The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1910-04-03

on millions of dollars to their credit
upon the general public balance
sheet
The, greatest difficulty in achieving
this very desirable condition is the
enormous number of persons who
produce this market poultry. At best
the bulletins of the state experiment
stations 60 to only small percent
age of the poultry producers; and
the majority of those who get these
bulletins do not appreciate their i'm
portance or the greatness of the in.
dustry they represent. 1t seems such
trifing matter to get thorough
bred" male to put with the flock, and
the cost OF such bird looks to be
so large in comparison with the
amount of meat and bones ,compos-
ing him. and the trouble of sending
away and buying him seems so out
of proportion othe results to be at
tanned that it is never done, and year
after year the flock continues ex-
actly in the same condition it was
in the days of our grandfrathers.
But there is coming an awakening
along these lines, just as the farm.
ers are awakening along other lines.
The growth of the number and i'm
number of experiment stations issu-
in gthem, indicates a growing de-
mand for the information they con-
tain, and we hope to See in the i'm
mediate future great awakening TO
the importance of the subject.
Our farmer friends are wide awake
to the value of better live stock on
their farms. Practically all of them
who make any pretensions to keep
ing abreast of the times will have
few choice cows, usually grade Jer-
seys. They are investigating the
value of the different breeds of hogs;
the relative advantages of Berkshires,
Jersey Reds, Chesters, and other va
rieties are well understood. All over
the country we find stock companies
owned and managed by the farmers
for the purpose Of buying and keep.
ing an expensive stallion, German or
French coach horse, for breeding pur-
poses. And the condition of the farm
live stock is steadily and constantly
improving. We venture the assertion
that in general efficiency the farm
horses of the South is at least fifty
per cent higher than it was ten years
ago.
But in neglecting to improve their
| poultry they are beginning at the
| big end of the log; where a Jersey
bull costs dollars standard bred
| cockerel costs dimes. Where a pedi-
greed horse costs dollars. a good chik-
| en- costs cents. And mark this: the
| actual value in dollars and cents of
| enough first-class cockerels to head a
flock of fifty ordinary birds, while
| much less than the cost of a good
| neighborhood bull, Is of more value,
III actual money in the results gotten
| by better output. In other words, the
poultry and egg increase in value
| brought about by better breeding
| stock is of more value than the in
creased value of the milk and butter
brought about in the same way.
There can be no question that a
farmer can get better profit from the
purchase of enough thorough bred
males to head the flock than from
the purchase of any other farm ami
NAL.
In conversation with a buyer of
| poultry last spring he made this as
tonishing statement. He said: eve
! are glad to give two to five cents more
! per head for frying chickens of a uni
form color than we give for a mixed
| lot" Think of that; merely getting
your chickens of the same sort OF
feathers and thereby increasing their
value from two to five cents each for
! fryers. Add to this the extra plump
ness and size that will come from a
| good cockerel of one of the American
varieties plymouth Rocks, Wyan-
dottes, Rhode Island Reds. etc. and
the wonder is that anybody will breed
| "dunghills."
A farmer that would produce stain
ed cotton when he could as easily pro-
duce white cotton, does not exist: and
| yet the man who will buy improved
cotton seed at five dollars per bushel
will refuse his wife $500 to buy a
| cockerel that will improve her chick
en- crop more than his new cotton seed
! will improve his cotton.
! And in this matter there is a. re.
| sponstbility on the breeder of fancy
poultry that he frequently overlooks.
| At the State Fair last fall we saw a
farmers wife who was evidently in.
terested in the chickens and eagerly
| anxious to learn something of how
they were produced, approach an ex-
hibitor and pointing out a nice hen.
asked him: What is that hen
worth?" In a high and lofty tone he
answered: Twenty dollars, madam
and went on talking with his COM