THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume V, Issue 1360, 22 June 1918, Page 3

THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.

[Edited by J. B. Mcrrelt.] THE QUALITY OF POLLARD. Times have indeed changed; the word "progress" would sometimes seem to have quite a different meaning to what the dictionary would define. The flourmilling industry has made such progress in constructing machinery to extract ■ilour from wheat that but little remains but a good quality of bran, and the old stand-by for poultry-keepers, pollard (as it used to be) is now practically ncn-existent. This is a moving of the times at which no complaint can be made. What there is to complain about, however, is the price that is charged for it. The Government regulations stipulated that the price of pollard (so-called) should not exceed £8 •">/- per ton retail, that price being considered a reasonable advance on tho pre-war conditions; but the Board of Trade should have been businesslike enough to havo added that the quality must" be up to a pre-war standard, which is not the case. "Where two sacks were sufficient to mix with other foods it now requires three sacks to get the same results; this means 33 per cent. increase to the already advanced prices, so that the price is actually about £l2 per ton. The public are indeed long-suffering; they will pay high prices for bacon and eggs, but blame the producer for the increase. The powers that be have declared that "the best has been done," and that further grumbles cannot be received, the country is too fully occupied to consider such trifles. That is practically the answer that has been received. There is no hope of the quality being improved (certainly, from two or three mills, the quality is quite satisfactory, but their supply is very limited), and the latest machinery will apparently have to be accepted with as good a grace as possible. The question as to price, however, must not be allowed to stand without protest. Meanwhile the old maxim, "Where there is a will, thcro is a way," might here be usefully employed, and if a substitute could be and on principle made full use of by rearranging methods of feeding, the price of "pollard" might cease to trouble us. It is astonishing the number of ways" poultry-keepers have in feeding, with equally satisfactory results, and if we could incline our ear to different opinions, and be less conservative in our ideas, we might discover and adopt a way that would be a part solution of the difficulty, and it is right here that our experts and our experimental farms might prove their already acknowledged usefulness.

' A valuable stimulating; food for poultry will shortly bo placed on the market, and if the reports, received prove to be accurate it should be of great benefit, to egg-producers, enabling them to use foods that are low in protein, and yet obtain results equally satisfactory with the richer foods. Now that the feeding question gives so much cause for thought, and more' or less anxiety, this should be specially opportune. The committee of the Canterbury Egg Circle met during the week, and several very important matters were discussed. It was decided that a general meeting of members be held on June 29.

The demand for eggs the last two weeks has been very free, the housewife evidently being willing to pay 1/10 to 2/- a dozen, but not more. Storekeepers report that the demand would make it appear that a higher price could be obtained; but past experience at this time of the year is that if we have about a week's warm weather supplies would "tumble" in, metaphorically speaking, and probably two or three weeks would elapse before the demand would catch up. Eggs being a highly perishable article, which must be sold fresh, prices would be forced down to a figure that would average far less than if a steady demand had been kept up. The question of very high and very low prices alternately is most disturbing to the retailer, who would leave eggs severely alone rather than take the risk of a loss, were it I 'not that he has to stock them. Poultry men would be studying their own interests if they would give this aspect of the question their sympathy.

small, (b) They should be cut right out now, so as to leave the centre of the tree, fairly open, (c) Toward the end of August, (d) The peach, nectarine, and apricot are very liable to have the flower buds injured by spring frosts, and, as early pruning would tend to develop the buds prematurely, it is best delayed as long as possible. A further reason is that it is much easier to see which are flower buds -and which are wood buds at that time, as the buds are then swelling. The round plump buds are flower buds, giving promise of prospective fruit, while the long, narrow ones are wood buds. When shortening any leader or lateral shoot back it is necessary to be sure that the bud cut back to is a wood bud, as, if not, the shoot will die back to the next wood bud.