The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1910-09-15
THE MAINE HEN.
Interesting Booklet Published by the Maine
Central

Interesting Booklet Published by the Maine
Central
The Industrial Department of the Maine
Central railroad recently published pam
phlet under the titles: 1.-The Hen in Maine
Poultry Profit Possibilities and How
That May Be Developed. The writer
discusses at length such technical ques-
lions as the best forms of poultry houses,
the best breeds and the best land for
poultry. He also has much to say about
poultry farming in general and the hen
in particular Here are some of his OBJ
servations of especial interest to persons
who are thinking of engaging in the bust
ness:
1t isn't hens fault that she is so fire.
Possessed of a decided degree of femi-
ninity she naturally desires to do things
her own way and, when her methods
come into conflict with mans wishes, it
is not to be wondered at that there is a
divergence of opinion.
If hen'll lay. she'll lay, you may depend ont
If she won't she won't and there's an end onst
Yet, with the exercise of proper
amount of diplomacy, mixed with
modicum of manipulation, even the most
obstreperous hen may be satisfactorily
managed, to the extent that she will
direct her efforts toward providing very
satisfactory profits for her possessor.
Nevertheless. there are limits to her
patience and adaptability. Her maternal
instincts may be shattered and she will
be ready repeatedly to demonstrate her
willingness to accept even so poor sub
stitute as an old China door knob to
crafty her lust for setting; she cheer
fully maintains a calm demeanor in the
face of the fiercest villiication, and she
has no apparent objection to offering
herself as a sacrifice before an automo-
bile juggernaut-but she is firm in her
refusal to produce eggs for mankind
when, during the moulting season, she
rightly feels that she ''has nothing to
wear" or, at least, is decidedly out Of
fashion, as she annually makes a change
In her plumage.
Not a little of the misunderstanding
between this member of the poultry fam
lily and humanity is due to mans insis
tency that she shall lay when the subject
of attire is uppermost in her mind. That
is something she will not put up with
and, until this matter is definitely settled
in her favor, hen is most unsatlsfac-
tory creature to have about
Notwithstanding this main feminine
popularity and divers minor ones, the
Great American Hen offers profit posi-
bilities not to be dispised by any person
interested in the production of food for
the people of the United States, and it is
with the idea of removing some of the
misunderstanding in regard to the fowl
and their idiosyncrasies that little light
is here offered on very large subject.
STRONG DEMAND LEADS TO HIGH PRICES.
In the present period of over-consump-
ton and production it is definitely
established Unsatisfactory financial re-
turns may be secured by giving care and
attention to flock of hens The retail
price of eggs, under the conditions re-
ferred to, rarely goes below twenty-five
cents per dozen even at the most pro-
ductive seasons of the year, while, dur
ing the moulting time and subsequent
winter months, fifty cents is low az err
age, the price in Boston and New York
frequently being maintained at from
sixty cents to seventy-five cents per
dozen for strictly fresh product for ten
or twelve weeks. A few years ago eggs
were commonly sold at ten cents per
dozen during the flush time and at
twenty-five cents a dozen in the cold per-
iod of the year for an output guaranteed
to be of the best quality.
The difference in price is due to the in
creased demand, and in that lies an OPP
portunity of surprising availability.
1t Is true that the cost of raising hens
and producing eggs has increased, but
the proportion is very small when COM
pared with the heightened value of the
output. The expense of production has
become about fifty per cent. larger,
while the growth of receipts per dozen
eggs is between $50 and $50 per cent.
and the increase in the rate for chickens
and fowls about 100 per cent.
Therefore, it is not unreasonable to
suggest that 1t will be many years before
the supply will be SO large as to material
of poultry raising. From the standpoint
of market conditions it is a safe and re-
liable business in which to engage
This does not mean that any tyro at
farming can embark in the poultry bust
ness and be successful from the start
The work may seem easy; it is not.
There was a time when it was generally
regarded that man who had failed in
other callings could not help being sue
cessful in hen farming, but that idea
does not prevail now. Not a few dis
satisfied individuals who thought cashing
the profits from a collection Of from 200
to 500 hens was a sort of perpetual vaca-
ton, learned to the contrary after ex-
pending from $500 to $1,000 to acquire
experience and gain knowledge Until
they found to the opposite these men ap-
parently thought that, because it was so
easy for hen to lay an egg, it was easy
to get her to do it. That is where one
of the mistakes came in. There is moth
ing easy about getting hen to lay, and
strange as it may appear, that is about
the first thing the beginner in the poultry
business has to learn. This is not the
fault of the hen as an Individual; neither
can it be attributed to the industry as a
whole. 1t is wholly and entirely due to
the fact that many persons go about a
business proposition of this character
without endeavoring to follow any line
whatsoever Of business ethics.
BUSINESS IDEAS IN RAISING POULTRY.
Conducted as any other department of
commercial or agricultural enterprise
the poultry industry is one of the most
promising of the present time; The de-
mand for the products is firm and consis-
tent and there is little prospect that the
production will catch up with constantly
increasing demand for many years to