1 Jan., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 73 
but the sums named are near enough. for our present purpose, and, perhaps, 
quite as near as Uncle Sam counted his eggs.) Now, compare the earnings of 
the poultry with what was realised trom other sources of revenue. The 
total value of all the gold, silver, wool, and sheep produced in 1896) was 
£4.4,4.86,836, whilst that from poultry amounted to £58,000,000. The following 
table shows the value of the different commodities :— 
Farnings of poultry or. ca Sf ..- £98,000,000 
Value of cotton crop... ae ae .-» . 51,832,928 
Value of wheat crop a0 aes anes .. 47,587,799 
Value of swine. ... ae a if ... 87,805,949 
Value of oat crop... shea Tere 00 a0, 82,731,813 
Value of potato crop... a 34 ... 15,796,980 
Value of tobacco crop. ... es any .. 7,114,845 
It is thus easily seen that the poultry far outstrips all other sources of 
revenue. eit 
To put it another way : By an examination of the Government reports we 
find that the year’s earnings of the poultry would have bought all the milch 
cows in America, and haye had over £5,000,000 to spare;.or, to put it still 
another way, the earnings of the poultry would have bought up all the gold, 
silver, wool, and sheep produced last year, with the tobacco crop thrown in, and 
still had nearly six and a-half million sovereigns left for some other speculation. 
Old Chanticleer is fairly entitled to claim for himself and his Biddies the 
first position in the march-past of the productions of the United States.— 
Scottish Harmer. f 
In the September issue of the Journal we drew attention to the revenue 
derived in the United States from poultry of various kinds. A visit since paid 
to a number of farms and small homesteads reveals the lamentable fact that 
there are comparatively very few poultry reared by the majority of farmers. 
Yet there is a great deal of money in poultry. _ 
We do not mean that farmers should go in for fancy breeds for show 
purposes, but for good ordinary cross breeds, good layers, good table fowl like 
the crossed Leghorns, Plymouth Rocks, Dorkings, and Games; also should 
they pay attention to turkeys and geese. Turkeys are quoted in the Brisbane 
market for this Christmas at 15s. per pair for gobblers. How easy would it be 
for small country freeholders, lengthsmen on the lines, especially those in or 
near scrub lands, to raise at a mere fractional cost sufficient eges and fowls to 
clothe and even feed the whole family. They are no trouble, and can be 
looked after by the younger members of the household. tresh air, fresh water, 
dry roosts, a few Jaying boxes, a good run, plenty of grain and insect food— 
these are all at the command of most country dwellers at a merely nominal 
cost, and yet people cannot sce it. They invariably say, ‘ Poultry-farming 
does not pay.” We do not suggest poultry-farming. Fifty fowls can’ be 
kept without elaborate arrangements, where there are thousands of acres of 
good runs for them, and creeks and lagoons here and there. We used to keep 
100 fowls on a 20-acre farm. The hens laid on an average 6 dozen eggs 
a week. Besides this, we always had a quantity of pullets and ccckerels for 
gale. These fowls cost us absolutely nothing. There was always plenty of 
waste corn, there was water in abundance, whilst the neighbouring standing 
scrub supplied a wealth of animal food in the shape of snails, white ants, and 
various kinds of grubs. Our only trouble was carpet snakes, who used to get 
into the roosts sometimes and swallow a chicken or two, besides taking eggs. 
Now, we commend this article to wheat and maize growers. ‘There must, 
at this moment, be hundreds of bushels of wheat lying ungathered after the 
harvest, as we have no gleaners in this country. All this might, instead of 
being ploughed in, be picked up by the fowls and turned into money. Yet 
men, with from 100 acres to 400 acres of wheat, run about one ill-bred hen to 
10 acres, thus throwing good money away. Say 1,000 farmers run 100 hens 
each. Suppose these hens to lay three eggs a week each on an average, or 
