l62 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



In 1893 Canada was tabulated separately as 

 ;£'7S,506, while in 1900 she sent to England 

 ;fe288,945, all other countries amounting to 

 ;£'46j,787. The latter amount included chiefly, 

 in 1899, America, Egypt, Spain, Portugal, 

 Morocco, Holland. A very few cases came 

 direct from Italy, but this country sends many 

 more through Holland and Belgium, part of 

 whose figures are therefore Italian. Russia 

 also sends many through Germany, and a less 

 number through Denmark, part of which should 

 therefore be credited to her ; she also exports 

 a considerable number to Belgium ; thus actual 

 direct imports from Germany and Belgium are 

 not so large as they appear on the surface, but 

 on the other hand Russia looms still larger, 

 as now by far the largest exporter of eggs to 

 Great Britain. In 1909 the Board of Trade 

 attempted to classify the imports according to 

 their country of origin ; but even now the re- 

 turns are far from complete. 



These eggs from various countries are of 

 very different qualities. Those from France 

 arc both nearer and more promptly collected, 

 and realise the highest prices ; 

 Prices and those from Germany — many being 

 Quality. Russian — are next to Russian lowest 



in price. In summer, Russian eggs 

 average barely 5s. per " long hundred," while 

 French even then approach 8s. Many Russian 

 eggs are almost rotten when sold in this country, 

 and are chiefly used in various manufactures, 

 for which such eggs answer perfectly, or for 

 the worst class of Italian confectionery. Calcu- 

 lating out from the declared values, the average 

 price of foreign eggs per 120 comes out for the 

 year 1909 thus: France, 9s. o3^d. ; Canada, 

 los. iid. ; Italy, 9s. i3/{d. ; Denmark, 

 9s. 63,^d. ; Germany, 8s. 3|<^d. ; Russia, 7s. 2d. 



There is yet a further fact to be noted in 

 regard to prices. Those of foreign eggs, owing 

 to these changes in source of origin, are some- 

 what lower than formerly. In 1872, when the 

 bulk of imports were French, the average price 

 of the year was nearly 8s. ; in 1874, 8s. 7d. ; 

 and in 1876, 8s. 4d. It did not go below 7s. 

 till after 1884, but in 1902 was 6s. 73<d. A 

 large part of the better class eggs have thus 

 been displaced by the staler and commoner 

 Russian at a cheap rate, for purposes which 

 these adequately fulfil. It is not to be expected 

 that English producers should produce eggs at 

 such a low cost as to compete with these ; and 

 as conditions of life improve even in Russia, 

 it is likely that the cost may continue to rise. 

 But it would be wrong to conclude, as some 

 have done, that the foreigner has " ousted the 

 Englishman " from the egg-market. There is 



no grain of evidence that one English egg the 

 fewer has been sold owing to foreign competi- 

 tion. On the contrary, that the foreigner has 

 merely stepped in so far as regards the better 

 foreign qualities, where the home producer 

 could not or would not supply the enormous 

 demand, is shown by the facts that an all-Eng- 

 lish supply of good quality has of late found 

 a better market at higher prices, and that home 

 production has increased prodigiously . 



Of that enormous increase there is not the 

 slightest doubt. It is a disgrace to this country 

 that since 18S4 there w^as no attempt to give 

 official poultry statistics until 1908, 

 Increase in when a Poultry and Production 

 Consumption. Census was taken ; but the result 

 has not yet been published. In de- 

 fault of that, we have made many attempts to 

 get at facts ; but while all observers, with no 

 solitary exception, agree in reporting an enor- 

 •mous increase in British poultry and eggs, they 

 differ greatly as to the amount. None has 

 estimated it under tivice that of twenty years 

 ago ; more have said three or four times ; some 

 even more than that. The shops in all large 

 towns tell the same tale. In all leading 

 thoroughfares there are " dairy " and other 

 shops where clean (generally tinted) British 

 eggs are exposed for sale in neat dozen boxes 

 at " new-laid " or " fresh " prices, and very good 

 prices too, ranging up to 3s. per dozen in the 

 winter months. Every cyclist knows how often 

 he now gets really new-laid eggs about the 

 country. All this is a recent growth, a new 

 thing : such parcels of eggs at such prices were 

 absolutely unknown when a former edition of 

 this book was written. Thirty years ago, the 

 vast majority of persons, as we then wrote, had 

 never tasted a really new-laid &^^, and did not 

 know what it was like : now many thousands 

 do, and are willing to pay for it. 



A more tangible fact of the same sort is 

 that there is now a London 7narket for " new- 

 laid " eggs. And the following prices were 

 paid per 120 for genuine new- 

 New Laid laid eggs during each month of 

 Eggs. 191O: January, i6s. to i8s. ; Feb- 



ruary and March, lOs. to 15s. ; 

 April, 9s. to lOs. ; May, 8s. 6d. to lOs. ; June, 

 9s. to los. 6d. ; July, 9s. 6d. to 12s. ; August, 

 I OS. to 13s. ; September, lis. 6d. to 13s. 6d. ; 

 October, lis. 6d. to 15s.; November, i6s. to 

 21S. ; December, 17s. to 22s. The differences 

 depended chiefly upon size and even sorting : 

 if large and small were mixed, the lot only 

 realised the price of small, while all large were 

 worth more ; colour also counts, brown eggs 

 being worth more in England. 



