848 



Education and Eesearch in Poultry Keeping. [Dec, 



essential. Chicken coops, grit hoppers, food troughs, and other 

 articles of equipment can be made from packing cases, while 

 laying houses may also be built by the poultry keeper himself. 



(5) The theory underlying practical work should be dealt 

 with, since it is always easier to do a job properly when the 

 reason of the method is understood. 



(6) A knowledge of the early symptoms of common diseases 

 is essential, and, what is even more important, a knowledge of 

 the best methods of prevention of disease and infection. The 

 treatment of diseases is not so important, as the average poultry 

 keeper has not the time to apply the knowledge he may acquire. 

 Unless the bird is a valuable one, it is better to kill it at once. 



(7) Apart from poultry keeping, the ex-service man should 

 know something of fruit and vegetable growing. Horticulture 

 and poultr}' keeping can undoubtedly be worked successfully 

 side by side. Pigs and bees are also subjects that should be 

 understood by the ex-service poultry keeper. 



(8) Some knowledge of chemistry, so far as it applies to 

 foodstuffs, and the uses made by the body of the various food 

 constituents, should also be taught. 



The benefit the men receive from instruction depends very 

 largely on the w^ay in which the instruction is given. The 

 instructor should know and understand his pupils, and he 

 should be trained in the art of instructing. 



Poultry Education in America. — This subject was dealt with 

 by Mr. Edward Brown, F.L.S. In his preliminary remarks he 

 mentioned that the first centre of organised poultry teaching 

 was formed at Gambais, France, about the year 1893; the 

 second at Beading, England, in 1895; and the third at Kingston, 

 Khode Island, U.S.A., in 1896. The position to-day is that 

 France has made practically no advance ; that Great Britain has 

 made considerable progress in elementary poultry keeping, but 

 that higher education has been neglected; while that in the 

 United States and Canada remarkable progress has been made. 



Forty-eight of the State Colleges of iVgriculture in America 

 have Departments of Poultry Husbandry, with well-trained 

 staffs of teachers and investigators, and plants for teaching 

 and experimental work. In Canada poultry instruction and 

 investisfation are undertaken on broad lines in nearlv every 

 province. As a result, the United States, with a population 

 little more than double that of the United Kingdom, records an 

 annual production of eggs and poultry equal in value to 

 £250,000,000 as against £53,000,000 in the British Isles, or, 

 pro rata to the population, nearly 100 per cent, greater. 



