FRESH EGGS

Evening Star, Issue 14554, 1 May 1911, Page 4

FRESH EGGS

PBOPOSED NACTc/FTAITBCHBABv - " Captain G. B. Bennett, writing in the 'lllustrated Poultry Record," advocate* a national egg-production scheme, with Email poultry allotment associations in e»ery district. The annual imparls of eggs into this country from Russia, Denmark, France, and other "countries, he remarks, represent approximately the incredible sum of seven and j a-half million pounds sterling. Tens of millions of R-jssian and other foreign eggs are ! sold daily in cur markets and shops to th» : consumer, small numbers of French and i Danish reaching us. moderately fresh, ■within ' a, week after proud hens heralded their safe ! arrival in the nests with the usual fanfare of I jovous cackling and ear-piercing screeches. I 13iifc the vaster siurendous quantities sent I us from far-off lands and steppes, after lons I delays in transit and shipment, arc weeks, j and even months, old before they reach our shores, and they arc frequently totally unfit for hiima:i food! and, to our shame, as often as not, ar™ retained and described as "prime I fresh eggs." It is tiiM the Legislature passed | on Act of Parliament requiring their compul- | scry stamping with dates whrn laid biing permitted to enter the country. Well miclit we use them as hand.jrrenades in warfare, like the ancient Chinese hurled the "chemical stinkpots" at the foe. These forcirm productions piovide us with the most terribb,uuboatab!", nn't cfT'ct'vo, ard nevr-tp-'oe-imnroved-up' n "' 'idle D cadnoughts " for all times, and' can be purchased for tho nation from foreign stockyards at. the ridicuj lens price of twenty-five for a shilling. I While our own production is ignominiously ir.adeauate, -md we grmble at foreign imported e?gs and th" small proportion of moderatclv fre'sh onis obtained, let, us not forget, savs "Captain B'Tir.cit, thai even the sunpiy of'these may be very M" 'derably curtailed in the near futn.r. and prices raised, for the simple rcaron that some of the great Continental countries, owing to their rapidly-swcll-\wi populations and increasing demand, are importing regs whTrv-r they crh obtain them, instead of exporting to us. It is time we were berinnins to wake up and realise (he urgent necessity to organise " Small Poultry Allotment Associations" everywhere, and r.uild up the industry on sane and model principle;, and not 10 allow a potential national to waste. Unless we do this pi-omptlv. it is obvious we shall he perennially in dancr-T of losing a sufficient supply of sound foodstuffs, and so impairing tbf. health of the people. Assume, and the jr sumption is in ae-f.-rd.vce with the dictate? of forrn'on tnnh. that there are many and gardens and backyards where poultry is kept which are models of cleanliness. At the same time wo advocate rcnir.v-d of the b'rds to the near coun-i-vsido on small poultry allotment* when profit" is the aim in view. The esres supplied to us by the town keeper's fowls, however fresh and clean. ft'e never so rich and delicious as thnsr from the open country. Small poultry allotments in combination with small orchard and vegetable-growing plots, arranged so as to provide the necessary change of ground for the birds, serving also the purpose's of fertilisation, and conducted under a. system of co-operation and expert instruction! are h'tlle geld mines for all clashes and conditions of women and men. Their initial capital outlay is very small, and will s-on npavus. Tliev will enable the masses, after having gained knowledge and experience, to tak" un larger holdings at home or in the colonies, with cer^- 4 -- nf rnece.Es. Thev will do much to eruicken and ripen the national movement of "Back to tike land, ba.-k to and beauty, back to lealth. back to hanpinew, prosperity, and conTPntment."- If the scheme Captain Bennett has in mind were adopted, there would he, lie edvs. employment, for some 80,000 women and men to attend to the poultry and pardon pints. Instructive and profitable little businesses, to add to the income, by way of side hue. would be provided for 225.000 small holders with an average of about, thirtv-eight pallets each, who wotdd also cultivate their garden plots and attend to their fruit trcs. For tens of thousand* of these and their children the small start wou'd mean future prosperity. Upwards of 100,000 acres rmnre or less) of suitable land for allotments would be accruired bv the local Associations, and sub-M. in small plots ta holders at such low rentals which the benefit! of eo-onPTa+ion only can procure for them.— Yorkshire 'Post.'