CHAPTER XII 

 THE TRADE IN EGGS AND POULTRY 



WE come next to the almost illimitable possibilities 

 of the egg and poultry business, in which further striking 

 evidence is afforded alike of the increased purchasing 

 power of the people and the expansion of their once 

 comparatively limited dietary, and the chances open 

 to those who will supply the commodities in question. 

 In 1864 the value of eggs imported into this country 

 was 834,028. In 1904 it was 6,730,574, an increase 

 of 5,896,546 in the course of forty years. Even allowing 

 for improvements in the home supply, it is evident 

 from these figures that the chief benefit from the greater 

 consumption has gone to the foreigner. The reason 

 is not far to seek. It is not because we have any lack 

 of good qualities of birds. On the contrary, English 

 fowls of the best breeds are sought for by the countries 

 alike of Western and Eastern Europe, and they have 

 recently been sent out to South Africa to establish 

 poultry-yards there. It is due, rather, to the twofold 

 reason : (i) that in the days when wheat production 

 was so profitable in the United Kingdom the British 

 farmer disdained to trouble himself about egg produc- 

 tion ; (2) that to-day, when agricultural conditions have 

 changed, the British farmer either too often retains his 

 old prejudices, or else fails to come into line with that 



