BY WIL BROWN 91 



Prior to 1878 when the Danish Poultry Society was formed, the poultry 

 produce was usually bartered for groceries at the village store and the prices 

 were small, two eggs being sold for a cent in the summer and two for five 

 cents in the winter. The primary object of the Danish Poultry Society was 

 to improve the breed of poultry kept, since the Land hen, the native breed 

 of the country, proved unsuitable for the work of increasing egg production. 

 The first exhibition held under the auspices of this Society was at Aarhus, 

 Gutland, in 1879. 



This native breed might have been made useful by breeding from selected 

 specimens, but it was thought that results would be obtained more rapidly 

 and easily, by the adoption of a race of higher fecundity. Ultimately the 

 Italian or Leghorn was accepted as best suited to the country. 



From 1878 onward the growth of the industry was rapid. Distance 

 from the profitable market namely, Britain, since, with the exception of 

 Copenhagen, there are no large centres of population in Denmark made it 

 an essential part of the work to organize the whole system of marketing. It 

 was not until 1894, however, that the question was taken up in a practical 

 manner, and the Danish Farmers' Co-operative Egg Export Association was 

 formed. To the work of this Society may be attributed the enormous 

 development of the Danish egg trade. 



It is estimated that the total poultry crop of the country is in value 

 about $14,400,000, annually, or some $5.75 per head of the population. Of 

 this total, produce to the value of $7,200,000 is exported at present, of 

 which about 99% is shipped to Britain. Prices have risen from $1.50 per 

 120 eggs in 1890 to $2.44 in 1911. 



IRELAND 



The development of the Irish poultry industry is of more recent date 

 than in Denmark, since a commencement was made only some twenty-five 

 years ago. The history of the progress in this instance is even more 

 interesting than in the case cited above. This, too, is a demonstration of 

 the universal keeping of fowls on the farms or small holdings of the country. 

 It has been estimated that in 1887 the total export value of eggs and flesh 

 from Ireland amounted to $7,744,000 and by 1909 this had increased by 

 over $10,000,000 as shown by the total for that year, namely, $17,878,400. 

 The total production of the country is reckoned as follows: 



Export $17,878,400.00 



Parcel Post Trade 192,000.00 



Feathers 158,246.40 



Home Consumption 5,703,513.60 



Total for 1909 $23,932,160.00 



