The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-12-27
TONS Of FEATHERS
SHIPPED FROM MO,
Years Product in Missouri
of Value of $6.58, 342-
Only By-Product.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo, Dec Ct
In chapter in the 1911 Red Book, the
annual report of the state bureau of
labor statistics, Commissioner Austin
w. Biggs will devote considerable
space to Missouri as d poultry state.
In advance sheets he gives complete
figures for the feather production of
the state in 1910 and shows that this
"by-product of the poultry yard has
played an important part in helping
Missouri retain the title Poultry
Queen Of the Union"
I'm 1870" he says, the feathers
which were plucked from the poultry
OF Missouri amounted to 1,28O,197
pounds, and were worth $3OO,236. This
is only the amount shipped and does
not include the thousands of pounds
used at home in the making Of big
soft pillows and downy feather beds
which so many women still delight to
make, and which, when placed on the
spare bed make one who is FORUM
ate enough to be permitted to rest his
weary body thereon and sink deep in
to the luxurious depths. dream again
of his boyhood days. and of the time
he spent on the farm. when every
night he was tucked into just such a
bed by his mother
"Allowing for the feathers thus used
at home, which for the most part came
from ducks and geese, it is estimated
that the production for the year
amounted to 1,9964O9 pounds, valued
at $65S,342
If the feathers shipped, about SO
per cent. come from chickens, 25 per
cent. from turkeys and the rest from
ducks and geese. Chicken and turkey
feathers are shipped, for the most
part, by produce dealers, who buy the
fowls from the farmers ard dress and
pick them. Chicken feathers are
worth from cents to IL cents a pound
turkey feathers from 10 to 90 cents
and ducks and geese feathers 35 to so
cents, the goose feathers being the
most valuable
1.-The protective cost of the barn
uses in human arts and industries. In
the making of pillows and feather beds
the feathers of the chicken, when
pldcked from the quill. often are mix
ed with the small percentage of duck
or goose feathers.
"The use of bird feathers, which al
ways have played an important part
in feminine head dress, rapidly is CIV
ing way to the plumage of the ordi-
nary hen, rooster and turkey cock, the
tail and neck feathers of these fowls
bringing IS cents to 81 pound. This
is especially true of the white feathers
which are greatly in demand and
which always are kept separate from
those Of other colors by the pickers
and shippers. Many a woman who is
proud in the possession of feather
bed boa or hat with stunning feath-
ers on it would be surprised to learn
that these creations once covered
some of her common friends, the
chickens and turkeys.
Nearly every county in the state
shipped out some feathers in 1910.
Greene county is far in the lead with
163.899 pounds. Then follows Henry
county. with 122,9O5 pounds: Pettis,
with ss,637: Randolph, 5o.s39: Mont
gomery, 47,1S3; Grundy, 44,361; Clay,
43,7S5; Carroll, 41,922; St. Louis, 49,.
900; Boone, 1882; Linn, 34,627; Mon
iteau, 32.2O5; Pike, 27,973. Counting
twenty thousand pounds to the car. it
took Sixty-fOur cars to haul to market
the 1890 pounds.