April, 1914 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



521 



OTHER HONORS. 



Apart from this pen, the honors of 

 the year most certainly go to Morilz 



Hros., who can hardly fail to be first 

 second or third at Parafield, Gatton 

 .iiid Burnley. Not since Padman's 

 memorable years has a"yonc put up 



I performance to equal that of the 

 Kalang/' loo breeders, this on top of 

 their Kybybolite win, and other good 

 scores, stamps their strain as "one of 

 the very best." Of the other breed- 

 ers who have gone forth to battle for 

 their State. Padman puts up his 

 usual i,soo odd at Gatton and will be 

 first or second to Moritz Bros. Mr. 

 Padman has already won three com- 

 petitions in Queensland, so one would 

 naturally like to sec a fourth on the 

 slate. Bertlesmeir has as usual put 

 up good scores at Burnley and Gat- 

 ton, but in neither case does it ap- 

 pear probable that his pen can get 

 even with the leaders. Just on the 

 1,500 mark will be their limit, which 

 is thirty odd eggs below his Rose- 

 worthy win, some few years ago. 

 Nothing sensational in the way of 

 scoring is to be expected from 

 Hawkesbury, but as usual the various 

 results obtained there, will do more 

 in the cause of practical poultry 

 education, than all the other competi- 

 tions put together. They of course 

 have a live committee of practical 

 breeders at the head of affairs, and in 

 the Director of Agriculture and the 

 Principal of the College are excep- 

 tionally favored with the possession 

 of two influencial and sympathetic 

 friends. 



LOCAL AFFAIRS. 



At Parafield we have just been jog- 

 ging at a steady gait. Leading scores 

 will be on the low side, but the ag- 

 gregate average will be about as 

 usual. We appear to possess several 

 strains more or less intermingled, 

 which can be depended on for a nor- 

 mal average of about 1,500 for picked 

 birds. If they get more than normal 

 luck they run up another fifty eggs; 

 and if they get less they go down 

 fifty. From 1,450 to 1,550 seems to 

 be the limit of variation for the last 

 seven or eight years. This year for 

 instance, we are about a hundred be- 

 low the 1907 figures; it does not of 

 course mean that our best birds as 

 a whole are inferior to what they 

 were then; probably they are quite as 

 good, perhaps, although unfortunate- 

 ly there is no evidence of the fact, 

 they may be a little better. Next 

 year to keep up the regular see saw 



the leading pen ought to be well up 

 towards the 1,550 mark again. The 

 lesson is obvious. We were fortu- 

 nate enough to strike the natural lay- 

 ing form of the best strains, either 

 pure or inter-bred, of our birds early 

 in competition history; but unfortu- 

 nately no one has yet been able to 

 increase this natural normal average 

 permanently, or kick biddy up a few 

 rungs of the ladder. We all talk in- 

 fluence of feeding, influence of breed- 

 ing, influence of selection, inflence of 

 Government encouragement, 'influ- 

 ence of poultry education; and wc all 

 try to believe that the facts are with 

 us, but the hen has been putting 

 records on the slate which appear a 

 little at variance with what we would 

 all like ' to believe. Our aggregate 

 average has of course gone up a few 

 points, in say the last five years, not 

 because the good strains have im- 

 proved, but because the bad ones 

 have been gradually killed out. An- 

 other factor is, that the earlier ag- 

 gregate was weighted by a fifty per 

 cent proportion of heavy breed en- 

 tries; at present this is reduced to 

 about 10 per cent, and their seems 

 little reason to doubt, that the S.A. 

 Leghorn average is at least ten per 

 cent better than the S.A. heavy breed 

 normal average. In coming to indi- 

 vidual results, it may be said that the, 

 Victorian contingent have not alto- 

 gether made the runaway break on 

 the S.A. pens that was expected, but 

 it must be admitted that the honours 

 easily go to the Easterners this trip. 



THE NEXT COMPETITION. 



The next Parafield competition will 

 be a departure in some respects on 

 preceding ones. The number of pens 

 entered show a considerable falling 

 off as was expected when the ten-in- 

 a-pen alteration was decided on, but 

 the number of birds competing will 

 be little less than last year. The 

 new rule has apparently choked off 

 interstate entries, which from the 

 local competitors point of view, is 

 not perhaps to be regretted, though it 

 certainly lessens the interest in the 

 test. The pastoralists, etc., section 

 has gone out, killed by its own futility 

 we should imagine. The single. test- 

 ing is of course the great attraction, 

 and we are surprised that there are 

 no more entries in this section. It is 

 a great idea, from the competitors' 

 standpoint, for he can have his birds 

 tested for less money, and certainly 

 less trouble than he could do it him- 



self. What use he will make of this 

 knowledge and what use the public 

 and outside poultryman can make of 

 it is prol)Iematical. Anyhow there 

 will be good business for the men who 

 put up exceptional scores from one or 

 two of their birds. The value of this 

 single test in itself is probably great- 

 ly exaggerated. What it may lead 

 to is another question; it certainly 

 has points to recommend it. Prac- 

 tically the main idea has been proved 

 and failed in the past, for many 

 breeders have been single-testing for 

 years, and a glance at their records is 

 not encouraging. The single pen has 

 great possibilities, but what it tells 

 the breeder will have to be regarded 

 from a different point of view, than 

 has hitherto generally been the case, 

 if the cost of competition is to re- 

 turn interest on the money, in added 

 knowledge of the principles of poul- 

 try breeding. 



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