NO LARGE. INDUCEMENTS FOR THOSL DOING WLLL. 71 



surplus, and in a general way by taking precautions to avoid the losses which often gre;.tly 

 reduce the stocks of fowls and flocks of chickens. Along these lines of saving and judicious 

 handling there are good opportunities for greater profits with little additional expense some- 

 times with no increase of cost whatever. 



Beyond this, the farmer may go into any of the special branches of poultry culture as far as 

 circumstances, inclination, and experience take him. He as well as another may be a fancier, 

 breeder, and exhibitor of fine fowls. His opportunities for producing them are second to 

 none, and as they are sold principally through mail orders, location cuts very little figure in 

 that line of the business. He may grow broilers, or raise winter chickens for roasters, if hi* 

 location favors, and other demands on his time permit. He may also combine, as only those 

 located on farms can, the growing of the several kinds of domestic fowls, and keep in addition 

 to his chickens, flocks of turkeys, ducks, and geese. 



The farmer who becomes interested in poultry will see possibilities of profit in all these line*. 

 If he develops in any direction slowly he avoids making serious ami expensive mistake-.. 

 People often write me for instruction as to the best way to begin, to avoid mistakes, saying : 

 " I have only a small capital, and I must start right, t cannot afford to make any mistakes." 



It is not possible to altogether avoid mistakes, but there is one sure way of avoiding bad mis- 

 takes, and expensive mistakes, and that way is well stated in the old maxim, " hasten slowh .'' 

 If one observes that rule he finds his knowledge of poultry and his capacity and skill in man- 

 aging it growing as his stock increases, and though his mistakes may temporarily hinder him at 

 times they are not likely to cause his failure. 



What Poultry Culture Offers Those in Other Occupations. 



It may safely be put down as :t general rule that a person who has a business or occupation 

 in which he is making a living ought not to change abruptly to a line of which he knows noth- 

 ing, and in whi^h his prospects are uncertain. Yet I suppose that at least three-fifths of tho-e 

 who come or write to me to ask how they can get started in poultry keeping belong to this class. 

 They are for the most part persons who are dissatisfied with their present occupation, ai.ci 

 chafing under its unpleasant feature!*. Their interest in poultry commonly springs from 

 impressions of it derived from hearsay or from occasional extravagant references to it jn 

 newspapers. Almost invariably they regard it as a business singularly free from drawbacks 

 and holding possibilities of big incomes made by the hens, while the keeper takes it easy. They 

 also believe that a poultry business large enough to give them a living income can be built up in 

 a few months on a capital that would be too small to be of any use in most lines of business. 

 This belief is so diligently fostered by the poultry press, by poultry writers in agricultun I 

 papers, and by those interested in the sale of equipments and supplies for poultnrnen that it 

 becomes a very hard matter to convince a man once imbued with it that it is wronir. 



Unless one is so situated that he or some member of his family equally interested in poultry 

 can give the flock all necessary attention, and can both increase the flock, and constantly 

 increase the time given it as the growth of the flock calls for more and more oj the keeper's 

 time, it is quite useless to make a start with a small flock with the expectation of gradually 

 developing. To do ?o is like planting a tree in a sp-ice which will be ample for only a few 

 years. When the tree out-rows the space it is an incumbrance. And that is very apt to 1 e 

 the case with a poultry business started under conditions which limit its development loi g 

 before it has reached the point where the proprietor is justified in making it of first importatu e. 



Poultry culture has no encouraging offers to. make the man already established in something 

 else, doing reasonably well in it, and not under necessity of making some ch:inge. In almo- 1 

 every case where people quit other employment to engage in and learn poultry keeping tin y 

 soon find that they have made a mistake. It might not be so, if they were willing to learn the 

 poultry business before going into it, but nearly all of them are unwilling to take a thorough 

 training. Almost as often as I suggest this course to an inquirer or correspondent the reply 

 is:'* I don't want to do that. I learned my present business that way years ago. I am too 

 old to do it that way. I can't afford to t:ike the time. C;t:i*t I just begin and learn poultry 

 keeping by keeping poultry? Doesn't my training in the other line count for anything in this?* 



The reply is : One can learn poultry keeping by engaging in it on bis own account, and pay- 



