THE BEST BREEDS OF POULTRY FOR EGGS. (FROM THE "AUSTRALASIAN.")

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3039, 23 April 1867, Page 4

THE BEST BREEDS OF POULTRY FOR EGGS. (FROM THE "AUSTRAL ASIAN.")

Lsr regard to rural affairs, one of the anomalies always to be found here is the disproportion between the price of grain and the produce of poultry, and this exists just now in a very marked degree. Up the country, wheat is scarcely to be sold at from 3s. ; to 4s. a bushel, while eggs are scarcely to be bought j at 2s, 6d. a dozen. They are cheaper in town, thanks to the importations by every steamer from colonial ports, but they still far too dear in proportion to the price of grain. Now, the question is, how many dozen of eggs can a bushel of wheat be converted into, along with the insects, grass, &c, which the fowls would pick, up on a country run while consuming it ? Not that every surplus bushel of grain is to be thus converted into eggs and fat fowls, but a good many might be so disposed of with advantage, and the remainder very profitably used for making up the deficiency in the supply of bacon and pork, which bear relatively the same high price towards the raw material, for so grain should be considered as long as it is thus lowin price compared with other articles of fodd. It is bad policy, and a great loss of time and money, to send away grain as we are doing now, and import eggs and poultry when we could so easily have more than enough for our own use here. A few more" fowls and ducks and geese kept by every farmer < would amply make good the present deficiency^ and there can be no excuse now of a want of food for them. And it is by the farmers or residents in the j country that the extra number must be kept; for great as the profit would appear to be^ on paper, of buying cheap grain and converting it into the more saleable articles of produce, this never answers in practice on a scale large enough to allow it to be made a business of — not that the profit would not be sufficient, but, as proved over and over again, that no kind of poultry answers when kept together in too large numbers. They do not continue to lay their proper quantum of eggs, and after awhile they begin to die off so rapidly us to materially affect the calculations. Besides, when kept in confinement, as to all intents and purposes they are I when herded together in large numbers, they*

have not the chance of picking up the insects and grass which contribute so much to their support as well as their health when at large, so that very much more grain is the required to produce the same result in saleableTproduee. No, the additions to our supply must come from the keepers of comparatively small lots of poultry in the country ; but there is great need of feeders new town to prepare the birds that are to be killed for market. feeding will, near Melbourne at least, and now is the time to try it, when grain is so low. But it will be found far more profitable to improve the kinds of poultry kept than to increase the numbers at first, As the larger animals of the best breeds produce by much the best beef and mutton in proportion to the food they eat, so do some fowls lay twics as many eggs as others, and fatten far more quickly when required for the table. If eggs be the principal object, and especially in winter when the price is highest, there is no kind that will lay so many as the Brahma Pootr», if fully fed. Such is the experience pf this breed in England j but we have not had them long enough here, or in sufficient-numbers, to allow of a judgment being formed as to whether they will be free from the disease* which the Cochins take iso fatally, or not. The whole tribe of Cochins is' allowed to be the best for laying in winter, and the Brahmas are 'the best and hardiest of the Cochins; When the weather begins to get a little warmer *n spring, the grey Dorkings and the' Spanish are equal to them in this respect, but taking all the year round these kiids do not lay anything like the same number of eggs. The early Brahma pullets also begin, to lay, at six months old, and lay steadily. all through their first' winter, .which does not often happen with the, otherbreeds,* although thißis'more common, in the warmer climate of this country than in England. As, birds of moderate Bize, and laying a i medium-sized egg, the different varieties'of game hold a very fair position, but [the Polands and Hamburgs, being non-sitters, beat them by a* good many m the number of eggs laid through the year. The newly intror duced Crevecceur is about equal to the Dorking, with which it ranks for a bird good for both eggs and the table, but no breed that is particularly good for the latter purpose excels especially in the former. The question of .egg-producing f properties is gone into now and again Very closely in England by amateurs who have time for this sort of thing, and such is the position which the different breeds are allowed to hold. Taking all the year round, the Brahmas then stand first, and the grey Dorking second, of the breeds that lay full-sized eggs j and the Hamburgs and Polands are about equal, and first amongst the breeds, that lay eggs of smaller size. As to which breed' lays the greatest weight of eggs ' in proportion to the quantity of food actually consumed, this is a moot point still, and is likely to remain so, for, to prove that; the experiments' would have to be continued over a long period of time, and would be rather tedious. Some of those in the old country who keep poultry for profit say they find cross breeds the best| but, as with cattle, these' musii be the crosses of pure breeds, not mongrels allowed to breed amongst themselves. However that may be, we have here a much wider margin of profit than they have there, and 'whether our poultry-keepers affect pure breeds or crosses, they ought not to allow eggs to remain at 2s. 1 or 2sJ 6d. a dozen, when they can get wheat at 4s. a bushel, and other kinds of grain proportionately low.

Gambling in Fbanoe and Gbrmakt. — The French Minister of the Interior has issued a circular to the prefects calling their attention to the scanda-i lous increase of gambling in the provincial towns. He: enumerates the many cases of ruin caused by indulgence in biccarat and lansquenet which! have come to his knowledge, and he bids' the prefects give timely warning, to the. committee of the clubs within their respective districts that they will not be permitted to degenerate into gambling houses. Count Bismark and his master have, by the way, extended the! privileges to the Baden and Homburg hellkeepers, Benazet and Blano, who have netted £400,000 ster-j ling between'them this season. The Spa hellkeepersj have even carried their barefaced insolence to the! extent of publishing an account of their gambling] deeds. In this strange document, "the administra-! tive commission points out roulette as the most pro-j ductive. The bank gained at it during the four! months of the financial year 1864, 932,952f., and only lost 104,380f. The public should, therefore, 1 notice that they have only one chance of gaining, j while they have nine of losing. But the losses might 1 be somewhat* recovered at trente-et-un. At this! game the bank won 1,191, 142f., and lost 560,657f. ;| that is to say, that out of three chances there is one! of gaining for the visitor. After everything was! settled, there remained for division between the town' and the shareholders the Bum of 1,414,144!.— namely,] tothetreasury, 707,072f. ; the town of Spa, 285,829f. ; and the shareholders, 361,743f. The balance of. 32,500f. had been devoted, in conformity with, article 14 of the aot, of concession, to works of; improvement and embellishment of the locality. The report states that the share of the state is larger by 1 248,598f. than in the 'previous year. We may add that the receipts increase every year, and in such proportions that the profit of the last year reached 2,200,000f."