40 POULTRY CULTURE 



birds on the place. Natural methods of incubating and brooding 

 are used almost exclusively. The greater part of the grain is pur- 

 chased, though nearly every farmer grows a few hundred bushels 

 of corn each year. Inexpert labor is largely used, and much of 

 the work is done with horse and wagon. 



By the methods thus briefly outlined, the farmers of this section 

 make " egg farming " continuously profitable, though the average 

 profit on a " per hen " basis is small. 1 



The Petaluma district in California. This is better known, by 

 name and reputation, to the general public, and perhaps also to 

 most poultry keepers, than the district just described, though it may 

 be doubted 2 whether the developments there are of as great im- 

 portance. In many respects Petaluma conditions and methods are 

 almost opposite those used in the Rhode Island colony section. In 

 the Rhode Island district natural methods and primitive appliances 

 are used almost exclusively ; the Petaluma industry is developed 

 along artificial lines and uses an intensive system. Producing for 

 a market which prefers a white egg, it uses the White Leghorn, as 

 do the egg farms supplying the New York market. The farms are 

 mostly small, from five to ten acres. Instead of small houses placed 

 far apart, larger houses in groups are used. Hatching is done largely 

 by men who make a business of hatching chicks for others. The 

 chicks are brooded in lots of many hundreds. An incubator 



1 It is generally difficult, to get exact figures. I have been told of profits as 

 high as $1.50 per hen for flocks of 400 to 500, but for the flocks of double those 

 numbers and upwards the best estimates I can get from the farmers place average 

 profits estimated on the "per hen " basis at about 80 cents (ahead) above the cost of 

 feed. The routine work of caring for 1200 to 1500 laying hens takes about three or 

 four hours of the time of an unskilled laborer, employed at $20 or $25 per month, 

 with board. Irregular work for the poultry probably brings this up to make the lay- 

 ing hens chargeable for about half the wages of the man who cares for them. Other 

 common sources of income on these farms are from cockerels and old hens 

 marketed, from geese, from cows, and from the sale of hay. Thus the net cash 

 income on a farm operated by one man, with one laborer regularly employed and 

 occasional day help, may be very much larger than that of the average farmer any- 

 where. One farmer in this district, who maintains a stock of about 2000 laying hens 

 and gives little attention to geese or cows, has made the statement that for a num- 

 ber of years he has been able to live well and still save not less than $1000 a year. 



2 Not being personally acquainted with the Petaluma district, I can make no 

 positive statements in regard to the conditions there. Accounts of it by different 

 persons are generally more or less contradictory, and accounts by the same person 

 are sometimes inconsistent. 



