94- 



Poultry Societies in Ireland. 



[may, 



realise under the old plan Therefore for every hen the farmer 

 keeps he makes half a crown per annum more than he was 

 ■accustomed to make in years gone by ; and that without any 

 special breeding, feeding, or management, only because he is a 

 member of a co-operative society. 



I have written so much about the egg department of the 

 societies that readers may assume that the chief function of a 

 -society is to trade in eggs, but although this is true of some few 

 of the societies it is not true of the majority. With many of 

 them the table poultry business is the chief department, but 

 this is of too large and varied a nature to be dealt with within 

 the limits of this article. I may say, however, that it includes 

 the fattening of fowls by the newest and most profitable system, 

 the fattening of turkeys, ducks, and geese, and the preparation 

 and despatch of all these to markets. 



Amongst the other functions of poultry societies there are 

 two which are deserving of special mention, viz. (i), the 

 improvement of the breeds of fowls and poultry of all kinds, 

 which is effected by the importation of stock birds of good 

 quality and the distribution of them at the lowest possible price 

 amongst the members of the society ; and (2), the distribution on 

 the most favourable terms of poultry-keepers' requirements, 

 which include incubators, portable fowl-houses, feeding troughs, 

 &c, and also feeding stuffs, tonics, medicines, grit, &c, &c. 



The Irish poultry industry undoubtedly faces a great future, 

 and every intelligent person now admits its enormous im- 

 portance. The time has passed when poultry-keeping was 

 looked upon as something small and unimportant. The only 

 things which hamper its higher development are the modes of 

 transit and the high freights charged by the carrying companies. 

 We have the advantage over foreign countries of nearness to 

 the markets, mild climate, a plentiful supply of well-sheltered 

 grass runs, and a rural population consisting largely of girls 

 who are not too busily engaged and might very well employ 

 their spare time in the rearing of poultry. 



- Considering the small capital required, poultry-keeping yields 

 a greater profit than any other branch of agriculture or country 

 industry, and it is likely to become one of the most profit- 

 able rural industries of this island. With even a very small 



