506 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Aug., 1917. 



purpose, and are likely to gradually give way to the single test oom- 

 petitions. For example, a team puts up a score of, say, 1,350 — axi 

 average of 225 eggs per bird — which, although satisfactory and distinctly 

 profitable from, the monetary aspect, scarcely gives a clear indication of 

 the actual merit of the birds. The individual score of the birds may 

 perhaps have been as follows :— 274, 269, 248, 243, 176, 140. Now, 

 breeding from these as a team, it is quite as likely that a cockerel may 

 afterwards be used for breeding purposes from the 140 hen as from the 

 274 hen, with consequent serious loss; whereas the individual scores 

 being known, cockerels can be saved from the highesti producing dams, 

 and the poor I'ayers discarded. With something like four million birds 

 in this State, an increase of but six eggs per annum per bird, at only 

 It. per dozen, represents an increased revenue of £100,000; consequently 

 the urgency of careful selection and mating cannot b© overestimated. Why 

 are milk records kept? Why does the Department of Agriculture sell 

 young bulls on the proportionate basis of the dam's record? The 

 answer is because the unprofitable stock should be culled out, so that the 

 average production of the herd may become greater, more profitable. 

 From the national pointi of view the ulterior object of the laying com- 

 petitions is not to establish a record, nor to enrich the successful, and per- 

 haps occasionally lucky, winner, but to determine the capabilities of the 

 best birds, so that their progeny may raise the flock average number of 

 eggs per bird throughout the State. No one can foretell the state of affairs 

 after the war; but if long lean years lie ahead, the necessity must be 

 greater than ever, not, merely to increase capacity, but at the same time 

 to increase the average yield. With increased production must come 

 co-operation to secure a better system of marketing. Quite recently 

 poultry keepers in a leading country tovra were getting Is. 6d. a dozen 

 for their eggs, others, according to their luck, were being paid Is. 7d. to 

 Is. 9d., -with "special suburban" new laids quoted at Is. lOd. At the 

 same time many retailers were scouring the suburbs to secure eggs at 2s., 

 and they could not be obtained from shops in a seaside suburb under 

 2s. 5d. or 2s. 6d. These facts speak for themselves. Business is business, 

 and admitting that there should be a fair margin of profit for the 

 middleman, it should only be a fair margin. Co-operation is far 

 harder in a big country with a sn-all population than in a congested 

 small area. At the same time, despite this, difficulties must be faced, 

 and no stone left unturned to increase the wealth of the country in her 

 hour of need. 



WHERE TFIE DAIRYMAN'S PROFITS GO. 



By J. J. Richetts, Dairy Supervisor. 



Careless work on the part of dairy farm employees may inad- 

 vertently result in much loss to the owner of the cattle. Particularly 

 in the operation of milking is it essential the work should be done both 

 thoroughly and as speedily as possible, otherwise there will he a definite 

 loss in the quantity of milk obtained from the cows, and its quality will 

 be adversely affected. Cows give their milk more freely when the 

 milking is done quickly by a practised hand, and the last pint or so is 



