A NEW INDUSTRY.

Bruce Herald, Volume VI, Issue 403, 31 January 1872, Page 7

A NEW INDUSTRY.

It 'has been often asserted that the keeping df poultry on it large scale is not ; a success. We commend the attention, however, of farmers who have : a worn diit iarm and children to the - -following article-:— Sir Pearce,~ of Massachusetts, ! bas communicated to Moore's* Rural New Yorker ' a' description of a southern farm '•where poultry are kept to the best advantage on a large scale. Speaking of the 'farm, lie ' says :— lt is situated in the •southern extremity of * Chili, South America, where the rainy season, of six 'morithp''duration, is as detrimental to the of all fowl kind as the rigors of •our own winters, and where great care and; -skill are very essential to satisfactory 're-; "suits.

Senor Don San $\ientes commenced "bis 'operations in poultry with a. stock of two 'hundred hens audeight cocks;, to which 'he has added thereto, by natural increase 'from year to year, until now he has somewhere in the vicinity 6000. Tknir range unlimited, as his farm covers 7500 acres. To every fifty bens and two cocks is given : a house of their own, of which there are six or seven hundred on the place. During the rainy season they are not to leave the coop, except the day be exceedingly pleasant, and then only for a short time.They appear to bear confinement remarkably well, and* with hardly *any .-decrease" in, the quantify of eggs. ""While confined they are allowed an extra 'allowance of animal food: The attendance 'requisite to the care of these 6000 are one 'man and four boys. The houses are "thorough!}' cleaned once a week, and the "interiors white-washed every three months. Every morning each lot of fowls undergoes a careful inspection,, and any one "found moping or otherwise indisposed, is 'immediately taken to the. hospital, and cared for ; and seldom it is but that the 'indisposition is cured, and she takes her 'place again as well as ever. At evening'the boys go the rounds to gather up the of the day's labor, which will 'average 200 dozen per day the year through. "Killing time" takes place 'twice during the year-^in the spring and •again at the commencement of the rainy 'season. All the early chickens are thus 'disposed of at good prices; and the twoyear old fowl decapitated, to give room ?for the younger broods, as they are supposedto be past profitable service after the '-second year. The profits from one year's 'business amounted to nearly L 2200. The •sales are;72ooo dozen of eggs, and nearly -20,000 chickens and two-year olds. The houses are very cheap affairs, and are made by. erecting two forked posts, 8 feet long:, and distant from each other 15 feet. On these rests the ridge-pole. On both of the centre posts, 10 feet distant, a trench is dug, 1 foot in depth. Then small poles are placed for rafters, end in the trench and the other tied r to the ridge-pole, 2 feet apart. Then -another set of poles, tied crossways, also "2 feet equidistant, and the frame work is •complete. This is covered with thatch, which is found in plentiful abundance, and to be bad for the cutting. The only frame 'work about the house is the doors at the 'ends, both of which are 4 by, 6, and contain each a window pivoted in the centre •■of the. sash, to be opened or shut as the of ventilation demand Each ? house has its complement of twenty *boxes for laying, placed under the eaves, s ana partly concealed by bundles" of strw. The sitting department is also provided with boxes— some three hundred in nutn!ber. Here all are brought from their respective coops, as soon as (heir incubating •propensity shows itself and placed upon 'their quota of egg?. Feed, water, and a ■large supply of sand and ashes are provided, and the sitting hen not allowed to the room uiit-il she taki»s her young brood with be.r. The clutches are then '".doubled up 's" that is two broods given to one hen. and the chickless one sent ; back to hrr coop to resume her egg laying As soon as the young chicks are discarded by ilreiv mother, thpy are taken to 'their Mature home, fifty in each lot, and 7 the ! old ones back to their respective 'localities.

The fowls are fed three times per day, •and their diet 50 arranged as to alsvajs present a variety, akhough oats is their -ptap'k article x)f"tood, and always before 'them in unlimited quantity.

Tire subject ol bee-farming is creating a •considerable amount of attention jmt now in England, more especially as affording an increase to the income of the working man. fQne authority on the subject says that hw should like to see a fair trial between agriculture and apiculture— that is between the farmer and his laborer. He agrees that if any farmer, amateur or practical, will pit -five of his best acres, cultured to the highest degree, against ren hives of beesj he will accept the challenge: the trial to last three years in order to cover a rotation of crops by the farmer, and give the bees a chance of getting a favorable .J ear for gathering- honey-. tie also 'gives the result of his bee-farming for the lastseason, one of the most unprofitable that has been for eight or ten years. The season before his profits were LSB, leaving forty five hives in his possession, as stock. From these the income from the sal*-s of lioney and honeycomb, swarms and hives of befs. with increase of stock, w;.s L 72. His expenses, which he states were more than usually heavy, were as follows: — jN'ew hives and boards, L 9 ; rent, L 5 5- ; farriage, L 5 15?-; feeding L 3 *•< ; felt for covers,; sundries. L 5. total, L 29 ss, leaving a profit of lA2 15s. The amount of lioney exported lroin .New Zealand is so Very small, that it must be. admitted that comparatively little attention has been bestowed upon this branch ot industry. But. by entering into the business in as scientific a manner as the means at our disposal may admit, and by turning out a fcuperior aftiule, there appears to be no

reason why 'honey aud beeswax in New Zealand shotild not become an important article of export and give profitable employment to many of our inhabitants. The climatic advantages Which New Zealand offers \ve should 'imagine, were equal if not superior, to those of England, and another point in favor of bee-farming 'that is worthy of the attention of those in humble circumstances more especially is, that the first outlay is very inconsiderable. Ht is estimated that ihere are in the United States : 1800 butter and cheese factories, supplied, with the milk oi 300,000 cows, and producing yearly about 10,000,000 lbs of cheese and the same number of gallons of milk. Every 3000 cows, therefore, yield every year 1,000,000 lbs of cheese, valued, it is stated at, 140,000 dols, so 'that each cow yields 333 lbs of cheese, valued at 47 dol. The exports of American cheese to Great Britain amounted in 1870 to 57,000,000 lbs, valued at 8,000.'000. dols.