THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1907. A MINOR INDUSTRY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8362, 19 February 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1907. A MINOR INDUSTRY.

The poultry industry, which is one of the minor industries of the colony, is still growing satisfactorily, and the extent to which it may develop in this country may be partially gauged by the enormous importance of the poultry industry to America. If the average man in the street were asked to name America's largest industry the chances are that he would probably mention wheat, or oil, or cotton, but the American publication, "Success," explains, that there is no greater money-maker in the world to-day "than the patient American hen." This statement is based, so it is said,on Government statistics, which are about the only sortjof figures that do not fib. The last census of poultry of the United States showed the total number of poultry to be 250,681,673; 88 i per cent of the farms of the country had poultry as an asset. At least 250,000,000 chickens,to say nothing of other kinds of poultry, are consumed each year. The fact isthat,commerciartraditions to the contrary, "The Hen is Queen." "Success" goes on to remark that "according to the Government authorities, eggs and

poultry earnings for one recent year amounted to 280,000,000 dollars. Such an amount is sufficiently amazing as it stands, but you don't get its full significance until you study the relative financial values of other industries. We find, for instance, that the total value of gold, silver, wool and sheep produced in America during the year in question was 272,434,315 dollars. The sugar-pro-duction of the country the same year was but 20,000,000 dollars; that part of the wheat crop used at home, which we may consider the most valuable of all our agricultural products, was worth 229,000,000 dollars. The great American hog, as consumed at home and abroad, brought 186,529,035 dollars. The value of the oat crop was 78,984,900 dollars. Potatoes grown in the United States were valued at nearly as large a sum as were the oats. The product of to-bacco-plantations was estimated to be worth 35,579,225 dollars. Cotton, the dethroned king of staples, could show only 259,161,640 dollars, as against the magnificent earnings of its feathered rival. The hens' eggs produced in this country annually would fill 43,127,000 crates, each of the latter holding 360 eggs." The annual report of Mr D. D. Hyde, Chief Poultry Expert, is to hand, and contains a quantity of information. It seems that a few years ago there was not one establishment in this colony that was conducted on what might be called a large scale, andjjnow there are many, all of which are on up-to-date commercial lines. The most pror.ounced progress has been made in the Auckland district during the last two years. Last season there were raised on four poultry farms near Auckland over 27,000 head of poultry, and all of those interested expressed themselves as being well satisfied with the financial results of their enterprise. There are many other large poultry farms in this colony, and hundreds make their living mainly by the returns received from poultry raising. This will be seen when the census returns are published. Those who were inclined to ridicule the idea of stating the number of poultry they possessed when filling in the census returns will, when these figures are made known, realise for the first time the value of the poultry product in New Zealand. Mr Hyde holds a letter from three large poultry-breeders in the North, guaranteeing to ship not less than 17,000 head of poultry to the London markets next season providing the Department make provision at the Auckland Export Depot to handle this number, in addition to those that will be forwarded by other growers. One firm raised 11,700 chickens and ducklings last season; 10,000 of this number were sold at sixpence per pound, live weight, to an Auckland firm for local consumption. Mr Hyde continues: "It is safe to state that so fine a lot of poultry as those referred to has not been seen on the Auckland market before. The ducklings were marketed at from ten to twelve weeks and the chickens at three to four months old, and these birds averaged over 41b each. As showing the improvement in the quality of the poultry forwarded to the Auckland depot, I saw 1,000 birds handled by the Grader, and only twelve were rejected out of the lot —those only on account of being bruised in transit. As against this, I regret to state that at the Christchurch depot the Grader reports that a lot of birds reach there from the auction-rooms, and they may be described as just "fowl"; very often these are in poor condition and very small, and are not at all suitable for export. The Grader states that he at times finds a difficulty in passing six birds out of twenty. It is past comprehension why the farmers do not pay as much attention to improving their breed of poultry as they do their horses, sheep, and cattle." .The report, generally, is of an interesting character, and is further testimony of the good work being done by "the Department of Agriculture.