Voi.. LXXI. No. 4133. NEW YORK., JANUARY 13, 1912. weekly, $i.oo per year. 
GOOD POULTRY FOR FARMERS. 
A Chance for Farm Boys, 
The average farmer should give more attention to 
poultry. In making this assertion I have not in mind 
a lessened attention to staple products. A better stock 
of fowls and better facilities for managing them might 
considerably enhance the profits, even if the entire 
product goes at food prices. The time was, not so 
many years ago, when it was a common thing for 
farmers to speak sneeringly of “fancy poultry.” But 
to-day, with the thousands of farms that make a 
specialty of poultry, many of these given to the pro¬ 
duction of high-class specimens for show purposes 
and breeding stock, it is not outside of the proper 
scope of a farm paper to 
urge farmers to look a 
little into the advantage 
of raising specimens hav¬ 
ing a sale value of $5, 
$25 or $50, which will 
have cost no more to 
grow to maturity than a 
dollar bird. There is a 
civilizing influence that 
goes with the purebred 
poultry interest. The 
careful culture of exter¬ 
ior points of beauty in 
fowls has come to be 
recognized as upon the 
same plane as amateur 
flower gardening, which 
has its proper place also 
on every farm; and these 
constitute the natural 
poetry of farm life, cal¬ 
culated to entice the 
young to remain at home 
in the country. 
With farm poultry 
there are two distinct 
fields to be worked, 
either of which is suffi¬ 
ciently alluring. First, 
the production of choice 
breeding and exhibition 
stock, the distinguishing 
mark of which is exter¬ 
nal beauty along recog¬ 
nized lines; second, the 
production of a choice 
market or food product, 
both as relates to a su¬ 
perior carcass and fancy 
last season, amounts to $3,000 for stock and $1,200 for 
eggs sold, and this as a side line, for his nominal busi¬ 
ness is store-keeping in a country town. This man’s 
name is J. W. Andrews, and I am not going to name 
his place of residence nor the breed he keeps, for the 
reason that I am not booming his trade, and I be¬ 
lieve that many other varieties offer as good oppor¬ 
tunities for successful breeding as his. Of course food 
values cannot yield an average of $28 per head for a 
flock of 150 chicks raised. The difference between this 
and the nominal price of one dollar is a matter of 
value of breeding stock plus the breeder’s skill. But 
this skill was spontaneously developed, and not ac¬ 
quired at some expensive school of learning, as his 
stock of fowls was worked up from the comparatively 
eggs. It is probable that 
the average farmer would not make a successful 
fancier, and this from the lack of only a single'quali¬ 
fication—patience. Now, I differ with most writers on 
poultry as to the question of cross-breeding. I be¬ 
lieve that every breeder who is not handling purebreds 
to advantage, i. e., getting some returns in excess of 
food values, should avail himself of the benefits arising 
from the mingling of distinct types. The word “pure¬ 
bred” seems to weave a spell over the minds of many 
people, who will refer glowingly to this trait in their 
flock, unmindful of their incapacity to reap any benefit, 
either of proper sentiment or financial advantage, from 
the possession of thoroughbreds. 
I* will cite the case of a New England man whose 
income from 150 chicks annually raised, as instanced 
A BUNCH OF PUREBRED FARM STOCK. Fig. 11. 
crude specimens of foundation stock 23 years ago. 
It is not my wish to hold out to young people on 
farms illusive prospects beyond the possibility of ful¬ 
fillment. I do not know so inspiring an instance of 
success as that I have given, but at the same time there 
are thousands upon farms who are reaching a satisfac¬ 
tory degree of success. Many are realizing much 
larger figures as an annual income. But I have in¬ 
stanced Mr. Andrews to show what may be done with 
a back-door equipment and a small flock, and I should 
mention that Air. Andrews has had to fight his way 
year by year in the show-room; and having demon¬ 
strated the superiority of his stock by many repeated 
winnings, his surplus goes largely to other skilled 
breeders, tnanv of them in Western States. Without 
show-room demonstration of quality there could be no 
fancy values. But I will state this as my conviction, 
that many upon farms are letting the golden oppor¬ 
tunity slip by unheeded. Every farmer should look 
into this matter for himself. If the head of the fam¬ 
ily, from the lack of taste or time for the work, can¬ 
not make the venture, all the better is the chance for 
the others. An Ohio woman created a new and dis¬ 
tinct breed, and then while her husband looked on 
unconcerned, fought her way through all manner of 
discouragements to the final goal of admission to the 
breed standard. Thousands of American women on 
farms to-day are realizing something above food 
values for stock carefully bred. And then, the op¬ 
portunity for the children, which this legitimate branch 
of farming opens. Let us 
not regard the dollar to 
be won as the finality, 
and so lose sight of the 
opportunities for de¬ 
veloping intelligence and 
forming character. 
The question of a 
choice among breeds is 
a complex one. The 
fancier often makes an 
exclusive selection only 
after long experience 
with several which he has 
demonstrated is the best 
in his individual case. 
The beginner often finds 
his best opportunity to 
lie among breeds that 
are just coming into 
popularity. Among the 
promising novelties of 
the day are the White 
Laced Red Cornish and 
the Buckeye. I have al¬ 
ready alluded to the lat¬ 
ter, being the breed that 
was made and intro¬ 
duced by a woman. A 
white variety of the 
Rhode Island Red i s 
being pushed by its com¬ 
paratively few breeders. 
I apprehend that it is 
destined to have great 
popularity. It already 
displays considerable 
finish for a new variety, 
and suggests a longer- 
bodied, more up-stand¬ 
ing White Wyandotte. 
The question of plumage cuts as much of a figure 
when making a choice as does shape. A white fowl 
is much more presentable when dressed for the 
table than any other color, but it is the fact of its 
breeding truer to color than most, so that the owner 
of even a small flock may find specimens of typical 
color for breeding, that has been chiefly responsible 
for the popularity of white fowls. The white varieties 
of the Plymouth Rock, the Wyandotte, the Leghorn 
and the Orpington we may write down as the most 
popular of all fowls to-day. There is some doubt as 
to whether the Orpington can retain its present hold, 
as this is the result of determined booming by its 
promoters, especially as the fancy of that breed is 
directed toward an unthrifty type of body with the 
