WHAT BRANCH OF THE BUSINESS? 
Geese—the Fame of Watertown. 
As for the goose business, the writer must admit that he 
doesn’t know much about it. In fact, the most of my knowl- 
edge concerning this business was acquired by a visit to 
Watertown, Wis., which is the center of the noodled goose in- 
dustry . 
The Watertown geese are fed by hand every two hours day 
and night. They sell to the Hebrew trade at as much per 
pound as the goose weighs, and have brought as high as $14.00 
apiece. All of this is interesting, but I hold that the reader 
who is willing to take instruction will do better to be guided 
toward those branches of the poultry industry for the products 
of which there is a great and increasing demand. So we will 
leave the goose and guinea business to the venturesome spirits 
and consider the various branches of the chicken industry. 
The Il!-omened Broiler Business. 
The broiler business stands to-day as the ill-omened valley 
in the poultry landscape. As a rule broiler production has not 
and probably will not pay. I know of a few exceptions—about 
enough to prove the rule. 
Most poultry writers, when they make the statement that 
broilers do not pay, insert the phrase “As an exclusive busi- 
ness” after the word broilers. This is merely a ruse to take 
the rough edge off an unpleasant statement, ror it certainly 
hurts the poultry editor to admit that a much exploited branch 
of the industry is a failure. Nevertheless it is a failure and 
the more frankly we admit the fact, the less good capital and 
good brains will be wasted in the attempt to produce at a 
profit something which is, and probably always will be, pro- 
duced at a loss. 
The reason the broiler is produced at a loss is that 95 per 
cent. of the broilers produced are a by-product of egg, fancy 
and general poultry production, and as such their selling price 
is not determined by the cost of production, or the supply 
determined by the demand. That the broiler business re- 
ceived the boom that it did, is due to plain ignorance of the 
cost of production, or to the appreciation that the ability to 
rear young chicks could find a more profitable outlet than in 
broiler production. Let us take an analogous case. Suppose 
a city man should discover the fact that there was a demand 
for dried casein from skim milk. With pencil and paper he 
could easily figure profits in the business. If this dreamer 
would attempt to keep cows for the production of casein and 
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