COMPARISON OF POULTRY-KEEPING IN EUROPE, UNITED 

 STATES AND CANADA 



BY WIL BROWN 



Head of Department of Poultry Husbandry, West of Scotland Agricultural College; Secretary 

 Departmental Committee on Poultry Breeding in Scotland (1908-9) 



All history points to the fact that progress is more rapid in new coun- 

 tries or states than in old whether this be in the direction of commercial 

 enterprise or along other lines. 



| In comparing the present status of the industry of poultry husbandry in 

 Europe, United States and Canada, in the space at my disposal, it is pos- 

 sible to discuss the subject only in generalities, since to go into detail would 

 necessitate a thorough and complete survey of the whole industry. I 

 want, however, not only to point out the general differences in the method 

 employed, but at the same time to indicate how these differences have arisen 

 and to show that this branch of the great agricultural art is subject to the 

 same laws that regulate the development of any other industry or work. 



The real substantial cause for the differences in the methods adopted is 

 summed up in the words "old versus new countries." The conditions 

 prevailing in the Eastern States of America differ from those prevailing in 

 the Western, in that the farms are older, and more general in their croppage. 

 This difference in condition is still more marked between the Eastern 

 States of America and Europe. 



The industry of poultry-keeping is centuries old in Europe, more 

 especially in some countries, such as France, Belgium and the United King- 

 dom and it may be said that the most important factor in the development 

 and advancement of the work has been evolved by a more general distribu- 

 tion among a multitude of producers, the majority of whom are small 

 occupiers of land. Poultry-keeping has been and always will be, as far as 

 one is able to judge at present, a side issue in Europe, except in a few 

 instances as found in France, Belgium and parts of England, where it is in 

 the hands of specialists. This exception is found only in one branch of the 

 work, namely, that of flesh production, but this is only a small proportion 

 of the total poultry production of each country. 



With people already on the land, and making their livelihood from the 

 crops they cultivate, progress has been made in poultry-keeping by con- 

 sidering it in the light of an added form of production. Farmers and small 

 holders have been the mainstay in the past and all our endeavors today are 



