Evening star., 1911-05-28


caution is taken. Not more than 20 per
| cent OF the eggs hatch and not more than
| 75 per cent Of the chicks come to matur-
ity.
! At this big ranch everything possible
| is done by labor saving machinery. There
is a steam laundry for
bor-Saving washing the cloths used
Machinery sesa sD9u, :, ,ns caonnea ea1 and mixed
| by patent hoppers, and electric cars
carry. 1t to the many henhouses. which
cover several acres and accommodate
5000 hens.
A ton Of feed is required daily, and be-
tween $500 to 1900 eggs will be collected.
The drinking pans in each OF the pens
are sterilized every day. The floors are
concrete. the whole institution is white
washed by machinery several times a
ing house on trolleys water is piped d.
rect to each coop and the special FOOD
for fattening broilers is mixed In lab
oratory as neat and carefully kept as a
druggists prescription counter. A great
deal of milk is used and hundreds of
thousands Of dollars worth OF dried
blood and the hearts and livers OF cat
tie. which are baked until all the mois-
ttlre Is out or them when tney are ground
to flour and mixed with cornmeal rice,
millet and other cereals. Carloads OF
fish bone, peppers from Japan and the
Hawaiian Islands. rice from China and
ginger from Africa are hauled In on the
railway and used for food.
Minarcos and White Leghorns are used
exclusively. because they are more regu-
lar layers and show less tendency to set
than other hens. The average is about
100 eggs per year for each hen. but that
| can be maintained only by scientific feed
ing and treatment. When they are four
months old the roosters and the hens
which do not show tendency to lay are
| sent to the fattening department and
their destiny is decided. When a hen
wants to set she is ducked in water
daily and put I'm swinging coop until
she has changed her mind. 1t Is said
that two or three such treatments are
always successful.
There are twelve big hen ranches in
the neighborhood Of Petaluma, and prob
ably 100000 laying hens. More than
s., 600 Is paid for the food per day and
the daily receipts from eggs and poultry
shipped to San Francisco and other mar
kets will average $4,000 The average
price for 1910 was 29h cents per dozen
for eggs and 1915 per dozen for broilers.
About 500 cases of eggs are shipped daily.
The average annual return gross is
said to be 81 per hen. although there Is
decided difference of opinion as to the
accuracy of this estimate.
1t requires a warm, sandy loan for
successful poultry raising. experts say:
they insist that the business cannot be
made to pay on clay soil.
Il
Some people think there is more money
| in squads than in poultry. The biggest
sQuab ranch Is owned by
Big Pigeon j. Y. Johnson, and may
be seen from the win
OdUCuCS, DP tho
coast line OF the Southern Pacific
leaving Los Angeles. Mr.. Johnson
has about 25,OO0 pairs of birds and
his income is about 500 day cash. He
ships to San Francisco and Los Angeles
only, and those markets will absorb
everything he can raise. There are sew
eral other big pigeon ranches in that
neighborhood and others can be found
at intervals all the way up the coast.
Several of the big hotels have their own
SQUAD houses. poultry yards and vege-
table gardens, but there Is dispute as
to whether they pay.
Mr.. Johnson kills his young birds when
they are six weeks old and ships an aver
age OF forty dozen a day. The average
price In 1910 was $2.75 a dozen.
The pigeons out here mate early In
life and divorce is unknown. They stick
are home lovers. They will not fly away.
They are always circling around in the
air in the neighborhood OF the ranch
and often darken the sky. but the hus-
bands seldom leave their wives for more
than q few minutes time and are models
Of cOnjugal devotion.
All the way north from Santa Barbara
to San Francisco, at intervals OF few
miles, are lovely towns and villages set
tied largely by eastern people. and
dozen or more seaside resorts whose fore
ground is the ocean and whose back
ground is ranges OF mountains-some OF
them rugged and rocky and others drap-
ped in velvet mantles. The foot hills
are covered with orchards of apples.
plums. apricots. prunes. pears. peaches.
olives and walnuts. each fruit having Its
peculiar foliage and it's own shade of
green The ranch houses and the resi-
dences In the towns are surrounded by
perpetual carnivals OF flowers, palms.
Oleanders. geraniums. roses and hun
dreds Of other varieties. which I'LL the
air with perfume.
WILLIAM E. CURTIS.