POULTRY PROBLEMS AND PROFITS. 



(W. L. Nelson.) 



Nature did much towards making Missouri the first State 

 in the Union in point of poultry production. The people are doing 

 their part, hence the place of pre-eminence which the State now 

 proudly occupies. 



Nowhere can poultry be raised with more profit or less labor 

 than here in Missouri, where are thousands of sunny slopes and 

 sun-kissed hills, making for the hen a happy home; where sun- 

 shine and shade are present in the most pleasing proportions; 

 where water, clear as crystal, bubbles forth in abundance; where, 

 from a fertile soil, grow grains and grasses such as the man 

 in the business too often has to buy; where are no long wet sea- 

 sons, conducive to disease, nor months of extreme and continued 

 cold, to make expensive housing necessary and to double feed bills ; 

 where come no long periods of excessive heat and devastating 

 drouth ; where poultry production may be profitably combined with 

 general agriculture and especially with fruit and dairy farming; 

 where transportation facilities are ample, and where large cities 

 afford the best of markets throughout the year. 



The many millions of dollars' worth of poultry produced an- 

 nually in Missouri comes almost exclusively from the farms, where 

 such as is sold represents clear profit — and more, for the eggs 

 and poultry consumed on the table more than pay the cost of keep. 

 The Missouri farm without poultry is the exception. In eight 

 years the value of the surplus of poultry, eggs and feathers pro- 

 duced in Missouri has more than tripled. With better methods 

 have come larger returns. Many who once "kept poultry" are now 

 letting poultry keep them. There is both pleasure and profit in 

 poultry production, and the more profit the more pleasure. 



The State Labor Bureau places the value of Missouri's surplus 

 poultry products for the years 1900 to 1907, inclusive, at $214,- 

 527,835. For the year 1907 alone the value of the State's surplus 

 farmyard products — live poultry, dressed poultry, eggs and 

 feathers — figures $44,866,447. So great are these figures that only 

 by comparison may they be fully comprehended. 



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