48 POULTRY CULTURE 



famous in Philadelphia and other large eastern cities as " Phila- 

 delphia chickens." It seems probable that this line was carried on 

 in the same way by a few people near other large cities in the East, 

 though nothing definite can be learned. A few years previous to 

 1 890 it began to develop on a more extensive scale in the vicinity of 

 Norwell, Rockland, Hanover, and other towns in what is known as 

 the South Shore district of eastern Massachusetts, and soon many 

 people in these towns were engaged in it, some on a small scale, 

 as a side line, others giving their time wholly to it and grow- 

 ing from 2000 to 4000 or 5000 chickens each year. The profits 

 on this line of production were considerable, usually estimated at 

 one dollar per bird, and sometimes a great deal more than that on 

 the smaller lots. 



The success of the business in this district has induced many 

 to come here to engage in it, and has led others to attempt it 

 elsewhere. Efforts to develop this line as a specialty outside the 

 district 1 have almost invariably been discontinued at an early stage 

 because of the difficulty of getting fertile eggs for hatching at 

 the season at which they are required. Newcomers in the dis- 

 trict experience some of the same difficulty, because the most 

 reliable supplies are, as a rule, known and engaged by the growers 

 acquainted with the farmers who supply the eggs. The grower 

 in the district also has an important advantage in the market- 

 ing of his product, a point which will be more fully considered 

 when the matter of cooperation in selling is discussed. Artificial 

 methods of incubating and brooding are used by all growers 

 producing any considerable number of chickens, and skill in 

 handling incubators and brooders is a most important element 

 in success in this line. 



Duck growing. This is the one branch of poultry culture in 

 which plants of large capacity have been successfully developed. 

 Factory methods have been applied much more satisfactorily in 

 duck growing than in any other line of poultry culture. There are 



1 From the quantities of soft roasters now coming to Boston in small lots, 

 it appears that an increasing number of poultrymen in other places in the 

 vicinity are growing this class of poultry on a small scale, with other poultry 

 lines. The effect of such a development on the industry in the soft-roaster 

 section remains to be seen. 



