Jooe 18. 1868. I 



JOURNAIj op HORTIOOIiTUiXE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



447 



Very hardy and weii^hty table birds may thus be prodncod. Hy answers 

 to inquiries, mid by rt-fereuce to the booka of a farm including tho 



last six. years, 1 tind that tlie uvorapu price paid by biRRlers for baru- 

 door fowls of tbu averH^e weij^hts lirst meutiouod is *J.f, for coop-fod, 

 and Is. Sf/. for yard-fed birds. The tu^t of feudiiit^ and rearing the 

 prize birds at C'lielmsford was probably very little, if at all, more than 

 that of raising the others. AVith regard to feeding, our system of 

 icanng chickens to shift for themselves until ntich tinio aa they are 

 ready or wanted for the coop is all wrong. No attempt at after- 

 fattening will increase frame if the feediuLj of infancy has benn disre- 

 ■^arded. Again, the indiscriminate emptying of apronfula or sievefuls 

 of grain in a heap on tho ground, \Yhil3t it serves to gorge tin; power- 

 ful, leaves chickens and weaker birds to starve, pieking up liere and 

 there a gi'aiu, whilst sparrows and small birds have a large share 

 iu the feast. I see that Mr, Mechi has published the results of 

 an experiment in the cost uf feeding a single heu. shut u]> and without 

 access to any food but that which was given by hand. The result 

 shows that Ti lbs. of barley at the average of 1'/. per Ih. (or -lO.s". the 

 tjuarter), will make 1 lb. live weight of )»oultry food, worth *)//. per lb. 

 I say it is quite ]>ractieable to feed poultry moro cheaply, and conae- 

 tjuently to sell them clieaper than shown by this method — that is 

 supposiug them to be at large ; but I am sure Mr. Mechi will pardon 

 me for saying that I think this statement of feeding in confinement is 

 i-ather low, a circumstance which may arise from tho fact that the 

 bird pined at first. I have tried the same cNporimcnt with two pens 

 of birds, consisting of a cock and two hens, confined for a long time to 

 sei)arate but very small wired pens. I tried it iu March last year, 

 and iu the month just ended, and I found that my birds consumed 

 about '^i pints to bis '2\ joints in the week ; but then I dare say the 

 barley I used was of foreign growth, and of much lighter hulk, iiirds 

 having a free run would cost \er\ considerably less. I must not occupy 

 your valuable time with the details of whiit is uooessary for the housing 

 of birds and, for theii- places of laying and incubation. It will be 

 enough to say that they should be. what they arc seldom in farmyards 

 — namely, cleanly, convenient, and attractive. 



Gaptain Grant : Do yon think a hen's nest should be high or low? 

 Mr. Manning : It should be on the ground, if there is no danger 

 I lorn rats, for laying and also for hatching ; and the roosts should be 

 low, particularly when they are heavy hird.s. I believe the sore and 

 injured feet, which are not unusual in large poultry, are often cansed 

 by their jumping down almost perj^iendicularly from a high roost. 

 i''owls will always choose the highest perch, probably because it is the 

 warmest, and when this is in a largo open shed, as a cart lodge, they 

 have room for some length of flight before reaching the ground, but 

 ia a small poultry honse they come down verj- heavily. If the perches 

 are arranged iu steps one above the other they will jump them one at 

 a tiino until they reach the highest, but they will not come down 

 that way. I do not approve of artificially warming the fowl hoase ; 

 it should be well built, and brick is better than wood, being warmer, 

 and more easily cleaned ; but I think if tho introduction of hot-air 

 pities is allowed it mnst pi-oduce such a warmth that on going out into 

 the cold air the fowls are apt to get chilled, and to havo an attack of 

 the *'roap." 



Mr. Hosl^ns : I have a small flue passing through my fowl house, 

 and \ find that it tends to improve the regularity of laying, and does 

 uotj^produce any ill effects. 



sir. Manning : It may be usefnl if very judiciously employed, but I 

 am ^Iways afraid of it. It would depend, too, on the breed; the 

 Brahma Pootra and Cochin-China are very hardy, whilst the Dorking 

 is vm-y delicate. On the point that the demand for poultry is restricted 

 by tap market system, I would call attention to the fact that poultry 

 protlace stands at a costly rate to the consumer, and at a poorly re- 

 muuerative one to the producer, by reason of the irresponsible middle 

 men through whose hands it passes before it reaches the retail seller. 

 Agi^ju, in its perishable nature the producer is liable to much loss in 

 a dqll qr a glutted market. In this matter I would venture to suggest 

 the ejstahlishiuent in London, and the great towns of the United King- 

 dom,, pf. wholesale markets, either apart from or in connection with 

 the meat markets, subject to police and other regulations, to have 

 sales by auction, so tliat no part of the consignment need be returned 

 to the proJacer, or destroyed as unfit for food; to exteud the same 

 prLueiples of markets and sales to other towns in the kingdom on their 

 market, days. One of the reasons already given for the neglect of 

 IwuJttv.'y stock was, that farmers' wives have ceased to be henwives. 

 Perl^jLpa in the altered state of society it is unavoidable. It is, 

 however, to he regretted. But poultry-growing, as a part of farm 

 stock, fljid an item of our daily food, will need henmasters rather than 

 heuwiVe^. I mean that if it were cairied on by the husband as a 

 regular part of his business, he would, feed his poultry the same as he 

 does his horses and his stock ; hut when it is left to the wife, there is 

 often a complaint of the quantity of food required for the poultry, and 

 a little sly barn robbery the result of waste. 



ftlr- C. W. HoskTus: But part of the economy of pool try -keeping 

 consists in the fact that the wife is able to attend to it. 



