822 
•Pie  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
June  0,  1023 
who  undertake  the  management  of  the  association 
will  be  wise  to  follow  the  course  of  J.  H.  Curtiss, 
who  more  than  any  other  one  man,  encouraged  and 
developed  the  production  of  South  Shore  soft  roast¬ 
ers.  For  some  25  years  or  more  he  was  the  main¬ 
stay  of  the  roaster  industry  in  this  section,  and  he 
did  not  retire  until  post-war  conditions  demonstrated 
that  the  business  of  raising  Winter  chickens  had 
been  knocked  out  beyond  any  immediate  prospect  of 
recovery.  I  first  met  “Joe’’  Curtiss,  as  he  was 
known  to  his  friends,  a  good  many  years  ago.  Al¬ 
though  lie  had  a  large  farm  and  grew  some  roasters, 
as,  well  as  keeping  a  large  flock  of  fowls  to  produce 
hatching  eggs,  his  chief  business  was  that  of  poul¬ 
try*  buyer,  or  middleman.  With  his  brother  he  oper¬ 
ated  a  killing  and  dressing  house  and  kept  two 
wagons  regularly  on  the  road,  covering  a  wide 
radius,  often  20  miles,  collecting  market  poultry, 
chiefly  roasting  chickens.  He  was  then  doing  a  good 
business,  and  hired  his  pickers  on  a  piecework  basis. 
A  number  of  years  later,  on  one  of  my  many  visits  to 
bis  plant,  he  was  employing  expert  pickers  on  a  reg¬ 
ular  salary  basis,  keeping  several  teams  on  the  road, 
and  doing  quite  an  extensive  business,  the  daily 
shipments  from  his  establishment  ranging  from  half 
a  ton  to  a  ton  of  prime  quality  soft  roasters. 
HELPING  THE  PRODUCER.— It  was  my  priv¬ 
ilege  to  view  this  business  quite  intimately  from  the 
inside.  Though  Mr.  Curtiss  was  a  buyer,  or  middle¬ 
man.  he  was  a  very  unusual  and  foresiglited  one. 
He  believed  in  encouraging  the  producers  by  paying 
them  as  high  a  price  for  their  product  as  the  market 
would  stand,  often  a  great  deal  more  than  they 
could  have  obtained  had  they  dressed  and  shipped 
their  own  chickens.  He  is  credited  with  having 
split  his  profits  50-50  with  the  producers,  and  I  be¬ 
lieve  often  did  more  than  that.  Four  or  five  days 
each  week  he  made  collecting  trips  himself,  making 
it  a  point  to  see  all  of  the  growers  with  whom  he  did 
business.  lie  encouraged  breeders  to  produce  hatch¬ 
ing  eggs  especially  for  the  use  of  roaster  growers, 
and  he  guaranteed  the  price  on  the  output  of  such 
plants.  He  helped  these  bi'eeders  to  maintain 
healthy  flocks,  and  advised  them  concerning  matings 
and  how  to  secure  best  quality  of  eggs  for  the  pur¬ 
pose.  Often  he  delivered  the  eggs  to  the  growers. 
He  helped  the  growers  in  every  way  possible  to  pro¬ 
duce  the  best  quality  of  chickens.  Frequently  he 
financed  them  through  long  periods  when  feed  bills 
were  high  and  the  stock  not  yet  fit  to  market.  “Joe” 
Curtiss  was  a  man  of  sterling  honesty,  and  he  firmly 
believed  that  giving  the  producers  a  little  the  best  of 
it  not  only  served  to  increase  production,  but  also 
helped  him  to  control  the  market. 
CONTROLLING  THE  MARKET.— He  did  control 
the  market  on  this  special  product,  and  practically 
fixed  the  price.  He  required  all  of  his  growers  to 
sell  their  chickens  to  him  exclusively,  and  paid  cash 
for  the  stock,  live  weight,  at  the  grower’s  door.  He 
seldom  collected  chickens  until  they  had  actually 
been  sold  for  delivery  on  a  certain*  date.  He  was 
the  judge  of  the  time  when  the  chickens  were  "ripe” 
to  market.  In  this  way  he  was  able  to  pay  the  pro¬ 
ducers  a  much  higher  price  than  any  other  buyer 
would  give,  and  the  producers  always  benefited, 
though  some  of  them  may  not  have  appreciated  this. 
