96 



SUCCESS WITH POULTRT 



of one hundred and sixty-seven, one being my first and the 

 other my fifth. The latter was lost on account of the use of 

 a pair of scissors with whidh I thought to facilitate the oper- 

 ation. Having a veTy rebellious spermatic cord to twist off 

 I snapped it in two witt my scissors, since Which time I 

 have had no us« for scissors in caponizing, for my would-be 

 capon passed quietly away like No. 1, a victim of "hemor- 

 rhagica interna arteriae spermatieue, " a very easy and ap- 

 parently painless death. 



Since 1891 I have caponized some cockerels each year, 

 both for myself and for my friends. The present spring I 

 propose to caponize all my Cornish and White Indian Game 

 cockerels not coming up to the requirements of the standard, 

 and shall exhibit some of them at the poultry shows which 

 I patronize next winter. I expect to show some of the finest 

 carcasses in capons exhibited and to give the Indian Game 

 variety of fowls such a boom that every Indian Game breed- 

 er (myself excepted) will be ashamed of himself (or herself) 

 for not doing more to make their loved variety noted. 



DB. EIOHAED SCHMIDT, 



$2,347 WORTH OF CAPONS. 



The Amount One Buyer in an Iowa Town Paid for Capons 

 in Three Months. 



Allerton, Iowa. 

 Editor Eeliable Poultry Journal. 



To dispose of at a profit the cockerels which usually pre- 

 dominate in the hatches, has been one of the problems for 

 the poultryman and one that he has not completely solved. 

 Caponizing offers to him a new and fertile field of opetration, 

 one that will yield him great profits and whose hidden treas- 

 ures can not be exhausted, as food is always a staple. 



Heretofore in the Mississippi and Missouri valleys what 

 cockerels we could not get to market at a' fair price during 

 the brief broiler season had to be sold as old rosters at one 

 dollar per dozen, if we were lucky enough to get that much. 

 By the process of caponizing one bird can, with less cost to 

 the producer, be made to bring from sixty cents to eighty- 

 five cents, and a dozen birds thereby be made to realize' to a 

 poultryman or farmer from seven to nine dollars; This is 

 no crank poultry talk, it is cold facts. W,e have been doing 

 this well in this vicinity for four years. One buyer here at 

 this point paid out $2,347 for capons alone in the winter of 

 1896-7, in December, January and February. One farmer's 

 wife that winter brought in one hundred capons that brought 

 her $90, and the nest season she brought in one hundred 

 and ten that brought her $97.50. Caponizing has increased 

 the profits of the poultry business enormpusly in ttiis vi- 

 cinity, and bur people are in the capon business to stay. 



The operation, while requiring care, is a simple one and 

 is being performed in thi^^^ Ipeality chiefly by boys and 

 women and they seem to l^e .doing a thriving business in the 

 caponizing season. 



As the contei|tion for profitable .employment increases , 

 and economic conditions drive us to glean the fields of .pro- , 

 duction more closely, all these byways and • corners must be 

 worked out and every means of prpfit brought into opera- 

 tion. From a practical point of view it is just as necessary 

 to caponize a "cockerel for market and, table use as it is to 

 steer a calf or barrow a pig when meant to be used for food, 

 in order to get the best results in weights and in consequent 

 profits. 



When we contemplate the prices that capons bring, ten 

 to twelve cents per pound here at our own depot, when hens 

 sell at from five to six cents per pound, the wisdom of capon- 

 izing must be plain to any one. If it pays to raise a calf to 

 a steer or a pig to a marketable hog, it likewise pays to 

 caponize and mature a cockerel. The poultry people in this 

 vicinity are going to do their share this year towards push- 

 ing forward the western capon. — From Reliable Poultry 

 Journal. 



HAS GBOWN RICH AT IT. 



Mr. Allen, a resident of New York State, began as a boy 

 years ago to buy common poultry and eggs for market, going 

 from farm house tp farm house. He kept branching out until 

 he now buys and ships to Philadelphia and New York mar- 

 kets $150,000 to $175,000 worth of poultry and eggs «ach 

 year. He stated that probably his business in this line 

 will reach $185,000 this year. He buys practically all of 

 this amount within a radius of twelve miles of Olassboro, 

 so it may be seen that this is quite a poultry raising section. 

 He has men with wagons who make regular trips through 

 the country. 



On July 6th, which is late in the season, Mr. Allen was 

 paying ten cents per pound for young ducks and twenty-one 

 and twenty-two cents per pound for spring chickens — ^the 

 larger the better. ' ' The duck market, ' ' said he, ' ' is being 

 overstocked this year here in the' east. The price for ducks 

 is now lower than I have ever known it to be, while the de- 

 mand for ■ choice spring chickens at good prioes has been 

 away beyond the supply. There is good money in spring 

 chickens, at the present prices." 



' ' Capons pay well, ' ' continued Mr. Allen. ' ' They bring 

 twenty cents a pound from Thanksgiving to April 1st, then 

 l-ange down to fifteen cents. I bought five hundred from one 

 man this spring. -The largest pair I have bought this sea- 

 son weighed twenty-eight pounds, and I, paid the owner 

 twenty cents per pound for them. Capons should be mar- 

 keted when from seven to twelve months old. 



"I do all I can to encourage farmers and farmers' wives 

 to raise better stock each year, to improve its size and ap- 

 pearance when dressed by using standard-bred males with 

 their flocks. They have done this until I am now able to 

 . buy much choicer dressed poultry and to get top prices for it. 

 I buy it all dressed and aita at the top of the market. As a 

 matter of fact poultry is the best paying crop raised in this 

 section. There is no doubt that it pays better than any 

 other crop marketed. Many people have found this out and 

 others will. 



"Last year I bought five hundred and seven tons of 

 dressed youltry, all within a radius of twelve miles of 

 Glaasboro. Farmers' wives raise the most of it. Now and 

 then you will find a farmer who turns in and helps, but the 

 women in this section raise most of the poultry. 



' ' I like Wyandottes best for early fries, for broiling, ■ 

 but for five and eight-pound. roasters, the Cochins, or crosses 

 of the Cochins, are the best and tenderest. The introduc- 

 tion of Asiatics has ihcTeased' the weight of market poultry 

 in this section from fwo to three pounds per head. A cross 

 of -Light Brahmas and White Plymoutl^ Bocks makes a fine., 

 roaster. I constantly advise farmers to buy big, vigorous, 

 thorou/ghbred males to put with their common hens, and 

 they are doing it. Those who do this and' take pains soon 

 find their poultry to be the best paying crop they raise." 



