80 TRANSACTIONS OF STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



By H. BEREAR, of San Jose. 



Few people realize the importance of this industry, and it will be a 

 matter of surprise to many to learn that it has risen tc second place in 

 the list of industrial economics. Its massive figures astound the statis- 

 tician of industrial art. To-day this industry represents as annual 

 output and stock on hand the enormous sum of 1690,000,000. 



To the average individual the poultry business is as a sealed book. 

 Not only the legislature but the press fails in giving this industry 

 proper recognition and support. Daily reports of the condition of the 

 wheat, tobacco, and cotton crops, etc., are printed and read throughout 

 the land, but no systematic reports of progress made in poultry culture 

 are recorded. The growth of the poultry industry is one of the most 

 reliable and conclusive proofs of the prosperity of this country, and the 

 American hen must be recognized as one of the most potent factors in 

 producing and maintaining the wealth of our country. 



The estimated value of the entire cotton crop for the year 1899 was 

 less than $300,000,000, while the approximate value of the poultry 

 business of the United States alone was nearly three times that amount 

 and more than twice the value of all the milk and butter produced. 



Poultry will yield quicker and larger returns than any other depart- 

 ment of farming, and every year shows an increase in our importations 

 of eggs and fowls. Our poultry farmers should be sufficiently strong to 

 supply our home markets. 



In many of our Eastern States practical lessons in poultry culture 

 are taught, but in this State little encouragement is offered poultrymen. 

 Utah, Rhode Island, New York, Illinois, and other States supply their 

 poultrymen with bulletins and pamphlets free of charge, describing in 

 full experiments that have been conducted by practical men. 



It seems strange that this State is so slow to recognize the importance 

 of this industry. An Experiment Station should be established and a 

 liberal appropriation made for poultry work, so that poultrymen could 

 take a special course of instruction in poultry culture, scientific breeding, 

 etc. The interests of poultrymen should at least receive as much con- 

 sideration as that of hucksters and horticulturists. 



It is a fact that the progeny of the scrub fowl is of all degrees of 

 shape and color, lacking in uniformity of size and quality of flesh. In 



