AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3194, 15 May 1879, Page 1

AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT.

| _ About six months since (says the Leader) Mrs Corriconde, of the Cricketers' Arms Hotel, North Fitzrdy, determined to solve the question as to whether keepJD^ fowls apd;duckß op a small scale t?^'-?Pabe''''w'«*i»'*eni'iinera-tive business. At the time mentioned she possessed twenty fowls and a like number of ducks,/, The fowls were; principally crossed from Hamburg .stock, with Spanish arid other admixtures;' the ducks were of the common w j£ind. ,The, very simple plan was adopted of putting the money receive! for,; eggs > t apart to pay for food and other expenses. The "birds were liberally fed three times a day, the food consisted of maize, bran, and brewers' grains. The space,in. ;which the. stock was kept was a yard about thirty-fire feet square, ,made of gaslime and ashes without a single, blade of grass or other vegetable product The only water the ducks; had was that supplied from a Xan Yean" tap. Under these disadvantageous circumstances, both fowls and ducks laid w^ll,; one .ben alone, a first cr,o,sß-.,>. from the Hamburg,, being credited/.'with,,abpuj; two .hundred, and jfifitfJ.-eggs.as her^year's, produce. The iwe.^ly.jjyield from:, ducks and fowls reached as high as fifteen dozen eggs, and twelve' or ■■ thirteen dozen were a common' yield.l These eggs were all sold wholesale, so that an outside price was never obtained for them. The eggs, -which were used for household purposes by Mrs .Corriconde herself, were not estimated 'at a&y; price, but were considered a set-oflFfor table scraps^ and< as payment for the trouble of tending the stock. At the end of six months'we are informed that the venture 1 had amply paid expenses, and that after-building an additional house for the accommodation of her birds, Mrs Corriconde had a few pounds left in hand to the.credit of the poultry, which will be amply sufficient to pay for their food during all the winter months, even supposing they do not lay another egg. If so much can be done with:a few fowls under cirsumstances which cannot at least be considered favourable for their proflicacy, it must be evident; that where the advantages, of grass and a natural supply of insect food are obtained, a far greater yield: should be obtained. Unfortunately, in case, under notice, no accounts were 1 kept either of the receipts and expenditure, or of the yield of eggs, but what has/beewwasted, and that if poultry-keep-ing is a hobby, it is at any rate a paying one,.! Is no,,:uncommon occurrence to see in both the English and Amqrican journals devoted to poultry, (tabulated statements of; the cost of. feeding, and the profits made from the different.-varieties of poultry ; but in Victoria breeders appear to pay •rvery < little; attention to these mattersj'fandgdionfronvyear to year in utter ignorance to whether their' venture ,is paying ornot. ■Th'i"s is hot' a matter for the; poultry „•* fanciprl" bttt'.i^ i"d- practical questibri of pounds, shrnings/'and pence, .which should interest air'whp keep poultry .of any description., We, would willingly publish any reliable information on thispoin t for the benefit of our readers.— Exchange.