236 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



5-6 EDWARD VII., A. 1905 



better q-iality of poultry and eggs. Increasing prices show that the supply is yet short 

 of the demand. There can be no doubt that the home requirement for both these pro- 

 ducts is far greater to-day than ever before and equally true is it that the taste of our 

 home consumers for the better quality was never more exacting than it is to-day. This 

 is instanced in the increased demand in summer for the ' strictly new laid egg ' with 

 the flavour peculiar to it. The leading purveyors of the cities do not hesitate to say 

 that their customers are no longer content with the vague assurance ' that the egg3 

 are probably fresh.' If after they are bought the eggs turn out to be bad the seller is 

 sure to hear about it. So the city or town grocers, like their customers, become more 

 exacting, and the farmers or collectors in turn have to be more cautious as to the 

 freshness of the eggs and quality of the poultry they sell. 



Perhaps the exacting nature of these demands is a cause for the apparent difficulty 

 in meeting them. It has already been remarked that ' increased care and effort ' are 

 required to produce the ' selected ' article. This at once means higher value for the 

 greater labour expended. Certain it is that these are causes for the comparatively 

 slow response on part of producers to remunerative margins of profit. These profits are 

 shown in a later page by the farmers who made them by catering to the ' exacting * 

 demands referred to with high class products. Long experience has shown that there 

 are certain conditions which govern the production of the high priced article. These 

 conditions must be unflinchingly observed by farmer, amateur, or professional manager 

 of a poultry plant before they can place the ' selected ' or ' guaranteed ' eggs and plump 

 chickens — which will bring the highest prices — into the hands of leading city purveyor 

 or private customers. These conditions are named as follows : 



CONDITIONS TO BE OBSERVED IN THE PRODUCTION OF ' SELECTED ' EGGS AND POULTRY. 



Summer Eggs of undoubted freshness and flavour must be — 



(a) Strictly new laid when sent to city dealer or sold to private customer. 

 (h) They should reach the consumer within one week of being laid. 



(c) Non- fertilized. 



(d) After being taken from nests — until shipped or sold — should be kept in a 

 sweet smelling cellar or cupboard. 



Winter Eggs — 



(a) Should be collected before being frozen. 



(h) Sent to city dealer, customer or sold on market within ten days of laying. 



(c) Kept meanwhile in clean, sweet smelling storing place. 



(d) Preferably non-fertilized, but this is not so strictly insisted on as in the case 

 of summer eggs, for in "Winter there is not the same risk of germ development. 



Eggs of Both Seasons. — In order to have the desirable flavour at all seasons eggs 

 should come from cleanly fed and kept hens. The fowls should not have access to 

 decaying animal, or, vegetable matter. This particularly applies to summer. The 

 nests at all times should be clean, comfortable and free from lice. The largest eggs 

 will be laid by hens. Pullets may yield a greater number but their eggs will be found 

 to be of smaller size. Whether laid by hens or pullets the eggs to be of large size and 

 good quality must come from generously fed birds. 



Poultry of Best Quality. — To have chickens of the desirable type and quality 

 they require to be : — 



(a) Of correct market type. This is brought about by breeding from parent stock 

 of like type. 



(h) They should be carefully housed and regularly fed from time of hatching 

 until saleable age. 



