Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 115 



tui'c which is a hjisie industry upon which all others rest. When agri- 

 culture prospers, so do the manufacturing industries, the arts, the pro- 

 fessions and trades. The farmer not only feeds the world but contributes 

 raw materials for manufacture and commerce. Eggs, poultry and feath- 

 ers are important agricultural commodities. 



Fourth — Poultry husbandry is a profit making manufacturing enter- 

 prise. It is an axiomatic statement that anything that develops a more 

 healtliful and profitable business occupation in a community should be 

 encouraged. Poultry is such an occupation. It is in a very important 

 sense a manufacturing business. The fowls manufacture the raw ma- 

 terial, the food, into a finished product, the egg. Therefore the establish- 

 ment of a profitable poultry enterprise should be welcomed and en- 

 couraged in a community. A successful poultryman should have a seat 

 in the City Board of Trade along with other manufacturers and good 

 business men. The day is not far distant, indeed it is already here, 

 when Chambers of Commerce will include in their membership the 

 prosperous, up-to-date farmers for miles around. The success of the city 

 man is largely dependent upon the countryman. Their interests are 

 mutual. Each needs the other. Each should help the other. It is 

 worthy of note that the city people are among the warmest supporters of 

 appropriations for agricultural education. They do not look upon State 

 aid for agriculture as paternalism. They know that in due time they 

 will reap their own reward in more and better food to eat, larger orders 

 for goods and more business which will come from the farmer who pros- 

 pers. 



Fifth — Poultry husbandry is a live stock industry and as such is 

 superior to many other types of agriculture in conserving the natural 

 resources of the land, the humus, and the fertility. At least one-fifth 

 of the value of the food of the hen remains upon the farm as fertilizer. 

 There are presumably not less than 30,000,000 hens in Missouri. If so, 

 they consume annually approximately $30,000,000 worth of food, the 

 manurial value of which would be about $6,000,000. This, if properly 

 handled and applied, would be an important agricultural resource saved 

 to the State, which, if sold from the State in the raw material, the grain 

 and green food, would have depleted the soil to that extent. Poultry 

 husbandry, when properly conducted, may be made a soil-building and 

 not a soil depleting agricultural industry. It is on a par with every 

 live stock industry and, should be encouraged. "Keep fertility within 

 the State" is a motto that could well be framed and hung in every 

 agricultural college and legislative chamber. 



Sixth — The State should encourage the production of those products 



