George Washington Carver: A National Agricultural Library Digital Exhibit

1912

National Agricultural Library

Of all the get-rich-quick schemes there is probably none more productive of delusion than that of poultry raising on paper. And yet, with the proper facilities and applied intelligence, possibly more handsome returns can be had from poultry than any other industry in proportion to the amount of capital invested and the readiness with which results can be obtained.

There is an idea prevalent that poultry cannot be successfully raised in the South. This saying has been so oft repeated and the apparent truth so universally verified that the majority of our people believe it and make but little or no effort to prove it false.

Years of costly experimentation and investigation have improved many of the apparent unsurmountable obstacles, so that there remains no doubt as to its possibilities. It is therefore the purpose of this bulletin to set forth, in as clear and concise a way as possible, a number of rules and suggestions which, if carried out, will enable an amateur to successfully grapple with this problem.

It is hard to conceive of a great state with 223,220 farms, aggregating 20,685,427 acres, with a grand total of only 5,186,536 fowl of all kinds and ages upon these farms, which would mean, in round numbers, 23 fowl to the farm, or about 4 fowl to the acre.

Poultry Raising in Macon County, Alabama