52 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Jan., 1919. 



record winter test over all breeds of 570 eggs for four months for six 

 birds. 



Whilst, however, the laying abilities of the Black Orpington were 

 so rapidly progressing, a distinct advance was taking place in White 

 Le2:horns, Mr. J. H. Gill's team scoring 1,667 for the year, and the 

 following year Mr. W. !N". O'Mnllane's team set up a new world's 

 record of 1,699 for the year, an average of just over 283 eggs per bird. 

 This score marked another stage in the progress of the laying com- 

 petitions, as with an average of 283 eggs per bird for a team it was 

 fairly certain that at least one bird must have laid 300 or more eggs, 

 but evidence was lacking as to which was the champion bird of the 

 team. 



Up to this period birds were generally bred from as a team, and the 

 weak point of this system is fairly obvious. A team may have scored, 

 say 1,350, for the six birds — ran average of 225 eggs per bird — but the 

 actual scores, if known, might individually have been 270, 268, 263, 

 234, 175, 140, and it may have happened that one of the cockerels saved 

 from this team for subsequent breeding purposes might have been from 

 the hen producing only 140 eggs, Avith consequent grave damage to the 

 laying abilities of the progeny. 



Young bull calves are sold from the Werribee herd, the price being 

 determined by the butter fat yield of the dam, i.e., an 800-lb. butter fat 

 cow's bull calf is worth, say, 800s. (£40), whilst the 500-lb. butter fat 

 cow's calf is only worth £25. Fecundity, whether in the form of butter 

 production by the cow or egg production by the hen is transmitted from 

 the dam through her son to his offspring, hence the son of the low 

 producing hen is a menace to the poultry industry. Competitions in 

 egg laying for teams of birds, as teams, have, therefore, now served 

 their purpose in educating the public up to the high laying abilities of 

 the various breeds of poultry, and are giving way to more direct 

 methods of determining the individual laying qualities of each hen. 

 Trap nesting is to be introduced this year at Burnley. When 

 Mr. O'Mnllane's team scored 1,699, it was purchased by Mr. E. A. 

 Lawson for £75, which, although a fair sum of money, was an undoubted 

 bargain for the plucky purchaser, who subsequently followed this up 

 by purchasing, for £25 each, two single test hens, which had produced 

 in an unofficial competition 315 and 313 eggs respectively. There is 

 no doubt that the unofficial competitions have in the past year or two 

 become very popular throughout the State, and afford an instructive 

 comparison in regard to the results obtained under considerable varia- 

 tions in climatic conditions. At the same time it is only right to utter 

 a word of warning in this respect, as whilst a w^n at even a small com- 

 petition may have some influence on stud sales for the fortunate 

 competitor, there is a growing tendency to pay too much heed to the 

 actual results, and insufficient attention to the ultimate objective of the 

 competitions, which is to improve the laying qualities of the flock rather 

 than to produce an odd one or two, more or less, abnormal birds, in 

 the hope of securing stud sales for surplus cockerels at high prices. This 

 is a very insecure foundation for success compared with building up a 

 good average laying flock. It is a Avell-known maxim that one swallow 

 does not make a summer, and one hen laying 300 or more eggs does not 

 by itself make a remunerative flock. 



