POULTRY PRODUCTION AND POULTRY INDUSTRY 39 



fectioneries, hotels, clubs, restaurants, dining cars, the steam- 

 ship dining service, and the like, which deal directly with the 

 consumer. 



There are numerous modifications oF this route. One or 

 more of these steps in distribution may be eliminatetl, as 

 would be the case if a cooperative marketing association 

 dealt directly with a jobber or a retailer, or the packer sold 

 to a hotel; but the great bulk of the goods at present passes 

 through the several steps imlicated at the left of Figure (>. 



Reasons for Widespread Production.— The reasons for 

 the widespread production of poultry are mainly as 

 follows : 



1. The first consideration in keeping poultry is often not 

 the securing of products for sale, but for home consumption. 

 Chickens on the general farm or the city lot furnish eggs 

 at less cost, and because of their high perishability, of better 

 quality, than may usually be secured from the stores. The 

 cheapness of production lies, as Robinson' i)oints out, in 

 the fact that chickens as well as most other poultry "may 

 he fed largely on food wasted by man (in manufacture as 

 well as in consumption) and on foods wasted by or not 

 available for the larger domestic animals." At the same time, 

 all kintls of poultry furnish a constant and convenient ft)rm 

 of highly palatable fresh meat and they thrive nearly every- 

 where that man can live. 



2. "Very little poultry is kept profitably in tiiis country 

 except on farms where it is in the strictest sense a non- 

 competing crop. Where it is kept in small quantities, it 

 forages for itself, consuming mainly waste products besides 

 destroying insects, and does not exhaust the soil at all, 

 but tends rather to enrich it. Again it does not compete 

 for the farmers' time, being cared for mainly by the 

 labor of women and children. This may help to explain 

 how difficult it is for anyone to make a living raising 

 poultry alone in competition with farm poultry, unless one 

 is prepared to go into business on a large scale and is equipped 

 with thorough scientific knowledge. Where diversified farm- 



' Principles and Practice of Poultry Culture. 



