74 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jan., 1899. 
other instead of deriving it from the blood of their predecessors. It takes a 
good deal of faith on the part of the average man of .common sense and even 
common observation to believe that his herd is more likely to be infected by a 
bullock whose breath shall give forth these bacilli, which, when thick as autumn 
leaves, in a Brompton consumption hospital, cannot be found to produce the 
disease in the nurses and attendants.— Harmer and Stockbreeder. 
HOW EGGS ARE PRODUCED. 
Wuen we read of billions of eggs being sent from the Continent to England, 
it never strikes us to look into the matter, and reckon how many fowls it 
would take to produce these vast quantities of eggs. Amongst the animals 
forming our food supply, the fish is credited with producing the largest number 
of eggs of any oviparian, yet the fish in the height of the spawning season would 
seem to have a hard struggle to beat the continental hen in “ spawning’ 
powers, for these prolific hens must actually spawn instead of lay, like any other 
respectable tenant of a British fowlyard. 
This is what an eminent analyst is credited with stating, according to the 
Australian Farm and Home :— 
EGGS NO HEN EVER SAW. 
Evrore Manvracrures Tuem our or Starcu anp Otner THrNas. 
Much has been written of the arts of adulteration, says an eminent analyst; 
but there is very littie genera! knowledge of the extent to which foods are 
‘built up chemically, and successfully palmed off on customers as natural 
products. It will be a shock to many to learn that millions of eggs which have 
been bought and eaten as products of the hen have no connection with that 
useful fowl. ; 
There are factories on the Continent of Europe where these “ oviform 
frauds” are produced at the rate of many thousands a day, as simply and yet 
as mysteriously as so many sausages. The yolk is first quickly fashioned by 
machinery from a mixture of maize, starch, and one or two other ingredients, 
coloured with ochre. The yellow sphere is then placed in another “box of 
mystery,’ when the white part of the egg is added. The resultant ball is 
frozen and moulded into the requisite oval shape—again by machinery. It is 
then immersed in a third vat, which contains plaster of paris, and emerges with 
a shell which quickly assumes all the hardness and appearance of a genuine 
egg-shell. The process of thawing quickly reduces the contents of the shell to 
the consistency of a new-laid egg, and the artificial result is ready for the 
breakfast table or any of the uses to which eggs are put. These “eggs” can 
be profitably manufactured to sell at prices ranging from 4e. to 12c. (2d. to 
6d.) a dozen, and are retailed at prices which yield anything up to 100 per 
cent. profit. 
JERSEY CABBAGES. 
THosz who have never visited the Channel Islands will be slow to give 
credence to the fact that in the island of Jersey cabbages grow to a height of 
10 feet, and some have even attained a height of 16 feet. This particular 
variety is found in Guernsey, Alderney, and on the French coast of Brittany, 
where it is known as the ‘“choux cavalier,’ the great cow or branching 
cabbage. During its growth, leaves are thrown out from the stem. These 
leaves on attaining full size are used as fodder for cattle, and also for packing 
potatoes and butter. When the leaves are all stripped off, the plant resembles 
a palm-tree, being surmounted by a crown which is left until the winter frosts 
have{nipped it, and it is then eaten by the farmers as ordinary cabbage. ‘The 
tall stems become very hard when dry, and come {in for a variety of uses, such 
as rafters for sheds, props for trees, sticks for running plants, and also for 
walking-sticks. 
