POULTRY NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 20056, 22 December 1928, Page 24

POULTRY NOTES

\ [By tmury-iOTaq

Consistent with my wish that all my readers will enjoy a happy Christmas and t. prosperous 1929, 1 am providing only light reading in this week’s notes.

At the English Poultry Club dinner held on tho first day of tho dairy show there were some excellent .speedier Lord Dewar and F. Fletcher Hcarnshaw contributing in their usual racy stylo, Tho following are two examples : Lord Dewar, in a speech sparkling with his usual epigrams, congratulated Captain S. W. Clift on his election to office as president, and he hoped that ho would have as pleasant a_ year as ho had. He would have tho kindly help and support of the secretary, Mr William Rice, whoso working hours were not limited by tho whistle. In regard to the Minister of Agriculture’s remark that the mention ot eggs produced laughter in tho House of Commons, he would like to point outthat in six months’ time eggs would be taker much more seriously than they are to-day. During all the years when ho represented a division of Whitechapel ho had nob dodged an egg, a brickbat, or a dead cat, always relying on the bad aim of bis friend the enemy. In proposing the toast of “The Ladies,” he regretted bo did not know tho rudiments of his subject. His feelings might bo compared to the swallow which flies gaily through tho air until it strikes a telegraph wire. lie had no knowledge of the aspirations and the hopes and comforts of domestic felicity. But he had never felt any particular shrinkings from the fair sex, although the dresses of to-day began anywhere and end off abruptly. (Laughter.) There’s many a safety pin .that holds more responsibility than the chairman of a bank. The snap of a bust suspender foretells a downfall. What the. world needs to-day is more permanent wives and less permanent waves It’s woman’s duty to provide for the inner man and man’s duly to provide for tho outer woman. LORD D 1:1 WAR AND THE HOUSEMAID PROBLEM. Train up a housemaid in the way she should go, and the next morning she has gone. A husband should tell his wile everything that she is sure to find out, and do so before her friends tell her. Mrs R. Fletcher Hearnshaw, in replying to the toast of “The Ladies” —ic quite one of the best speeches of the evening—said that she felt a little nervous at being placed amongst so many lions of tho poultry industry. In her home she had heard rumours about poultry—(laughter)—but she did nob loci that she was an export. She thanked Lord Dewar for his complimentary speech, and said that .she only hoped that they wore worthy of iho whole of it, and that His Lordship meanta little of it. At tho Dairy (show she had just discovered Unit tho silent sex could talk, and with rclcrencc to Lord Dewar’s reference to a broken suspender, she felt that the crack of a brace button was infinitely louder. As to ladies’ fashion, it was noticeable how tno men always copied them in the stylos of their fowls. BUSTLES AND BRAHMAS. Thus, when ladies carried bustles and hid their ankles tho Cochin and tho Brahma were all the rage; later, when fashions turned to headdress, the Spanish and tho Houdan were popular; and now, with the modern tendency for neat hats and ankles, they had tho Wyandottcs, Light Sussex, and Rhode Islands, Many of the birds with show earns to-day owed their success to the titbits and attention they received at tho kitchen door. Women had always taken a great part in tho poultry industry, and the word just as familiar ns “cowman.” She had no

