18 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



PROGRESSIVE AND PROFITABLE POULTRY CULTURE. 



BY ARTHUR A. BRIGIIAM, PH.D., MARLBOROUGH. 



For those who have the interest, the patience and the 

 perseverance necessary to the profitable consideration of 

 statistics, the following special points relating to poultry are 



given 



Statistics to study. 



A few figures from the latest census report of the United 

 States relative to poultry will give a definite idea of the 

 magnitude of the poultry interests of this country. 



The reported number of "chickens" (common domestic 

 fowl) three months old and over, including Guinea fowls, 

 on the farms and ranges of the United States, June 1, 1900, 

 was 233,598,085 ; the reported number of turkeys was 

 6,599,367; the reported number of geese was 5,676,863; 

 the reported number of ducks was 4,807,673 ; total poultry, 

 250,681,988. 



The number of farms in the United States was 5,739,657 ; 

 the number of farms which kept fowls was 5,096,252. Of 

 all the farms in the United States, 88.8 per cent kept i)oul- 

 try. "Chickens" as a favorite crop certainly rank next to 

 the crop of boys and girls on American farms. 



On June 1, 1900, the total value of poultry in the United 

 States was $85,794,996 ; for the year 1899 the total value 

 of the poultry raised was $136,891,877, or $16.83 per farm. 

 For 1899 the total value of eggs produced was $144,286,158 ; 

 the total annual poultry products of farms and ranges was 

 ,$281 , 1 78,035. The census report estimates the annual prod- 

 ucts from poultry not on farms and ranges as follows : 

 poultry raised, $7,000,000; eggs produced, $7,000,000; 

 total annual })oultry products of the nation, $295,178,035. 



