POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2983, 17 May 1911, Page 35

POULTRY NOTES.

By Tereob

' —The schedule of the Maniofcoto Fancicra' Club's eleventh annual show, to be held on June 14, is to hand, and shows that in addition to the usual full compliment, of classes there is the extra attraction of South Island Association championships for golden, white, and silver Wyandottes and black and buff Orpingtons. The judges are Mr P. Carotin for Wyandottes, and Mr E. 0. Reilly for all other classes. Mr John Rose, manager of the Government Poultry Farm, Burnham, and a Dunedinite of many years fame as a successful breeder of black Spanish (prior to his entering the public service), spent a day in Dunedin last week on his return journey from the Riverton district, where he had enjoyed a fortnight's shooting in the company of Mr Charles M'Glone, another oldtime Dunedin fancier, whose interest was Minorcas. Mr Rose was heartily welcomed by e.ll who saw him, and his old friends not so privileged will be glad to learn that ho .is in the very best of health and looks about 10 years younger than when ho was permanently amongst them. To place a man in the environment for which he is naturally suited is regarded as the very best means of prolonging his term of usefulness on earth; so, a,s Jack Rose is regarded as a good fallow by all fanciers. I suppose the lost we can do for him is to wish success to the Rurnham Poultry Farm whilst it is under his management. Dear Terror, —The thanks of all fanciers and the members of the small country poultry societies, ako my personal thanks, are duo to you for your very able article in last week's issue of the Witness in reference to the action taken by the executive of the South Island Poultry Association in refusing the Tapanui Poultry Society the championships which were promised to them provided they would elect another judge in place of myself. I have written to the secretary of the association in reference to the matter, and as it is possible that further action will be taken. I have decided to await, the association's reply, when probably all the correspondence will be placed, before your readers.—l am, etc., E. Oswald Reilly. Tiie following letter, taken from the Poultry World of March 17 last, will prove, amusing to those who were, interested in correspondence some months back, anent the superiority of the Wyandottes (a comparatively speaking new breed) and Minorcas. also in the correspondence which took place in these columns relative to the superiority of the new rose-combed varieties 'over the silver-combed. It will, I fancy surprise some of my l-eaders—it certainly surprised' myself—to find it suggested in the PouVtry World that silver Wyandottes are becoming unpopular in the- Old Country !

Sir,—To keep our useful old breeds from becoming unpopular. I suggest the following hints might alter matters a little. (1) That a club be formed to look after tli© interests of useful old breeds that have become unpopular. (2) That laying- competitions be held solely for thees breeds, so as to bring! before the public their laying qualities. (3) That classes aro provided at shows for these breeds. ■ (4) That a list Be published by the cluis annually of the breeds they recognise- liavfi beoonsii unpopular. (5) That the poultry club recognise no more new breeds as standard varieties. (6) That special show points are not bred for, such art leg feather, etc. I suggest if such a club bo formed thaw

tfhey inciuote in their lists the following Va Sd%iWer. partridge, and buff Wyanj dottes polish, redcaps, jubilee, and brown LaghoßJ, CWnine, white Minorcw Dorkings, Andalusians, Brahmas, Hamburg?, La Bresse, Scotch Greys. . I think if these points were carried out the monotony of the modern show would not exist. It seems strange that modem day fanciers will insist on having mere orossbreds, such as Rhode Island reds and the roseoombs of different varieties and the different **««. ■

The Subiaco (West Australia) egg layin g competition is to be discontinued. 1 noreason advanced by the Undersecretary tor Agriculture is that the department did not receive a sufficient number of entries. The fact that most of the prize-money has, in the past, gone out of the State, will possibly account for the- scanty support given by West Australian poultry-keepers.

FALLACIES AND MISCONCEPTIONS (By the "Observer.")

