332 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The real horticulturist must be a man of indomitable courage. He 

 must be a man of intelligence and refined taste. He must be well in- 

 formed in that line of horticulture in which he engages. He must 

 select his location judiciously as it relates to convenient roads to 

 market, and facilities for transferring manure to his grounds. His loca- 

 tion should be near some large city well provided with first-class rail- 

 road facilities. He should read the best horticultural papers, and if 

 he understands chemistry, geology, botany, and especially entomology, 

 all the better. 



Now, the very same knowledge of all the scientific and practical 

 details of poultry lore should be understood by the man who combines 

 poultry-raising with horticulture. And whosoever undertakes to com- 

 bine the two enterprises will find that both require considerable capital 

 and almost indefinite work and vigilance. But if all the above con- 

 ditions are complied with, both may be made profitable. 



Poultry raising is now divided into at least three diiferent classifi- 

 cations or departments, viz.: poultry for broilers and grown birds for 

 bakers, etc. ; poultry for eggs alone; and fancy poultry. The broiler 

 business with eggs as an incident has, when properly conducted, been 

 found quite profitable. Poultry for eggs alone is equally profitable, and 

 ■can be operated with less expense than any other department, from the 

 fact that layers eat less than any other variety. Fancy poultry is in 

 great measure an unknown quantity, and where it is known, it often- 

 times foots up out of proportion on the debit side of the ledger. But 

 the reason of failure is mainly in the man or woman, and not in the 

 business as a profession, when properly understood and operated. 



Fancy poultry-raising is a fine and exceedingly difficult art. The 

 man or woman who is to any appreciable extent color-blind, or deficient 

 in size, form, or in discerning geometrical proportions, which means 

 symmetry, may succeed in raising fine specimens, but he or she will 

 never be able to inspect a flock of birds and select the best standard 

 specimens. But the most fruitful cause of failure is in the mistake so 

 often made of going to the wrong end of the fancy, and selecting $L 

 birds and 50 cent eggs to begin with as foundation stock. I understand 

 perfectly well how nearly impossible it is to commence at the other end 

 and pay all the way from $10 to $100 for single specimens, and from $5 

 to $10, and even higher, for 13 egga. These fellows who start on $100 

 birds ought never to think of starting at the other end. They are not 

 made that way. It would prove a most dangerous experiment. It 

 would kill at least 90 per cent of them outright, and the remainder of 

 them would drop off one or two at a time, until not one of them would 

 be left. Take one of these cheap Johns after he has returned from a 



