428 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



and it is with this that I will make my comparisons as to income de- 

 rived from poultry. 



Poultry can be kept with profit on large or small farms; but not 

 on the large farm, to the relative advantage, as on the small one. 

 The census of IDUO gives the number of farms in this country as 

 5,739,657, one-third of which contains less than fifty acres. Of these, 

 675,458 have less than twenty. Farms of this smaller size cannot, 

 under ordinary circumstances and conditions, be made to pay as 

 dairy farms. I would not say that it is impossible, as one of your 

 honored members has demonstrated, to a degree, that most of us 

 would believe impossible. He has, by the application of unusual 

 brain-power, and the unlimited use of fertilizers, made it possible 

 to sustain twenty-five head of cattle on fifteen acres. This, surely, 

 is the highest order of intensive farming. There are few Dr. 

 Detrich's, and too much honor cannot be accorded him for the im- 

 portant lesson he has taught us of the possibilities that can be ac- 

 complished by scientific farming. 



We will now compare the value of dairy products with those of 

 poultry, as given by the census report. There were, in the year 1900, 

 19,081,699 cows in the dairies of this country, whose estimated value 

 was 1566,375,739. The product of these cows in milk, butter and 

 cheese, was worth |472,276,793. The value of each cow was |29.68, 

 and the value of her product |24.75, or |0.84 cents for each dollar of 

 the cow's value. At the same time there were in this country 250,- 

 681,673 chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks, valued at |85,794,996, 

 and their product was worth |281,178,035. The value of each fowl 

 was 10.29, and the product of each |1.12, or |3.27 for each one dollar 

 value. As before given, the cow has to her credit per dollar of 

 value 10.84, and the hen to her credit per dollar of value |3.27, or 

 four times that of the cow. The values above given for cows, |29.68, 

 chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks, |0.29, no doubt is very low for this 

 part of the country. The price of each would be relatively the same 

 in any section of the country — that is to say, that if the one is worth 

 129.68, and the other $0.29, in one section, it might be |60 for the one 

 and $0.60 for the other in another, and their products would vary 

 in like proportion, and the value of one cow would still be that of 

 one hundred chickens, and their products would remain four to 

 one in value in favor of the hen. 



It is not location that governs the value of the cow so much as 

 does her breeding and her capacity to produce milk or butter. 

 Cows sell for from $25 to $2,500, or even higher, and for the hen 

 the same will apply, as her value will be determined by her breed- 

 ing and capacity to lay eggs. The highest price at which a herd of 

 cattle was ever sold was, no doubt, that of Mr. Campbell, of New 

 York Mills, N. Y., whose herd of shorthorns, one hundred in number, 

 sold under the hammer (that is, at public auction), for over $300,000, 

 one cow bringing $40,500, and some six or eight $25,000, or over, 

 each; one calf selling for $16,000. The highest price ever received 

 in this country for fowls was by Mr. George Northup, of Raceville, 

 N. Y., who sold this last year nineteen R. C. Black Minorcas for 

 $3,400, as follows: One cock, $1,000; one cock, $500; one cock, $200; 

 one hen, $200; fifteen hens, $1,500. These birds were sold to Mr. 

 Von Schultzenstine, Berlin, Germany, who came to this country 



