Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-16
A Few Figures.
FERME NToLoG

Suppose We stop taking about coops
and cleaning and feeding and diseases
and the like and look over some of the
poultry figures of the country. 1t is in
teresting to all poultrymen, be they large
or small. to know what is being done
around them. Many will be astounded
by the figures pertaining to the raising
in this country. Yet there is no gainsay-
ing them. In fact, the figures do not tell
all the tale of what is being done.
Do you know that the last census taken
by the Department of Agriculture show
ed that there We're on the farms in the
United States go, 345 600 chickens? And
the belief is that about 100000 more
were not seen by the census man. Take
for instance. an average of 100 eggs 70,
each hen; you can do your own figuring as
to the number of eggs laid in a year by
all the hens in this number, and most OF
them were hens. because no account OF
chicks under three months old was taken
one rooster to every eight hens. the Others
being killed off.
Suppose we take for granted that the
government figures represent all lens
If each hen lays 100 eggs during the year
the total would represent something like
2.OCOOO0,OOo dozen. Taking an average
of, say, % cents a dozen, which in this
section OF the country seems low, why
we have the neat sum of 500, 100000
Then the value of the sale of poultry
for food must be added. So that the
government itself says:
The value of all poultry products pro-
duced in the United States last year was
about $1,O0O.OOO,OOO
When we sit down to eat fine chicken
how many stop to consider the enorm Gus
production of chickens there must he tn
supply all the tables in the United States,
and this is great chicken ting coun-
try; in fact, nearly all countries are bic
chicken consumers. AS producer the
fowl is only surpassed by corn and cot
ton.
Hence the paraphrase: THE hen is
mightier than the sword
And. dear reader. if each hen were lust
little more Industrious and raised the
average to 1O1 eggs each. the gain would
be about 100000. And If the average
were increased by twenty five-but no. We
won't pursue it. The mental shock is too
great.
And yet the increased care of chickens
Will undoubtedly raise the average each
year In times past the farmer paid not
so much attention to chickens. He fed
them a little, and made them hunt for
the rest. He didn't pay so much atten-
ton TO his coops. oftenumes allowing the
SnieheHS " fooSt ali year IN trees, on the
shafts of his pillow and the like Cleanl-
ness didn't enter into his calculations
much. There was no method about the
business. His chickens We're hardy for
their outdoor life, but their egg produc-
ton was not so great as ii is now grow
ing to be. And when some of them did
lay they found convenient places around
the farm, convenient for the hen, but so
inconvenient for the farmer that he didn't
always find the eggs.
The demand for poultry has increased
at SO rapid a rate, caused to a great ex-
tent by the decrease in cattle and the
high cost of beef, that many farmers are
now giving their entire attention to the
raising of poultry and abandoning of
general farming. They are building big