If  a  producer  was  pressed  for  funds  and  wanted  to 
make  an  immediate  sale,  if  the  man  could  not  be 
induced  to  hold  on  until  a  better  time  for  selling, 
“Joe”  would  buy  the  whole  lot  at  a  fair  price  and 
finish  them  off  on  his  home  farm.  One  or  two  days 
each  week  he  spent  with  the  dealers  in  Boston  mar¬ 
ket,  who  bought  the  chickens  and  sold  to  consumers, 
and  arranged  for  shipments  in  the  week  to 'come. 
He  always  knew  just  what  he  had  to  sell  and  knew 
it  to  be  of  prime  quality.  His  established  reputation 
for  being  able  to  deliver  the  goods  carried  him 
through,  while  the  fact  that  he  was  known  to  con¬ 
trol  the  greater  part  of  roasters  produced  and  could 
guarantee  delivery  of  quality  goods  in  large  quan¬ 
tities,  enabled  him  to  set  the  price.  There  were 
never  any  “seconds”  in  his  first  quality  shipments. 
Although  "Joe”  Curtiss  -undertook  the  larger  part 
of  the  risk  in  conducting  the  business,  and  certainly 
had  the  major  share  of  the  expenses,  I  doubt  if  his 
profits  were  ever  in  excess  of  what  he  should  have 
received  as  business  manager  of  a  co-operative  mar¬ 
ket  poultry  association  covering  as  large  a  territory 
and  membership.  Although  he  was  an  independent 
middleman,  in  all  essentials  he  was  the  business 
manager  and  financial  backer  of  a  co-operative 
poultry  community. 
THE  OBJECTIVE.— The  objective  in  soft  roaster 
growing  is  to  deliver  rapidly-grown,  heavy-weight 
roasting  chickens  while  the  meat  is  still  soft  and  ten¬ 
der  and  not  excessively  fat,  in  the  market  during  the 
period  of  high  prices.  The  roaster  is  “ripe”  to  mar¬ 
ket  when  it  has  stopped  growing.  In  case  of  pullets 
this  is  just  before  they  are  ready  to  lay,  as  a  rule. 
The  cockerels  are  caponized,  L  ■■<’.,  castrated,  which 
keeps  them  from  worrying  the  pullets  and  alk>  in¬ 
sures  their  keeping  in  soft-meated  condition  for  a 
longer  period,  permitting  the  making  of  heavier 
weights.  The  pullets  and  capons  are  grown  in  same 
flock. 
RANGE  OF  PRICES. — At  the  present  time  a 
grower,  who  is  also  a  good  salesman,  having  a  good 
number  of  prime  soft  roasters  to  dispose  of,  could 
demand  and  get  almost  any  price  within  reason. 
About  all  he  would  have  to  do  would  be  to  demon¬ 
strate  that  he  could  deliver  the  goods.  While  there 
is  some  demand  for  roasters  at  all  seasons,  and  for 
big  Spring-hatched  soft  chickens  to  substitute  for 
turkeys,  at  near  to  turkey  prices,  around  Thanks- 
The  start  and  the  finish  of  the  soft  roaster.  The 
small  chicks  are  White  Plymouth  Rocks,  10  days  old. 
The  pair  of  dressed  chickens  are  prime  quality  soft 
roasters,  the  one  at  the  left  a  White  Plymouth  Rock 
and  that  at  the  right  a  Light  Brahma ;  weight  10  lbs. 
each.  Birds  like  these  bring  fancy  prices  in  May 
and  June.  Photo  by  Dr.  P.  T.  Woods. 
giving  and  Christmas,  the  real  selling  season  for 
soft  roasters  is  between  the  middle  of  March  and 
the  middle  of  August  of  each  year,  with  period  of 
highest  prices  for  prime  heavy-weight  soft  roasters 
usually  between  the  last  week  in  May  and  the  first 
week  in  July.  For  an  average  normal  season  the 
probable  prices  per  pound  “on  the  hoof”— that  is, 
live  weight  at  grower’s  door,  would  show  the  follow¬ 
ing  range;  figures  indicate  cents  per  pound: 
Large  roasters 
Small  soft  roasters 
or  capons 
For  week  dosing 
(iVi  lbs.  and  up) 
(7  lbs.  and  uj 
3d  week  in  March. .  .  . 