The beginner in the poultry fancy starts with hi<;h ideals whioh, after a more or less lengthy apprenticeship, are liable to be rudely shattered. He is almost in an analogous position to that of Oliver Twist, when he made the acquaintance of the "Artful Dodger." I would not go so far as to say that Oarlyle's description of the world as being composed of one-half rogues and the other half fools, applies more fittingly to the poultry fancy than, to other walks in life; but I do say that the fancy is a fertile breeding-ground of the germs of roguery. Pray do not misunderstand me! Not for one moment do I wish it to be inferred that the poultry fancier is any worse than his neighbour. The fault lies in the fact that it is so easy to depart from the straight path in, this particular business. Here we have the reason why ttie fresh recruit, after completing his novitiate, finds himself unblushingly dealing with others as he himself has been dealt with-

—Bargain-hunting.— I do- not suppose there is a single human being on this planet but what possesses in some degree the- instinct. From the fancier-novice who seeks to purchase ..winning birds at utility prices to the thrifty housewife on the look-out for shop-soiled remnants of feminine fripperies, everybody, whether rich or poor, is after the big penn'orth. In almost every case a well-deserved lesson is obtained, though I doubt whether its effects are lasting, for, like Oliver Twist, they ask foi* more —and get it. The fact that the winner at 'ss turns out to be worth half

that sum does not convince- the novice that he is on the wrong track; neitiher do- I suppose would a peep behind the scenes in the draper's emporium when remnants are being cut from whole pieces and shopsoiled by the primitive method of trampling on them, convince the lady of the house that her bargains are of a questionable nature. Once get an idea firmly implanted in the slow-working machinery of the average human brain, and its removal becomes a difficult matter. The gullibility

of mankind is proverbial —of tihe beginning at poultrj'-keeping particularly so. In nine " oases out of 10 the novice starts with => many ideas, which experience proves to be fallacies.- Pre-eminent amongst these are the cherished beliefs, fanned into flame after a course of advertisement-reading, that winning specimens can be purchased at small cost, and eggs for hatching from Palace winners are obtainable at minimum rates. Truly the advertisements in the poultry press are wonderfully plausible, but one should bear in mind that the word exaggerated is a very mild description for many a fancier's announcement. ■'Card sent" is a-bait which often catches the novice, who has taken into consideration the possibility of the advertised win being: an imaginary one. I well remember hearing a short time nsx> of a case where a fancier advertised a bird for sale, winner of first and special, which he duly sold to one out of -a large number of applicants. I-Li senit- the cards right enough, but omitted to mention that there had been' onJy his one bird in the class, which was at a small local show run on the sweepstake system. The entrance ' fee, if I remember rightly, was 6d, and the first prize money 4d. —Three Hundred Egg Laying Strains.— The utilitarian is apt to- place his particular branch of the poultrv industry _ on a higher mcral plane than the fancy side. And vet when the fancier, after exhausting the contents of the poultry press referring particularly to his own branch, fpends an idle hour reading of the teap-

nested strains of champion egg-layers averaging from 250 to 300 eggs per bird per annum his face beams with an ineffable smile. Ye gods aad little fishes! where shall we end? Two hundred and fifty to 300 eggs per annum! I quite expect to see a 365-egg strain advertised before this old globe has spun much longer. I do not say that these advertisements are penned with a wilfully misleading intention, for it is so easy, • despite oarefullykept records and patent trap-nests, to make mistakes. Moreover, because one individual hen lays, say, 200 eggs per annum, the proud owner is liable to speak glibly of his 200-egg strain, although the probability is that everv other bird is turning out about 120 eggs a year. . You never know how people reckon these things. A utilitarian was once boasting to me of his 255-egg strain, when I asked him if he trap-nested his birds. "No," he replied, "but I kept a record of every egg laid during March, April, May, and June, and the average worked out at 85 eggs per bird. That was for four months, do you see? Well, multiply 85 by three, and you get 255 eggs per bird per annum. See?" The novice, in common with many a one who has passed the beginner's stage, firmly believes that the breed or variety which wins a laying competition is necessarily the best breed on earth for laying purposes. Never could an idea be more fallacious. Invariably there are certain breeds better represented than others at the laying competitions, and it is perfectly obvious that the chances of one breed over another are in the same ratio as the one outnumbers the others. For instance, if there are entered 20 pens of white Wyandottes to one pen of buff Leghorns, the chances of the former are as 20 is to 1; and, surely, it is almost a foregone conclusion that one of the 20 pens of white Wyandottes will emerge victorious from the contest. Any of 101 possible accidents might happen to, and spoil the chance of, the one pen of buff Leghorns.