12 "^ LITTLE JOURNEY 



paper for his 1921 annual catalogue bought and paid for it and had it stared 

 in Cleveland, doing this on his own account because the season before his 

 printers, a big concern in Cleveland, were delayed in getting the paper for his 

 catalogue, which caused him to be late in delivering the first lot of these 

 catalogues into the hands of old and new customers for the Sheppard Anconas. 

 Here let us digress a bit from our main line of thought and quote Mr. Sheppard 

 briefly. Said he to the writer: 



"Getting my big annual catalogue out on time, actually before January 

 1st of each year, is a very important matter with me. It has to serve as my 

 salesman and all inquirers want it promptly when they write for it. That is 

 very important, but here is another vital point: each season, starting with the 

 early spring when we take off our first hatches and continuing through until 

 jate fall or the beginning of the new year, I find it necessary in the regular 

 course of my business to make a cash outlay of thirty-five thousand to forty 

 thousand dollars in the cost of bringing to maturity about fifteen thousand 

 head of stock, in paying for printed matter, postage, etc., also for advertising 

 contracts, most of which are paid for in advance, thus to get the yearly cash 

 discounts. One can appreciate, therefore, the harm it would do me in making 

 annual sales if I were to run out of catalogues at a time of heavy inquiries, 

 or if the next edition were to be seriously late. 



ALSO PROTECTS BREEDING LINES 



"This same critical situation and it is critical confronts every poultry- 

 man in my position at all times with reference to his stock on hand, meaning 

 his most valuable specimens, including those that have won prizes and the 

 line-bred stock that produced them. For instance, imagine the plight I 

 would be in if a fire were to sweep over these thirteen acres of my home 

 breeding plant and destroy my best breeders, also several thousand head 

 of sale stock produced therefrom. But I am not taking any such risks. To 

 avoid doing so I not only am now having a large percentage of stock raised 

 each season on our southern plant in Tennessee and also on a dozen or more 

 nearby farms, but recently 1 have actually put out on these farms, in 

 known-to-be-trustworthy hands, a considerable number of my best breeders, 

 line-bred specimens, all properly leg banded that are competent to restock 

 with high-quality birds a new home plant if this one were to be destroyed by 

 fire or otherwise." 



But to get back to the "one big secret" which accounts mainly for Mr. 

 Sheppard's unexcelled business success in the poultry field. The foregoing 

 factors, each and everyone of them is no doubt important, but it struck us 

 forcibly at the time we were thinking on the subject at his home plant last fall 

 that after all else has been said about it, Mr. Sheppard could not have accomp- 

 lished what he has if the product in which he is dealing were not of high value, 

 as' measured by the needs and expectations of the purchasers, few or many. 

 And then this idea came to us: the place to find out whether or not Mr. Shep- 



