m 



JOUEl^Aii OF HOEftctJL'ftJRE AND COTTAGfa dABDENEB. 



[ Fobraary 27, 1873 



of sulphur, and a small rortion of soot to a quart of soft water. Add a 

 httle clay to thicken it. Apply it to the Viue witli a brush, rubbing it well in. 

 TiiEH3i03iETEn (IT'. AM— Probably any mathematical instrument maker 

 could put it right. If not you must write to the maker. 



Names of Plants (Old Suh.vribrr).—!, Janlidn. speciosn, Roxb.; 2, Gold' 

 fuBSia isophylla, Ni-rx; 3, Hibbertia stricta. (Siihsciiber).—!, Orchid, Ca- 

 lanthe vestUa; 2, Billbergia, probably B. Leopoldii, but synonymy is much 

 confused ; 3, Send when in llower ; 4, A Euscus or Myrsiphyllum, but flowers 

 are required. (.U. A. A'.).— We cannot name garden varieties of Croton, espe- 

 cially from a single leaf. (J. P.).— Leucopogon lanceolatus. 



POULTET, BEE, AKD PIGEON OHEONICLE, 



THE rOULTRY YARD AND THE PROFITS 



DERIVED FROM IT. 



Mh. Kinahd B. Edwakds, Sarn Fa-nT, Bridgend, South Wales 

 delivered an excellent lecture on this subject before the members 

 of the Breconshire Chamber of Agriculture. The whole lecture 

 is well worthy of perusal, as will be judged from the following 

 extracts : — 



"That poultry is unprofitable stock I am quite ready to admit. 

 I will go so far as to say that comparatively few poultry-keepers 

 cau be said to realise any profit worth considering, and that a 

 large proportion keep them at a loss. But what I wish to show 

 you is, not that poultry must necessarily Ije profitable, but that 

 under certain conditions they may be made the most profitable 

 stock connected with the farmstead ; and that unless I can 

 satisfy you that uuder the conditions laid down, poultry is 

 capable of returning a very considerable profit, why then I can 

 only advise you to keep as few as possible and not stultifju your- 

 self by keeping a lot of hungi-y unprofitable birds which you are 

 ever ready to admit do not pay. An insufiicient number usually 

 is kept to make it worth the wliile of the farmer to give syste- 

 matic attention to them. Secondly, conscious that they don't 

 £ay, they are grudged their food and are neglected ; and we all 

 now that any stock wliich is neglected can't pay. Thirdly, the 

 breed of fowl kept has become degenerated by continual crossing 

 and breeding in-and-in. The size is too small and useless as a 

 meat-producer, and its degeneration has reduced the number of 

 its eggs to a minimum. Fourthly, chickens are hatched at all 

 seasons, late rather than early ; and fowls are allowed to live 

 past their profitable age, although it is well known that to pro- 

 duce good and profitable fowls they must be hatched early and 

 not allowed to live beyond that age at which their profit ceases. 

 " We want more eggs and better fowls, and we, the British 

 public, have a right to look to you (the farmers of Great Britain) 

 for the supply of the eggs and poultry we are at present obliged 

 to look abroad for. We are daily importing into this country 

 from abroad considerably over one million and a halt of eggs per 

 day or a total of 583,000,000 in the twelve months, and millions 

 of money are annually paid into the hands of foreigners for these 

 articles which the British public have a right to look to you for. 

 I have said that the degeneracy of fowls from continual crossing 

 and breeding in-and-in has reduced the size of our fowls and re- 

 duced their egg-produciug powers. In confirmation of what I 

 say I ask you to go to any country market and purchase an 

 average couple of fowls costing say 3s. Gd. or 4s. the couple ; put 

 them into the scales and you will find 5 lbs. will weigh down 

 your precious birds, and it is more than probable that these 

 birds have cost their owner every farthing he gets for them. 

 Now let me draw your attention to what I call a fowl— a bird 

 worthy the attention of the improving agriculturist, and one 

 that when tried in the Ijalance will not be found wanting. Here 

 we have the huge Brahma cocks, Houdan and Crcve hens, and 

 Muscovy Ducks. Let me ask you to weigh these birds, and you 

 wiU find the hens average 18 lbs. to 20 lbs. per couple, and the 

 Ducks 22 lbs. per couple. Now, I ask you, what such birds are 

 worth — honestly worth— in the market ? You may say, ' Oh, 

 5s. the couple ; ' a fowl is a fowl ' — shan't give more.' I may 

 also argue with you and say a sheep is a sheep, or a cow is a 

 cow, and I shan't give more ; and if I stubbornly refuse to give 

 way to reason, you will find it equally difficult to prove to me 

 that your improved breeds of sheep or oxen are better, or worth 

 more, than the little mountain sheep or cattle. I freely admit 

 that such large weighty fowls cost more to produce than small 

 ones, but I assert, without fear of contradiction, that in propor- 

 tion to their size and value they do not cost per lb. one-lialf what 

 the small scampering denizens of the farmyard cost. Up to the 

 age of two mouths the larger breeds cost but little more to rear 

 than the smaller, and the difference of cost afterwards up to the 

 time they are sold is not much greater. These larger breeds, 

 such as Cruves, Brahmas, and Houdans, grow far more rapidly 

 and fatten more freely than mongrel stock, and time is money in 

 the poultry business as in everything else. I am quite satisfied 

 that first-class poultry of the best improved breeds can be pro- 

 duced at a cost of about id. per lb., when everything is taken 

 into consideration, and such meat will readily command lOd. to 

 Is. per lb. in the market, and if this be so can it bo said there is 

 no profit to be realised from poultry ? 



