10 



THE CAL1L OF THE HEN. 



A Common Question Wisely Answered. 

 By Geo. Scott. 



Can a living be made from poultry? Probably there is no one 

 who has -attained distinction in the avicultural arena to whom 

 this question has not been put hundreds of times. And it is a 

 question of perennial interest to the poultry keeping public. 

 There are many people who will tell you that a living, and a 

 good living, can be made from poultry keeping alone and as 

 proof of their statement will point out the numerous men 

 whose names are household words in the fancy. On the other 

 hand a vast majority will most emphatically give uttenance to 

 statements calculated to deter any poultry keeping aspirant 

 and give weight to their contention by citing hundreds of 

 cases where men have tried and Hailed. ' Truly the mass of 

 evidence appears to be with the latter belief, for it is an indubit- 

 able fact that for every person who succeeds in this business 

 a hundred fail. But, looking at the mjatter from a logical 

 point of view, the fact that a minority rely on poultry for their 

 daily bread is ample evidence that it is quite possible to make 

 a living out of poultry keeping, and the abnormal number of 

 failures merely proves that the business is a difficult one. 



The fact that a man has failed in some other business takes 

 up poultry keeping with a like result, in no sense proves that 

 poultry keeping does not pay; it is only what could be expect- 

 ed, and any experienced aviculturist would have prophesied 

 such a result. It is, however, useless to explain such things 

 to the man who is contemplating starting a poultry farm. To 

 suggest that he is unfit for the task would be taken by him 

 as an insult, for the public, in its ignorance, has conceived the 

 idea that poultry management is the simplest work that any- 

 one can think of. In fact, I question whether an outsider con- 

 siders it to be work at all. 



Such a hold has this belief obtained on the man in the street 

 that it almost amounts to a superstition, and until the fallacy 

 is exploded the number of the unsuccessful will be constantly 

 increased. The public, apparently, cannot understand the 

 difference between keeping a few fowls as a paying hobby and 

 managing a poultry farm is an enormous one, and that the 



