ISO 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



cannot watch the birds sufficiently to know the 

 best layers, he can still do much by the three 

 simple tests of which lay early in winter or 

 spring ; which are down earliest from the perch ; 

 and which lay earliest in the day. Broadly, 

 these tests will at least pick out the better 

 layers, and enable him to discard the really 

 bad ones. 



Food and expenses raise an important and 

 interesting question in regard to fa}-m poultry. 

 The example of Mr. Passmore above cited is in 

 one respect rather peculiar : that of the one 

 daily feed only, of hard grain. The 

 Question of egie-averaCTe resulting is, perhaps, 



Comparative ^''.^ , ^ .^ ■ j r 



Expenses. fair, and as it was raised from iio 

 to 120, it might probably be further 

 raised by the selection described above ; but it 

 is certainly not high. It is, however, argued 

 with much sh6w of reason, that such an average, 

 ■witli stick econojny in food and labour, pays as 

 well or better than an average of i6o might do 

 with more expense in these items. It is re- 

 markable that the same question has struck 

 some American egg-farmers in the same way. 

 One in Massachusetts writes to an agricultural 

 paper in New York: "There is just as much 

 profit in producing eggs at a cost of lo cents 

 per dozen and selling them for 20 cents, as there 

 is in producing more at a cost of 20 cents and 

 selling them for 30 cents." The same argument 

 may or may not tell in any given case against 

 the cost of producing winter eggs by high feed ; 

 it is a question of figures, and therefore depends 

 for its answer upon prices and markets, and 

 cannot be positively answered for all cases. 

 Mr. Passmore evidently knows what he is about: 

 but on the whole we think he would find it 

 profitable to give in winter a good allowance of 

 cut bone. 



The same applies to another point. In 

 Mr. Palmer's own lectures, we notice that he 

 strongly advises the plan of broadcasting the 

 grain upon different strips or portions of ground 

 on successive days, a point we have not seen 

 suggested before. Where this plan can be 

 carried out it must undoubtedly be beneficial in 

 two ways : the food falling upon sweet ground, 

 and the manure dropped during the day being 

 also more evenly distributed. On the other 

 hand, it is obvious that there must be many 

 cases in which such a plan, carried out thoroughly, 

 would involve more walking and expense in 

 time than can be afibrded. To some extent, 

 however, it will always be possible, and the 

 point should decidedly be kept in view, and 

 feeding on the same spot carefully avoided. 



In regard to the marketing of birds killed, 

 there is nothing to add to the preceding chapter; 



Honesty. 



but an emphatic caution is necessary about the 

 marketing of eggs. Twenty years ago there was 

 no wholesale market in London for " new-laid " 

 eggs, and even now private custom pays the 

 best, where sufficient ; such private 

 custom is generally well treated, 

 because the consequence of any other course is 

 felt directly. Where there is no private market, 

 however, there is now, as shown in our next 

 chapter, a London wholesale market ranging 

 from 9s. to 20s. per 120 according to the 

 season, and with a tendency to increase both 

 in demand and price. But this altogether 

 depends upon the farmers — upon their sending 

 up really new-laid eggs twice or thrice a week, 

 with rigid honesty. We regretted to find from 

 a large salesman that the greatest difficulty 

 was with the farmers themselves ; some of them 

 were in such a state of besotted ignorance, that 

 in their short-sighted greed the}' would retain 

 their eggs till they had a large lot, or for a 

 better price, and then send them up as " new- 

 laid." That sort of thing at first nearly killed 

 the new and promising market, and was only 

 checked by relentless refusal to receive any 

 more from proved offenders. It still checks 

 the market and the price more than anything ; 

 and only the absolutely honest consigner, who 

 sends up exactly what he undertakes, can ex- 

 pect to reap the benefit of extra " English " 

 prices. The establishment of egg depots and 

 wider dissemination of knowledge should do 

 much towards sounder practices in this respect. 



Poultry-farming may also be carried on, if 



not " pure and simple," at least in a much 



larger and more exclusive sense 



n™t*,™. than that above considered. As 

 Operations. ... 



mentioned later in this work, there 

 are several establishments where ducklings are 

 reared and marketed by thousands even in 

 England, known to be remunerative ; but ducks 

 are in some respects easier to manage. Much 

 of the business described in the preceding 

 chapter, again, can only be properly described 

 as poultry-farming. It is ridiculous to refuse 

 such a title, as some would do, to cases where 

 600 birds are reared on nineteen acres, and the 

 milk from the few cows is separated and all 

 given to the chickens ; or to Mr. Kenward's 

 200 acres, where 8,000 are reared, and the 

 main cereal crop is oats, all fed to the birds, 

 with all the skim milk also ; or to many others 

 where the oats and the cows are complementary 

 to the chickens. The poultry are in all these 

 cases the centre and mainspring of all the 

 operations, which alone have made the hold- 

 ings pay, and without which the whole would 



