POULTRY NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 27 January 1913, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES.

THE CO-OPEitATI V E HEN. (BY CUIUUE LOVE.) 1 00-operativo store-keeping, a u <l 1 operative house-keeping have each bad their day, aJid iia.v« been more or ; less successful, according to the people and tlie looalities where they nave been tried, bu't co-operative poultry keeping is oom-panitively new, and has been uniformly successful. in Canada it is . making groat headway , and the following remarks are based | upon the practice in that country. In the province of Quebec <a large supply company has, for a long time, maintained an 'egg circle' by means 01 .which they iavc'been enabled to supply eggs of uniform size, quality and freshness to an exacting trade which is .growing bigger. The eggs •a re gsithered, handled and packed by representatives of tihis firm, and the l farmers arc paid the highest market price at the time the eggs are sold- I n Ontario, a similar egg circle has been in existence for the last two or three years, and has met with much, success. In Western Canada the egg circle is one of the beneficieiit plans u<lnrvt.pj hv the Canadian Pacific Rail-

way to help farmers who settle on Canadian Pacific farms. The railway company uses 12,000 eggs per month on the dining cars running from Galgary to the Pacific Coast, and the organisation of a co-operat-ive system whereby the farmers of Alberto cain guarantee a certain number of eggs to the company, carefully graded and packed, insures this dining car business to the farmers joining the organisation. The idea is to have the business systematized in every particular. The eggs are to have an official brand; each farmer is to have his own individual trade mark, and' every egg. going out from he-ad-quar-T tera at the Canadian. Pacific demonstration ajad supply farm at 'Strath--1 more is tr> l>ear the official brand in

addition to the farmer's own mark, so I that in the event of one egg not being | up to the standard of freshness and size, it can be traced directly to the man from whose farm it came, and a fine is inflicted on "him. By grading I the eggs J handing and packing them oarefully, and guaranteeing their I freshness, will be passible to pay ' 1 | the farmers more than, the wholesale ! marlfe't" 1 price, and in every case so far, the egg circle ha« paid from three to five cent 6. the dozen more than can be secured at the stores. A co-operat-ive milk circle is already in force among the farmers roumd Strathmore, and with tihe co-operative egg circle and a co-operative circle for poultry which will probably be formed, it would seem that the farmei-s had gone the right way about to form a really profitable combination. The egg circle not only brings the farmers into a union, gives them a better market for their produce, but also it gives them a stimulus to seek to improve their breeds of poultry. Hens on a farm are too often looked on as a

sort of 'side-line,' amd in many cases I receive only a half-hearted attention , which comes from the farmer's wife. I The farmers themselves dismiss it as > 'woman's work,' and don't care 1 whether the liens pay or not. With the introduction of a co-operative plan I whereby the poultry business is put [ on a definite business basis, the farm. I er takes a keener imterest in the poul- ' try yard, and is ready to introduce j new and better bred stock, to improve j thf> condition of hen houses and yard, and to admit that poultry is an important item in the business of the farm. The farmer who has not tried the, advantages of the egg circle is 1 apt to ask 'How do you know 'we will j get a bigger price per "dozem for our oggsF' One might as well ask 'How I, 1 do you know a pure bred Jersey cow will bring a. bigger price on the marlistf ,

tnan an ordinary grade animal r The j railway dining car service, and/ the large hotels will sometimes pay as much a# ten cents. (sd) an: egg to pat- on a special train or to use oti some special occasion; because they want, and must have, the very best regardless of'cost. The high-grade article invariably commands a highpi;ice. Tho egg circle brings the producer and the consumer together on l on the best possible terms. In near* j ty all districts it meets with, strong I opposition from the local grocery stores, which should, in, itself, be an I indication to the farmer of its real value. The farmer who joilns an egg ( circle should agree to sell the produce of his own. hen*, only, and t<y sell alt [ his eggs to the, circle with the excep- ) tion ,oJ:' those Ji e wants for-his family's i consumption or for breeding purposes. He must not market old or found I ot " sma " °'' dirty ones, or egg« J which, are at all Questionable.' He i must neatly ..stamp, and pack his eggs with his own *tamp in the crates supplied by the circle. He ispn -his honour to keep these rules, his interest , is aroused, and when Im nn™

cetves the benefits of the circle lit is not necessary to stimulate his loyalty. egg gatherer is the most important member of the circle. He gathers the eggs three times a week from the various farms, or attends to them When brought in, seas that there are no bad ones in the lot, ships them out to the farm, receives the check and pioportions the money aniomg the ; -member,, of the circle. Tihe strict i supervision of the eggs lessens the lo«\ l through dirt,breakage, chick developt ment, shrunken, rotten, or badlv i e m, and improves the standard of egg production throughout the whote country. The farmer will take moro interest in keeping the , best breed of hens—laying hens; hp will aim to have eggs, |' or sa ] 6 im , w ; n . ter as well as in summer, will study the best style of poultry houses hi which to keep his birds, and the best means of rearing chickens to the most profitable advantage at a minimum cost. He wilL endeavour to get a pure strain, will keep the best male birds he can afford, and will pay attention in every way to .the details 110 egg circle makes necessary. Whom the producers begin to get a ..good price for their eggs, thev will find little complaint from the' consumers who are getting the benefit of fresh, guaranteed produce.,