The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-07-01

Before making arrangements to
I hatch and rear chickens at any season
the poultry keeper should consider
well the following questions: For
used when raised? What market will
be open to receive them? Will the
prices obtained at that time be suffi-
GENTLY high to pay for the trouble and
outlay and leave a reasonable profit?
The experienced poultry keeper will
have no difficulty about answering
these questions, for he has his past ex-
perience to guide him and he can do
now what he has found 1t profitable
to do in past years. and he can avoid
tnat which he knows to be unprofta-
bic. But the novice has no such rules
to guide him, and the experienced
poultry keeper who has never tried
fall Matching is in the same boat, so
they must study the question referred
to above in special relation to the
Matching and rearing of fall or autumn
chickens. The subject is seasonable
Just now and in view of the fact that
there is generally a scarcity of table
fowls in the late winter and early
spring, and that prices rule high,
poultry keepers who may have facili
ties for fall Matching and rearing
ought to give the matter serious con-
sideration. An answer must first be
found to the question: What can be
done with fall Matched chicks? There
are many things that might be found
most profitable to sell them as fatted
fowls in the great markets of the
states wherein high prices are to be
obtained from the first of January to
the end OF May. We all know from
practical experience that the fall is
not the time to hatch chicks that are
required for breeding or for showing
or even for laying, but an examina-
ton of the market reports contained
in our poultry and agricultural jour
nails disclose the fact that it ought
to pay better to raise chickens for
the table in autumn than in any other
. season, provided that one can man
; age to raise large proportion Of the
chicks Matched. had carefully ex-
amined the market reports contained
in several newspapers and journals for
half dozen years past, and COMPARE
son of these reports reveals the facts
that prices for winter and spring
chickens of the better classes are in
creasing; that those of medium quail
ty are holding their own and no more
than that, and that there is a down.
ward tendency in the prices of chick
ems OF lower grades. Prices, of course,
depend to a great extent upon the re-
lation between supply and demand,
but the salient point brought out by a
review of the market reports, pub
lished by the American press during a
period of several years, is that de-
mand is brisk and prices are high for
choice, large selected fowls, whether
for roasting, broiling or cooking in any
other way, and the most extraordinary
aspect of the question is that so few
of the best qualities are offered for
sale.
Can Make Money.
The table poultry side of poultry
keeping has come well to the front
within recent years and is now receiv-
ing more attention at the hands of
intelligent men and women than it re-
ceived at any time, but there is GER
tainly an opening for progressive poul-
try-keepefs to make money by the
raising of fall chickens of the very
best class, and those who have facili-
ties for carrying on the industry ought
not to let the opportunity slip by.
Up to this time 1t is certain that the
most has not been made by poultry
keepers out Of the opportunities which
have arisen.
This is neither the time nor the
place to enter into a discussion OF the
rival merits of the many breeds, which
may be suitable for the production of
good, marketable chickens, and l am
sure that any arguments which could
bring forward in support of the White
Wyandotte or the Barred ROCK or the
Dark Dorking would not convince the
breeder of Buff Orpingtons or Faver-
olles that his favorite breed is any
worse than the others; or If I were to
speak in the highest terms Of praise
of the unrivalled merits of the Game
or the Houdan, that part of my article
would be passed over with superior
smile and shake of the head by the
man who breeds the best of all table
fowls"
Any sane man or woman will not
keep Hamburgs, Leghorns or fowls of
that type to produce table fowls, and
taking this for granted, I have only
to say that success can be obtained
with any of those fine table breeds
which have become popular through
out the American continent. There is
no reason why anybody should change
from his favorite. provided that it is a
breed which will produce large, early
maturing, vigorous, uniform chicks OF
good quality. 1 may point out, how
ever, that pure breeds are preferable
to mongrels, If only for the reason
that the thoroughbreds throws chicks
of uniform quality, whilst the cross
bred can not be depended upon to
do anything of the kind. Uniformity
is a far more desirable attribute than
is generally supposed, for without it
we can not compete in the highest
classes of table poultry.
The breeding pens at this season
must be reconstructed with as much
care and forethought as were bestow-
ed upon them in the early spring.
Success largely depends upon the max