THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



571 



lection \vith any achlilional vcjjct- 

 ablc or meat wastes you can beg, 

 borrow or steal, through the 

 nuncer into the thirtl bucket {uu- 

 less you can get someone to do it 

 for you). Wash out th* two 

 used buckets auti place ready lor 

 next day. This is most import- 

 ant, at least your wile will think 

 it so. I'ut the third bucket on the 

 fire, add sullicient water, season 

 with salt and cook slowly. Before 

 going to bed, add the quantity- ot 

 bran which you would be using 

 for the mash in the morning, stir, 

 and lea\ e it on the stove, or co\ er 

 it tightly with a sack. In the 

 morning dry off with about as 

 much pollard as you used of bran. 

 Serve warm, not hot. 



STRAWS. 



Straws show which wa}- the 

 wind blows, the mammoth incu- 

 bator mentioned last month is a 

 pretty solid straw, and it empha- 

 sizes the intention of the Paraiield 

 people to run their show as a com- 

 mercial proposition, and thus come 

 into direct competition with the 

 private breeder who has had to 

 l^ay lor his own experience, his 

 own plant, and his own mistakes. 

 The aforesaid straw was, Oy tue 

 way, quite unnecessary as a straw 

 for in the last official poultry re- 

 port it was stated that large num- 

 bers (thousands) of laying stock 

 were to be kept to provide revenue 

 for experimental work. Judging 

 by past results the financial basis 

 of the experimental work does not 

 appear altogether rosy. However, 

 fortunately that's nobody's trouble. 

 The intention is perhaps to be 

 commended but we must remem'ber 

 that whilst the funds and the ex- 

 perimental work are, to say the 

 least, problematical, and for an 

 indefinite future, the competition 

 is actual and for to-day. South 

 Australia is not so poor that it 

 cannot provide ^500 or £1,000 a 

 year for practical and scientific 

 experimental work, without har- 

 assing its poultry officials in first 

 providing the necessary cash. 



— What the Mammoth May do. — 

 Give the Goliath four runs, that 

 is 20,000 eggs, and he, she, or it 

 ought to turn out 6,000 chicks, 

 add this 6,000 to the 4,000 which 

 it was stated were hatched last 

 season and we have a hatching 

 probability of at least 10,000 

 chicks at Parafield for this season. 

 There are three possibilities before 

 them — first they can die, which 

 would save trouble ; secondly, they 

 could be sold as day-old chicks, 

 and thus take ;t5oo from the 

 pocket of the private breeder; and 



thirdly, they can live and thrive. 

 l*ti\ e thousand cockerels on the 

 open market at two shillings per 

 head would be JL500 — not much, 

 perhaps, but it is ten per cent, on 

 y> 5,000, or in other words, cater- 

 ing for the present volume of trade 

 it represents a 10 per cent, tax on 

 the first J^ioo of table poultry 

 business, done every week of the 

 year by the private breeder. This 

 may of course be a perfectly equit- 

 able and usual arrangement, or it 

 may not. Five thousand pullets 

 may be expected to lay eggs to the 

 value of 15/ per annum each ; that 

 sounds very little, but stiU it 

 means that Paratield may take 

 out of the market a sum which 

 divided amongst ten private con- 

 cerns, would represent a gross 

 revenue of ^-=2)7 5 each, or knock 

 twopence per dozen off the price of 

 half million dozen on the market 

 at present ratio of supply and 

 demand. This also may be a per- 

 fectly equitable arrangement. 



— The Way Out. — 



However you put the figures, it 

 seems reasonable to say, that you 

 cannot get rid of even such items 

 as 5,000 cockerels and 5,000 pul- 

 lets, on what is after all not an 

 unlimited market, without some- 

 body getting hurt — not seriously 

 perhaps, but noticeably, though the 

 somebody may not know what 

 hit him ; it must show in his 

 cash account, and even if it did 

 not the principle of the thing is 

 the same. There is one outlet — 

 London. Not only would they then 

 be sent from the place where they 

 are not particularly wanted, but 

 they might be made the means of 

 doing real good work for the in- 

 dustry, now and for the future. 

 Some years ago, when local prices 

 were fifty per cent, lower than at 

 present, we were all officially told 

 that the London market was the 

 solution of all dilficulties, and local 

 producers were blamed for not 

 jumping at the facilities and ad- 

 vantages the Government then of- 

 fered for export. Had they done 

 so, it would have been very much 

 a leap in the dark, but the turn of 

 the tide ,came about that time, and 

 the undoubtedly serious situation, 

 from the poultry producer's point 

 of view, was eased. The 50 per 

 cent, rise may be followed by 

 a corresponding; drop — naturally 

 everyone hopes not ; but it is well 

 to be prepared ; what better pre- 

 paration can there be, 01 what 

 better avenue for profitable pion- 

 eering work than to find out just 

 what London has to offer to our 

 producers of poultry products. Ten 

 thousand birds and their products 

 won't worry London ; and what 



Editoriftl Notices. 



AUt^STS.—limmn. ATKINSON h OO. 

 ■ad MESSRS. CtOKDUN tc. OOTCH, L,td. 



I'Um^lcHlNG UATK.— On the 25th of 

 Mch month pr«e«dlnK tlUe dart*. 



VfJ AD VKKTlWli.Ka.— Altera tlOT» of ad- 

 vertiMmeata iboiUd be In our hands not 

 later than tha 15 th ol the montb. 



ijUU^Clili'VlON.— Poated to any part 

 o( Auatralaala ft/- per year, in auvauca. 

 foreign, «/. 



AUUHBUS— «*, Carrla St., Ad«l«ide. 

 IwapbuM, ia»*. 



she will pay for them, she will 

 pay lor 100,000 or a million for 

 that matter. The point is that, 

 if ever a slump comes, poultry 

 people will know just exactly 

 where they are. If the govern- 

 ment can show that poultry keep- 

 ing is profitable at London prices, 

 they will have a sure foundation 

 to work on, and something solid 

 to back up against, if Australian 

 prices go J against them. With 

 W.A. closing down on our exports, 

 and Messrs. Hart and Hadlington, 

 two strong men in the Austra- 

 lian poultry world, working up local 

 production for all they are worth, 

 in Victoria and New South Wales, 

 it is just possible that we may 

 once more come " up against it." 



— Not To-day. — 



Not this year or next perhaps 

 will this slump come, but it is not 

 a remote contingency for the not 

 far future. It seems to us that 

 the Goverrnment have a really 

 good opportunity of doing good 

 work in this direction. It is not 

 necessary to talk about it, so 

 much energy in the past has some- 

 times been lost in this way, that 

 not enough has remained to carry 

 on the contemplated effort. Just 

 do your job, and say nothing 

 till the numbers go up, is not a 

 bad motto. If at the end of one, 

 two, or three years they can show 

 on an audited balance sheet that 

 London wiU pay prices which will 

 allow of a reasonable interest on 

 capital invested in poultry keeping 

 in South Australia, they wifl have 

 deserved well of their country. 

 Should the figures go the other way 

 they will have deserved equally 

 well. South Australians don't 

 want to know how to grow chick- 

 ens or feed hens or fatten cocker- 

 els, they know it already, but they 

 do want to know if they can make 

 better money at any time of the 

 year in I/Ondon than in Adelaide 

 for eggs or meat at present prices ; 

 and also, and this is much more 

 important, whether, as an all-the- 

 3'ear-round proposition, London 

 will take our surplus at profitable 

 rates should supply exceed the de- 

 mand at some future time. 



