No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 641 



incubntors will hatch them by the thousands and you will haye more 

 than can be sold." It would seem that facts are stubborn things 

 and our demands are greater to-day than ever and none need fear 

 to exert their best efforts to the production of more and better 

 poultry. The true fancier is a market poultryman and many a 

 market poultryman makes a great mistake by not breeding fine- 

 bred* poultry, carefully and scientifically mating for best results, 

 selecting only his best for breeding purposes, and advertising and 

 selling for breeding only such birds as he himself would yard. The 

 condition of the poultry industry in the State of Pennsylvania and 

 throughout a greater part of the Middle and Eastern states the past 

 year has been favorable. Owing to the great quantity of rain in 

 the hatching season much of the young stock was hurt, yet with 

 it all that which w^as successfully reared when placed on the market 

 has brought, owing to the prevailing high prices, profitable re- 

 turns to those engaged in growing poultry, either for market or 

 breeding purposes. Eggs at from forty to sixty cents a dozen 

 demonstrates clearly that the hen is not too plentiful. 



We do not care to go into statistics farther than to say that if 

 all fowls and eggs produced in every way were listed it would 

 show a value of over five hundred million dollars to the credit of 

 the poultry interest, annually. Even with this vast product the 

 markets are seldom, if ever, overcrowded and there is always a 

 strong demand for the better grades of all kinds of poultry. In 

 fact, at no time in the history of poultry would high-class exhibi- 

 tion fowls sell so well as now, and never before was there such a 

 demand for the better grades of dressed poultry and freshly laid 

 eggs at prices far above former values. 



The scarcity of turkeys the past season has led me to offer a 

 few suggestions along the line of profitable turkey raising. The 

 turkey is, wdthout question, the most favored or sought after as 

 a table delicacy during the winter mouths. All over the world it 

 has the place of honor at special-day feasts; no other kind of poul- 

 try has or will demand the prices paid for the best turkeys. Game 

 birds may sell at higher prices, but no domestic fowls can out-class 

 them, and since the broiled poult has become a favored dish in our 

 larger hotels and restaurants the constant use of turkeys the whole 

 year around has increased the demand so much as to make it nec- 

 essary for an increased product to supply the demand. 



We have been surprised many times to see breeders sell off their 

 largest and best birds on the market, and a very large per cent, of 

 those who attempt to raise turkeys are doing this year after year, 

 and keeping the small birds for breeding, thus they are killing the 

 goose that lays the golden egg. In buying a -gobbler or hens, to 

 change the blood, they choose late-hatched, immature birds be- 

 41—6—1903 



