American Agriculturist 
FARM—DAIRY—MARKET-GARDEN—HOME 
“Agriculture is the Most Healthful, Most Useful and Most Noble Employment of Man”—Washington 
Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Established 1842 
Volume 111 For the Week Ending February 10, 1923 Number 6 
Looking Ahead With the Poultryman 
The Egg Market and the Bearing It Has on. Future Plans 
1922-23 
1921-22 
T he American Hen, Incorporated, 
whose 6,500,000 plants, scattered all 
over tfncle Sam’s big farmstead, em¬ 
ploy an average of. possibly 50 
workers each, is prepared for a record out¬ 
put in 1923. The urban hen and her subur¬ 
ban and small-town cousins whose numbers 
have never been counted will make a notable 
mate for the remaining period based on 
past records, the total supply for the year 
applies to similar plans on 
the part of the automobile 
makers, the building trades 
and other of our national en¬ 
terprises. 
Observe the activity around 
the incubator factories, listen 
to the stories of their sales, 
count the mammoth hatch¬ 
eries going into place, find out 
what poultry feed manufac¬ 
turers have been doing, and 
all will point in the same di¬ 
rection. The poultry industry 
is still in the expansion stage. 
Receipts at the four leading 
markets, Chicago, New York, 
Boston and Philadelphia do 
not furnish an absolute index 
of production, but they are 
the best barometer we have. 
The egg year begins March 1. 
The 1922-23 year still has 
several weeks to go, but after 
making a conservative esti¬ 
mate for the remaining period based on past 
records, the total supply for the year 
promises to be in the neighborhood of 15,- 
275,000 cases. How this compares with re¬ 
ceipts in preceding years is shown in the 
table below. The accompanying chart pre¬ 
sents the same figures in graphical form: 
Receipts 
man population. Poultry has been a side 
issue on the average farm, but good prices 
compared with feed costs and a steady in¬ 
come when times were bitterly hard on the 
farm have made egg money useful in meet¬ 
ing taxes, interest on the mortgage and notes 
at the bank as well as in defraying the well- 
known grocery bill. 
There are signs that the rate of expansion 
is declining. For example, receipts at the 
EGG RECEIPTS AT FOUR MARKETS 
the fall and winter, but before the next stor¬ 
ing season starts, these reserves must be 
distributed no matter what the price. Much 
the same thing is true of poultry so far as 
market supply goes. In the course of the 
year there may be some disparity in the 
changes in rate of production and consump¬ 
tion, but not for the year as a whole. For 
example, more eggs accumulated in storage 
last summer than ever before by about 25 
per cent. Yet prices were 
kept low enough during the 
fall and winter to practically 
“clean up the lay” by the first 
of February. 
2 
T" 
MILLIONS OF CASES 
A 6 8 10 
12 14 
1920-21 
1919-20 
1918-19 
BY EGG YEARS FROM MARCH 1 TO FEBRUARY 28 
OF FOLLOWING YEAR 
Demand 
Has Been 
Increase 
on the 
Egg Year 
1922-1923 
1921-1922 
1920-1921 
1919-1920 
1918-1919 
15,275,000 cases 
14,267,205 - ” 
12,802,454 ” 
13,896,812 ” 
12,597,519 ” 
The increase in the last year over 1921- 
1922 is about seven per cent. Both years 
show good-sized increases over 1919-1920 
which formerly held the record. 
Meat Another Product 
But the poultry* industry produces meat 
also. Indeed, it is probable that the Ameri¬ 
can public eats more chicken than it does 
lamb and mutton. Market receipts of poul¬ 
try ^re still more fallible than in the case 
of eggs as a measure of production. But in 
view of the other evidence there is some sig¬ 
nificance in the fact that receipts of dressed 
poultry at the four leading markets in the 
last three calendar years were as follows: 
1922 . 277,756,466 lbs. 
1921 . 252,356,721 ” 
1920 . 214,112,354 ” 
The expansion in the industry this time 
means, a little more than normal growth 
paralleling the gradual increase in the hu- 
Receipts at Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Boston are not an absolute index 
of production, but they are the best barometer we have 
four markets in'the last egg year were only 
7 per cent "more than- in the preceding year, 
while that year in turn gained 11.5 per cent 
over two years ago. Receipts in each, of the 
last six months have been smaller than in 
the corresponding month in the preceding 
year, although the presence of large cold 
storage stocks at those points built up early 
in 1922 may have retarded the flow of ad¬ 
ditional shipments. Furthermore, prices in 
1922 were less attractive than in 1921 and 
did not exert such a stimulating effect. 
Comparing Prices 
Farm prices for eggs on the first day of 
each of the last nine months of 1922 averaged 
only 26.7 cents compared with 29.8 cents on 
the same days in the preceding year. Farm 
prices for chickens averaged 19.2 cents a 
pound on those days against 20.6 cents a 
year previous. On the other hand, feed costs 
have averaged slightly higher than in the 
preceding year. Better prices for grains, cat¬ 
tle, hogs, sheep and dairy products are stim¬ 
ulating a return to these so-called major 
products, leaving poultry again as a side line. 
In spite of this check, however, the momen- 
timi which the industry has is so great that 
there is every reason to expect total produc¬ 
tion of eggs and poultry in 1923 to surpass 
all former records. 
So much for the production side. Con¬ 
sumption has expanded as much as produc¬ 
tion and is setting new high records. It 
must, inevitably. The eggs produced in the 
spring and summer can be stored for use in 
Aside from these mechan¬ 
ics of the market there has 
been an undoubted increase in 
the keenness of the demand, 
in the willingness of the con¬ 
sumer to buy. The change in 
volume of employment, the 
high income of the working 
man and the fact that poultry 
and egg prices have receded 
much more from war time 
levels than wages have done, 
are at the bottom of the mat¬ 
ter. 
What are the chances that 
demand will become keener in 
1923 and thus absorb larger 
receipts of poultry and eggs at prices as high 
as or higher than in 1922? What is the out¬ 
look for dividends? So far as can be seen 
they appear fairly good. The closest stu¬ 
dents of business trends believe that busi¬ 
ness activity and employment will lemain 
high or even expand further through most 
of the year. Increases in wages in many 
industries are on the horizon. Commodity 
prices generally are' expected to advance dur¬ 
ing the year. These expectations may not 
be fulfilled, but they are as well based as 
predictions of the future can be. 
From 700,000 to 1,300,000 cases of eggs 
are exported annually. Fortunately, Great 
Britain is the chief buyer and conditions in 
that country are fairly stable so that if Cen¬ 
tral Europe does crack it will not greatly 
concern the egg market. Although imports 
of fresh eggs are light, from 8,000,000 to 18,- 
000,000 pounds of dried and frozen eggs and 
egg albumen have been brought in annually 
in recent years. With the present tariff such 
competition, which never was severe, has 
been reduced. Exports and imports of poul¬ 
try are negligible as a market factor. 
With the situation as outlined in the fore¬ 
going, is it either over-optimism or over¬ 
conservatism to look for egg prices in 1923 
on about the same level as in 1922? The 
fact that eggs for April deliver/ are being 
traded in at Chicago at 24 cents, or about the 
same as a year ago, is significant as to the 
sentiment of egg dealers and distributors. 
The usual seasonal changes are to be ex- 
{Continued on page 115) 
