NOTED CENTRES OF PRODUCTION 



15 



range. On most of the farms no fences other than the one sur- 

 rounding the whole are used. 



The poultry farmers spend their entire time in caring for the 

 growing and adult birds. The incubation is centralized on special 

 plants which are operated exclusively as breeding and hatching 

 establishments. On these plants the breeding birds are kept in 

 large flocks and provided with unrestricted range. The eggs are 

 hatched in large mammoth hatchers and the baby chicks sold to 

 the egg farmer for a certain rate per one hundred. This cen- 

 tralization of effort tends to increase efficiency, and can be profit- 

 ably patterned after in some of our Eastern egg districts (Figs. 

 10 and 11). 



FIG. 13. A laying house common in the Vineland district, N. J. 



Cheap houses or shelters are in general use in this district, the 

 common practice being to move them frequently about the range 

 to insure sanitary conditions and provide green food (Fig. 9). 



The Vineland district in New Jersey is another specialized 

 section, which resembles, in many respects, the Petaluma district. 

 It centres around the city of Vineland (Figs. 13 and 14). The 

 white Leghorns are kept, with the object of supplying the New 

 York City market with white-shelled eggs of highest quality. 

 The farms in this section are small, ranging from one to ten acres. 

 Each farm has from five hundred to two thousand layers (Fig. 15) ; 

 but there are some exceptionally large farms in the same com- 

 munity. Most of the farmers hatch and rear their own birds, 

 artificial methods being the most common. The birds are kept, 



