Section 2 includes the great West, of which an adequate discussion is out of the question.  Of course, the great majority of this area is too remote from markets for poultry production.  The locations around the big cities in this section are excellent for poultry farming, as they are so far removed from the great farm region that their bulk of imported eggs are of necessity somewhat stale.  California is good chicken country.  The Puget Sound country is rather too damp.  In the interior western regions the chicken business has not done well, chiefly because the atmosphere is too dry for the methods of artificial incubation attempted.

Section 3 is the great granary of the world.  It is also the home of three-fourths of the country’s poultry crop.  It is a region of corn, cattle and hogs.  Such a country will produce poultry in a very inexpensive manner.  But it is not the region for special poultry farms.  In the northern portion of this tract, we find a heavy housing expense and much winter labor necessary.  It is a region of high priced lands and labor, and low prices for poultry products.

Even the large cities in this region offer little in the way of demand for high grade poultry products.  This is because they are so abundantly surrounded with farms that all produce is moderately fresh and plentiful.  There are no successful poultry farms in this section west of the Mississippi.  It is the natural location of extensive rather than intensive branches of agriculture.  The only type of commercial poultry farming that could succeed in any portion of this section would be a large community of producers who could ship their products out regularly in carload lots.  Such development could only take place in the southern portion of this region, for the housing expense is too great for the north.  At best the distance from market is a disadvantage, for the rate on eggs just about equals the rate on the quantity of grain necessary to produce them.  The added time of shipment is something of a drawback, though in refrigerator cars this is not serious.  After the establishment of poultry communities becomes more common, the Oklahoma and Texas region will become available for this purpose, but they must be established in full swing at the start, for a few isolated poultrymen have no chance at all in this section, for they cannot sell their product to advantage.

Section 4.  This region, extending from the Ozarks to Eastern Tennessee, is one of the very best poultry sections.  The climate is such that green food is available winter and summer, and the expense of housing and winter labor is reasonable.  This section is still in the corn growing region.  The question is almost always one of railroad facilities to get the product out.  All poultry farms in this section must grow their own grain or buy it of their immediate neighbors.  It will not pay to ship grain into this region.

[Illustration:  Plate III.  Page 47.  Map:  Intensity of egg production in the United States]