23 

 CLASS E— POULTRY. 



C. A. TAT MAN— Superintendent. 



To the Illinois State Board of Agriculture: 



Gentlemen: — As superintendent of the poultry department of the State 

 fair of 1900, I respectfully submit the following report: 



The exhibit of poultry was not quite so large as that of last year, but there 

 was enough to comfortably fill the coops and all the available space in the 

 building. The exhibit of the American breeds was excellent, and the num- 

 ber shown reached nearly 500. The Mediteranean breeds were next in num- 

 ber, and made a beautiful show. Then came the Bantams, Asiatics and 

 Games. 



The exhibit of incubators, brooders and other poultry yard appliances was 

 possibly the largest and most varied of any like exhibition ever made on the 

 Illinois State Fair grounds. Several of the incubators were hatching chick- 

 ens daily during the fair, and the percentage of eggs hatched was very good, 

 when all the circumstances are taken into consideration, the brooders having 

 been "set" at the places of manufacture and shipped hundreds of miles to 

 the fair. 



Your superintendent would recommend that a suitable premium be offered 

 for this class of work — the award to be made on the number of chicks hatched 

 out of a given number of eggs; the incubators to be subject to rules made by 

 the board, so that there could be no fraud perpetrated, and everything per- 

 taining to the exhibit placed on the same basis. 



Your superintendent is satisfied that the exhibitors and public generally 

 approved the decisions of the awarding judges, Mr. M. B. Pierce of Indian- 

 apolis, and M. W. Summers of Curran, 111. 



The number of fowls on exhibition, was 1,901; the amount of premiums 

 offered, $884; the amount of premiums paid, $618.50. Taking the exhibit as 

 a whole it was very satisfactory. 



A table giving the entries, offerings and awards in this department for a 

 term of years is hereby appended and made a part of this report: 



Entries, Offerings and Aivards, Fair 1900. 



