Answers to Correspondents.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1390, 16 March 1912, Page 15

Answers to Correspondents.

"Enqnirer."-Th(. process nf sterilisiiif eggs ior preservation is gaining favour lon nvoid the trouble of providiiv vessels and mixing up watwglass. ]■;»!» should 1,0 strictly new laid, and pi.l through the machine, vh™ not mors than two days old. A cabinet is used, into winch the eggs ar« placed. t'astillare placed in the furnace, and heal applied, which forms the tablets into a vapour. This purifies; (he eggs, and provents decomposition. ]f eggs are stale m at all decomposed, the process will be successful. When treated the eggs inav be stored in boxes and kept in a cool place. They will keep throe to six , month?, according to time kept undei the process. "L.T.," Hutt.—l should advise, your buynig white leghorns. Mack leghorns arc really a new variety, Imiit up from crosses with minorciis and sports. They have no standing as and with so much good slock in the country of well-tested strains, you niny just as well start with the best. Intensive System. Of lato years the intensive svstem of poultry-keeping is making rapid'headway. Instead of requiring acre.- of land in which to Innld a poultry plant, a producer can make a living from a small area ?,'. '1™ acm muler the new system. The Wellington by-laws would probably not ■have become so stringent had the. poultry been kept in covered runs instead of being exposed to the weather. Constant running <"■<"• the ground soon makes the yards nltiiy, and when rain conies they are anything but healthy. An account is given in the "New Zealand Poultry Journal, Cliristclutreli, of an experiment that is being made at the New Zealand Poultry Institute. A large house has been erected 102 x J6 feet wide. In this spacious building. 400 white leghorn pullets are being housed. In the winter these birds never get wet, and tho scratching better affords them ample exercise. Eggs arc as easily obtained in winter under these conditions as in simmer. The birds were hatched so as to come into lay this mouth. This system moans that on a small area hundreds of birds can bo kept in better health and with belter results than can be obtained from open yards. Kocords of these birds will be kept for (he winter months, anil full particulars given, that those interested may be able to judge for themselves the value of the system. Competition Sale. The annual sale of the compctitin" pens at Papanni affords a splendid opportunity of buying breeders with an assured record. Some of the leading pens are to be auctioned this year. A list of the pens will be forwarded to any inquirer writing to the auctioneers (C. H. Wilson and Co inain Street, Christchurch). Buyers who wish t'.i purclusß these pens can send the price they are willing to pav to the auctioneers, who will bid on their account, and treat all inquiries with confidence. Co-operation of Poultrymen, Co-operation always sounds nice to the poultryman. The word has a charm for him, but he is slow to derive benefits worn co-op?ration. The egg circles have shown what con be done by united effort; but no one has attempted hi bring poultrymeii together to form.a complete whole. That a lurge company , of-.. poiiltnmen would pay is certain, but if must hJ constructed and managed on business lines. As a sample of what might be saved, four poultrymen purchased a line of wheat, by which they saved .fill. In many ways producers could be helped under co-opera-tion, but it requires skilful management nnd a weil-paid, capable manager at the head of affairs. English Pronressiveness. jIK.-no cototry has a spirit W,cn shown'.iii: poultry ibeitters inure than in England, during thi last two years. There lias been an awakening of interest never knawn before. The J:S,UO(I,(1OO annually sent to foreign countries for eggs has at last appealed to home producers, and great efforts am being iuado to increase the output of English eggs. A company has been formed to piymote the industry, nnd a revie.v of its iiims and purpose; will bo of value to poultrymen in tlie Dominion. . The turnover in poultry products is gaining each year. One firm' alone in Cliristchurcli states that it sells annually 1,000,000 eggs and 100,000 head of poultry, and this represents about ouehalf of Canterbury's production of poultry, and only one-tenth of its eggs. The following account will show how English poultry men ..are,.determined', that tbeii industry will,,be brought to. the front:— ■In the "Poultry World",of February 24, 1911, there appeared an article giving details of a proposed scheme 'whereby the whole_ of the depots in connection with the National Poultry Organisation Society were to be brought into one harmonious whole, and their efforts combined and centralised instead of each working as an independent unit, to the disadvantage of itE<?lf and the other depots. The scjieme has been carried through, the federation lias been formed, and is now in full working order under the name of tho British Poultry ■ Federation, Ltd. Premises have been taken at 21! Hosier Lane, West Smithfield. right in the heart of the provision and produce trade, and although only opened this week tho business done has far exceeded tho hopes nnd anticipations of the promoters.- New customers have been found, and customers who will prove most useful, because they will take eggs which could not possibly bts sold at the provincial depots. As Mr. J. Gerard Kilson, the secretary, said to us, "We can sell everything here, every egg lias a market, large and small, newly-laid and those which may only be called 'fresh, and oven the cracked ones. A man has already been in and told me that ho will tako 300 cracked eggs every week if we have them. This is ono way in which wo shall make extra profit for the depots, because cracked eggs have been a loss to us. before." Speaking of new business, Mr. Kitson said that one man had been in to see him who wished td I contract for 20,000 eggs per week all the year round. This man, like many others, wanted to see tho' people he was dealing with, and tho. sort of product) they had to sell. It is the opinion of the promoters of the British Poultry Federation, Ltd., that they will be able to dispose of .£50,000 to j≥70.000 worth of eggs per annum whon they are in full working order. That this should be easily attained no one who knows anything about the present 6tato of tho poultry industry, and the possibilities of tho future, can for a moment doubt, Amongst the chief advantages of the combination of the efforts of the forty depots comprising the federation are that every eg» sent in by the depots can bo tested by electricity as to its freshness, and also graded