28-30 
28-30 
2d  week  in  April . 
30-34 
30-34 
3d  week  in  May . 
32-36 
32-36 
1st  week  in  June . 
32-3.8 
38-40 
2d  week  in  .Tune . 
36-40 
40-45 
3d  week  in  June . 
36-40 
40-45 
4th  week  in  .Tune . 
34-38 
38-40 
1st  week  in  July . 
32-38 
38-40 
2d  week  in  July . 
32-36 
3d  week  in  July . 
30-34 
4th  week  in  July . 
28-32 
1st  week  in  August. .  . 
25-30 
2d  week  in  August.  .  .  . 
25-2S 
BREEDS  AND  BREEDING  STOCK.— Heavy¬ 
boned.  coarse-fleshed.  thick-skinned  fowls  are  not 
desirable  for  producing  roasters.  Breeding  stock  to 
produce  eggs  for  roaster  growers  should  have  large 
size,  sturdy,  medium-weight  frame,  fine-textured 
flesh  and  skin.  Some  markets  prefer  yellow-skinned 
chickens;  others  will  take  either  yellow  or  white¬ 
skinned  birds.  There  is  very  little,  if  any,  difference 
in  the  eating  quality,  and  what  little  there  is  seems 
to  be  in  favor  of  the  white-skinned  breeds.  But 
popular  demand  must  be  supplied,  even  if  there  is 
no  accounting  for  tastes  and  prejudices,  and  the 
wise  grower  will  try  to  give  his  buying  public  just 
what  it  wants.  The  most  popular  breeds  for  roaster 
production  are  Light  Brahmas  and  White  and 
Barred  Plymouth  Rocks.  A  very  popular  cross  is 
Light  Brahma  males  on  large-sized  White  Plymouth 
Rock  hens.  These  all  give  yellow-skinned  chickens. 
Where  a  white-skinned  roaster  or  capon  sells  readily, 
the  Black  Langshan  makes  an  exceptionally  fine 
market  chicken.  They  are  very  hardy  and  stand 
forcing  for  x'apid  growth,  also  are  easily  caponized 
and  hold  soft  flesh  for  a  long  period.  The  Jersey 
Black  Giants  are  being  boosted  as  a  roaster  breed, 
and  make  heavy  weights  readily,  but  it  is  too  early 
to  tell  how  well  this  breed  will  hold  popular  favor. 
.Breeding  stock  to  produce  roasting  chiekeus-^must 
'be  bred  for  health,  be  vigorous  and  hardy  j  \y<ul 
t<  ‘  V  •'  y  y,  f  * 
housed  in  ’open-front  or  otherwise  •  weil-yentifated 
houses,  and  well  fed.  They  should  not  be  forced 
for  heavy  egg  production.  Only  well-developed 
matured  stock  should  be  used,  preferably  yearlings 
and  two-year-olds.  dr.  prince  t.  woods. 
Massachusetts. 
.  (To  be  Continued) 
Hydrocyanic-acid  Gas  for  Woodchucks 
VARIOUS  forms  of  poisoned  baits  have  been  de¬ 
vised  by  the  United  States  Department  of  Agri¬ 
culture  for  the  control  of  animal  pests.  These 
methods  are  proving  of  inestimable  value  to  the 
farmers  of  the  nation.  A  number  of  species,  under 
certain  environmental  conditions,  have  formed  hab¬ 
its  that  render  the  poison  bait  method  somewhat  less 
effective,  so  that  following  poisoning  it  is  some¬ 
times  necessary  to  resort  to  other  measures  in  order 
to  complete  extermination.  In  the  case  of  most  of 
the  deeper  burrowing  rodents,  the  use  of  carbon 
bisulphide  in  fumigating  the  burrows  has  proved 
effective  and  economical.  There  are  conditions,  how¬ 
ever,  in  which  carbon  bisulphide  is  less  effective 
than  is  desirable.  Certain  animals,  such  as  wood¬ 
chucks  and  badgers,  are  known  to  close  their  bur¬ 
rows  behind  them  on  the  approach  of  danger,  and 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  they  resort  to  this 
means  of  shutting  out  the  ill-smelling  carbon  bisul¬ 
phide.  A  good  percentage  of  them  are  thus  able  to 
escape  the  most  liberal  doses  of  this  fumigant. 
