8 Jan., 1907.] Success in Egg Culture. 



fruit, the total number of trees in bearing being 390. This is a splendid, 

 and, needless to say, a profitable return for the labour expended in clean- 

 ing and rejuvenating the orchard, and a fine testimony to the value of 

 simple but effective methods of pruning and spraying, whith can only 

 be judged by such results. One pear tree bore twenty-three cases of fruit, 

 two apples seventeen and eleven cases each, and several others up to five 

 cases. 



Some of the success of this orchard, it must be admitted, is due to 

 the natural conditions obtaining. Artesian water can be tapped at 

 33 feet in depth, and with two small pipes, let down at the highest part 

 of the garden, an unlimited supply of excellent limy water can be 

 obtained. Mr. Smith says he watered three times last summer, two days 

 each time, allowing the water to run into channels with closed ends. 



SUCCESS IN ECIG CULTURE. 



H. V. Hawkins, Poultry Expert. 



As an evidence that duck farming pays when carried out on proper lines, 

 the following mav be of interest to readers of the Journal. The first agri- 

 cultural farmers' classes held in Warragul, not quite three years ago, 

 resulted in keener interest being taken in the farming of poultry in that 

 and the surrounding districts. Mr. Donald Grant, of Drouin (a regular 

 student), was one of the first to put into practice the lessons taught at the 

 classes. Having only a small area of land (8 acres), mostly under fruit, 

 he set to work to add to his income by farming ducks for egg production 

 onlv. He constructed pens of 150 feet x 50 feet, in each a house 6 x 10, 

 made of galvanized iron, with 3x2 hardwood for the framework, at a 

 cost of 17s. per house; the fronts all face the east, with wire doors, which 

 are locked at night on account of foxes. Being portable, they are moved 

 occasionally, thus guarding against filth and dampness; the average number 

 of ducks kept in each is forty. One pen, situated on the best undulating 

 piece of land, contains siicty birds, from which he has obtained forty eggs 

 daily all through the winter (when eggs are scarce), and they are 

 still going strong. The birds on the place total 390 ducks, 20 drakes, and 

 50 fowls, not including the young stock hatched this year, which is in itself 

 a big asset. 



The cost of feed, all purchased, for the six months ending 30th Sep- 

 tember, was ^85 9s. 4d. This also included feed for eighty voung ducks 

 hatched in Julv, and also feed for 350 chicks (incubated) for six weeks. 

 The return.s amounted to ^139 i8s. 4d. for the six months, made up as 

 follow: — April, ^26 15s.; May, ^t^t, 9s. 3d.; June, ;^i8 los. 6d. ; 

 July, ;^i6 4s. 8d. ; August, ^19 4s. 8d. ; September, jQ2^ 14s. 5d. Many 

 uf the ducks went into a second moult, thus to a large extent spoiling what 

 was promising to be almost a record ; they fell away to seventy-two eggs 

 H dav at the latter end of June, and at the earlv part of July most of them 

 had a month's spell. The greatest number of eggs gathered in one day 

 was 368 on 1 8th September, and the total for the six months amounted to 

 2,905 dozen, or 34,860 eggs. 