doubt that their fragile president, secretary, and president-elect owed much to tho attention of their helpmates. (Laughter and applause). THE HEN. The hen is a large bird which flics like a 1900 model aeroplane, and is supplied with a squawk in place of a brain. Nobody who has watched the hen in her blundering progress _ through life has any respect for her intellect. She lias been severely criticised by all who have seen hr mothering a china egg with intense devotion or running 25yis in order to gc’ to a road in time to cross it in front of an automobile. We laugh at the hen as wo roughly pluck her from the radiator through which she had tried to fly, and allude, with ribald jest to her punk mental equipment as wo toss her in the ditch. Then wc put on all speed and race ■ over a railroad crossing, a winner from death by only one small diver of a second . W° are much wiser than the lien, hub have a diffidence about showing it at times. The hen is distinguished not merely by her low. retreating forehead, but by her maternal instincts. She is a profuse and enthusiastic mother. It is her ambition to collect a dozen eggs of her own production and to sit upon these until they explode into chicks. Ruthless man, however, foils her by stealing the eggs as fast as'she lays them. Many a hen goes through life with a puzzled air, laying hundreds of eggs and never getting a single egg ahead in her job. Tho incubator has driven tho hen out of the mother business, hut thus far nothing can compete with the hen in producing eggs. She has a monopoly of the trade, and gets her revenge upon man by going off tho iob in winter and consuming mill feed in luxurious ease while the price of eggs aviates and Congress appoints committees to probe the high cost of living. The hen cannot sing, and is not handsome to look ait, but she has one talent that has endeared her to all mankind. She dies more beautifully and toothsoraely than any other fowl. When a hen has resolved herself into her component parts, each fried in eggs and corn meal, she has produced one of the most perfect bits of gastronomic poetry. Because of this the hem is like the politician, we love her best while reciting her obituary.— - ' Smith’s Chiokagrams.’ WHAT CAME FIRST? “When you don’t know—ask” is a good motto. • A hungry Frcnch-Canadian walked into a calc one day and wanted eggs. Ho had forgotten the English word, so he got around to it in this way; “ Vaitcrre, vat is kat in zc yard?” “A rooster.” “Aii! and vat you call zc" rooster’s wife?” “ A lien , sir.” “And vat you call zo children of zc rooster and ins rife?” “Chickens, sir.” “And vat yon call zc,thickens hciorc they arc zo chickens?” “Eggs, sir.” “Bring me two.” CHICKENS THAT TALKED. “ Who's in there?” called tho owner at the door of hi.s chicken house one dark night. “ Nobiukly but us chickens,” tamo tho response. ON AN AVERAGE. A small child was recently asked to give tho exact meaning of the word “ average,” and bewildered his teacher with tho reply: “Tho thing that hens lay on.” When asked for an explanation JiD produced a. hook which stated that hens lay on an average so many eggs a year. ELLEN TERRY’S MISTAKE. Brilliant as Ellon Terry was in so many ways, sho was not a good cook. She "related in her autobiography how sho served np a chicken of her own whom sho had christened “Sultan.” Ho camo to tho table looking magnificent.

“Hasn't this chicken rather an odd smell?” paid ono visitor. “How can you?” I answered, “it imist he quite fresh; it’s ‘Sultan.’ But when we began to carve, the smell grew.more and more potent. I had cooked ‘Sultan’ without taking out his in’ards!” CRACKED GRAIN. Wife: “These hens of ours are tho era?,lst chickens I over saw.” Hubby: “Aren’t you feeding*them on cracked grain?” A lien, it is declared, is the only living thing that can sit still and declare a dividend. CHICKEN SOLT. Diner; “Say, what kind of soup is this?” Waiter: “Why, chicken, sir.” Diner: “J. don’t Jind any chicken in it.” Waiter: “Well, you wouldn’t expect to Jind horse in horse radish, would you ?” “ DOWN OUR ALLEY.” Sampson had been arrested for helping himself illegally to a white neighbour’s Wyandottcs. “Not guilty, sub!” answered the prisoner, promptly. “Have you an alibi?” “Says which, please, sub?” “ You heard me. Have you an alibi?” ’ “Oh-h, yes, sub! Didn’t onnerstan’ you at first. Yo’ means the alley by which Ah scaped wid dem chickens?” A NEVER WAS. First Breeder; “What do you think of that cock for entry at ?” : Second Ono: “Well, ho never won anything in the past; ho certainly isn’t in" condition at present; and- his chances aro none too bright for the failure, so altogether I don’t think much of him.’ NOT WANTED. Mr Thomas, tho village grocer, was a very learned man. lb has been said of him that he could answer any question that was put to him, Ono day a woman entered his shop and asked how long the oozlurn bi r ’ had been extinct. The grocer said: “Well, madai far as I can recollect, tho oozlun has been extinct for nearly 200 j' “ Right 1” snapped the visitor,' ing a basket on the counter. “ ! it you to understand that I don’t „ant any of its eggs!” BUY LOW, SELL HIGH. A poultry, breeder returned homo one evening and as he stood on the porch lie heard his wife rocking tho baby to sleep, singing, “Bye 10, baby, bye 10, baby, bye 10, bye!” Rushing through the door, lie exclaimed; “Dot’s right, llachcl; dot’s right! Teach him to buy low and I'll tench him to sell high!”

