FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 419 



field for all who possess ambition and industry. The cost of raising poultry 

 is small when compared with the high prices they command. For the small 

 amount of money required I know of no other legitimate business that will 

 bring quicker and better returns than poultry. It is a sure business when 

 one understands it, because you can generally control the conditions which 

 assure success if you will but attend to it. There is money in poultry and 

 will be for years to come. The fact that many fail to make a ''go of it" 

 is what makes it profitable. The products of the poultry farm always rep- 

 resent so much cash. The demand is greater than the supply, and so long 

 as this is the case the careful hard-working man or woman will reap the re- 

 sults while the indifferent will fail. Where one fails another is successful. 

 Out of the same soil wheat and tares are produced. One presses forward to 

 a definite aim, the other drifts here and there on the waves of circumstances. 

 So our poultry operations may prove successes or failures in proportion to 

 the amount of zeal and energy put forth. The conditions and circumstances 

 surrounding different persons make it impossible for anyone to lay down 

 fixed rules that would be a sure guide to those who seek fame and money; 

 everyone must work out his or her salvation. There are thousands of 

 poultry keepers in the United States no two of whom possess the same degree 

 of skill. I have a way that is a way of my own, and it may not come up to 

 what a great many of you have experienced. Nevertheless I get good results 

 and that is what we are all after. One of the few trades in which the de- 

 mand for skilled labor is in excess of the supply is that of the poultryman. 

 The public never has enough poultry. There never was an overproduction 

 of eggs in this country and it is not likely that there ever will be. The hen 

 may not be a mortgage lifter, but given a chance, she'll scratch one badly. 

 To keep the hens in laying condition is the aim of every poultry raiser, par- 

 ticularly at this season, January and February, when a full egg basket means 

 so much. There are people sufficiently versed in henology to make biddies 

 lay during cold weather when eggs are high. There is little profit in keep- 

 ing hens unless a part of the eggs can be produced in winter and winter 

 prices received. Some remark, "Oh! I am not particular about getting eggs 

 in winter. The hens will do all the better in the spring by not laying now." 

 If we assume that the heavy layer's eggs are unfertile because of heavy lay- 

 ing, we are just as far from the fact as the statement that the poor layer's 

 egg are unfertile because of the few eggs laid. 



The hen that lays eggs that are worth from twenty-five to thirty-five 

 cents per dozen is the hen to breed from rather than the hen that lays eggs 

 that are worth only twelve to fifteen cents per dozen. One could not expect 

 a hen not bred from a heavy laying strain to lay well as to expect the com- 

 mon cow to yield the same amount of butter-fat as the pure-bred Jersey. 

 The strain must be back of the flock. It is possible by selection, careful 

 breeding and scientific feeding to double the number of eggs which the hen 

 will lay. Give the hen the right treatment and she will repay every kind- 

 ness if she is the right kind. Feed for eggs. If she does not respond to the 

 music sell her and get the right kind. 



The State agricultural stations in many states have conducted experi- 

 ments and have proved that it is possible to make each hen pay a profit of 

 $1.50 to $2.00 per year. There are a number of egg farms, that make more 

 than this, because they can raise their own feed on a few acres of ground. 



