OF POULTRY. 
297 
The superior Frojit of Poultry over Beef, Mutt07i, 
and Fork 
Now allow me to ask you this simple question — 
Pray, can you feed beef, mutton, or pork at a penny 
three iarthings per pound 1 Of course you cannot ; and 
why ? Because in feeding oxen, sheep, and pigs you have 
only their carcasses to pay for all ! while in poultry-keeping 
you not only have the hen's carcass, but all the eggs she 
lays in addition ; which eggs, in three years, would produce 
more than twelve times the value of the hen herself ! that 
is to say, were the hen herself to fetch two shillings, her 
three years' eggs would fetch £1 5s. 6d., showing the vast 
superiority of poultry-keeping over every other considera- 
tion in live stock for farmers. 
But bear in mind, gentlemen, that in all my calculations 
I have not said one word about the superior price that eggs 
fetch in the scarce seasons of the year, or of the chickens 
and capons you would sell for the table. I have put down 
everything at the lowest calculation, in order to set at rest 
all querulous argument. Surely you must see how you have 
the battle in your own hands, and can beat the foreigners- 
back into their own markets, no*t only to your benefit, but 
also to the benefit of their own population. You have only 
to force the contest, and conquest is certain ; for should 
they sell their eggs at fourpence halfpenny per pound, you 
could sell yours at threepence halfpenny j and then make 
cent, per cent, or one half profit, even though you had to pay 
twenty shillings per quarter for the food ! But, as it is, to 
you they would be all profit together ; consequently, if 
foreigners brought their eggs down to a penny per pound, 
you could bring yours down to a halfpenny, and then be 
that halfpenny the gainer. 
Thus you see that victory is certain, if you will only 
buckle on your armour and set to work like EDglishmen in 
earnest. 
j Extrojordina/ry Eggs. 
"Uncle James, or rather Mr. James Rod well, author 
of ^ The Eat, and its Cost to the Nation ' (says Bell's 
