19*20.] Agriculture and the New Railway Rates. 617 



unattended for a day or two provided with sufficient water. 

 FCggs would then be collected only every other day, but a visit 

 is to be preferred. 



Not infrequently it may be possible, by arranging with an 

 employee who passes to and from his work, to close the houses 

 at night and liberate the birds in the morning, or a schoolboy 

 may be enlisted for this duty. If the flock is large and the 

 weather hot, to obtain an adequate supply of water is some- 

 times a problem. Where the houses are portable a good 

 method is to have a water cart and to move houses and cart 

 together from field to field as the grain is cleared up. 



Cleaning must not be neglected, and careful watch should 

 be kept to ascertain that the birds are gleaning sufficient food. 

 Their " crops " should be felt periodically at night. In pre- 

 war days it was not uncommon for a poultry keeper to pay a 

 farmer from 3d. to 6d. per head for the privilege of placing his 

 birds on the stubble, or, alternatively, in return for the use of 

 the stubble, the farmer might be granted permission to use the 

 poultry keeper's meadow for grazing sheep during auutmn and 

 winter. 



****** 



From the Rates Advisory Committee's Part II Report of 



30th July, 19*20, containing the revised railway rates, tolls 



. and charges, the following information has 



Agriculture 



and the new ^ een com P^ ec * as a & m ^ e to agricul- 

 Railwa Rates Jurists, and it is hoped that it will lessen the 

 ^ * difficulties that must inevitably follow a 



change in the system of charges which custom has made 

 familiar. Broadly speaking, all the modifications and excep- 

 tions in favour of agriculture, incorporated in the revision 

 which became operative on loth January last, have been with- 

 drawn as from 1st September, and agricultural material will 

 be charged on a basis similar to that for other commercial 

 commodities. There is, however, one notable exception to 

 this general withdrawal of previous concessions, namely, for 

 manure in bulk, packed manure, basic slag and lime conveyed 

 by merchandise train in minimum loads of two tons for use as 

 agricultural manure in the United Kingdom. For this traffic, 

 the rates charged will be those in operation on the 14th 

 January, 1920, with an addition of 50 per cent. 



The following additions have been made in the rates for 

 various commodities in which the farmer is interested: — 



150 per cent, increase on parts of machines and other 

 small parcels weighing 3 cwt. and under, when conveyed 



