2 IRISH POUL'll^y CULTURE. 



decline in agriculture is largely due to foreign competition, even 

 a portion of that competition has been the result of supineness and 

 carelessness exhibited by the home producer and, in many in- 

 stances, of an insular pride which refused to be taught by others. 

 In this respect Ireland has her share of the blame to bear. 

 Whilst corn is now produced in America and India at prices 

 which cannot pay at home, many of the articles in daily use show 

 an advance in prices over twenty or thirty years ago. Butter and 

 eggs are both striking examples. Therefore, there can be no 

 complaint on the score of reduced and non-paying prices. Whereas 

 i score of years ago Irish butter, eggs, and poultry were seen in 

 almost every market of Southern and Western Britain, now they 

 are less frequently met with, though common on the northern 

 markets. Want of method in butter-making and of cleanliness in 

 the marketing of both butter and eggs have given a heavy blo^^ 

 to the trade. Within the past few years something has been done 

 to improve the quality of butter made, and in Munster especially 

 there has been a marked advance in this respect. Still there is 

 much to be done to recover lost ground. In a conversation we 

 had the other day with one of the leading London provision 

 merchants, he said that Irish butter and eggs have very little 

 influence and are of small importance on that market. In 

 the case of the latter this is due to the entire absence of 

 provision for marketing the eggs rapidly and regularly, 

 without which no trade can be successfully maintained, and to 

 the want of care and of cleanliness in packing. On this point we 

 shall have more to say in another chapter, for unless there is due 

 attention to the marketing of the produce all other efforts will 

 fail. So far as poultry and eggs are concerned, whilst in many 

 districts no practical attempt has been made to improve the 

 quality of the produce, in a few a very decided change is to be 

 noted as having been seen within the last twenty years, with a very 

 great benefit accruing to the producers and an important increase 

 of the trade. What can be done in one district can be also 

 accomplished in another, and we shall be able to show the causes 

 which have precipitated the improvement in the portions of the 

 country referred to, as well as on what lines other Irish breeders 

 and merchants should work. 



The value of poultry produce in the United Kingdom as a 

 whole is very difficult to determine. In Ireland the agricultural 

 returns include poultry, but with the exception of two years those 

 published by the agricultural department of the English Privy 

 Council have ignored this section of liv« stock. Why this is so 



