332 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



December, I9l3 



same tale of ingratitude comes. 

 What are the figures : — 



Roseworthy, loss ii 1,^36 17/5. 



IMurray Bridge, loss, £53 14/3. 



Kybybolite, loss i^-731 2/3. 



Interest, loss unknown. 



K.ent, loss unknown. 



Truly, a most ungrateful bird. 



That Murray Bridge item.' is per- 

 haps the most extraordinary. On 

 a capital investment of 1,333 in 

 22 months out of an existence of 

 imder 30 months, the balance sheet 

 shows a loss of JC53, without in- 

 terest. That is approximately 

 L200 on a farm which was not 

 hampered by competition expenses, 

 was supposed to be stocked large- 

 ly with the best lapng breed and 

 is said to have sold stock at re- 

 munerative prices. Poultry is pro- 

 fitable but on the iigu'res the De- 

 partment may be excused for hav- 

 ing serious doubts ou tii's subject. 



— Another Theory. — 



It is always interesting to get 

 to the back of things when one 

 party to a transaction shows a 

 marked aiiti^jLitliy to iis partner. 

 It is of course obvious that the 

 hen tribe doesn't like the ofliicial 

 tribe. Starting on this assump- 

 tion we have evolved a theory 

 which we believe meets the case. 

 It is based on the Mendelian prin- 

 ciple. It is known that certain qualn 

 ities are repelant. In other words 

 the presence of the one in the at- 

 mosphere " inhibits " the other. 

 Consequent by it would be pos- 

 ations, but it would be quite pos- 

 sible to show on ■MendeHan lines 

 (with slight variations) that profit 

 in the hen and ollicialism in man 

 are always antagonistic, and al- 

 ways will be, and thus add an- 

 other interesting document to the 

 literature of the subject. In no 

 other way can we account for the 

 fact that 1,008 Inrds should lay 

 £829 16/11 worth of eggs at a 

 food cost of £285 0/8 and a gross 

 profit of JC544 14/3, and yet miss 

 the bus by a street. The value of 

 comi)etitions is very great, their 

 costs appear to be on a corres- 

 ponding scale. 



Experiments. 



Last month we have the pleasure 

 of congratulating 'every one con- 

 cerned on their first poultry experi- 

 ment. It may of course not have 

 been their first, in fact we know 

 it was not, for we have come 

 across the par. again this time in 

 the American ICxpcriirent Record 

 together with other reference. This 

 does not, however, detract from 

 the laudability of our intention. It 



will be remembered that a grate- 

 ful world was assured that eggs 

 varied. Not only was this assur- 

 ance gratifying in itseU, but is a 

 contribution (on the principle that 

 every little helps) towards the few 

 thousands we have had occasion to 

 mention above. In connection with 

 so pleasing an incident we ventured 

 to suggest that though the sub- 

 ject might be exhausted as a mat- 

 ter for experiment, there were 

 others awaiting research. We recall 

 casual occasions on which people 

 interested have mentioned points 

 which appeared worthy of experi- 

 ment. Not perhaps to be compared 

 with The Great Kxperiment, but 

 still of practical service. One sug- 

 gested the Dead in Shell problem. 

 A second thought the limit to 

 which lucerne could be substituted 

 for cereals and meals might be 

 worth fimding out. A third was 

 interested in the housing space 

 and yarding problem. The next 

 had something to say on the table 

 bitd question. Yet another spoke 

 of the age limit of profitable lay- 

 ing. The se\enth suggested that 

 the stations should continue to 

 teach their maternal relatives in 

 the second parental degree to ex- 

 tract by suctional methods the con- 

 tents of ordinary commercial 

 eggs. May be allowed to substi- 

 tute another. Pedigree breeding 

 records. As a beginning, if the 

 trap nest record of six p'ens of sis- 

 ter pullets and their daughters 

 were known we should have an 

 idea of what any pen of sister 

 pullets might be expected to do 

 and produce. At all events we 

 should have a beginning of a much 

 better notion of blood relationship 

 as a factor in poultry breeding. 

 All these things and more may 

 have been done. If so we have 

 Ijeen singularly unfortunate in miss- 

 ing any record of them. That some- 

 thing has been we can see by the 

 record before us. If the daily 

 and week end papers think it 

 worth while to inform readers that 

 an Orroroo poultry breeder won 

 six prizes at Lameroo they would 

 surely think it more worth while 

 to publish any practical informa- 

 tion on points, such as the above. 

 With all due respect to the De- 

 partment, the poultrv public is not 

 vitally interested in what it thinks 

 of the future of the industry or its 

 past progress, but it would very 

 keenly appreciate anything' it 

 may be able to show them of ex- 

 perimental result with necessary 

 data for a just estimation of its 

 value in individual cases. Any 

 farmer in the State would be 

 jjleased to read anything Professor 

 Perkins may have to tell them on, 

 Cereal Growing, not liecause he is 



Principal of an Agricultural Col- 

 lege, but because he has behind 

 him a mass of experimental' evi- 

 dence. The necessarv experimental 

 work may not have been profitable 

 but nobody questions its value. 

 May be we pardoned for suggest- 

 ing that there is a distinction and 

 a difference. 



More Blessings. 



Blessings never come alone they 

 say. We have lately got on the 

 track of quite a lot of S.A. Poultry 

 Station eixperiments, this time in 

 the United States Experiment Re- 

 cord : — 



— Cold Storage. — 



In an experiment "to determine 

 the effect of cold storage on eva- 

 poration in eggs, the average per- 

 centage of loss of moisture was 

 7.78 in small eggs and 7.703 with 

 large Eggs the difference is consid- 

 ered unimportant." We should 

 say that it was particularly so to 

 the farmer. 



— Structure of Shell. — 



Tests " with white shelled and 

 brown shelfed eggs in incubation 

 showed that evaporation differed 

 to the extent of i per cent. The 

 results all point to the fact 

 that the structure of the brown 

 shells differs somewhat from that 

 of the brown." Quite so, but the 

 point is to let the hen know it. 



— Variety Test. — 



Tests of *' 48 representative eggs 

 of various breeds of fowls are given. 

 There weights range from 2 to 2.35 

 per egg." Interesting, of course, 

 but don't the competitions give us 

 a much more practical lesson about 

 averag-e breed weight of egj^s. 



— Sundry. — 



Data on " the weight and mea- 

 surement of eggs, thickness and 

 weight of shell and the colour of 

 eggs of various breeds of fowls are 

 included." There may be a prac- 

 tical side to this ! 



— Periodic Increase. — 



The average " weight of eggs of 

 three White Leghorns and three 

 Black (Jrpingtons illustrates the 

 periodic increase and d'ecrease in 

 size of eggs." We have previously 

 appreciated this. 



— Feeding. — 



A " feeding test of 12 n.onths 

 with eight pens of ten White Leg- 

 horn ])ullcts each is referred to." 

 In thcKse days of competition feed- 

 ing scales there does not ap;)i;ar 



