1 Ava., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. iil 
relating to this subject. She says: ‘“ We visited more than a dozen egg 
farms while in Russia, most of them on the Volga. At one we saw the dealer 
arrive, and watched him pack 4,8(0 dozen eggs into his hampers, the result of three 
months’ collection. This dealer told us that before his return to Kazan he expected 
to buy and pay for 84,000 dozen, and all he gives the farmers is 23d. by our 
money, or 33d. for those eggs that are the last month’s laying, and have never been 
in the preservative. We inspected one of the places where the eggs are kept, and £ 
was highly delighted when the man told me he used nothing but lime water —no salt 
or cream of tartar; just your process. Huge tanks are sunk in the ground, the eggs 
packed into them, and the lime water filled in. At this place they only buy from the 
surrounding peasantry, having no fowls of their own. Every Friday the farmers 
bring their eggs to be put into the tanks, and they can either sell outright or receive 
an advance of ld. per dozen, and the rest when the dealer comes. J counted nine 
tanks, and everyone full.” It would make my paper too long if I quoted further from 
this letter, and I am most anxious not to weary my hearers. lest they blame the 
subject instead of the writer. As regards importations of eggs into the United 
Kingdom, the value for last year is quoted as £3,962,594. It is somewhat strange 
that the value of eggs imported is, or has been, pretty even for some years. For 
instance, in going over the figures which I have noted down each year as I saw or heard 
of them, I find that in 1890 the value of eggs imported into Britain was £3,172,522; 
in 1891, £3,193,416; in 1892, £3.492,724; and in 1893, £3,562,690; and so on up to 
1897, when still it stands at the £3,000,000 odd—the increase each year being com- 
aratively small. By far the largest proportion of these_eggs came from France, as 
aras I can judge by calculating the different values. Last year France exported 
into Britain 4,905,679 great hundreds (120’s) of eggs, which is 957,290 great 
hundreds more than the previous year. From Russia, England alone received 
98,000,000 eggs (not dozens) last year. In 1896 Belgium, which appears but a very 
small portion of the continent of Europe, sent England 300,000,000 eggs ; Portugal 
sent 2,000,000, and Germany 400,300,000. But [ have quoted figures enough. 
Suffice it to say that nearly every country in Europe exporis some eggs, and even 
such seldom heard of parts of the world as the Channel Islands, Morocco, Malta, 
Turkey, and Egypt, which all goes to prove, in my opinion, that the industry 
must be a paying one, or it would not be entered upon so universally. In 
those old-established countries, where poultry-breeding has been an industry 
handed down from generation to generation, it is all straight sailing. ‘The 
food grows alongside, the rains come in their appointed seasons, and the diffi- 
culties and drawbacks are easily surmounted; so far as we can judge at 
this distance. All the same, I have no hesitation in saying that we hve a climate 
second to none for poultry-raising, and we only want energy, perseverance, and faith 
to overcome all difficulties. The days for making big fortunes all in a moment or in 
a few years by taking up land and putting sheep and cattle on it, or by growing sugar, 
are past, and these are the days of more settled and very much smaller profits; and 
of the coming industries, I am convinced poultry-farming will be one, either combined 
with other branches of farming or run in conjunction with the higher professions as 
it is now in many instances down south. As, for instance, Mr. J. L. Ramsay, who is 
an architect; Mr. Pender, also an architect and fruitgrower as well as poultry-farmer ; 
Mr. Pye, Mr. W. White, and Mr Hamilton, all of whom are professional men whose 
hobby for poultry adds both pleasure and profit to their lives. Poultry-raising will 
pay even by itself, but not as it has been carried on in this colony, in the haphazard, 
undecided manner in which most people enter upon it, without capital, experience, or 
intelligence. Would any farmer sow a crop without first clearing his land and preparing 
it, or any engineer start to build a bridye without some knowledge of the matter? Yet 
many a man considers himself perfectly able to become a poultry farmer if he only 
knows the difference between a hen anda goose; and if he happens to have failed at 
everything else, and become absolutely stone broke, then he turns his thoughts 
towards poultry-farming just as naturally as a sunflower turns to the sun. In more 
than half the letters I receive, asking advice, some such paragraph as the following 
occurs :—‘‘ I have decided to go in for a poultry farm, as it seems the only thing that 
‘requires no outlay and no previous experience.” Or: “Having just lost all my 
money, I have made up my mind to try poultry fora living; and as I hear you are 
willing to aavise beginners, I would be greatly obliged if you would give me some 
idea how to start the thing, as I know absolutely nothing whatever about fowls ’’— 
and so on. And it is this sort of people who are the ones who finally decide that there 
is nothing in poultry-farming because they have failed. i know of nothing in this 
world that will return something for nothing—no industry that can be started 
without capital and return a profit—unless it be a ticket in a racing 
sweep, which is a pure gamble. Yet there are people who imagine they 
