PROGRESSIVE POULTRY CULTURE 19 



Statistics are dry things, but sometimes they show 

 results that are a revelation to the uninitiated. Ac- 

 cording to the already somewhat ancient reports of the 

 twelfth census, the value of the annual poultry pro- 

 ducts of the United States of America was close to 

 $300,000,000 at the end of the nineteenth century. Of 

 the 5,739,657 farms of the country nearly ninety per 

 cent, included poultry keeping as a part of their in- 

 dustry. 



There was 57.8% reported increase in the production 

 of eggs in the years from 1890 to 1900 and yet the aver- 

 age reported number of eggs laid per fowl was only 

 5.6 dozens for the year ending the decade and clos- 

 ing the century. This shows that there is room for im- 

 provement. The average reported value of eggs per 

 dozen was 11.2 cents, not quite one cent a piece. Here 

 again is opportunity for something higher. 



The number of common domestic fowl, three months 

 old and over, and of Guinea fowl, turkeys, geese and 

 ducks, kept on the more than five million farms and 

 ranges, on June 1, 1900, was 250,681,988, and these fig- 

 ures do not .include the flocks kept in towns and on 

 village lots. 



Considering the immense number of fowls and the 

 enormous reported value of their annual products in this 

 country alone, compels us to realize that statistics are 

 staggering. What then shall we conclude as to the 

 numbers of domestic fowl and their yearly yield in the 

 whole world? 



Further Evidences: While the bulk of the eggs and 

 dressed poultry and feathers for home use and for 

 market, comes mainly from the farms, there is yet fur- 

 ther striking evidence of the growing importance of 

 poultry in the development of the industry as a special 

 business. Capitalists have found it worth while, in 

 many cases, to invest large amounts of money in ex- 

 tensive poultry plants. Poultry farms to-day are not 

 a rarity. Intensive poultry practice is an established 

 fact. 



Consider the crowds of collectors and carriers of 



