No. 4.] POULTRY KEEPING. 101 



net profits sink below the figure $1, and perhaps $1.40 per hen 

 would be a better and fairer average, taking year after year. 



The man who is in touch with retail trade may increase his 

 profits much a])(>ve this figure, though in a sense this increase 

 will be only the legitimate compensation for his increased 

 labor; and if this labor had been expended in caring for an 

 increased number of fowls, the results might be as good or 

 even better. The fact, then, may be taken as granted, — a 

 good hen is worth $1 per year net earnings, if properly cared 

 for ; all that is made above or below this sum is due directly or 

 indirectly to the third " P " in our " mess," viz., — 



Third, the Personality of the Proprietor. — We have al- 

 ready said that a man wdio does not, and cannot learn to, 

 like a hen will never succeed as a poultryman. There is some- 

 thing in the fitness of a man for his business that settles the 

 matter of his success or failure often even before he attempts 

 it. We believe there are more farm failures from this than 

 from any other one cause. The average small farm holder 

 is a man of many interests. In some of his branches of hus- 

 bandry he is an adept, and here he succeeds. In others his 

 labor is fraught with failure because he does not like or under- 

 stand the work ; but it is the custom for the small farmer to 

 have about so many " irons in the fire," and so he continues 

 to be a failure. If, instead, every small land holder would 

 choose just those lines of work he loves, educate himself in 

 them and learn to perfect them under his personal care, then 

 would failure disappear. The proprietor of the poultry plant 

 is the one great factor ; he determines whether it is to be a 

 success or a failure. It is not the hen or the breed, but the 

 man, who succeeds or fails. 



Given the man who enjoys working for profits on a poultry 

 plant, and we next need, — 



Fourth, a Pen or Poultry House. — There are really but 

 three kinds of poultry houses, the long house, the " A " house, 

 and the makeshift. There may be many variations of each ; 

 the long house may be cut up into short sections, or prolonged 

 indefinitely ; the " A " house may be open or closed, floored 

 and on runners, or floorless on the ground; but really there 



