The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-26
Recognition of Poultry Gull ture as One of Our Fore most National Industries. American Hen Has Proved That She Has the Goods and Can Deliver Them
By c. R. SMITH
thor and Practical Pouitrym.n

| Author and Practical POultr!msn l This is an age of miracles. You can | sail on the sea- under the sea, or above
 the sea- You can sit in an easy chair in New York city and talk with your
 friend in San Francisco. The wireless
 pulses your message through 5000 miles
 of ether as quickly as you could dictate
 it to a stenographer Our modern wiz
 ards of progress are performing greater | wonders than the ancient masters of the l Black Art ever attempted
 | The feats of science are equally
 astounding in the animal kingdom. Mln-
 nesota announces that one of her Hol- stein- F'riesian cows, Duchess Skylark Ormsby,'' has produced an average of | more than four pounds of butter 8 day for 12 consecutive monthsl And now we | have the amazing output of three and a-half-pound Leghorn hen-S14 eggs in 365 days! What does it mean? Let us see.
 ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE HEN | She has proved her worth. She nas | the goods and can deliver them. This astonishing performance makes plain the wealth of possibilities in every mans | dooryard flock
 | The expert tells us that there are more 1 than 7o00 latent eggs in the normal hen. l One individual has shown that she can l lay hundreds of these hidden, dormant, | potential possibilities in a twelvemonth l If one can cd it, then others can. No one | expects 1000 eggs from any hen, however
 long she may live. But every one knows I now that he need not go round the world to find his Acres of Diamonds" One American hen has shown us that there is as great economic value in her as can be
 found weight for weight, in any animal l in the world.
 What then? Simply this: It Is up to us to make the most of the domestic fowl. She has the eggs and she is never hap pier than when laying them. The hen that can lay 200 eggs in a year has be- come common. Her discovery is of recent date, however. A dozen years ago there were few who believed that such pro- ducer could be bred. Today the 3O0-egg hen has been discovered in various parts of the country. The evidence fs so over whelming that millions of the American people are challenged to dig for the dia- monds that are hidden away in the com mon hen Yes! The producing power is in the little hen-not 8 shadow of doubt l remains. What are we going to do about it? She is able and willing; are we will ing and able?
 It isn't matter of particular breed. There are dozen breeds of fowls that can be depended upon for the high econ ornic values if rightly handled. The egg laying contests in various parts of Amer ica as. well as in Australia prove that most of the common breeds of fowls have marvellous possibilities in egg production when handled rightly. While the heavier breeds may be slightly inferior to some
 of the smaller breeds in average egg pro- 1-,- ~-s- -.IA~ in other respects that make them of equal value. The man behind the bird is the determining factor
 PROGRESS IN EGG PRODUCTION | Lady Eglantine'' with her 314-egg, rec ord, has set the whole continent in search of poultry possibilities. Practically every body, outside the large cities keeps fowls. This amazing years work of one hen
 has been heralded from ocean to ocean. It will mean powerful stimulus to the movement already widespread to make the most of the utility value of the back yard flock as we'll as of the tens of thou sands of birds herded together on the n1illion-egg farm
 The average yearly yield of the farm flock is about 70 eggs for each hen. This is the finding of the department of agri- culture at Washington. We write 1t and read it with shame! It is surely long. long way from 70 to s14! The world is on fire today over economic efficiency. Most certainly the figures that are before the American people today will mean mighty stride forward in egg production. Otherwise we prove our economic de- ficiency.
 A farmer told me the other day that he | keeps 75 hens and that they Feat their heads off two or three times a year." It's lcng look from such a. story to that of another farmer who kept 400 layers last year and reports a profit of SLIGO above the cost of their feed.
 The man who can't get paying results from flock of hens today must hold l himself responsible. If he does not re- I sort to every possible method to increase his egg production he must confess that | he is not interested in poultry culture, 1 or that he is hopelessly sunk in the ruts of formcr generation.
 l What splendid stimulus we have in
 these record birds! Why may not every one of us start an egg-laying contest right 1 at home with the purpose of increasing cur egg yield, by spotting the mere board 1 CT and breeding better birds for the filling
 of the egg basket? A liberal estimate of 1.-the cost of feed for one hen for one year would be $150 Allowing yearly produc- 1 ton of only 120 eggs. there will still be a l profit above her feed of $1.50. with eggs at
 soc dozen. An increase of 30 eggs a | year to the fowl above this would mean l an average or only 1oV eS6s ioI cetCii layer. But it would mean an increase of l $500 year profit on plant carrying I 2OO0 layers. This average would still be less than half the record of the top l notch bird.
 Here is where the American people can cut "the high cost of living" by half a l billion dollars a year, namely. by in creasrg the average egg yield of the common hen from 70 a year to 14O year. A NATIONAL INDUSTRY
 The modern high record hen should mean this ''unauestioned recognition ] Poultry culture has come 10 stay. We are forced under the circumstances to
 rank it with dairying, wheat and corn production, lumbering manufacturing. or
 any others of our great national indus l tries.
 Two decades ago men mace merry w.th the Poultry business.' There was good
 cause for this in many cases It was the
 day of beginnings in the building up of
 the modern egg machine At present
 there are plenty of plants handling thou
 sands and even tens ofthousands of birds.
 I visited one farm last summer where
 more than 4OO00 fowls more than three
 months old were then being cared for.
 The same farm has an incubator cellar
 with total capacity of 4S,0co eggs. l
 visited another farm which had pro
 ducing capacity of 250,000 baby chicks a
 year. Such extensive plants usually
 handle 10000 or more layers. From S
 l~l<~t. tNt r.l