Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-12-15
OUR HOUSEHOLD
CONDUCTED BY LIZZIE O. THOMAS
A Straight Business Talk

| WORD supposed, Tor many d laple
! would be minus coffee, sugar and
delicacies if there should be a law
against the exchange of eggs and
butter for such commodities. Such
being the case a great many women
have to sell these two products of
their time and attention whether it
| is good judgment or not. Just the
same power cOmpelS some men to
| put cotton on the market when the
| sharks are waiting and holding down
! the price so as to get the distressed
| cotton at the lowest possible fig
ure.
| But these are not the ones / am
writing to this morning. There is a
! class, men and women, that rush
| their stuff to market as fast as pos
sible. They are the people who keep
the market down and make it hard
| for all the others. There is not any
good sense connected with such con-
duct, the farm bureau and farmers
union are working with the cotton
| problem; the egg problem means
| just as much. l have been reading
county agents reports from Berea,
| Ky. 1t is wonderful, and past be-
lieving for people with scrub stock,
but those whose flocks are one sort
and have had judicious care know
that the hens have done better this
year than cotton or tobacco. 1
heard a man say that he is doing
this fall Just what his wife asks him
to do, for she has handled more
money than his cotton crop has
given him.
That man is one in a hundred.
They not only will not admit the
truth, but they are everlastingly
| exaggerating on the other side. They
seem to think it manly to affect the
scornful air when poultry is the
topic, but that sort generally eats
two pieces of chicken to the one
| the others eat, and are perfectly
willing to enjoy the things bought
with such money. And all this
brings me to the subject I've had in
mind all this week.
| Now is the time. to get started for
a pure-bred flock. Next spring you
will want the best, eggs you can
get. You are lucky if you put
certain per cent of Your surplus
; summer eggs in Waterglass. sThe
! price now is good. You should not
| stint the family, but money is so
scarce it is a temptation to sell. The
/ peak of high prices comes in De-
cember and the lowest in March or
! April. Normal weather gives us the
average supply. Unusually nice
weather adds to the amount. When
such is the case everybody rushes
their eggs TO market and prices
| drop. Wouldn't it be better for CO.
| operation, to be praced and a GER
:, tain number of dozens sent out?
| The others could be held back until
| prices changed. This is where
Woman's club or poultry club could
! do good work. There are some who
say that women and farmers can't
be trusted; they will pledge all sorts
| of things, in cooperation, and ship
| their produce to market, or plant
more cotton than they pledged. You
| and l know that in some instances
| this is true, and we are ashamed for
such people. They are not ashamed.
| for they think that they are smart,
| but that sort does not predominant,
| and if we can get even one or Awo
of a community to make up their
I minds to have good poultry next
year, we can safely predict ten
more the following year.
1 never advise dny one to "clean
I up their flock by getting rid of
their hens if they are the laying
sort. do not advise them to change
a good Barred Rock flock for Reds
just because I've made a success of
Reds. But I say that one should
take their best hens and get pure
bred cockerel of that breed and build
up their flock. Next spring buy at
least two settings of eggs or twenty
five baby chicks Of the same breed
and by that means a year will give
one good start. Get your eggs
where you get your male bird. Line
breeding is the only safe way. y
In the December number of the
Reliable Poultry Journal the editor
tells us of a man who took a bunch
of birds to the Madison Square Gar
den show, a well-educated man and
really interested in poultry. His
flock was distinct disappointment
| to him, and he asked this editor to
| tell him what mistake he had made.
This is the history of his flock:
He had bought the so-called utility
sort, not caring especially for looks
and thinking he could build them up,
and after five years he still had Off
colored, or shaped, fowls.
The editor told him his mistake
was in buying scrubs or mongrels.
That if he had sought trust
worthy breeder of the sort he liked
the care he had bestowed on them
would have produced some good
birds. The trap nest is the only way
to tell the real worth of a hen. One
need not buy the real trap nest IL
| the flock is small, but each hen must
be noticed and her eggs marked,
| keep a record of how many each
| hen lays in the month and how
many times she gets broody, don't
be spasmodic; keep it up a year
and do not depend on your memory.
short pencil and a book with a
string to it will be safe, hanging
| behind the kitchen door. Set the
eggs from your best egg producers.
combined with uniform size, shape,
color, weight, style of comb and
clean legs.
1t has taken the breeders of Rhode
Island Reds, Plymouth Rocks, Wy
andottes, Orpingtons and others
from twenty-five to fifty years to
| bring them to their present high
state Of purity and ability to repro
duce themselves true to form and
feather" Therefore, it is a waste
of valuable time to invest in scrub
stock, with the idea that in a few
years they can produce fine looking
uniform stock to compete with the
specimens that have had nothing
but pure blood to build from. Do
NOT invest in any stock inst because
it is cheap. If you have nothing but
scrubs and they are laying, I say
for you to keep them as long as
they are profitable but get trio
Of the purebred sort you like best
and set those eggs. They will cost
more now than in September, but
| thnN will he WORT the money in the