The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-04-10
Notes on the Poultry Industry
BY FREDERIC j. HASKIN
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

The Middle West is the zone of pro-
duction for that great American bird the
turkey. Chicago is the strategic point
ia this trade, and during the last holiday
rush nearly 7o0.0o0 turkeys. valued at up
ward of 81, 10000, were handled in that
market. The number OF cars required
to handle the turkeys shipped TO Chicago
for the Thanksgiving Christmas and
New Years trade last year, If put to-
gether in a string, would have made a
train seven miles long. AS many as
$500 OF these proud birds were handled
in the market there in a single day,
Twenty years ago a whole carload Of
live poultry received from one shipper
was such an unusual transaction as 10
call for special mention in the news
papers. but now a single dealer may re-
ceive a dozen carloads in one consign-
ment and no attention viii be paid to IT,.
one firm recently had an order for four
carloads of geese, seven carloads OF live
turkeys and TWO carloads of pigeons.
The special car for live birds is a great
saving 10 the shipper. A consignment
was recently forwarded from San Fran
cisco 10 New York. a distance of 1926
miles. The tariff for the use of the car
for this distance was $40. a trifle more
than one cent bird. The owner found
that his fowls not only gained enough in
weight during the trip across the CONT
nent TO pay for the cost of the car, but
netted him an additional profit of 49,
The carload lots of geese come mostly
from Wisconsin and Southern Illinois, the
big shipments of turkeys from Missouri
and Kentucky, and the chickens from the
States which comprise the corn belt"
Armour & Co. either own or control
a dozen large poultry-fattening establish
ments near their packing plants in the
Middle West. The chickens fattened at
these stations are bought when six weeks
old, and sold when from nine weeks to
two months old. The ArmOurs annually
dispose OF about Is 600 chickens in this
way, and the most of them are sold for
export. The total annual valuation OF
the poultry transactions of this firm is
said to be Sl,4o0000.
There is an enormous consumption Of
live poultry and eggs in Greater New
York. The annual receipts show that
about 2,002 carloads of poultry are re-
ceived and consumed In Manhattan, and
that nearly 1900 carloads of eggs are
received there every year. The Jewish
population probably consume 80 per cent
of the whole On an average New York
Will receive about forty cars a week. but
during the time of the Jewish holidays.
the consumption frequently runs as high
as seventy-hve OF a hundred cars Of live
poultry a week.
The professional poultryman has to
make a constant study Of pecuharities Of
the different markets. The people Of Bos-
ton and New York prefer dry-picked
poultry, and will only take the scalded
product at d discount. Philadelphia and
San Francisco also prefer the dry-picked,
while Washington. Baltimore, Chicago.
and ST. Louis prefer the scalded kind,
unless il is wanted for storage purposes.
The New York. Washington. and san
Francisco markets show a preference for
White-shelIed eggs. While Boston and
Philadelphia viii pay more for eggs hay-
ing dark brown shells.
The best-known grower Of turkeys in
the United States is Horace Yose. Of
Westerly, r. l. He has become famous
ON account of the custom of sending a
prize turkey to the White House every
Thanksgiving He presented Gen. Grant
with a turkey during his first term, af5
has not missed q year since that time
He has received autograph letters OF
thanks from all the Presidents since
Grant, and has become a national eharac-
he IA
year by the newspapers and magazines.
Mr.. Nose goes 10 considerable uOuble in
selecting a prime fowl for the White
House table. He not only inspects his
own flock month or so after the seasons
chicks have been hatC!led, but makes a
tour of the farms for miles around in
order to secure options on any promising
specimens that he may see. BY taking
this precautiou he makes it certain that
the fowl which eventually goes TO adorn
the first table in the land win be the
finest of its kind.
Few people know that old Mother Hen
is the American farmers greatest asset.
Her extraordinary wealth-producing ac-
cOmplishments were surprisingly demon
strated in a recent compilation of the
statistics In Missouri one of the leading
poultry States in the Union. Missouri has
rich soil which the farmer. aided by i'm
proved machinery and a hired man, has
worked for all it is worth. As ne passed
on his way TO work each morning, he LEI
Out the old hen TO scratch for her living
AS wealth-pr0ducer this industrious
autocrat of the barnyard. although
neglected and left 70 herself actually
beat the farmer and the machinery and
the hired man all put together the Off
cial returns for "a year showing that poul-
try products sold for $1,000 more iran the
total field crop of the entire State. Bully
for Old Mother Hem
The art of Matching eggs artihcialIy has
been known from the remotest ages, but
not as it is done in this country Arti-
fetal Matching has been practiced so long
in Egypt that the hens have completely
abandoned that part of their work to
man. A notable difference in the meth
DDS of the two countries is that in Egypt
the work of Matching is never attempted
except during the months of February,
March, and April Another important
variance is that hatchers on the Nile do
not attempt 10 rear the Young broods.
Word is sent out from the incubators
that a certain number of young chickens
viii be discharged on a given day. and
the women of the neghborhood arrive
with palm baskets to carry the chicks
away by the hundreds. Forty-eight hours
after they emerge from the shell they
are scattered over the country.
A novel practice in Egypt is to pluck
the feathers from the young birds and
eli