504 Californian Poultry Raising and Marketing. [Sept., 



CALIFORNIAN METHODS OF 

 POULTRY RAISING and MARKETING.^ 



I. 



It is a commonplace that the conditions under which many 

 American industries have grown up have produced organisa- 

 tions different in many respects from those of Europe. The 

 difference in conditions, however, has not been so great as to 

 preclude the adoption in Europe of xVmerican methods, where 

 these are found to be of value. Advantage has, in fact, so 

 frequently been taken of American experience that it is the 

 more remarkable that poultry-farming organisation in that 

 country has hitherto been so little reflected in British methods. 



That poultry-farming practice in the United States is worthy 

 of investigation is shown by the following salient facts : that 

 22 million dozen eggs and 240 thousand dozen poultry 

 were shipped in 1920 from a district in California some 50 

 square miles in extent; that a farm of 2,500 hens is considered 

 to be one man's work; and that an annual net profit of $1.10 

 (normally 4s. 7d.) per hen is considered a somewhat low 

 average. 



It is true that the soil and climate of California are con- 

 tributory causes of these arresting results, but they are by no 

 means so important as is frequently held. The settlement 

 which it is proposed to describe is only one of several in Cali- 

 fornia, and the methods of all of them are common to most 

 poultry-farming centres in i\merica, even to those in the 

 Eastern States, where the climate is less suitable than in 

 England. Further, the methods and devices described below 

 must not be regarded as the chief cause of prosperity : they are 

 themselves the outcome of a business prosperitj^ founded on 

 three main principles — hard work, cleanliness, and attention 

 to detail. There are no illusions in such communities regard- 

 ing the exacting nature of the work necessary for success in 

 poultry-farming, and unremitting attention is everywhere evi- 

 dent. The importance of cleanliness and adequate disinfection 

 is also recognised. Dirt and disease are destructive of the 

 results of so much labour that it has become an imperative 

 business principle to avoid them. A continual application of 

 these three principles has been a prime factor in creating the 

 organisation which it is proposed shortly to outline. 



* This report was drawn up by H.M. Acting Vice-Consul at San Francisco 

 and was communicated through the Department of Overseas Tiade. 



