2QO OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



think that they are being defrauded if the marketman weighs 

 the bird before removing the offal. Sometimes, to satisfy such 

 a customer, a dealer removes the offal before weighing, and the 

 customer cheerfully pays a higher rate per pound, feeling that 

 at any rate he is getting just what he pays for when he insists 

 on having it done in this way. As far as the cost is concerned, 

 it makes no difference to the consumer at what stage of distri- 

 bution the offal is discarded. 



Volume of products. In the United States and Canada the 

 production and consumption of poultry products are very nearly 

 equal, because each country has agricultural areas capable of 

 supplying an enormous population with poultry and eggs. Pro- 

 duction in such districts responds quickly to the increasing 

 demands of other sections, but not in such volume as to create 

 large surpluses for export. The present annual production of 

 the United States is variously estimated at from $600,000,000 

 to $1,000,000,000. This wide difference exists because the 

 census is only a partial one. In Canada no general census of 

 poultry products has ever been taken. 



The poultry statistics for the United States as collected de- 

 cennially by the Bureau of the Census may be found complete 

 in the full report of agricultural statistics. Those for the differ- 

 ent states may be obtained in separate bulletins. Some of the 

 states and provinces collect poultry statistics through state and 

 provincial departments and furnish the reports to all persons 

 desiring them. Persons living in communities which ship poultry 

 products can usually learn from the local shippers the approxi- 

 mate amounts and the value of the produce that they handle. 

 At the more important receiving points statistics of receipts are 

 kept by such organizations as the Produce Exchange, Board of 

 Trade, or Chamber of Commerce, and the results published in 

 their annual reports. From such sources it is possible for pupils 

 to get information as to the status and importance of the poultry 

 trade in the communities in which they live. 



