1 6 Profitable Poultry Keeping. 



only exceptional as to the time of the year, for the price is 

 not an uncommon one for the winter season. Doctors, when 

 ordering their patients to have eggs, nearly always insist upon 

 their being fresh, as they know how much better they are 

 than when even only a few days old. And cooks can tell 

 the same story with respect to the way in which they use 

 them. Only those who have kept fowls of their own, or 

 been favoured by getting properly fresh ones, know the real 

 pleasure of eating an egg; and there are many who cannot 

 eat one if more than three or four days old. And when we 

 consider how important- an addition in its varied uses an 

 egg is to the breakfast, luncheon, dinner, or tea table, it 

 will be seen how the matter comes home to every one, apart 

 from all economic questions. In the same way, but perhaps 

 not to so great an extent, does the raising of chickens affect 

 us. The prices which are demanded by poulterers for the 

 miserable little things we see in their shops, are prohibitive 

 to the great bulk of the population, and even those who can 

 afford to get them do so reluctantly. The display to be 

 seen every week in the Halles Centrals at Paris has no 

 counterpart in this country ; but in France the breeds are 

 studied, and those encouraged which are the best for table 

 purposes. They are fattened skilfully, and presented in 

 an enticing manner, with the result that chickens are almost 

 a regular article of diet with large numbers of the people, 

 for in Paris during 1880 the average consumption of fowls 

 was 251bs. per head of the population. These are ques- 

 tions which require to be dealt with in detail, and cannot 

 be more than mentioned in what is simply an introductory 

 chapter. That there is much for our home producers to learn 

 no one can doubt, and it shall be our endeavour to supply 

 in a practical form the latest and best information upon so 

 important a subject. Our object is to stimulate those who 

 have the necessary space at their disposal to take advantage 



