PRODUCTION AND MARKETING
Animal Industries Division. The Animal Indus- tries Division is concerned with pig and poultry breeding work at Castle Peak, Sheung Shui Pig Station and Sai Kung Agricultural Station. More attention is now being given to local breeds of poultry and pig stock, and to the White Leghorn as an egg producer and the Japanese Middle White and Berkshire pig breeds. This is the result of four years of study of many imported breeds in the light of the market requirements. The division is also responsible for animal disease control and investigations into animal diseases and animal husbandry.
Forestry. Forestry services are organized in a separate division under the control of the Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
Towards the end of 1953, Government accepted a new forest policy for Hong Kong and the year 1954 has seen the beginnings of forestry work on a more ambitious scale than ever before in the Colony. The main object of forestry in Hong Kong is not the pro- duction of timber and other forest products for the Colony as a whole, for, with its limited land area, Hong Kong could never be self-supporting in forest products. The new policy aims at afforestation of the Colony's waste hill-lands with two main objects in view. First and most important, is to conserve and increase water supplies. Forests form the ideal cover in water catchment areas. They protect the soil, prevent erosion and in addition render the soil extremely porous and absorbent. The heavy summer rains are absorbed into the soil and later appear in the form of springs and streams which provide a regular flow of water into the
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