CHAPTER I 



AMERICAN POULTRY 



Poultry raising is the biggest business on eartb. Government 

 statistics — incomplete as tbey are — prove that the poultry industry 

 of the world surpasses every manufacturing business. Cotton is no 

 longer king. Beef, pork and mutton are left far in the rear. Wheat 

 was passed long ago; and even "King Com" will be found in second 

 place when the poultry industry is properly tabulated. 



And this great industry is a profitable business, giving better 

 returns for the money invested than any other line of legitimate 

 trade. It has been proven over and again that the cost of producing 

 poultry meat is no greater, pound for pound, than that of producing 

 beef, pork or inutton. At the same time the market reports, month 

 by month, show that the selling prices are overwhelmingly in favor 

 of the poultryman. The live weight prices for the best grades of 

 poultry run on the average from two to three times as much as the 

 highest prices paid for the best grades of cattle, hogs or sheep; while 

 in the lower grades the difference is still greater. 



In addition to the handsome profits made by growing fowls for 

 market we find that the egg trade yields still greater results. If 

 the average yearly cost of producing a dozen eggs is placed at 12% 

 cents — which would probably be a reasonable estimate — and if under 

 improved conditions and improved breeding the average pullet lays 

 10 dozen eggs in a year which can be marketed at prices that will 

 level up to 25 cents per dozen, the profit in commercial eggs is self 

 evident. And under circumstances of which any live man may take 