Oontribofewa imd question* for shoaH be addressed te “ TTHRy-Pjawry," I Poultry R®or, ‘Riaar ’ Office, send received not Inter then Xnesdsqr of each week. I * c "Otaitjwancy J * will only answer cammaaicaiions through this cotesvi. t Iriday. ; 0

An Incubator Next?—lt was suggested bv a fanner to a poultry breeder at Heathficld market that a little sawdust added to the hot mash had a beneficial effect on certain types of birds. “ Yes,” replied the expert, “ I’ve heard of that before, and a _ friend of mine once tried it on one of his Orpingtons. A few months later she hatched out five chickens with a wooden leg apiece, and a couple of woodpeckers.” —‘ Sussex County Herald,' On the Road.—-A lady who had married a traveller decided io raise When her husband returned from his trip ho asked how her chickens were doing. With pride she answered: “Fine! I hare five hens and two roosters.” The husband was puzzled. “ I don’t understand why you have two roosters with only five hens.” “Well,” his wife explained, “I got an extra one in case the other took a notion to go on the road.”

TWENTY-FOURTH PAPANUI EGGLAYING COMPETITION. Leading Pens, Thirty-sixth Week, Ended December S (202 days). Test I.—J. H. Shaw Memorial Challenge. Light and Heavy Breeds. Black Orpingtons. .Week’s Weight.

Eggs. oz. drs Tl. T. D. Dalziel ... 4 8 14 171 Miss Mcyrick — — IB! White Leghorns. Green Bros., No. 1 6 13 8 i*i L. J. Knowles ... 5 9 14 2 i Master Liggins ... 7 14 10 2lip AV. E. Ward G 12 12 200 E. V, Crouch ... G 13 4 19S Green Bros., No. 2 ,3 6 14 198 E. J. Boss 5 10 6 197 Test II.—AVhito Leghorn Single Hen. Owner Enters 3 Birds. AA’eek’s Eggs. .. G Total. T. W. Betteridge. No. 1. 213 J. W. Thomson, No. 2 .. 4 210 M. C. Craig, No. 1 ... . .. G 209 Tracey King, No. 2 .. G 207 Green Bros., No. 1 .. G 205 M. AVil.son, No. 3 ... .. G 205 —Single Hen Test.— Owner Enters 3 Birds. Test 111.—A.O.V. Light Breeds, Except Whit® Leghorns. Auconns. Week’s Eggs, Total. S. H, Mitchell, No. 2 . .. 1 145 It. Pearce, No. 3 ... . .. 0 140 Test IV.—Black Orpin gtous Only. J. M. Campbell, No. 3 4 203 J. M. Campbell, No. 2 (! 202 A. M. Espie, No. 2 ... 3 1S7 A. It. Lcckic, No. 3 '5 . 173 G. A. Grainger, No. 1 2 163 Test A r .—A.O.V. Hcavv Breeds Other Than Black Orpii gtons. J. It. Griffen (L.S.). No. 1 0 196 B. G. Corlctt (AV.R.). No. 2 . ft 182 J. C. Wilson (L.S.). No. J. 3 166 J. Kingsland (It.I.lt.). No. i .. 4 163 E. V. Crouch (L.S.), 1 . . ft 162 Test A r L—Flock Teams (G Birds). AVhite Leghorns, Week's AVeight. Eggs. oz. drs. Total. 11. Karrison ... 32 G2 3 1,159 II. AV. Bock, No. 1 ... ... 29 fit 4 1.083 F. Hawes 30 Gl 4 1,040 J. Bobbitt 30 65 2 3,010 H. AV. Beck, No. 2 22 4G 4 1,000 G. J. A r crrall ... 31 05 13 997 G. Bennett- ... 33 OS G 987 G. IT. Bradford 27 58 8 985 Test VJI.—Single Duck Test. Owner Enters 3 Birds. Pekins. Week’s J. AV. Thomson, No. 2 Eggs. Total. .. 5 210 J. AV. Thomson, No. 3 (dead) .. 0 186 H. A. Dawbcr, No. 2 2 166 J. AV. Thomson, No. 1 .. 3 156 Mrs Little, No. 2 ... .. 7 153 Indian Runners. C. E. Barnett, No. I ,, 7 23S H. A. Dawber, No. 2 *. ft J. AV. Thomson, No. 3 ., G 229 J. AV. Thomson, No. 2 .. 6 223 0. E. Barnett, No. 3 .. '(I 214 It. AV. Hawke, No. 3 7 210 J. AV. Thomson, No. 1 .. i 205