American Agriculturist 
THE FARM PAPER THAT PRINTS THE FARM NEWS 
“Agriculture is the Most Healthful, Most Useful and Most Noble Employment of Man .” — Washington 
Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Established 1842 
Volume 113 For the Week Ending March 8, 1924 Number 10 
Who Will Last in the Poultry Business? 
>- «**»-* „ » 
Answer —The Man Who Puts His Business on a Quality Basis 
P UTTING a higher quality of poultry and 
eggs on the market is the best way to 
assure a margin of profit in the poultry 
account and to keep the hen as a con¬ 
sistent money-maker. 
Production of poultry and poultry products has 
expanded tremendously in the last few years. 
Attractive prices for eggs and poultry compared 
with other farm products and with feed costs are 
the reason. According to the Department of 
Agriculture there were 428,000,000 chickens on 
farms on January 1, 1923, or 23 per cent, more 
than on the same date in 1919. Production of 
eggs in 1922 was estimated at 1,962,356,000 
dozens and the number of chickens raised at 
543,000,000. Production for 1923 
has not been estimated as yet, but 
it is generally believed to have been 
a record year in the poultry yards. 
And 1924 bids fair to break the 
record again. 
Consumption of poultry and 
eggs was never greater. Wages 
are high. Nearly every man who 
wants a job has one, and the de¬ 
mand for eggs and poultry is ex¬ 
cellent. Consumptive demand, 
howiever, has not made quite the 
strides recorded on the production 
end. Lower prices have been 
necessary to absorb the progres¬ 
sive increase in production. With 
prospects of a further increase in 
output this year, prices will prob¬ 
ably average lower than in 1923, 
while feed costs, if they show any 
important change, promise to be 
higher. This means a smaller 
margin of profit for the poultryman. 
The market for high quality 
poultry products is not surfeited, 
however. Poultrymen who step 
out of the common class and sell 
quality poultry and eggs have the best chance of 
continued profits even though the general trend 
of prices is lower. It is always easier to sell a 
fancy article of food at a good price than to sell 
an ordinary product, and the principle applies 
with special force to poultry and eggs. 
Essential to Know Market Demands 
Knowledge of market requirements, which are 
only a mirror reflecting consumers’ demands, is 
essential to the producer who would market 
poultry and eggs which will sell at top prices. 
The consumer is more willing to pay the full cost 
of production for an article he wants than for 
one which does not appeal to him. These .re¬ 
quirements are exacting but by no means im¬ 
possible to attain. 
{ The premium on fresh gathered extras at New 
York City during 1923 over fresh gathered seconds 
was substantial, as is shown by the accompanying 
chart. During March, April and May, when 
practically all eggs are good eggs, the prices were 
in about the same notch. In August, however, 
the spread began to widen primarily through a rise 
in the price of extras until early in November, 
when prices on the higher grade eggs were 261-2 
cents per dozen more than on the lower grade. 
By MARILLA ADAMS 
In spite of the fact that it costs a little more and 
requires a little more effort to market a high 
quality egg, the gain in price for those who ob¬ 
tain the full market value of their product is an 
ample return for the additional expense and labor. 
The methods generally practiced on the aver¬ 
age farm to-day are not conducive to obtaining 
the highest prices possible for eggs. Too many 
farm flocks are a mixture of two or three breeds. 
The eggs as marketed may be either brown, white 
or speckled, large or small, dirty or clean, fresh 
gathered or' they may have been held until de¬ 
terioration has set in. For years the lay of these 
flocks has been taken to towm at infrequent in¬ 
tervals, to be exchanged at the country store for 
groceries and gingham. The small town grocer 
has been the judge of what those eggs were worth. 
And he has not been a dispassionate judge. 
Knowledge of an increased reward from market¬ 
ing a better product is gradually spreading. 
