190/.] 



Transport of Sussex Poultry. 



47i 



present incurred in marketing, they should be able to hold their 

 own against distant competitors, despite the disparity in 

 the prime cost of production. 



As the industry of East Sussex is practically the only 

 naturally organised poultry industry (developed from self- 

 interest) of any considerable importance in the British Isles, 

 it may be worth while to inquire into some of the details of 

 its transport arrangements. 



Local Collection. — In the infancy of the industry (and even 

 now in some cases of small individual commencement) the 

 collection of lean chickens, reared within a limited radius of 

 the fattener's establishment, was made by men travelling on 

 foot and carrying on their backs double-decked willow-made 

 back-crates. Generally speaking this slow and expensive 

 method has given place to collection by van or cart, with 

 a consequent enlargement of the rearing area. The rearers, 

 however, who are situated in the extreme outlying districts 

 are usually paid from id. to 3^. per bird less in order to balance 

 the increased cost of collection from a distance. It is almost 

 impossible to apportion the cost of this direct collecting as 

 regards the increased cost of the individual bird to the fattener, 

 especially in view of the wide difference between the numbers 

 collected in summer and winter and the discrepancy in their 

 values. The gross cost is, of course, that of the keep and 

 upkeep of horse and van, plus the wages of the collector ; but 

 a part of this is usually apportionable to other and incidental 

 occupations. 



Transport from Ireland. — During the twelve months ending 

 October, 1906, the fatteners of East Sussex paid within a few 

 pounds of £5,000 for the carriage of live chickens from Ireland, 

 paying at the rate of £y per ton upon a total weight of 713 tons. 

 Here again the proportion of increase, supplementary to the 

 prime cost of the individual tird, is a variable quantity ; 

 probably averaging in most cases about 3^. each, but not in- 

 frequently working out at as much as ^\d. and even $d. per 

 bird — the bird being lean and, therefore, an unfinished article 

 of commerce. 



The Irish exporters mostly buy their birds in the markets 

 and ship them to Sussex in " tops," viz., heavy flat wooden 

 crates, holding about forty-two birds in each. The " tops " 



