THE POULTRY AND EGG INDUSTRY IN EUROPE 7 
society of Poland is to increase the average poultry per farm to 
head and increase the production per laying hen from 70 to 100 
eggs per year. 
EFFECT OF EUROPEAN CLIMATE ON POULTRY PRODUCTION AND QUALITY 
It may be safely stated that if Europe, especially northern Europe, 
had the same ranges in temperature as the central United States, 
at least 10 per cent of their eggs and 50 per cent of their dressed 
poultry as now handled during the summer would spoil before they 
could be marketed. 
In the United States the January mean temperatures range from 
10° to 30° F. in the extreme northern section. 30° to 50° in the cen- 
tral sections, and 50° to 60° in the far southern sections. In Europe, 
on the other hand, the January temperatures average from 30° to 
50°, with the exception of Russia, which is much colder. 
The July temperatures in the central United States, the section 
of greatest poultry and egg production, averaged from 70° to 90° F. 
The corresponding temperatures in northern Europe are from 50° 
to 70° and in southern Europe, below a line drawn through northern 
Italy and upper Yugoslavia, the corresponding temperatures are 
from 70° to 80°. 
When it is considered that 68° F. is the temperature at which a 
fertile egg will commence to develop an embryo, even though it 
subsequently dies, and that at a temperature of 90° blood will 
form in a fertile egg in three days, thus rendering it unfit for food, 
these temperature figures become especially important. They show 
that in the egg-producing centers of the United States, during the 
summer months the average temperatures are not only continually 
above the physiological zero of the egg (68° F.) but vast areas 
have temperatures ranging 90° and above, resulting in the rapid 
spoiling of fertile eggs. The larger portion of continental Europe, 
however, has an average temperature of 50° to 70°, exceeding the 
physiological zero by only 2°, at which temperature germinal de- 
velopment is very slow. Even in southern Europe the maximum 
average temperature of 80° is 10° less than that of the central and 
southern United States. 
These lower summer temperatures explain why it is possible for 
the Europeans to gather and ship their eggs in the summer without 
refrigeration. They also explain why it is possible for poultry to 
be dressed in northern Europe, cooled without refrigeration, sold 
on the market without additional cooling, and reach the consumer 
in fair condition within three or four days after killing. 
The climate of Europe also indirectly affects the number of poul- 
try produced in the same manner as it does the poultry production 
of the United States — that is, through its influence on the production 
of corn. In the United States the poultry production is the heaviest 
where the corn production is the greatest. The same thing holds 
true in Europe. The largest exporting poultry section of Europe 
is the lower Danube Basin, including parts of Austria. Hungary. 
Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Rumania, and adjacent Russian territory. 
This is also the main corn-producing section of Europe, as corn is 
not produced to any extent in any other section, except in small 
areas in northern Italy and southern France. Corn is produced only in 