Mr. Manning : Oh, yes ; and it should be .so. There is nothing in 

 the management of poultry which goes beyond an ordinary woman's 

 capabilities ; the only thing is to see that they have food enough with- 

 out waste, and that i-hickeus are carefully reared. 



Mr. Hoskyns : Are there not many oleaginous seeds which might be 

 aacd with a-dvantage in feeding ? 



Mr. Manning ; Yea ; I hfive tried brank or buckwheat, which ia very 

 good, and so is Indian corn. Cheapen a necensary of life, and a 

 demand follows instuntly ; this is a maxim illustrated every day. 

 Simplify the market system and improve the means of production ; 

 yt)U will then remove the consumer's first objection — vi/., price. Tho 

 second objection as to nutriment is answered by the fact that, as a flesh- 

 forming food, poultry is more nutritious than bed. It ia only inferior to 

 beef as being less fattening, for it contains a little less water, a fraction 

 per cent, less albuminous matter, and a greater proportion of salts- 

 To the remaining objections urged by the farmers, that poultry damage 

 the stack yard, I have little hesitation in suying that this in a mistake 

 wliere stacks are set upon frames, and birds regulaily and judiciously 

 fed. The other — namely, that poultry damage the crops, will, I think, 

 receive a conclusive and practical unswer from Mr. Muchi. Mr, Mechi 

 keeps three hundred head of poultry, which have free actress to the fields 

 near the homesteads, and he finds that they do more good than harm- 

 AVith regard to the system of sales by auction, this plan has already 

 been adopted by Messrs. Broome & Co., meat and poultry salesmen in 

 Newgate Market. Theii- manager, Mr. Brooke, has been in Normandy, 

 and "the other poultry districts of J^'rance, to ascertain the French 

 methods of feeding, and of poultry management generally, which appear 

 to be more systematic and economical than our own. Messrs. Broomo 

 have kindly consented that their manager Bliould attend before you, if 

 desired, to give any information thut may ho of value. Taken in con- 

 nection with the statements of the weight and the cost of rearing barn- 

 door fowls, it may be usefnl to place side by side the prices quoted in 

 Newgate and Leadenhall Markets at two periods of the year, which 

 Will represent plenty and scarcity of produce. 



Sept. 21 St, 18G7. March 27th, 1868. 



Surrey fowls, per couplo li!-.-. to I'J* 10*. to 12«. 



chickens „ Gs. 6(/. to ?« 6*. to Ss. 



Barndoor fowls „ 48. 6d. to Gi 5». to 7*. 



Mr. Mechi is now getting 7fi. tj(/. a-pair wholesale for chickens. It 

 is impossible at present to procure any reliable information with regard 

 to the home produce and the consumption of birds and eggs in this 

 country. It has beea variously and vaguely estimated. The story of 

 our imports, however, tells a startling tale : — 



In 1&19 we imported 98.000.000 of eggs. 



Inl8ti6 „ : -•-- 438,8.8,880 



Inl867 „ iJ9?,984,520 



The cause of this reduction in last year's imports I am not prepared 

 to give. The price of English eggs per hundred in Newgate and 

 Leadenhall Markets varies from tw. 6f/. to i:is\ ordinarily in the 

 season : the difference between the prices of English and French egga 

 being, for the most part, Is. per hundred. The cnstom-house return 

 of eggs and poultry imported in l^GG (the totals, except in the case of 

 eggs, not being yet made for 1867), gives the following details :— 

 Eggs. 

 Imported from ^^'eat hundred. 



Hamburgh 16,630 



Belffium 1&1.7S3 



Fr.?ce 3,369 802 



SpHiu 80,055 



Cbannel Islands ?„'^^ 



Other parts 



17,764 



Hundreds ^'^''^^ 



Long hundred l™ 



Ei?g3 438,878,880 



Poultry. 



Imported from 



Value. 



Hoi and ^£16.815 



Beliium S'-OSa 



other parts ■__1l!f? 



£174,971 



Value of eggs (at 6». 6(/. per 120), £1,188,6.10; total value of egRS 

 and poultry imported in IWJtS, .J;l,•26:^,li(Jl. If the foreigner can 

 undersell us in oar own markets in eggs, and can send a very large 

 amount in value of poultrv into this countrj- ; if our own eggs, in spite 

 of this competition, maintain invariably a higher price, it is beyond 

 question that there is— at all events, in our own production— a demand 

 unsatisfied, and a profitable source of food neglected. I have made 

 several inquiries into the matter of artifi.ial hatching, and I am not 

 satisfied with tho results. The great difficulty is in reaniig the 

 chickens when they are hatched. 'VVe have no evidence to show whether 

 the cultivation of poultry is increasing; there are no returns of the 

 nuantitv sent into the market, and it is impossible to get accurate 

 information from the farmers to a sufficient extent to foi-m an opinion. 

 If you took the railway returns yon would probably bo unable to 

 separate the hame-bred'from the foreign poulti-y. 



The Chairman: Before proceeding any further with the discussion 

 I will read a letter which we have received from Mr. Mechi, which is 



as foUows .— __ Tintrce Hall, near Kelvedon, Essex, 



".War^h 21st, 1868. 

 " My Deab Mr. Foster.-I am not ollon iu town, but hope to be so in 

 aweok or ten days, and -will endeavour tn meet the tommittee. My 

 experience teaches me, flrat, that there is an abundant demand for 

 poultry iu our morkets, even at the present extravagant prices that 

 whUe potdUy sella at lully 9d. per lb. Uve weight, the best beef and 



