THE HEN RECORD

New Zealand Mail, 17 September 1902, Page 59 (Supplement)

THE HEN RECORD

15,525,830,232 EGGS LAST YEAR

("New York World.’’}

tlie intervals of bringing up large tt l -4. ac^ va families, the hens of the ir rolf d JMates last year found time to lay 10,525,830,232 eggs, or about a billion anil a third dozen.

The income from the sale of these e ggs, .awarding to statistics furnished especially in the "Sunday World Magaz«na, *>y the Department of the Interior States Government, was 141,286,158 dollars. Besides this their progeny, to he eveni JJf l ' served in a score of different ways, l a . Maryland to salad, were sold '°r 136,891, 8<i dollars. The total income from the poultry in*S tatesfor the - vear

The total income from the sale of wheat 000 States in 1900 was 323,015,1/ 1 do,hu's. It is estimated that the sales for last year, figures for which nave not yet been compiled, will not exceed the previous twelve months, xhe greatest branch of tlie agricultural industry, tne branch that has helped as much as any other to make this country a commercial world power, thus exceeds the poultry industry in money equivalent loy only about 15 ncr cent. Still more striking, practically the entire output of eggs and much of the poultry is consumed at home. Here are some more of tlie interesting figures furnished by the Department: , * he V;,lne of poultry on hand June Ist, 1900, was 85,794,996 dollars. This included 283.558,085 chickens and guinea turkeys, 5,678,863 geese and 4.897,353 ducks.

In ratio of production there are about two (iOzgii eggs marketed to every bushel of wheat.

But even these figures cannot give a full idea of the country’s egg production The consumption of eggs by people keep--1,1 g, their own poultry must be enormous and necessarily no statistics can bo oK tained of this production. In the yards and orchards of a thousand villages from the Atlantic to the Pacific, a dozen or more hens provMe the family wants. Moreover, the estimate is of lien’s e-surs only, while there is a very large consumption of the eggs of ducks, ' geese, guinea fowls and even turkeyfe.