POULTRY 



Ikeland seems to possess almost all the necessary and natural 

 advantages required for the successful rearing of poultry. The 

 climate in the south and west, if a little moist, is almost entirely 

 fi-ee from frost and snow in winter and spring ; and if the north 

 and east is colder in winter and later in spring, a little extra 

 shelter is all that is necessary, and is easily provided. The soil is 

 also on the whole very favourable. The loamy land in the south, 

 carrying pasture unequalled in the kingdom, and capable of 

 growing crops of all kinds, is also rich in animal life, which 

 forms so important a part in the diet of fowls. Add to this a 

 sunny climate and the abundant natural shelter of hedges and 

 trees, and you have the essential conditions of successful poultry- 

 keeping. Even the bog-lands and wastes can be profitably 

 utilised, as they are the natural home of geese and ducks. Of 

 few parts of Ireland can it be said that the natural conditions 

 for successful poultry-keeping are wanting. Compared with 

 Denmark, which has done so much in the poultry industry, 

 Ireland can claim far superior natural advantages. Apart from 

 soil and climate, the development of poultry-keeping requires that 

 the land should be farmed in small holdings. The 15,000,000 

 acres available for cultivation and pasture in Ireland are divided 

 up into 500,000 holdings, excluding those under one acre. Thus 

 the average Irish holding is about thirty acres. From the general 

 agricultural point of view, it may be a disadvantage that 200,000 

 of these holdings run from one to fifteen acres, but from the 

 poultry-keeper's point of view, the more holdings there are the 

 better. Ireland has thus the necessary qualifications for poultry- 

 keeping — suitable soil, favourable climate, natural shelter, small 

 holdings. Besides, it has the best markets in the world for the 

 disposal of its produce. Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, and 

 London are all greedy buyers or poultry produce, and we see no 

 reason why Ireland, so closely in touch with these great centres, 

 should not in the near future capture their markets, which are at 

 present supplied so largely from the Continent. 



A great deal is required, however, before Ireland can hope 

 successfully to compete with the Continent. At present too little 

 attention is paid to the breeding of poultry. Nine out of ten 

 farmers keep cross-bred fowls, very few have pure breeds solely. 

 In the more advanced counties, however, pure-bred birds, 

 especially male birds, are commonly seen, and also first-cross 

 hens. A greater number of fowls might also economically be 

 kept on the holdings. With so much waste and bog-land, 

 exceptional opportunities exist for the keeping of ducks and 

 geese when the conditions are none too favourable for hen-fowl. 



105 



