POULTRY FARMING 423 



The lines in which operations on a large scale have been undoubtedly successful 

 for long periods are the growing of ducks for the market, and sale of exhibition and breed- 

 ing fowls. Duck growing has been developed on a very large scale on independent 

 farms. Several of these for many years have produced about 50,000 ducks a year. 

 One grower who operates two large farms some miles apart produces from 70,000 to 

 80,000 ducks a year. Farms producing from 10,000 to 15,000 ducks a year are much 

 more numerous than those making a larger output. The successful farms are all oper- 

 ated by owner who have built up from small beginnings. The plants established 

 on a large scale at the start, as investments, invariably fail. 



The larger plants doing a business in exhibition and stock fowls grow only a part 

 (sometimes a small part) of the birds that they sell. This is a necessary condition 

 because selling ability and judicious advertising develop a demand far greater than 

 can be supplied from the stock grown upon one farm. This class of poultry cannot 

 be- crowded but must have ample range. So as the business grows the breeder 

 usually puts out as much stock as possible on other farms, and often also buys stock 

 from smaller breeders. The latter practice leads to some abuses, but on the whole 

 is to the advantage of all concerned. Very large plants of this type are not numerous. 



By far the greater number of poultry farms of all types are small, requiring the serv- 

 ices of only one or two men. The plants for growing roasting chickens are on this 

 scale, or smaller. Only a few of these have an annual output exceeding 2,000 or 3,000 

 chickens. The special egg farms of Petaluma, California, are on about the same scale. 

 In the roaster growing section of Massachusetts and on the egg farms of Petaluma 

 troubles due to carrying large stocks of fowls continuously on small areas of land are 

 increasing. The same condition is apparent on many of the scattered farms. This 

 and the gradual increase of interest in poultry among general farmers and those resi- 

 dents of towns who have room to keep poultry constantly tend to restrict the growth 

 of exclusive poultry farms. With variations due to differences in customs and eco- 

 nomic conditions in different countries, the conditions of poultry production are much 

 the same the world over. With the decline of confidence in mammoth poultry projects 

 an unusual interest arose, as if in reaction, in methods of keeping small flocks of fowls 

 in very close confinement. This plan was exploited largely by the sale of books, each 

 of which described a " system " devised by its author, whereby a very small number 

 of fowls might be made enormously profitable Such ideas had often before been ex- 

 ploited in a small way. At this time skillful advertising on a very large scale enabled 

 some of the promoters to realise very large profits. In America, where the movement 

 started, it made quite a sensation for several years. In England it was at first rid- 

 iculed as characteristically American, but before long English promoters were exploit- 

 ing similar ideas. The interest in these highly intensive methods still continues, 

 but greatly abated. The indications are that the net result of the movement will be 

 to add many recruits to the number of poultry keepers who use more rational methods. 



Production and Distribution. The increased production of poultry and eggs in all 

 progressive countries is marked. Statistics for the United States attract most atten- 

 tion because of the magnitude of the totals, and the impression is often conveyed that 

 progress is more rapid there than elsewhere. A more correct view is that most pro- 

 gressive movements acquire an initial impetus more easily in America than elsewhere. 

 Comparisons of production in the United States with that of different European coun- 

 tries does not fairly represent progress in Europe. Comparing Europe as a whole with 

 the United States and Canada there is a remarkable parallellism. In Europe England 

 has been the principal market for the surplus of the Continental countries, just as in 

 America the New England and Middle States have furnished a market for the surplus 

 of the West and South. The general history of the extension of interest in poultry 

 culture in recent times on either continent is in nearly all essential particulars very 

 like the history of development on the other. In the United States as a whole pro- 

 duction and consumption have been very evenly balanced; but within the United 

 States too there have been backward regions just as there have been in Europe. 