In  order  to  outwit  these  animals  a  more  deadly 
and  quick-acting  gas  was  required,  or  one  the  odor 
of  which  would  not  be  objectionable  or  excite  sus¬ 
picion.  Hydrocyanic-acid  gas  gave  promise  of  meet¬ 
ing  both  these  requirements.  .  This  gas  had  long 
been  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  effective  fumi¬ 
gants  known,  but  heretofore  it  had  not  been  con¬ 
sidered  well  adapted  for  destroying  animal  pests 
in  burrows.  Recent  experiments  by  the  Biological 
Survey  have  demonstrated  the  entire  practicability 
of  using  the  gas  for  this  purpose.  Other  conditions 
are  sometimes  encountered  where  carbon  bisulphide 
fails  to  give  satisfactory  results  in  destroying  animal 
pests  in  their  burrows  but  where  hydrocyanic-acid 
gas  would  probably  be  effective.  During  recent  ex¬ 
periments  in  destroying  rats  on  an  area  so  full  of 
cracks  that  carbon  bisulphide  was  of  little  value,  the 
hydrocyanic-acid  gas  was  used  very  successfully  and 
was  found  to  be  as  economical  as  carbon  bisulphide. 
Where  the  following  directions  are  closely  followed 
in  fumigating  burrows  out  of  doors  with  hydrocy¬ 
anic-acid  gas  there  is  no  great  danger  to  the  opera¬ 
tors  and  there  should  be  no  hesitancy  in  using  it. 
As  the  gas  generated  is  extremely  deadly  to  human 
beings,  due  care  should  be  exercised  to  avoid  breath¬ 
ing  the  fumes. 
For  rat  burrows,  half  a  teas-poonful,  or  about  30 
drops,  of  water  should  first  be  put  into  a  small 
glass  vial,  or  wide-moutlied  small  bottle;  a  medicine 
dropper  is  well  suited  for  this  purpose.  Half  this 
amount,  or  about  15  drops,  of  sulphuric  acid  should 
then  be  added.  Hold  the  vial  directly  over  the  en¬ 
trance  to  the  burrow  and  drop  into  the  dilute  acid 
10  to  15  grains  of  sodium  cyanide  (a  piece  about 
the  size  of  a  navy  bean).  Allow  the  vial  to  slip 
down  into  the  burrow  and  immediately,  with  sod 
or  moist  earth,  seal  the  entrance  of  the  burrow  and 
of  any  adjoining  burrows  from  which  gas  is  seen 
emerging. 
For  woodchuck  burrows  the  same  directions  apply, 
but  from  three  to  four  times  as  much  ingredients 
should  be  used  as  for  rats,  or  about  an  ounce  of 
water,  one-half  ounce  of  sulphuric  acid,  and  about 
one-tenth  ounce  of  sodium  cyanide.  Tin  cans  may 
be  used  instead  of  bottles,  in  which  case  it  is  well 
t?.  pour  the  water  and  sulphuric  acid  into  the  can 
and  then  place  it  well  down  into  the  burrow.  The 
sodium  cyanide  is  then  added  and  the  entrance 
quickly  closed,  taking  care  that  no  dirt  falls  into  the 
open  can.  For  other  deep-burrowing  animals  the 
same  directions  are  applicable,  the  amount  of  the 
ingredients  used  being  in  proportion  to  the  size  and 
extent  of  the  burrows. 
CAUTION. — The  danger  attending  the  careless 
use  of  hydrocyanic-acid  gas  cannot  be  over-em¬ 
phasized.  Hydrocyanic-acid  gas  is  fatal  to  human 
beings  when  breathed  in  quantity,  and  sodium 
cyanide  and  sulphuric  acid  are  also  very  poisonous. 
The  sodium  cyanide,  while  in  a  dry  state,  may  be 
handled  without  danger  if  there  be  no  wound  in  the 
hand.  Care  must  be  taken  in  handling  the  sul¬ 
phuric  acid  to  avoid  burning  the  skin  and  clothing. 
The  acid  should  always  be  poured  into  the  water,  as 
it  may  be  spattered  if  the  operation  is  reversed. 
U.  S.  Biological  Survey.  james  silveb. 
