i 



1920.] Poultry-Keeping in Fruit Plantations. 357 



germ meal, groundnut cake, clover meal and bran have all been 

 used at different times. 



Mr. Hall has been his own carpenter in the manufacture of 

 his appliances, and has made full use of old packing cases and 

 similar articles of wood, which otherwise would have been 

 used as firewood. The chief items in the account are creosote, 

 nails and screws. 



The only other expenditure has been for advertisements, 

 postages, etc., which have averaged about £3 3s. per annum. 



After allowing for the valuations of the feeding stuffs, poultry 

 and appliances at the beginning and end of each year, it is 

 possible to draw up a balance sheet and to ascertain the net 

 profits and the return on the capital invested. It is desirable, 

 before doing so, to put a value on the labour devoted to the 

 poultry, and a sum of £40 has been charged for the year 19 14-15, 

 £50 for each of the two years 1915-16 and 1916-17, £60 for the 

 year 1917-18, and £100 for the year 19 18-19. The results 



shown by the balan 



ce sheet are then as follows : — 







Season. 



Total 



Total 



Net 



Capital 



Return on 



Receipts. 



Expenditure. 



Profit. 



Invested. 



Capital. 



0' 



,0 





C s. d. 



£ s. d. 



£ s. d. 



£ 



d. 



1914-15 . 



. 233 12 10 



169 II 2 



64 I 8 



52 13 



6 



12 I 



1915-16 . 



400 II 3 



309 4 8 



91 6 7 



82 I 







III 



I 91 6-1 7 . 



. 540 19 



478 17 7 



62 I 5 



129 3 



8 



48 



I 91 7-1 8 . 



. 649 5 8 



471 i-I 3 



177 II 5 



104 10 



6 



170 



1 91 8-1 9 . 



. 788 3 5 



468 4 4 



319 19 I 



146 16 



9 



218 



Total 















(5 years) 



£2,612 12 2 



1,897 12 



715 2 









Average 















per annum 



522 10 5 



379 10 2 



1-13 



103 I 



I 



134 



The capital invested has been taken as the value of the food, 

 cockle shell, birds, houses and appliances, etc., at the begin- 

 ning of each year. With the cost of labour as estimated above, 

 and without charging rent, the net profit on the poultr}/ has 

 been £143 per annum, and on an average of the last four years 

 there has thus been a return of 137 per cent, per annum on the 

 capital invested. 



It is not possible to publish here the complete balance sheets 

 for the different years,* but a summary of last season's balance 

 sheet is given as an illustration (p. 358). 



It is evident that the poultry have proved exceedingly 

 profitable. The five years under consideration have all been 

 years of w^ar, and prices have been high in consequence, but 



* Full details of the accounts for 1915-16 and 1918-19 have been printed 

 in the Yearbook of the National Utility Poultry Uhib, reprints of wliicli can be 

 obtained, price 2 Ar/. carriage paid, horn Mr. W. Hail, Grovcr Hill, West Pock- 

 ham, near Maidstone. 



