Nov. 2, 1908.] Agricultural Gazette of N.S. W. 895 



that ducks are gross feeders, and not so particular as to (juality as fowls, 

 Glebe Island and other ofi'al, hotel and restaurant waste, and varied 

 bulky cheap foods being most suitable. 



Mr. Staples commenced the above business some twelve or fourteen 

 years ago, and made a success of it, l)ut gave tliem up in favour of 

 fowls, and, except a sojourn in Soutli Africa, has been engaged in the 

 business to the present day. 



The farm, like many others in the neighbourhood, consists of about 

 10 acres, and no doubt is a section of the subdivision of some of the big 

 forest. 



Mr. Staples, being a practical man and knowing exactly the re([uire- 

 ments of fowls and the conditions of this country, did not take the advice 

 of the poultrj- books to select a high and dry aspect, with a slope to 

 some point of the compass. The fact is that Australian conditions are 

 such that, rather than the dry elevation, the chief trouljle to poultrymen 

 is over-dryness. In England, with weeks of continuous rain and little 

 sunshine, the liigh and dry situation is important, but conditions here 

 are altogether different. We get our rain on but a few days in the year 

 and the results (juickly disappear. Indeed, often, even on a poultry 

 farm, tiie dust will lie lilowing off the jdace the day following a "2 or 3 

 inch rainfall. 



The lU acres constituting the farm is flat, neither is it t)n a hill, and 

 had the site been any other jdace, there is scarcely a doul)t l)ut the results 

 under the present owner would have been the same as before described, 

 viz., a permanent poultry farm. 



The Runs, Houses, etc. 



The principal operations to the end of profit is egg-laying, and for 

 this purpose 7 or 8 acres are wire-netted into large runs. 



As previously mentioned the heavy timber had been removed many 

 years ago, the present state of the farm being a further growth of gum- 

 tree saplings, reacliing from 12 to 30 feet high, and from the.se the many 

 gates, posts, and other woodwork of the- farm are made. 



Some of the houses are also made from the wood on the farm ; in others 

 second-hand timber and iron have been utilised. The hinges of the many 

 gates and doors, fastenings, and other appurtenances connected with the 

 business are all home made. Indeed, from a cursory glance, the wire- 

 netting excepted, the bulk of the material to accommodate several 

 thousand fowls was obtained on the place. The liouses are the open- 

 fronted ones, long since advocated in tlie A<irinili tinil (rdzctic . The illus- 

 tration shows one of these, a plain structure measuring about 15 feet long. 

 8 feet high in front, sloping to 7 feet at back, witli a depth from front to 

 back sufficient to allow five rows of ]ierches, and capable of acconuno- 

 dating 120 to 150 fowls. In keeping with the inexpensive constructions, 

 the water vessels are those advocated in the Gazette, nauielv, kerosene 



