HINTS ON POULTRY-REARING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5666, 10 September 1896, Page 4

HINTS ON POULTRY-REARING.

[By Ali>ha in " Canterbury Times."] IProper soil, moderate moisture and suitable climate are the principal conditions of success in poultry-rearing, as in any kind of farming on a large scale. When a man takes up land, he studies the place, or chooses it according to his intended branch of farming; he would not dream of cultivating olives, ' lemons or vines in cold swamp land, nor of breeding stock in a dry sandy' country. Those elementary principles are generally forgotten when poultry -rearing is the aim, and this proves amply the necessity of instruction, or at least of some practical lectures to country people, on this subject. . The British Government was obliged to send lecturers to teach the Irish farmers poultry rearing and supply stock birds to improve their stock. This was done with success, without the help of Poultry Societies. It was quickly found out that the fanciers chosen at first as teachers were mostly faddists, promoting the sale of their own breeds — exactly as' we see in the New Zealand poultry shows the highest prizes awarded to exhibitors formerly buyers of the judges' stock. A fancier can rear his small flock wherever he likes, building even glass-houses if required. The Czar of Russia can take a walk amid tropical plants and birds in his Winter Palace ; but such fancies fall down as soon .as the natural soil and outdoor climate are considered. . On my desk I have a bundle of old copies of the London Fanciers' Gazette, full of letters complaining about fancierlecturers, acting more as their own advertisers than for the welfare of intending poultry-breeders. They do not warn farmers that their stock must be chosen according to the state and nature of their holding or premises, which is the first point to consider, whatever the aim may be — egg production or table birds. A great many failures in poultry-rearing on a large scale have been the result of neglect of this point, disgusting in the meantime other intending breeders, who have had no time nor sufficient practice to study causes of their failure. A series of interesting lectures ,on poultry farming, given in England jby an official lecturer, Mr Edward Brown, F,L,S,, is being published by several coltmtaJ papers. As a compiler of facts, Mr Brown is a master, but he certainly is not a practical authority like Tegetmeier. He advises indiscriminately the non-sitting varieties of fowls for laying purposes, or the table breeds as winter layers, without the slightest advice which of the many VftriWes w > kee P to the soil and iui^aundlngf. , „,,.„. Stephen Beale.in his book, "Profitable Poultry-keeping," published in 1883, is one of the first writers adopting a commonsense classification* of fowls according to the soil where they have to be reared. Of course, he writes for English farmers, and some of his conclusions are not available for New Zealand ; but Mr Brown's paper, published here for the colonial's sake, will do a great deal of harm, if some of his suggestions and erroneous advice are not checked. t