POULTRY BREEDING. 239 



the Hamburghs out of the market. The laying power 

 is all important. New-laid eggs always fetch a good 

 price, and cannot be competed against by the foreign or \ 

 "box" eggs. There is an erroneous impression that, as 

 of common butter, comparatively stale eggs are good 

 enough for cooking. They may serve, but they are not 

 so good as those a day old, just as the better the butter 

 the fitter it is for cooking, especially for basting poultry. 

 The difference again in an omelette is very marked : ' 

 when made with fresh eggs it is incomparably lighter, 

 more fluid and digestible, than when made from those 

 four or five days old, not to say older. 



A collector of eggs at Aylesbury, who sent about 3,000 

 weekly to London, told me that he got better eggs from 

 cottages than from farmers, who are not particular 

 enough as to the variety of poultry they keep. The 

 average, extending over the whole year, of Miss Morris's 

 Plymouth Rocks and Dorkings, with other varieties 

 selected for early laying, is 93 per head. Higher 

 averages have been made by some kinds. Pure 

 Minorcas have averaged 150, and I believe the Leghorns 

 and Spanish varieties, if well attended to, might rival 

 this high figure. In this country eggs are sold by the 

 score, but in America by weight, and this American 

 plan would be a good one to introduce into our country. 

 A score of common farm-yard eggs will weigh about 

 2 lbs., but a score Leghorns 3 lbs., or half as much again. 

 This, allowing a well-cared-for Leghorn hen to lay 140 

 eggs in the year, would give 21 lbs., against 14 lbs. laid 

 by the farm-yard hen. 



Various strains of poultry are suited to various 



