uilding up a large export trade, even though local demands
are increasing, at prices which are higher than they were ten or twelve
years ago, when the number of pigs in the Commonwealth was scarcely a
thousand head more than at the present time. At the Franco-British
Exhibition the grand champion prize against the world was secured by
Australia for pig products in the form of frozen pork, as well as in
hams and bacon.

_Poultry-farming._--The fact that Australian hens and ducks have broken
all records in laying competitions serves to indicate the suitability of
the country for poultry-raising. On general farms, where the birds live
on food that may otherwise be wasted, poultry are a source of
considerable profit. The opinion of the Scottish Commission was that
"Australia possesses natural conditions of almost unequalled value for
the profitable keeping of poultry. In climate, soil, shelter, and in
natural food she has the essential attributes to success."
Poultry-farming is carried on together with wheat or dairying or pig
farming, but in many places the raising of poultry is carried on as a
single line. Poultry for consumption is extensively reared, and the
egg-producing qualities of the birds have also been greatly improved by
careful breeding. Egg collecting circles have been formed in some
country districts, to develop (under Government supervision and with
Government aid until the organisation is self-supporting) the industry
on co-operative lines. A member of the circle is elected to act as
secretary, and he receives all the eggs from the members, tests, packs,
and forwards them to the metropolitan depot for shipment. Only clean and
fresh eggs are to be delivered to the secretary under penalty of fine
and expulsion from the circle. Another method of collecting and
marketing the eggs is through the local butter factories, where eggs are
delivered by the suppliers of milk and cream a number of times each
week.

[Illustration: Government Farm.--Pens at Burnley, Victoria, for
Egg-laying Competition.]

_Bee-farming._--Bee-farming has ordinarily been an adjunct to the
agricultural or dairying industries, and can hardly yet be said to have
been organised as a distinct industry. There are many prosperous bee
farms in the Commonwealth. The indigenous flora is rich in nectar, and
the quantities of honey stored in single hives are astonishingly large,
sometimes reaching 400 lbs.

[Illustration: White Leghorns.]

With