pot, bringing more in the
market than she ordinarily cost, while |
she has paid more than the cost of her |
keep and care each year.