78 POULTRY CULTURE 



to be fully supplied from farms in its vicinity, at prices which offer 

 no inducement for the extension of poultry growing in that vicinity 

 beyond what the ordinary small farm flocks supply. But if poultry 

 producers in such a district have easy access to the markets of a 

 large city, the local price rises to the city price minus cost of trans- 

 portation and distribution. In times of scarcity it may more nearly 

 approach prices in the larger market, because of the tendency of 

 shippers to that market to keep their goods moving in the usual 

 channels and not to interrupt regular trade connections for tempo- 

 rary advantage. The large city furnishes an almost constant outlet 

 for all supplies that reach it, for every large city is a distributing 

 as well as a receiving center. The large cities of the Central West 

 store their surplus receipts or ship them to the large eastern cities, 

 and these in their turn store them or distribute to cities of lesser 

 size in the eastern states, where a large proportion of the population 

 is engaged in other than agricultural pursuits. The volume of prod- 

 uce shipped from the region between the Mississippi River and 

 the Rocky Mountains, considerable though it is, comprises but a 

 minor part of the total product of that region. Taking the country 

 as a whole, the poultry-trade organization is so efficient that the 

 question of a market rarely calls for special consideration, further 

 than that, wherever he may be located, the poultry keeper should 

 fully inform himself as to available market advantages. 



Transportation. The hauling of supplies and produce between 

 the plant and the railway shipping point is the phase of transpor- 

 tation to which those keeping large stocks of poultry should give 

 special attention. The difference between the cost of a short haul 

 and that of a long haul often makes the difference between a living 

 profit and a profit so small that the enterprise must be abandoned. 

 A plant selling fancy poultry and eggs, or selling table poultry and 

 eggs direct to consumers, or one that buys large quantities of sup- 

 plies, cannot afford to make long hauls locally. One producing 

 most of its supplies, and making deliveries of produce only once 

 or twice a week, may not be seriously handicapped by a haul of 

 five or six miles. When hauls are not too frequent, the cost may 

 be offset by some other advantage, as cheaper land. But if there 

 is much hauling to be done, it is a mistake to develop a large 

 poultry plant on a site not convenient to railway connections. 



