794 



Egg-Laying Trials. 



[Dec, 



EGG-LAYING TRIALS. 



J. W. Hurst. 



Almost a quarter of a century has passed since the inception 

 of egg-laying " competitions." as such, and it is but the bare 

 truth to say that the subsequent remarkable development of the 

 egg producing industry is to a considerable extent the outcome 

 of the idea which originated with Mr. Holmes Tarn, one of the 

 founders of the old Utility Poultry Club, to which practical 

 effect was first given in the autumn of 1897. In that year the 

 first competition in the world was held at Northallerton, York- 

 shire, where under the management of Mr. Simon Hunter 

 twenty-eight pullets competed for prizes during a period of 

 sixteen weeks. The beneficial influence of that small beginning 

 in England has since extended to every poultry-keeping country 

 in the civilised world. It may be asked : " What are the benefits 

 that result from egg-laying tests? " — to use the word that has 

 now been generally adopted as being more suitable than 

 " competition." 



Improved Stock. — The principal outstanding good, so far as 

 it affects the poultry industry generally, or, in other words, 

 the whole body of poultry keepers, is the gradual, widespread 

 leveiling-up of the laying qualities of the stock of the country. 

 This is not to say that unprofitable fowls do not still exist to a 

 very considerable extent, but that the increasing high fecundity 

 that distinguishes egg-laying strains is effecting a gradual but 

 sure improvement in the quality of the stock. 



Sittings of eg£s, day-old chicks, and pullets, the product of 

 breeding pens specially selected in accordance with records of 

 actual performance, are annually distributed among the general 

 body of poultry keepers to an ever increasing extent. Amateurs 

 who have time and opportunity to engage in breeding operations 

 on their own account are learning the value of the trap nest, 

 and they are moulding their methods on the lines of the more 

 skilled and experienced specialist breeders. In the aggregate 

 this is an influence that is so far-reaching and so important that 

 its ultimate effect cannot be estimated. Nevertheless, at this 

 juncture, after a quarter of a century of testing and comparing 

 we can at least appreciate the tendency by a recollection of the 

 average egg yield twenty-five years ago. 



Increasing Facilities. — It is evident that the benefits would 

 not be so generally available but for the continuance of the 



