152 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
of sending their birds to either section, and as, the Board reports, 
“competitors placed their best pens in the wet-mash section the 
results prove unduly favourable to wet mash.” The report goes 
on to say that ‘“‘ the dry-mash feeding Jed to a saving in labour, 
and the birds so fed were hardier and tighter in the feather and 
handled better.” 
On the face of this report, dry mash does not seem to have been 
such a success as its advocates would have liked, but the fact that 
“the best pens ”’ were not included in the dry-mash section makes 
the test inconclusive. 
It is noteworthy, however, that the winning pen of birds were 
fed on dry mash and created a world’s record in the number of 
eggs laid. A pen of White Leghorns produced 1699 eggs in twelve 
months, or an average of 283 eggs per bird. Another world’s 
record was created by heavy breeds by a pen of Black Orpingtons 
that laid 1562 eggs—an average of 260 eggs per bird per annum. 
These are very striking figures, and it is needless to say we have 
never approached them in this country. No doubt the climate is 
responsible for a good deal, but one may doubt whether English 
laying birds have yet been bred to the same pitch of perfection as 
they have been in Australia, where the Government has spent 
much time and money on the encouragement of the laying hen. 
The difference in climate may be clearly shown by the fact that 
during the four winter months in Australia the light breeds of the 
winning pen beat the heavy breeds by laying 565 eggs to 502. 
In England we would probably have had the figures reversed 
during the winter months. 
A later competition held on the same lines produced almost ex- 
actly the same results, excepting that on this occasion the winning 
pen was fed on wet mash, and laid 38 fewer eggs than the birds 
fed on dry mash had done in the first competition. The average 
number of eggs laid per bird by the 570 competing fowls was 219}. 
Needless to say, this average has never been equalled in an English 
laying competition. 
In a third competition now being held at Burnley, Victoria, the 
birds fed on dry mash are a long way ahead of the moist-mash 
