596 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK vu. 



considerable amount of money out of their poultry. Some time ago 

 we visited a large dairy farm in Cheshire, a farm by the way which has 

 been awarded prizes for being one of the best kept and best managed 

 in that county, and where poultry are very extensively bred and reared, 

 chiefly for the sake of their eggs, which are sold in one of the towns to 

 which it is contiguous. Here we found that the fowls were a constant 

 source of profit. Our visit was paid in the month of October, and all 

 the eggs were then being sold wholesale at l^d. each. It is under 

 such conditions as these that poultry can be made profitable, for there 

 is no rent to pay ; food is cheap, much of it being gathered by the 

 birds themselves ; and what labour is involved simply fits itself in with 

 the other work of the farm. We could not obtain any specific 

 statistics, for the plan adopted is to give each flock into the hands of 

 one of the farmer's sons, of whom there are seven, and they work 011 

 their own account, receiving the proceeds as a perquisite, of course 

 paying all out of pocket expenses. As each is enabled to save money, 

 there can be no doubt as to the undertaking being profitable. 



Crossing the English Channel, we find that the poultry kept by 

 French farmers and peasants are an important source of income, in fact, 

 in many cases, the chief source. But there are no such things as poultry 

 farms per se, in spite of all that has been said to the contrary. One of 

 the most remarkable developments has been in Denmark, where the 

 growth of poultry-keeping has been phenomenal. There it is entirely a 

 question of production on farms, and the industry has added greatly to 

 the prosperity of the country. In America a large increase has taken 

 place, but almost entirely as a branch of farming. The huge poultry 

 plants concern themselves chiefly with sale of stock, birds, and eggs for 

 hatching, and the same is true with us. Breeding establishments are a 

 necessity, and afford an excellent opportunity to specialists, but they 

 contribute only a moiety of the food supply in eggs and poultry. 



Whilst eggs are the staple part of the poultry industry, the pro- 

 duction of chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys is found also to be 

 very profitable. And it is here that we observe, in some parts of the 

 country, a better state of things. The poultry raisers of Surrey and 

 Sussex, whose birds command the highest prices on the London 

 markets, and those of Devonshire, who supply the vast needs of the 

 South-west coast and send large quantities of eggs to the Midlands, 

 the duck breeders of the Vale of Aylesbury, and the goose and turkey 

 breeders of East Anglia and Cumberland, prove what can be done 

 when attention is given to the matter. Their success is sufficient to 

 dispel the idea that poultry will not pay in Britain, and to prove that 

 the notion so long held that the French have the advantage in soil and 

 climate is false. The fact is that there is no better country for 

 poultry raising than the United Kingdom. Its climate is humid, its 

 pastures are rich, and the consumer is at hand. Given these conditions, 

 it is the fault of the producer, and of him alone, if he is outstripped in 

 the race, especially at a time when the demand for eggs and poultry 



