ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 269 



POULTRY 



Until very recently the poultry industry did not 

 lift its product to the requirements of local consump- 

 tion, which had to be met by shipments from the 

 Middle West. Now, however, production has reached 

 an annual total of $20,000,000 and large shipments 

 of fresh eggs are made both by rail and sea to the 

 Atlantic cities, 875 carloads moving in that direction 

 during 1920. In 1921 direct shipments began to 

 Europe via the Panama Canal and extension of the 

 poultry interest entered a new phase, one feature of 

 which was the ample capitalization of its cooperative 

 association by setting apart one cent for each dozen 

 of eggs handled, for that purpose. Expenditure for 

 publicity to expand egg-consumption is contemplated. 



It is perhaps a unique characteristic of the poultry 

 interest that it has advanced by specialization and 

 not by association with other farming. The packing 

 of eggs in the back room of the store for shipment 

 on store-keepers' account is a rare sight, because 

 most store-keepers sell more eggs to farmers than 

 they buy from farmers, except in poultry centers 

 where they naturally have much such packing to do, 

 though it is very small when compared with the 

 traffic which regular producers do largely for them- 

 selves, or, in some sections, through the creameries 

 which are their local emporiums and dispensers of 

 cash payments. Specialization and concentration of 

 the poultry interest is also shown by the fact that 

 more than half the State product is snipped and sold 