" We must now come to the more important consideration as to 

 profit from the production of eggs ; it is as egg-producers we 

 must look for the chief profit from fowls. I have said degeneracy 

 of breed lessens the egg-producing powers of the bird. I think 

 all will admit who have given any consideration to the subject, 

 that taking the number of fowls of aU ages kept in a farmstead, 

 the average number of eggs produced from each fowl does not 

 exceed eighty or ninety in the year. This is the usual estimate 

 given for mixed and crossbreeds of common fowl of all ages. 

 Now it is well known that certain breeds lay far more eggs than 

 other breeds ; for instance, Spanish are known to lay far more 

 than Dorkings, and Hamburghs far more than either. Keep 

 a breed that shall lay more eggs— in fact, keep those breeds 

 that lay most eggs. Now as egg-producers, in quantity no breed 

 has ever exceeded the Hamburgh, which will average 220 to 240 

 eggs from each bird in the year; Leghorns and Andalusiaus we 

 may average at 220 ; Houdans, 180 to 200 ; Spanish and Minorcas 

 200. When we compare this yield against the eighty or ninety 

 produced by the common fowl, you will readily admit the ad- 

 vantages and importance, in a profitable point of view, of keep- 

 ing a breed that is a known and acknowledged prolific egg-layer. 

 " Then again, as to the production of meat. The Houdan and 

 Cn've-Coeur are found to attain maturity very much quicker, 

 and upon less food, than our common fowls, and the flesh is 

 far superior. The Creve can be reared and fatted fit for table 

 at the age of ten or eleven weeks, and far surpasses all fowls for 

 the lightness of bone and the dehcacy of its flesh, combined 

 with considerable size, and in this respect the Houdan is little 

 inferior to it. The Houdan is the Dorking of France, highly 

 esteemed as a table bird, combining, as it does, considerable egg- 

 producing powers with excellency of flesh. The Brahma Pootra, 

 that huge Asiatic fowl, so hardy in constitution, and so well 

 suited to our variable climate, is fast becoming a great favourite 

 in this country, as shown by the thousands that are now annually 

 exliibited at out poultry shows. This huge fowl attains a weight 

 of 12 to 14 lbs. (each bird). Its chief value, however, is for cross- 

 ing purposes, as it imparts to other breeds size ■with great 

 constitutional powers. Such a large bird must necessarDy be 

 somewhat coarse in the bone, and owing to tliis it is much used 

 for crossing with more refined breeds ; by so doing its coarse- 

 ness is reduced, and a superb table bird produced, combining 

 size with quality of flesh, and plenty of it. Again, as -n-iuter 

 layers no breed can excel the Brahmas. They ai'e said actually 

 to lay more eggs in the winter than in summer, and we all know 

 the value of new laid eggs in mid-winter. Another advantage 

 the Brahma possesses is, that by being a winter layer the hen 

 becomes broody in the early spring, at which time chickens 

 should be hatched, and at this time broody hens are scarce, as 

 other breeds are then only commencing to lay, and become 

 broody too late in the season for hatching piillets to lay through 

 the following winter. The great size of the Brahma hen enables 

 her to cover fifteen or sixteen eggs, and she invariably proves 

 herself a good and careful mother. 



" To make poultry really profitable, it is clearly necessary to 

 keep a breed that arrives quickly at maturity, is easily fattened, 

 and attains considerable size, when the production of meat is 

 the object sought, and to gain tliis end it will be well to set up 

 a stock of Creves, Houdans, and Brahmas, and by judicious 

 crossing you cannot fail to produce a large and profitable fowl, 

 very little inferior in size or weight to ordinary market Turkeys. 

 When the production of eggs is the object sought — and it is 

 from eggs the chief profit from poultry must be sought— it is 

 necessary that you set up a breed of prolific egg-layers, birds 

 worthy of the name of ' every-day layers ' or everlasting layers.' 

 Brahmas for winter eggs and hatching your early chickens, 

 Leghorns, Houdans, Andalusians, Minorcas, Spanish, and Ham- 

 burghs, all or any of them may be kept for the unfailing pro- 

 duction of eggs in any quantity— these breeds never desire to sit, 

 but lay continuously imtil their moult. The cost of rearing a 

 chick from the time it leaves the shell until it attains a market- 

 able age (say fourteen to sixteen weeks) does not exceed lid. to 

 the farmer, as it must be remembered that he obtains their 

 necessary food at wholesale prices. Well, at the age of sixteen 

 weeks, you have a foyl or cliicken weighing .51 lbs., or 11 lbs. 

 the couple ; such chickens will realise over 8s. at 'Jd. per lb. 

 There can be no difficulty in getting such a price, for you can 

 yourself see the market quoted weekly, and that fine, well-fatted 

 chickens command Is. per lb. in most of our large towns ; and 

 poulterers are always ready to give an extra '2d. per lb. for a 

 large well-fatted chicken in preference to smaller birds. It is, 

 however, necessary in keeping fowls for the production of meat, 

 to keep a suSicient number, as the trouble is much the same to 

 rear and send six or eight dozen to market, as to send one 

 dozen, and a small number wiU not pay the necessary trouble 

 and attention. 



" The cost of rearing a chick to the average laying age, say 

 seven months, does not exceed Is. 6f?., she then commences to 

 return a profit for her food, and during the following two years 

 will produce : Hamburghs, 440 ; Houdans, Leghorns, and An- 

 dalusians, 400 eggs per bird. During these two years each bird 



