844 Marketing of Poultry and Eggs. [Dec., 



methods on the part of many amateurs engaged in poultry 

 production. Salesmen complain of irregular supplies, and 

 although this is natural enough in some respects owing to 

 variations in seasonal production, the fact remains that there 

 is often a glut in one market and a shortage in another through 

 the lack of organisation and co-operation on the part of 

 the producers. Complaints are frequently heard of carelessness, 

 and even of sharp practice, in the marketing of eggs and poultry, 

 and it is not surprising that English eggs in particular have 

 sometimes a poor reputation on English wholesale markets. 

 The .Ministry considers that the position can be remedied to 

 a large degree. 



With regard to poultry, those producers of table poultry who 

 regard this branch of work as of secondary consideration to the 

 production of laying pullets, should not be dilatory in marketing 

 their surplus cockerels. If no attention is paid to these birds 

 they may be in poor condition when they are marketed. A few 

 weeks lost in the earlier part of the table poultry season when 

 supplies are scarce, mean that the best market has been missed, 

 that the birds may arrive in inferior condition because they have 

 been poorly fed, and at a time when there is a glut of poultry. 

 In consequence the financial returns suffer to a treble extent. 

 The farmer is often the w r orst offender in this direction. It often 

 happens that he does not market the birds until they are com- 

 paratively old and tough. The salesmen are sometimes blamed 

 for this, but it is clearly not their fault. It may happen in some 

 cases that in consequence of a glut during hot weather, some of 

 the dead poultry may become unfit for food and therefore 

 unsaleable. 



The producer of English table poultry should always bear in 

 mind the competition with the improving classes of imported 

 poultry. Even though he may be producing only second-grade 

 poultry, properly marketed they will successfully compete with 

 the best imported produce. At the present time it is not un- 

 common to find buyers showing a preference for imported produce 

 over good English poultry on the wholesale market, the reason 

 being that the imported birds are known to be of a reliable and 

 uniform quality. The English producer should therefore breed 

 birds of a type w r hich will fatten economically and produce the 

 kind of flesh the market requires. If marketed dead the birds 

 should be prepared in such a way as to ensure their reaching 

 the market in the freshest condition and in the way which is 

 most acceptable to buyers. 



