Q'^' The Illustratei „ „ 



J Book of I ovltky. 



ivnereas in the very hiejl.est farming it rarely 



oc If ;^ „;„,^i , fi,„ ,..^ u !■ ■, 1 • til -exceeds ^15. This however need not be discussed, 

 as It IS simply the I'csiilt of capital mvcsted win . ' 



K-,1-,,,^^ ,-1, ^t « 1] 1 II u i- J jCh has to be considered. Here acrain our theoretical 



balance-slicet would probably be not regarded ^ 



only amounting to about 15 per cent., or, incl' ^' ""^'^ satisfactory, the profit available for dividend 



cent, upon the capital, and some small dc "^'"^ ""^^ '""" ^^'^^^y ""^^'^^^ ^""^ '"*^'''''^' ^° ^° P^' 



»x,^o.,^^„ „f „„tt- ti, J 4. 1 X. duction even from this beincf necessary to meet the 



expenses of £[jyiiJi!i,t{i?.jjfQ5ijy;o j^p market. ^ ' 



,„i>.'^ ' ' ., . ,^^ But here several considerations have to be reviewed 



ach may very materially alter the state of affairs. 



In the first place, considering the possibility we have already stated of a greatly increased 

 production of eggs, let us suppose that in five or six years, by judiciously selecting eggs for sitting 

 from the best layers alone, the annual average could be increased to 230 per bird ; this would 

 increase the return per fowl to lis. 6d., and the gross profit per thousand fowls, after paying for the 

 food, to /'400, or just double what we have been considering, and would raise the dividend to 

 48 per cent., or including interest already diarged, to 53 per cent. Every increase of twelve eggs 

 per bird per annum, in fact, would represent an additional 5 per cent, dividend, and it is at least 

 perfectly certain that a very considerable increase might in this way be obtained. A market 

 should also be sought as far as possible at retail prices ; and it is probable that any establishment 

 where it became known that really "new-laid" eggs could be obtained daily in quantities, would 

 speedily obtain a ready sale for very large numbers ; while such a sale would have the same effect 

 in increasing the net profit materially. 



Again, it is by no means meant to be conveyed that the poultr)'-runs .should be kept as so 

 many open plots of grass. A considerable number of trees for shade and shelter from rain (for 

 it is not desirable the fowls should be forced into the houses in rainy weather) are needed, and 

 crop-bearing trees would be necessarily selected, which should not only shelter the birds, but at the 

 same time yield a considerable return of their own. Apples, pears, plums, and cherries would 

 probably be the standard trees ; and a clump of filberts should also be in every run, to afford 

 better shelter than standards would give. In this way alone at least 5 per cent, on the capital 

 would be obtained, which only assumes 30s. worth of fruit from each half-acre run. We may 

 be asked, "Who is to think of all these things.'" We reply, that if poultry-farming is ever to pay 

 it must be conducted like every other kind of wholesale business, and every possible thing must 

 be thought of by which returns may be increased or expenses may be saved. It is by reducing 

 everj'thing to well-ordered system, in which everything necessary is done at the smallest possible 

 expense — or, to put it in a plain way of our own, in which capital is freely employed to save 

 expenditure of revenue — that the leviathan establishments which are the pride of civilised nations 

 have been built up, and yield the large revenue which they do to their princely owners : but the 

 difference is this — that while the perfect system in these giant manufactories has been slowly 

 matured, and is the perfected product of long experience, in poultry-farming on a large scale 

 we have no successful experience to fall back upon. Such experiments as have been made were 

 failures ; and it is therefore all the viore necessary to supplement such a want by the most anxious 

 thought and caie regarding all details which can bear upon the result. 



The next inquiry which would naturally occur to a good man of business will be, whether 

 something cannot be saved in the principal items of interest on buildings and cost of labour. We 

 have assumed that one man at 20s. per week can take charge of 1,000 fowls in flocks of fifty, 

 and this we are sure he can do ; but can he do more "i We are sorry to say we cannot, for 

 reasons already given, answer this question. There is no experience we can go upon, and we are, in 

 fact, discussing a matter hitherto untried, and simply endeavouring to bring to bear upon it every 

 consideration we can think of likely to be of practical value. We are inclined to think one man 



