2l8 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



who would succeed in a business composed almost wholly 

 of small detail work, and having many small sources 

 of loss and profit, must have better business instinct than 

 is necessary to the one who is to handle work with less 

 detail. Perhaps this is in direct opposition to the gen- 

 eral belief, but I have seen it demonstrated too often 

 not to insist on my point. If the learner have the right 

 habit of mind, he can master the operations necessary ; 

 if not, teaching, and even experience, will not make him 

 an expert. 



Mr. M. Hastings, in his " The Dollar Hen," lays 

 chief stress on keeping down labor, and keeping down 

 expenses. In the number of those engaged in it, he 

 states, the " chicken business " is the largest industry in 

 the world. A practical man, himself, he says to the 

 " Man-Who-Wants-to-Know," with considerable vigor : 

 " If your climate will not permit the hen to live outdoors, 

 get out of the climate, or get out of the hen business." 

 This would cut the (literal) ground from under far 

 more than half the poultry raisers of our big country, 

 as none 'of us at the North have the advantage of a 

 climate where the hen can live outdoors throughout the 

 year. Even though this were sound common sense, it 

 would be no solution of the question for the common 

 run of inquirers, because the average man wants to 

 know how to raise poultry with credit and cash surpluses 

 just where he is. To be sure, Mr. Hastings, was refer- 

 ring specifically to those who would start commercial 

 poultry plants, or those who might wish to make a liv- 

 ing from poultry alone ; which fact somewhat restricts 

 his words from universal application. 



Whatever we may or may not say about a certain 



