1904.] Poultry Societies in Ireland. 



93 



business, and also by the cutting out of middlemen. It is a 

 well-known fact that in the egg business there are far too many 

 middlemen, and that by the time each one has had his 

 quota of profit there is little or no profit left for the producer. 

 Of course, we cannot do without middlemen who carry on a 

 legitimate trade and retain only a fair profit, but it is a fact that 

 half the eggs which are produced in Ireland pass through the 



Delivery of Turkeys at Windgap Poultry Society, 

 Co. Kilkenny. 



hands of at least six middlemen from the time they leave the 

 farmer's yard until they appear on the breakfast table of the 

 consumer in Glasgow or London. 



To the uninitiated it may seem that an increase of twopence 

 per dozen is hardly worth talking about, but let us consider 

 what it means to the poultry-keeper. A farmer keeps, say, 

 100 hens of a pure breed, such as the Leghorn or the Minorca, 

 and of a good laying strain. He has them comfortably housed 

 and sheltered, well fed, and cared for in an intelligent way. The 

 annual yield from such a flock should be an average of 180 eggs 

 per hen — that is, 1 5 dozens. Under the new system of marketing 

 the eggs fetch twopence per dozen above what they used to 



