CHAPTER XXVI. 



BUSINESS POULTRY FARMING. 



Throughout the industrial realm everywhere the mod- 

 ern maxim is: "Use a machine instead of a man, 

 wherever possible." In field, factory and mine, and on 

 shipboard, progress demands the best of facilities for 

 doing those things which are to be repeated over and 

 over ten thousand times. On the other hand, when an 

 operation is to be repeated but seldom, you must beware 

 lest you lavish so much time on a machine to do it with 

 that it costs more than the profits. 



As we have seen, the surplus eggs and poultry from 

 farms and rural places will be put on the market irre- 

 spective of profit, and the rapid extension of the trolley 

 lines changes many urban residents to suburban ; in 

 other words, they become producers of poultry products 

 instead of consumers merely. Therefore, the prices of 

 eggs and dressed poultry are low and will continue low. 

 To get around the difficulty, the artificial method of 

 hatching and rearing has been resorted to by would-be 

 broiler raisers on a large scale, so as to get high prices 

 by securing chicks in cold weather when the ordinary 

 farmer cannot, or does not, do it. But the first trouble 

 is that winter eggs do not hatch well because the laying 

 stock is in bad condition at that season from* lack of exer- 

 cise, and the second trouble is, that when you succeed 

 in hatching, the chicks cannot exercise in yards in cold 

 weather, sleet and snowdrifts. You cannot secure exer- 

 cise for them indoors without the aid of machinery, 

 unless you spend more time than they are worth. With- 



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