I have emphasized the point that the private corporation is the natural forerunner in this matter in order to discourage premature or over-ambitious efforts at co-operation.  Whenever a community of poultrymen or, for that matter, a community of growers of any perishable form of products, who are already successful in the producing end, wish to take up co-operation and will see that men are selected to manage it who will use the same precautions to guard against incompetency or graft that they, as individuals, would use in their own business, there is excellent chance of success.

Go slow.  Do not expect to get rich quick by “cutting out the middleman’s enormous profits,” for the middleman’s profits are not enormous, and if you see that your co-operation is not paying, give it up and confess to yourselves that you do not know as much about the business as your private competitors.

CHAPTER IV

WHERE TO LOCATE

That poultry should be kept on every farm to supply the farmer’s own table does not permit of argument.  When it comes to production for market, I believe there are some sections where it costs more to produce and market poultry and eggs than is received for the product when sold.  For illustration:  On a farm which is twenty miles from town and where grain cannot be profitably grown, the cost of teaming grain from the railroad station and of sending the eggs to market as frequently as is necessary to have a wholesome product, would certainly eat up all possible profits.

The farmer thus located would find a more profitable use for his time in some industry where the raw material is near at hand and the product needs less frequent marketing.

Some Poultry Geography.

When we are discussing poultry on the general farm, the problem of location is not to be taken into consideration, save to the extent that there are a few localities where food cost is so high or marketing facilities so poor as to make even the usual farm surplus unprofitable.

The map on page 45 shows the intensity of egg production and also indicates the location of the more important localities where poultry plants have succeeded.  The map on page 47 shows the quality of eggs coming from various sections, which indicates pretty closely the general development of the poultry industry.  These indications, however, are of little value in locating a poultry plant, for they refer to the poultry product on the general farm, and are a matter of the number and general intelligence of farmers, rather that a sign of the suitability of the locality for the poultry industry.

For purposes of discussion, I have divided the United States into seven sections as shown by the dotted lines on the second map.

[Illustration:  Plate II.  Page 45.  Map:  Intensity of egg production in the United States]

Section 1 is the North Woods and too cold and remote for the poultry business.