312 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
are remarkably good, and I am assured contain no preservative. 
As to the liquid eggs, considerable quantities have been con- 
demned and destroyed as unfit for food. The question of their 
use demands rigid inquiry, and, if what I hear is correct, the Board 
of Trade would be justified in considering the question of total 
prohibition of their importation. 
Spite of the greater cost of feeding stuffs and materials for 
equipment, there can be no question that smaller poultry-keepers 
and farmers, where right methods are adopted, have reaped great 
advantages as a result of enhanced prices, by reason of the fact 
that only part of the food required has had to be purchased. Con- 
sequently the advance in expense of production, though consider- 
able, has been abundantly compensated by increased returns, 
leaving a greater margin as profit. Much more might be done by 
both classes to meet home requirements. The chief difficulty of 
farmers is that of labour. The growing number of women workers 
in agriculture should, however, speedily do something to overcome 
this shortage, affording a wider field of service. All the needs of 
our people in eggs and poultry could be abundantly met if poultry 
occupied their proper place on our farms. The coming year 
should see an addition of twenty millions to the hens kept as 
breeding and laying stock. 
From the outbreak of war the section of poultry husbandry 
most heavily hit has been that of specialists, some of whom have, 
however, during 1916, been able to record successful operations, 
which is satisfactory in the extreme. Breeders of pure-bred stock 
at the outset suffered severely, owing to suspension of exhibitions 
and to absence of demand. Such as are able to supply utility 
stock have more than recovered their position owing to the huge 
demand for birds, and the prices these have realised, in many cases 
100 per cent. above pre-war rates. That condition of affairs 
is likely to continue to an increasing extent when Continental 
countries are again open. Cost of breeding and rearing has been 
higher, but the prices realised have fully compensated and are 
likely to continue. 
Efforts to increase production have been put forward in many 
