CHAPTER IX 



Coinniercial Leghorn Farms 



Rapid Growth of the White Leghorn E^ii Industry in the United States. Remarkable Increase in the 

 Production of White Eggs. Methods of Hatching, Rearing and Feeding Leghorns on Large Com- 

 mercial Poultry Plants. Grading, Packing, Shipping and Marketing Eggs and Squab 

 Broilers for Market. Noted Leghorn Farms in the East «ud West. 



TO THE white shelled egg the establishment of a 

 great industry is due. The multiplication of com- 

 mercial Leghorn egg farms all over the United 

 States has been rapid in the last decade and there seems 

 to be no limit to the production of white eggs in the years 

 to come. The demand for choice white shelled eggs far 

 exceeds the supply at present, and as the country ex- 

 pands, population increases, the consumption of eggs will 

 grow and expand in a similar ratio, or if we mistake not, 

 will increase greatly in proportion to the present de- 

 mand. The value of eggs as food is being better under- 

 stood and appreciated since the prices of meats have 

 soared upward to a point where they become almost pro- 

 hibitive with many families. Milk, cereals and eggs con- 

 sequently become more staple articles of food than in 

 former years. 



It is true eggs have advanced in price, but eggs even 

 at five cents each are cheap, wholesome and nourishing 

 food. 



Potent Influence of the Leghorn Fowl. 



The cause of the increasing demand and popularity 

 of white shelled eggs must be attributed to the gradual 

 and potent influence of the Leghorn fowl in shelling out a 

 uniform product that looked fresh and attractive to the 

 buyer. A dozen clean white eggs in a neat carton dis- 

 played on the counters of first class grocery and fruit 

 stores proved a powerful educator to the buyer and 

 seller. The mixed or motley looking eggs of all sizes and 

 colors formerly displayed in baskets, no matter how 

 fresh they may have been, lacked the selling quality of 

 the uniform product. 



But when and where did this demand — formerly and 

 erroneously called a fad^originate, is a mooted question. 

 -■^s far as this country is concerned, we believe New York 

 City was the first market that classified White Leghorn 

 eggs and put a premium on the price of the latter, and 

 it was in the early seventies that this took place. But 

 all white eggs in those days were not laid by Leghorns, 

 for we remember most vividly the first basket of white 

 eggs we ever saw, and that was in Yorkville, then a 

 suburb of New York City, now a densely populated por- 

 tion of Greater New York. These eggs were brought 

 over from Long Island by a farmer who had a flock of 

 Black Spanish fowl, to the city markets, where they were 

 sold at a much higher price than was obtained for mixed 

 lots of eggs on sale. These eggs weighed seven to the 

 pound, were chalk white in color and presented the most 

 attractive appearance of a hen fruit we ever saw. In after 

 years we remembered these eggs and at the first oppor- 

 tunity when we began farming in 1883, purchased some 

 Black Spanish eggs for the purpose of hatching and 

 building up a flock of layers that would produce the fin- 

 est white eggs for the family and market trade. But the 



Wyandotte fever was too strong upon us and we dis- 

 carded the Spanish to take up the Silver Wyandottes. 

 Occasionally we would find such Spanish eggs in the mar- 

 kets, but the advent of the Leghorn soon crowded out the 

 Black Spanish, the latter breed having become strictly 

 a fancier's fowl, where the length and smoothness of the 

 white face was of far more importance than the beauti- 

 ful large white eggs the hen shelled out. The Minorca 

 also appeared on the scene shortly after and put the final 

 kibosh on the Spanish, as Minorcas proved prolific layers 

 of large white shelled eggs. 



It was in the eighties that "Jersey Leghorn" and 

 "White Leghorn Eggs" began to appear moie frequently 

 in the New York markets, although all white shelled 

 eggs, whether laid by a Leghorn, Houdan, Minorca, An- 

 cona or Hamburg were sold as White Leghorn eggs. New 

 Jersey was the pioneer state in this White Leghorn 

 industry and ranks today as probably the greatest Leg- 

 horn state in the Union, in the commercial value of the 

 eggs, as well as in the quantities produced annually. 



In Europe, Denmark has been actively engaged in the 

 production of high-class eggs, the Danes being strongly 

 inclined to favor the Buff Leghorn, which they can justly 

 claim to have originated. But the Danes go in for uni- 

 formity in size, perhaps more than they do for color, se- 



A blue ribbon winner at Boston and a typical S. C. 

 Black Leghorn female with excellent color in all 

 sections. Owned by Turtle Point Farm, Saratoga 

 Springs, N. Y. 



