PO UL TR T- CRAFT. 195 



long as all poultry is sold for exactly what it is, and every transaction is open 

 and above board. If one tries to work off poor stock at the price of good, 

 or sells the same grade of stock at several prices according to what buyers 

 are willing to pay, trouble is sure to come of it. 



SELLING BREEDING STOCK AND EGGS FOR HATCHING. 



290. Advertising is the first step toward making sales of eggs or stock 

 of pure bred poultry. Without advertising, only a few neighborhood sales 

 can be made. Advertising in local newspapers does not often pay. The 

 consensus 'of opinion among successful advertisers of poultry, is that adver- 

 tising in other than poultry papers does not pay, though sometimes advertise- 

 ments in agricultural papers with good poultry departments, bring good 

 returns.* 



HOTV Much to Spend in Advertising is a perplexing question. It is 

 sometimes said that an advertiser ought to be satisfied for some time if his 

 sales from advertising are paying his advertising bills. Not many people, 

 however, can long afford to pay out good money for advertising which does 

 not result more substantially than that. If advertising is not bringing in sub- 

 stantial returns, the advertiser who is in the business for a living must look 

 for the reason, and find a remedy ; for there is no way in which money can 

 be thrown away faster, and with less hope of its ever coming back again, than 

 in advertising wrong. 



The first thing for a man to do when placing his advertising on a business 

 basis, is to decide how much he can afford to spend for advertising. If he 

 has income from other sources, it might pay him to spend for advertising in 

 the first season 25%, or even 50%, of what he estimates his produce would 

 bring if fairly well sold ; f but if he has no income other than from his poultry, 

 he cannot afford to plan for an expenditure for advertising to exceed 10% of 

 his most judicious estimate of sales resulting from advertising. The amount 

 thus appropriated may seem small ; it is the more needful that it be invested 

 wisely. Slow and sure is as good a rule now as it was when he began to 

 build, and to buy and breed stock. 



The next step is to find out what poultry papers have the best circulation 



* NOTE. Some very notable exceptions to the statement that general advertising does 

 not pay poultrymen, are worthy of mention. There are a few poultrymen who are both 

 extensive breeders of and dealers in poultry at popular prices, and these use the leading 

 magazines, and make it pay. 



t NOTE. Even conservative methods of " counting chickens before they are hatched," 

 are apt to result in excessive estimates. An expenditure for advertising of 50 per cent of 

 estimated possible sales, would be likely to turn out 100 per cent of the actual sales ; but 

 if the advertising appropriation had been made on the basis of 100 per cent of estimated 

 receipts, the poultryman would come out away behind. 



