No. 4.] POULTRY CULTURE. 229 



planned at the start and developed step by step, or the addi- 

 tions made year by year, the available capital would be more 

 economically expended. The amateur or inexperienced man 

 should not spend more than $300 or $400 on poultry buildings 

 and equipment the first year, nor should he think of reaching 

 the maximum size of his plant within five years at least. 



Markets. 



There is no State in the Union that presents greater oppor- 

 tunities in poultry culture than Massachusetts. Boston, at 

 one end of the State, and New York City, practically at the 

 other, give access to two of the greatest markets in the United 

 States. The fact, also, that the fancy trade in the former city 

 demands brown-shelled eggs, and that of the latter, white- 

 shelled, gives considerable freedom in the choice of breeds. It 

 is said that Connecticut does not produce enough eggs to supply 

 Hartford, and we are sure that Rhode Island cannot supply 

 Providence nor Massachusetts Boston. This, therefore, makes 

 Boston the greatest egg market in New England, not only 

 because of her great population, but because she is situated 

 farthest from the great egg-producing sections of the country. 

 If reliable statistics could be gathered, we believe they would 

 show that this State consumes as many eggs and poultry, if 

 not more, in proportion to its population than any other sec- 

 tion of the country. Furthermore, the quality demanded by 

 the people of New England is far superior, I am sure, to that 

 required elsewhere. On account of the great disparity between 

 production and consumption of poultry and eggs in Massa- 

 chusetts the producers have practically a retail trade for their 

 products, whereas poultrymen in sections of the country where 

 there is an overproduction are obliged to ship their eggs long 

 distances or seek what might be termed a foreign market. In 

 other words, the poultry producers of this State are nearer the 

 consumer than those of any other section of the United States. 

 I think, also, that we are safe in making the general statement 

 that the middleman's profits on poultry and eggs are much less 

 than those on most farm products. As an illustration of how 

 the market is brought to the poultry man's door, take the sum- 

 mer hotels which are found in all sections of the State, where 