(is to size. The testing-room is like ijnto a photographer , !; dark room, all outside light boiii}! excluded nml the testing dono by strong electric lamp-:. All eggs which pass the Ipst for freshness nnd size :ir« branded with the Kosc linuid, which has. for sonic year-, been Iho recognised gmii'itntce of I lit: National I'oullry Oi'ftnniration Society's ;iliili;i!nl depots! 7» Hie future nil the dci'iil* will emisign their nggs to this nowly-eolnbli'liDd egg'clearini; lioiiso. and from them they will, when tested nml graded, lw dispatched to the customers. ,U the clearing house tlio eggs will on arrival lw enrefifllv tested nnd graded, and each dopot will ba paid markot priw for ita comiguaeatg, iccord-

ing to Hip value and grndc of tin , produce which they Kfiul 1,, (ho clearing lr.m>p.. Bw'ng a co-operative movement, I lit , profits, after all oxwhkpi nre paid, "'ill Kii io tin- (•(.:i)ril>iiliiiK depot< in tiir form of dividend,. From .Mr. Kil.sim il was learned llml tlit- pres will l;i> thoroughly eheclceil. anil piuli depot t-mlited with fo many Koso liraiid or first Knulv. so many SL'coiids, thnt is, prrs which arc not C|iii(e lip to I las li-sl nf ali>i)lnlp so many oiKikors, whicii show alisoliiti , sißiis of lm-inc boon kojil soinp ilnys l«v----i.-iro sondiii',' nil', smalls, that is, i'KKs not up In standard .-.ize, and linvp (o b<! nuirkok'd at a lower price, will also bo crcdilpil, iis will dirtv anil ciacked Hy the inslilution of tin- clwiriiiK liuu-'i . Hie enstomors of Hip N.1'.0.5. will now be trailed much better than previously. They will be assured of a constant supply, also of regularity of (jualily. Much overlapping will also bo avoided in relation to t.lio nccnnnts, ai insteail of ropeivins several accniinln per month they will only receive onp, and this easily collected from Hip London Clearing Mouse. Thus the federation will lend regularity, and quickness of service, ami that without wnslo and overlapping. [The. nbovD scheme h much on the same linos as thnt stifjgosfcil by Mr. Ferguson Trenthnm, at the last Poultry Conference. His aim was to handle tho whole of the supplies in New Zealand, anil have depots in the four large centres. With thorough organisation the suggestion is a good one, but where is the man to undertake organising it ? The promoter would find it a much harder task among New '/,oalnml poultrymen than the federation has found among English producers.]