ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF POULTRY CULTURE 29 



described presently), and occasionally instances of individuals who, 

 because of special advantages, were able to make a living when the 

 majority failed, or because they were satisfied with simpler living. 

 The reasons for the persistence of efforts to establish poultry plants 

 on intensive lines, notwithstanding the failures, are briefly : 



1 . The prevailing tendencies of the times to extend the appli- 

 cation of mechanical ideas in all pursuits, to carry the division of 

 labor to an extreme, and to specialize in production. 



2. That the greatest actual production is obtained by intensive 

 culture, and the common methods of reckoning profits make it 

 appear that profit is in proportion to production. 



3. That large projects on this basis are extensively exploited in 

 print, both in advance of their establishment and while in opera- 

 tion, but notice of their abandonment is rarely published. 



4. That persons becoming interested in the financial possibili- 

 ties of poultry keeping almost invariably turn from information or 

 advice not in accord with their wishes, and follow an alluring 

 counsel, regardless alike of the warnings of better authorities, of 

 the experience of others, and of their own common sense. 



With such potent influences operating to induce men to exhaust 

 both capital and ingenuity before admitting that intensive methods 

 were not adapted to continuous poultry culture, the facts as to the 

 general status of the industry, though obvious when seen from a 

 right point of view, secured no wide recognition until the effort to 

 establish poultry culture on an intensive basis had passed its cul- 

 mination and the developments along natural lines had reached a 

 stage where a fair general comparison of results plainly showed 

 that permanent poultry culture must, as a rule, be part of a diver- 

 sified agriculture. The reasons for this will become apparent as 

 the subject is developed in this book. 



Poultry culture is a necessary feature in agriculture. The 

 various kinds of poultry, alike in their general adaptability to the 

 land and to conditions of agricultural life, are so different in struc- 

 ture and habits that full utilization of the opportunities which a 

 farm affords for the profitable production of poultry nearly always 

 requires the keeping of more than one of the common kinds. 

 Often fowls, turkeys, ducks, and geese may all be kept to advan- 

 tage. When the area of land cultivated is too small to be called 



