CHAPTER XI. 

 PREPARING POULTRY PRODUCTS. 



SEASONAL PRODUCTS. 



Eggs and poultry are seasonal products. According to 

 the Bureau of Statistics, United States Department of Agri- 

 culture/ 49.8 per cent, or practically half of the egg crop of 

 the United States is produced in March, April, May and June, 

 as shown in table XXXIX, though July and August are 

 usually counted as a part of the egg season. The flush (point 

 of highest production) has fallen in April every year for the 

 last thirteen years, with the exception of 1906 and 1909, 

 when it fell in May. This date is somewhat earlier in the 

 southern states than in the northern. "The lay in Ten- 

 nessee and Kentucky is from December until April. In 

 March and April, southern Ohio and Missouri stocks appear 

 on the market, helped along by Texas, southern Missouri, 

 and southern Kansas. In the later spring, northern Kansas, 

 Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, and the Central States generally have 

 their heavy producing season, and it is when this occurs that 

 eggs are best and most plentiful. Minnesota and Michigan, 

 with a still later season, help out somewhat when the supply 

 of the Central States begins to fail, but the output of both 

 the southern and northern egg belt is far from adequate to 

 supply the demands of the widespread consuming public."^ 



The poultry season begins in August and lasts until about 

 the first of January. In July and August there are usually 

 quite heavy receipts of broilers, with the heavier roasting 

 chickens coming later. The average number of pounds of 

 all grades of poultry received each month during the last 



' Bulletin No. lOL 



' Pennington and Pierce, United States Department of Agriculture, 1910 

 Year-book. 



(421) 



