A COMMERCIAL POINT OF VIEW. 87 



home as in France and Belgium? Is it not time that 

 some efforts should be made to solve this problem? I 

 am aware much has been done for the last few years to 

 improve the breeds of our poultry, but I have never heard 

 of the production of eggs and poultry having been at- 

 tempted in a large way, as a matter of trade or business, 

 though I have often been told that to make this stock pay 

 they should be kept in such numbers as to employ the 

 whole time and attention of working people. M. de 

 Lavergne estimated the value of poultry in France at 

 eight million pounds, while that in England was no more 

 than eight hundred thousand pounds. 



As a national branch of rural economy, we know 

 nothing in England of the breeding and management of 

 poultry : hence practical men never think of embarking in 

 a pursuit which is found so profitable in other countries. 



We sadly want sound, reliable, practical information 

 on this subject, and if through your columns some of 

 your correspondents will endeavor to ventilate this ques- 

 tion, much public good may be the result. 



If one acre of average land were cropped with the 

 grain, pulse, and roots, most suitable for feeding poultry, 

 how many heads should it maintain for one year? 

 Again : What might be a fair moderate profit to expect 

 per thousand in keeping poultry thus on a large scale, 

 assuming suitable houses, warmth, care, and ventilation 

 for such stock? 



I have heard and read much on the subject of artificial 

 incubation, and I knew a lady who produced all her own 

 poultry by a most ingenious incubator of her own inven- 

 tion ; but I never could ascertain how far the system could 



