256 



AN EGG FARM. 



Lockwood Myrick, be called to the stand, who, in the 

 American Agriculturist, says : 



"There are few enterprises that present such an assurance of large 

 and quick profits as that of raising broiler chickens artificially, that 

 is, with incubators and brooders, instead of hens. With incubators a 

 large number of chicks can be hatched at once and at seasons when 

 hens do not sit. The market for broilers is never glutted. They are 

 marketed at three months old, the dressed weight (undrawn) ranging 

 from three to three and one-half pounds per pair. Eggs cost a trifle 

 less than two cents each the year through. The feed consumed by a 

 chick in three months costs but ten to twenty cents per pair. 



JO 



Y 



FIG. 142. TILT BOX PARALLEL SYSTEM. 



" The business has been tried in all parts of the country, but proba- 

 bly more extensively at Hammonton, South New Jersey. Within the 

 last ten years it is said that more than fifty parties have undertaken 

 the brooder business in this township. A better soil and climate for 

 poultry cannot be found, and if success in the brooder business can be 

 expected anywhere, certainly it should be found at Hammonton. 

 And what is the result? Of all who have engaged in it only four 

 remain, commercially, and of these but two run the whole year, and 

 one of these expects to retire shortly. It is safe to say that there is 

 not a single brooder man in Hammonton to-day who realizes $500 per 

 year net profit, and that is without making any charge for his time. 

 One party mentioned above who says he cleared that sum two years 

 ago, evidently has not since. Another, after four years' constant effort, 

 says he has not received fifty cents a day for his labor. A third, who 



