THE LEGHORNS 



117 



office, seek the profits of egg farming and the quiet and 

 freedom of the country. The future greatness of the 

 Vineland Tract depends upon their individual success. 



Market Conditions for New Comers 



Many of the already established egg farms on the 

 Tract have a select market to which they have catered 

 for several years and being individually known they se- 

 cure the highest New York quotations and oftentimes 

 two cents per dozen over the New York price. In turn 

 they sell their yearling hens after they have passed the 

 pullet year as "breeding stock" at $1.25 per head. They 

 have other sources of income from their poultry, such as 

 eggs for hatching, baby chicks, etc., and are making about 

 all .the money possible out of their products. But the 

 new comer, what of him? 



If. as a poultryman, I anticipated embarking in egg 

 'arming down at Vineland and I should go there to look 

 the ground over, I would not be particularly interested 

 in the types of houses I found, nor would I inquire at 

 length into the feeds and methods of feeding employed 

 there, for I have my own opinions on those subjects, but 

 I would inquire into the market for 

 my products. I would realize that 

 after I had produced the eggs I would 

 have to sell them and every time I 

 increased the selling price one cent it 

 would be a whole cent of profit to 

 put into my pocket. If upon inquiry 

 at Vineland I should be told that 

 there are markets in New York to 

 which I could cater individually, it 

 would not appeal to me particularly, 

 for I could go to Lakewood or some 

 place else and still cater to those 

 markets, but if I should say at Vine- 

 land, "My success depends upon the 

 markets," and I should be told "The 

 Vineland Poultry Association has an 

 outlet for you," that would mean a 

 great deal to me and I would inquire 

 into that outlet to learn how it is 

 secured and the prices obtained for 

 the producers. 



Small individual producers are 

 given little consideration. They can- 

 not make the money that a big pro- 

 ducer can. If the buyer has to hunt 

 up three or four producers to secure 

 enough for a shipment, he will not 

 pay as big a price as though he could 

 have been saved the trouble by buy- 

 ing in one lot. Note the small stores 

 in large cities. Not much buying 

 is done in them, for the people 

 seek the large market places. Though 

 a White Leghorn farm at Vineland may carry 700 to 1,000 

 layers, its shipment of eggs when it reaches New York is 

 as a handful of sand on the beach. 



Through co-operative marketing, however, the Vine- 

 land output of eggs is a factor to be reckoned with. 

 Shipping together through a common outlet, the Vine- 

 land producers can supply IS crates of strictly fresh eggs 

 at any time with no advance notice. The Vineland pro- 

 duct goes forward with a "force" because.it is numerically 

 strong and it is an eflficient and influential force because 

 "Vineland eggs" stand for eggs that have been grided 

 as to color and sorted as to size and, most of all, pro- 



'%\ 



birds 



Leg- 



TYriCAL UTILITY WHITE LEGHORN 



A White Leehorn pullet which we 

 picked from a flock of ut 

 the Vineland. New Jersey, 

 horn district. This pullet shows the 

 good size characteristic of the Vine- 

 land "egg machines," also the long 

 body and well developed posterior sec- 

 tion, which gave her the appearance of 

 a hen. Of course she was a carefully 

 selected model. At their last show the 

 Vineland Poultry Association intro- 

 duced a "utility class" and premiums 

 were given on live utility poultry. By 

 experimenting and the competitive 

 comparison of the birds exhibited the 



number of birds of that type which 

 give the best results to the average 



duced on up-to-date, clean poultry farms and were laid 

 by thoroughbred hens that have been fed sound grain and 

 last, but not least, these eggs are marketed while 

 strictly fresh. 



All this means that when Vineland eggs are quoted 

 at a fair premium above the highest New York quota- 

 tions they still find a ready sale, for buyers know the 

 worth of the Vineland product. Vineland eggs can be 

 printed on the menu cards of the hotels and the pro- 

 prietors profit thereby, for these eggs can be eaten with 

 a relish and without fear. An advertised and premium 

 coiTimanding output of this kind would make the Vineland 

 Tract appeal to me if I were a beginner seeking a loca- 

 tion. To furnish an outlet of this kind is what the Vine- 

 land Poultry Association is working for today. 



Co-operative Marketing At Vineland 



The poultry association at Vineland is composed of 

 some 200 members and it is incorporated. As an associa- 

 tion it is marketing the eggs of those members who wish 

 to enter the co-operative arrangement. The hard work 

 the officers are doing is a tribute to their earnest desire 

 to make a greater and more suc- 

 cessful Vineland Tract. 



It ships the eggs under its own 

 name and positively guarantees 

 them, thereby establishing a reputa- 

 tion for the Vineland products, 

 which eventually will prove to be an 

 asset to the whole Vineland com- 

 munity. They can thereby increase 

 the profit on eggs produced by the 

 Vineland poultrymen. Through the 

 intrinsic value of their eggs the asso- 

 ciation is making the name "Vine- 

 land" synonymous with freshness, 

 cleanliness and purity. I use these 

 three woids advisedly. An egg can 

 be fresh, its shell clean and if laid by 

 a healthy hen that has been fed 

 sweet grain, it is pure. Already 

 there is one commission man in New 

 York who, I was told, handles some 

 of the output of the Vineland Asso- 

 ciation and does not charge a com- 

 mission for doing so. 



The eggs which the association 

 ships are brought to the association's 

 egg exchange which is located on 

 East Avenue, Vineland. These eggs 

 are brought in on Mondays and 

 Thursdays. At the exchange they 

 are candled for blood spots, etc., by 

 a candler in the regular employ of 

 the association. He then sorts the 

 eggs as to size and they go for- 

 ward as "No. 1 White Hennery" and "No. 2 White 

 Hennery." They are graded as to color, the white, 

 cream and brown shelled ones being shipped under their 

 respective classification. All this is done to establish a 

 reputation for Vineland Poultry Association eggs, for a 

 known standard of quality is essential to obtain higher 

 than the highest New York market quotations. It is 

 estimated that when the maximum rapacity of the egg ex- 

 change is employed, the cost of this work is one-half cent 

 per dozen. It seems to me that the time that it saves 

 the poultryman which he can devote to other work, is 

 alone worth this cost. 



