UNIVCRSITY j 

 THE CONGESTED DISTRICTS BOAR^FOR^'IRELAND. 267 



This system has now been some years in full operation, and in the two 

 years ending 31st March, 1901, over ^^"900 was paid for eggs distributed, the 

 number of eggs issued being about 230,000. The results are seen in the 

 marked increase in the size of the eggs in many districts ; and when the new 

 system of grading eggs for market according to size becomes more general, 

 the improvement effected will be better appreciated by the people. It is 

 stated in the ninth Report that arrangements were made for reducing the 

 rate of payment from id. to %d. per ^gg issued, but this system of 

 paying poultry farmers for the eggs issued is beheved to be in 

 many respects unsatisfactory, and it is therefore proposed that, in the case 

 of all poultry farms to be established in future, the system of paying for 

 each egg distributed will be discontinued, and that in lieu thereof the poultry 

 farmer shall be allowed to sell eggs, subject to a maximum price approved 

 by the Board, or to exchange them for their full value in ordinary eggs. In 

 addition he will receive a small cash bonus each year, provided that the 

 directions given for the management of the poultry and the distribution of 

 eggs are properly carried out. 



The Board employs a poultry expert to visit and supervise these small 

 poultry farms, arid to instruct the people in the management of fowl, whilst 

 considerable assistance has been given in the direction of marketing the 

 eggs. 



The Board made a start in 1893 towards developing the bee-keeping 

 industry by supplying swarms of bees and suitable 

 „ , . bar-frame hives to about a dozen cottagers, who were 



eeping. ^^^ instructed in the proper management of bees, and 

 this experiment was attended with considerable suc- 

 cess. In the following year the operations were extended, especially in. 

 County Donegal, and a number of persons were supplied with bee-keeping 

 appliances and stock, which were paid for on the instalment system. As 

 the industry spread it was seen by the Board that, in order to make the 

 keeping of bees a profitable occupation for people in remote parts of the 

 country, it was necessary, for some years at all events, to assist in marketing 

 the honey of any bee-keepers who were themselves unable to find a pur- 

 chaser, and this the Board undertook to do. Over eight tons were thus 

 disposed of im 1900, and twelve tons in 190 1. A number of local instructors 

 are now spread all over the congested districts, and a series of lectures, 

 with magic lantern views, have helped to spread information on the subject,, 

 and to increase the popularity of the industry, the rapid development of 

 which, in the last few years, is shown by the increase in the number of bar- 

 frame hives sold in the congested districts, which has arisen from 80 in 1895 

 to 246 in 1900. Owing to the unusually long, dry and warm summer the 

 season of 1899 was a most prosperous one for Irish bee-keepers. Many of 

 the bee-keepers were beginners, yet the average produce per hive (nearly 

 66 j'^ lbs.) was remarkably high, if not unprecedented, and, owing to the 

 rapid growth of the industry, the number of hives in use was much larger 

 than in any former year. The statistics obtained from bee-keepers working 

 in connection Vv^th the scheme shows that the total quantity of honey sold 

 by them was 59,936 lbs. In 1898 the production of honey was only 

 22,925 lbs., and the average only 54^2 lbs. per hive, and in neither year do- 

 these figures include more than one-third of the honey produced in the- 

 congested districts. 



