226 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



PROORESSIVE POULTRY RAISING. 



By Hon. NORRIS G. TEMPLE, Pocopson, Pa. 



A gold mine, if worked successively, will finally cease to produce. 

 So to-day it is with many of our farms; they have been overworked 

 and as a natural result have ceased- to be as productive as they once 

 were. This condition has forced many general farmers to special- 

 ize; some have taken to stock raising, others to fruit growing, many 

 to dairying and market gardening, and a few to raising standard bred 

 and market poultry, while a large number are combining two or 

 more of the foregoing. It is highly probable that not one man out 

 of every hundred you meet in the daily walks of life has any idea 

 of the magnitude of the poultry industry of this county, and the 

 money making capacity of the much berated hen. 



The time has passed for profitable poultry raising hj haphazard 

 trust-to-luck methods. In the good old days, fowls were a by-pro- 

 duct of every farm and village establishment. Eggs chosen at ran- 

 dom were placed under the most accommodating old hen. To-day, 

 poultry raising is a practical, scientific business proposition; nothing 

 is left to chance; every i)oint from the selection of breeders and 

 proper food to the final market is made a matter of thoughtful study. 



A building for shelter, not necessarily elaborate, but which is 

 dry, warm and light, preferably with windows to the south and di- 

 rect sunshine during as much of the day as possible. These condi- 

 tions are essential to health and success; if the hens are confined 

 to any great extent, there should be provided an open shed facing 

 the south in which a liberal supply of cut straw or fodder is con- 

 stantly kept. 



The rock upon which many a poultry venture has been wrecked, 

 is impure air. Fowls domesticated are, from excessive in-breeding, 

 much more susceptible to disease than fowls in a state of nature. 

 An inade(]uate supply of pure air intensifies this weakness until the 

 stock becomes debilitated and the eggs produce chicks that no 

 amount of coaxing can induce to live. 



An article on selection of breeds and on breeding contained in 

 Farnn-rs' linlletin No. 41, covers this important ground. A mistake 

 is oftentimes made in selecting fowls of a breed that is not suited for 

 the purpose for which they are to be kept. If egg production 



