290 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



progress. The fact that they were to be handled at two 

 of our well-proven Experiment Stations made the poultry 

 contingent generally give them a warm welcome, and 

 put into them that snap of public interest which they 

 would otherwise have lacked utterly. 



Inasmuch as the reports from the one most important 

 series of poultry contests up to 191 1 have been received 

 in utter good faith by poultry folk in general, it may be 

 worth while to give a little time to a study of their con- 

 ditions and their published results. The Beginner may 

 find here at least a stimulus to some very helpful pon- 

 dering. This notable series, now covering nine years, 

 191 1-1912 being the tenth, — known as "The Australian 

 Laying Competitions," — was planned and doubtless 

 financed by a daily newspaper in Sydney, N. S. W. But, 

 knowing that such contests must be " open to the pub- 

 lic " not only as to entrance, but also as to knowledge of 

 all the detail work, and that they must be handled by 

 men above suspicion, the originators placed the work 

 under the handling of the Hawkesbury Agricultural Col- 

 lege. 



Poultry raisers of New South Wales have always been 

 the chief entrants. New Zealand tried her luck, and 

 America took a fling two years in succession, but it was 

 found that the long preliminary voyage was too great a 

 handicap to allow the long-distance birds to compete 

 fairly ; though, even with this, a pen of Rose-Comb 

 Brown Leghorns from America gained one six-months^ 

 first prize, together with the breed prize for the same 

 year ; also the distinction of paying the most profit above 

 cost of feed for a full year. 



A White Wyandotte breeder succeeded in getting 



