EQUALS VALUE OF WHEAT 



figures in the census report, and also raise the ratio of chickens 

 to other species. 



Regarding the magnitude of the industry in still another way, 

 in 191 1 the Secretary of Agriculture placed the national income 

 from poultry products at $750,000,000 for the year. This figure 

 equaled the combined value of all the gold, silver, iron and coal 

 mined that year, and exceeded the value of the wheat crop for 

 the same period. To-day, the income from poultry products 

 is estimated at one billion dollars annually, or one-twelfth the 

 value of all agricultural products, or one-fiftieth of our total 

 wealth on all manufactures and industries of every description. 

 Manifestly, the poultry 

 industry occupies a very 

 important part-in our de- 

 velopment, a very much 

 more important part 

 than most of us have any 

 idea. 



Eggs Leading Prod- 

 uct. — According to the 

 1 910 census the income 

 from poultry products 

 for the average farm was 

 $104.98, or about two 

 dollars per bird. Eggs 



are the leading poultry product, and constitute about sixty-five 

 per cent of the total value of the poultry as a whole. That most 

 of these eggs are hens' eggs goes without saying. True, the eggs 

 from ducks and guinea fowls find their way into the trade chan- 

 nels, but in such small numbers as to be a negligible factor. 

 Turkey eggs and goose eggs are used almost exclusively for hatch- 

 ing purposes. 



Demand Greater Than Supply. — ^The output of eggs is in- 

 creasing each year, yet there are no gluts for the reason that the 

 demand is always greater than the supply. According to the 

 Year Book of the Department of Agriculture for 1910 the aver- 



(Courtesy Wisconsin Experiment Station) 



Fig. 3. — A hen with a brood of sturdy chicks 

 is one of the farmer's best assets. 



