3 POULTRY CULTURE 



a farm, the best possible use of the land will still, in most instances, 

 require that some poultry be kept. On still smaller areas poultry 

 keeping may be carried on, but not on a scale or under condi- 

 tions which admit of maintaining a stock at normal vigor with- 

 out frequent renewals from outside sources where conditions 

 are more favorable. 



Poultry culture is a diversified industry. As a farm usually 

 affords opportunity for the production of the common kinds of 

 poultry, so in nearly all localities a demand is found for all kinds 

 of poultry products. In many places the local production of some 

 or all of these may be more than sufficient to meet the local de- 

 mand, and this is the case in most sections where agriculture is the 

 most important industry. In that event, production for shipment 

 may include all lines or be limited to a few or, in rare instances, 

 to one line, according to the requirements of available markets and 

 the adaptation of local conditions to special lines of production. 

 In manufacturing and mining sections, and in the vicinity of great 

 cities, the local production meets but a small part of the demand. 

 In such sections, and especially in the cities, there is apt to be a 

 large demand for poultry products of a kind or quality for which 

 the demand in small places is too limited to furnish inducements 

 to local producers. In the nonagricultural communities, too, the 

 bulk of the poultry products comes from a distance and is likely to 

 have deteriorated somewhat before reaching the consumer. Hence 

 near-by products of good quality command a premium. Under such 

 conditions specialization in poultry culture may be carried much far- 

 ther than is usually profitable, large farms may be devoted almost 

 wholly to poultry keeping, and, if climatic and soil conditions are 

 favorable, intensive practice may be followed for a long time with- 

 out marked unfavorable results. 



Branches of poultry culture. It being understood that poul- 

 try keeping is rarely an exclusive business, and that in practice 

 two or more branches of poultry culture are usually combined, 

 the various lines may now be described. Poultry products may 

 be divided into two general classes, market products and fancy 

 products. 



The market products of poultry are eggs and meat, with feathers 

 and manure as by-products. 



