CHAPTER XI. 



POULTRY-KEEPING AS A BUSINESS. 



One newspaper correspondent asks how many fowls 

 will support a family of six persons, as though it was a 

 matter of figures, and only necessary to procure a certain 

 number of fowls and a house, and start them laying 

 eggs and producing chickens to secure a permanent in- 

 come. Now it is quite safe to say that any person who 

 knows so little about the trouble and risks of poultry- 

 keeping as this would fail in it and lose his money, un- 

 less he should start with a dozen or two fowls, and go 

 through an apprenticeship to the business. For a cer- 

 tain class of persons poultry-keeping is a very appro- 

 priate business, and may be made profitable. Those 

 who are possessed of plenty of patience and persever- 

 ance, kindness and gentleness of disposition, a scru- 

 pulous love of order and cleanliness, a habit of close 

 observation and quick perception, and a ready tact in 

 finding out the cause when anything goes wrong, and 

 in quickly remedying it, will generally succeed in keep- 

 ing poultry, while those not so endowed will generally 

 fail, and should never ?' tempt it. Again, one must be 

 able to justly appreck *e either the difficulties or ad- 

 vantages of his location, such as the character of the 

 land and its surroundings, the supply of food and the 

 available markets. It would be folly to keep fowls on 

 the borders of a forest or the margin of a swamp, on 

 account of the vermin which such places shelter; it 

 would be a great advantage to be located near a number 

 of summer boarding-houses, where there is a good de- 

 mand for eggs and chickens, or near a large city, where 

 early plump chickens sell sometimes for 75 cents a 

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