82 TRANSACTIONS OF STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



present magnitude. The incubator is no longer an experiment; it has 

 come to stay and has increased the chances of success, and progress is 

 made more rapid and certain. 



Poultry Supplies. — Our poultry supply firms are doing an immense 

 business. Some of our manufacturers have achieved a world-wide 

 reputation. A glance at their order files would prove a revelation to 

 many who do not realize the importance of this branch of the industry. 

 Hundreds of first-class mechanics are employed and machines shipped 

 to all parts of the world. 



Packing- Houses. — The capacity of some of the largest is from one to 

 six thousand chickens per day, and it is interesting to note that about 

 three cents per pound more is paid for pure-bred fowls than for common 

 stock. 



Picking Chickens. — A recent invention. The fowl, after being killed, 

 is placed in a receptacle, and into this is turned several cross currents 

 of air from electric fans revolving at a high rate of speed. The fowl is 

 instantly stripped of its feathers, even to the tiniest particles of down. 



The Hen. — Modern brain and enterprise have developed the most 

 unimportant adjunct to the farm into the best paying element of agri- 

 cultural investment. A flock of fowls forms a most valuable adjunct to 

 fruit-growers. Aside from the valuable service rendered in an orchard, 

 they will give a daily revenue, at a nominal cost, as they will pick up 

 most of their food. 



Market. — There is never a time when eggs and fowls do not command 

 a market. At an average price, eggs are about the cheapest and most 

 nutritious article of diet. 



Eggs.— The estimated value of eggs marketed during the past year is 

 $135,000,000. The demand increases faster than the supply. In addi- 

 tion to the eggs produced in the United States, we import about one 

 hundred millions each year. Hundreds of thousands are used in the 

 industrial arts; as, for instance, in dressing leather, in treating photo- 

 graphs, in fixing colors in printing dress goods, in clarifying wines, etc.; 

 also, for medical purposes to cure burns, prevent blistering, sore 

 throat, inflamed bowels, etc. 



Dried Eggs. — Vast quantities of eggs are now dried and put on the 

 market. The eggs are broken into a churning machine and are 

 thoroughly churned up, then evaporated and dried. They keep per- 

 fectly and taste precisely like fresh eggs. This new industry offers a 

 vast field for enterprise and capital, as the demand for dried eggs, par- 

 ticularly in Alaska, on the frontiers, and on board ship, is increasing 

 rapidly and is practically unlimited. 