More and more producers are marketing infertile 
eggs, of a uniform color, either white or brown, 
gathering them more frequently, especially in 
warm weather, and marketing them at least 
twice a week after sorting out small, dirty, mis¬ 
shapen eggs to be used at home. They realize 
that high grade eggs mixed in with poor eggs do 
not raise the value of the lot but that the low 
grades drag down the value of the others. * 
Obstacles That Face the Producer 
The custom of buying all eggs, good or bad, at 
a flat price, in vogue among most country dealers 
is a great obstacle to improvement in the quality 
of eggs marketed, since the discriminations miade 
by the consumer are not reflected in the prices 
received by the producer. When dealers refuse 
to make distinctions, various methods of getting 
quality prices for a quality product are used by 
producers. If located near a town of good size 
a trade direct with consumers may be worked up. 
If a local market is not possible, case lots may be 
shipped to the large cities, by express. Best of 
all is the formation of local cooperative marketing 
associations. These can grade, candle and process 
the eggs brought in by farmers, and make returns 
strictly in accordance with the prices received at 
the large distributing markets, so that the pro¬ 
ducers have an incentive to bring in high grade 
eggs. The best examples are the organizations 
of producers located in the Petaluma Valley in 
California and the Atlantic Coast producers. 
The bulk of the output of both of these J or¬ 
ganizations is sold at flattering prices on the 
New York market. 
Another element in. the market¬ 
ing problem is the lack of agree¬ 
ment in the grades of eggs in 
different cities. The egg that 
would grade as a fresh gathered 
extra on one market might only 
grade as a fresh gathered first in 
another. This, multiplicity of 
standards makes it difficult for 
producers to know just how’ their 
eggs will grade on the wholesale 
market or at what price they are 
likely to sell. They must take 
the word of the local buyer as to 
market values for their product. 
For the past five years some 
members of the egg trade have 
talked of national standardized 
grades. Real steps toward that 
end were taken at a meeting called 
by the National Poultry, Butter 
and Egg Association at Chicago, 
January 21. Representatives of 
packers, produce exchanges, farm 
organizations and agricultural col¬ 
leges met with officials of the 
Bureau of Agricultural Economics 
of the U. S. Department of Agri¬ 
culture. At this meeting it was decided to coop¬ 
erate with the government in establishing uni¬ 
form standards, classes and grades for eggs. 
Standards easily understood by the producer and 
applicable to the wholesale trade were advocated. 
Universally accepted standardized egg grades, 
coupled with adequate inspection service which 
the Government can supply at leading centers 
in all parts of the country, would vastly increase 
the ease of merchandizing eggs by permitting 
dealings in goods variously located for delivery 
at any point desired by the buyer. 
American Housewife a Discriminating Buyer 
The consumer is no less discriminating in the 
purchase of poultry than in buying eggs. The 
American housewife, in fact, is a Shylock w r hen 
she buys poultry. She is ruthless in demanding 
the extra pound of flesh. Experience has taught 
her that it is more economical to pay higher prices 
for well fattened birds, a large part of which is 
good table meat, than lower prices for birds which 
are bony and thin. So she demands heavy fowls. 
The farmer who takes thin, underfleshed poul¬ 
try to market is beating himself every time he 
does it, provided that he is paid according to 
{Continued, on page 261 ) 
$Q« 
JAN. 
FEB. 
MAR. 
APR- 
MAY. 
JUN. 
JUL. 
AUG. 
SEP. 
OCT. 
NOV. 
DEC. 
A 
/ \ 
- K-i 
A 
• 
—i- 
50c 
* 
/ 
1 
1 
i 
# 
* 
V 
% 
\ 
\ 
\ 
4 
40c 
v\ 
A 
/ ^ 
- 
0 
A 
X 
30c 
•\ 
A 
K,, 
0 - . 
. rtS? 
p2 
p 
7 
ujfgst, 
m 
t— 
20c 
HEAV 
i row 
-Sv* 
rAuil 
c 
» __ 
s —y 
A 
10c 
LIGHT 
-FOWL 
o- 
How quality pays in the poultry and egg markets. Egg prices shown on the chart above 
were the prices paid at New York during 1923 for fresh gathered firsts which is the highest 
grade of fresh eggs and for fresh seconds. Poultry prices were those paid on the same 
market for heavy, fresh killed, milk fed fowls or hens weighing five pounds or over 
and for light fowls weighing three pounds. 
