a 
1 Maz., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 177 
realised, as its value, as estimated, is nearly two-thirds of that of the mining 
production of the State, according to the returns of the last census. The 
number of owners of poultry was 142,797, and the number of poultry 
4,097,094, giving an average of 28 to each owner and an annual return of 
2,257,300. The results, which have been arrived at after careful consideration, 
thus show a gross annual income of £2,257,300, and to each poultry owner of 
£15 16s. 2d., or 11s. 33d. per fowl, as compared with a capital outlay of, say 
8s. 6d. This return from a single fowl is very striking, considering that the 
wool produced in the State in J.898 only gave a gross return per sheep of 3s. 62d., 
and it would thus appear that the yearly income from a single fowl is equal to 
the value of the wool from 3-sheep. The poultry industry should, therefore, 
rove a most profitable one, as there is room for great expansion in the outlet 
or both eggs and poultry, and the cost of production probably does not exceed 
5s. per head. 
A FEW WORDS ANENT WYANDOTTES. 
A Breep INcrEASING In Favour. 
A breed that has nothing to recommend it but its feathers will not stay 
long in the estimation of poultry-breeders. But if we find a breed increasing 
year by year in the estimation of all classes of poultry-lteepers we may be sure 
that it has many characteristics besides a handsome exterior which have won it 
this position. 
It is clear Wyandottes have not yet reached high-water mark, nor is there 
any reason to suppose they will do so for a long time. Wide as their popu- 
larity is, there is plenty of room for their further extension; and thousands of 
non-productive mongrels, the sole feathered inhabitants of innumerable 
farmyards, might well be replaced by almost any variety of the prolific 
Wyandotte. 
__ For the Wyandotte is one of the best paying of all breeds of poultry. It 
is exremely profitable to the fancier, as the demand for standard specimens is 
very great, and even second-rate specimens sell very well; while to the ordinar 
breeder for egg production it gives him a supply during the winter whic 
hardly another breed can approach. Nor does it, like some some other winter 
laying breeds, go into rapidly successive fits of broodiness during the spring 
and summer months, much to the annoyance of owners, who want to hear 
something else than the never-ending cluck of broody hens; on the contrary, 
many Wyandotte hens never seek a nest oftener than once in a season, and 
twice a year satisfies most of them. So little are they controlled by the fit, 
however, that four days’ confinement in a broody coop will effectually disperse 
it. On the other hand, if allowed to hatch and rear a family, they are 
eminently satisfactory in all respects. These remarks as to broodiness are 
applicable in particular to Silvers, Goldens, Whites, Buff Laces, and Violettes ; 
the Buffs and Partridges, although excellent winter layers, are often a shade 
more broody in the warm weather, containing as they do a not inappreciable 
Cochin element in their composition. 
The most popular variety is the Silver, due not only toits exquisite beauty 
in good specimens and to its consistently high utility qualities, but also to the 
fact that it got a good start in front of the others in point of time. But the 
Goldens are not far behind them now, many breeders keeping both varieties on 
their premises, and so well have both been bred to a good standard that it would 
be rather difficult to say which is the more useful at the present time. Which 
is the more beautiful is altogether a matter of taste, but there is probably very 
little, if any, difference now between their commercial qualities. Hither will 
give a splendid account of itself in any breeder’s yard if their ordinary 
Tequirements are attended to. 
