The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., February 24, 1912, BETTER POULTRY SPECIAL., Image 1

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

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BETTER POULTO^fllfyff^—i
I Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.
[ f^______BIRMINGHAM. ABA.,—MEMPHIS, TENN.
^^XXVH. No. 8. _SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1912. Weekly: $1 a Year.
^■ 1 1 - -' ^——■—————a—*
The Profit in Better Poultry and How to Get It.
IT may be that some readers when we announced a “Better Poultry
Special,” instead of the regulation “Poultry Special” expected that
this issue would be given principally to a discussion of the merits
of different breeds and to the stressing of Ihe superiority of pure bred
poultry over mongrels. It may seem to ;
fowls they keep—do not believe it. Nor is there any question that it
pays to study the needs of the poultry, to furnish the proper feeds, to
build good hotSV to keep them clean, to look after the health and
comfort of each ^ every fowl. This also—if we may judge again by
> 'mm their actions—is something a whole lot
sucn persons rainer strange man in an
issue devoted to “better poultry” we
should give as much space to feeding
and housing and care as to breeds and
breeding or the claims of ancestry.
We have done this, however, not by
accident, but by design. No one be
lieves more strongly in better blood, in
the efficacy of careful breeding and se
lection, in pure-bred fowls of all kinds
than does The Progressive Farmer ; but
at the same time we believe that good
feeding, good care and proper manage
ment are just as essential to the pro
duction of better poultry as is better
blood.
As one contributor says, the mongrel
hen may prove profitable if given right
care and attention: while no individual
merit, no line of ancestry will enable a
hen to lay eggs if she is not given the
tight teed and provided with comfort
able quarters. Now, do not understand
us to say that with equal feeding and
care the mongrel hen will pay as well
as the well-bred hen, or that feeding
and care are to be considered before
breeding. No flock of mongrel hens
has ever paid as well, we feel safe in
SflVinrr oo __ _t r a*. n i
of Southern farmers have not yet
found out. We feel sure that all of
them have heard it or read it sometime
or other, but somehow they have failed
to realize it or apply it to themselves
and their own birds.
It is with the hope that it may reach
some of these farmers and induce
them to change their ways that this is
sue is offered. We have tried to make
plain what we believe about poultry,
and to give sufficient evidence to con
vince others of the correctness of our
beliefs, which may be briefly stated as
follows: 1
1. On the average Southern farm I
poultry-raising can be made one of the 1
most profitable of all branches of farm
work.
2. To do this it is necessary to get
good birds of good breeding, to feed
them liberally on a variety of feeds, to
house them comfortably, to keep them
as free as possible from lice and mites,
to supply them with green feed and
grit, to make them work for at least
part of their living, and to keep con
stant oversight of them that they may
be kept healthy and happy.
NOW, ISN’T SHE A BEAUTY?
IO' * V. » Cl ill U1 lilt; 11UIK5
told about in this issue. Nor do feeding and care come before indi
vidual merit and good breeding. All must go together if the greatest
Profits are to be attained.
^e suppose that there are some readers of The Progressive Far
*er "ho still doubt if pure bred poultry is superior to that of no
reeding tor what they term “practical purposes.” If by this term
* ■ mean the ability to make money, we must confess that we do not
now how to convince them of the fallacy of their idea. The evidence
In a\or of pure-bred poultry is overwhelming. For anyone in this
>eui of grace 1912 to say that “the old common chickens are just about
,1 best 'here is,” is to earn a reputation for fixedness of ideas rather
an lur knowledge of the subject.
Fow is of mongrel breeding hold no egg records; produce no fanev
Pneed fryers or broilers; bring their owners no extra returns because
sh * ^es'rabilitv as breeding stock; take no prizes at fairs and
n°"s’ - icld small profits under the most favorable conditions, and
s^ne.a^ in many cases. The farmer who still sticks to them does
Wrher because he does not know what good fowls are, or because
Mr a.S not realized how much profit there is in good poultry, well
dreu tor.
Poult lrH re can be no doubt that good blood is well worth while in
_ ^ as elsewhere, even if some people—judging by the kind of
FEATURES OF THIS ISSUE.
CHINA A REPUBLIC — One of History's Great Events Taking
Place in Our Day.
FEEDING AND CAKE OF POULTRY—The Farmer Has the Feeds
and Can Learn How to Use Them ... Id
FERTILIZERS AND CORN—Don’t Pay Too Rig a Price for the
Corn You Raise. '1
FIRST SPRAYING OF PEACHES AND PLUMS—Begin Now to Get
Ready . ..
HOW TO COOK MILK—By Mrs. Stevens. 1(»
HOW TO HANDLE THE EGGS—Have Private Customers if Pos
sible . *
HOW TO IMPROVE THE FLOCK — Better Blood. Better Feed,
Better Care . *
LITTLE STORIES OF SUCCESS—To Cheer You Up and Show
the Way .
SERVICEABLE POULTRY HOUSES—The Open-Front House the
Thing . 12
SPECIAL VALUE OF MANURE—Why Southern Soils Need It
so Much . 3
THE PARCELS POST AND MRS PARTINGTON — Selfish and
Short-Sighted Opposition to a Great Reform. IS
THE PROFITABLE TURKEY—How to Get the Profit. 2«
VARIETIES OF COTTON—Special Qualities of Some Good Sorts II
WINTERING MARES AND COLTS—Some Very Valuable Experi
ments . 22