CHAPTER XI. 
POULTRY-KEEPING AS A BUSINESS. 
One newspaper correspondent asks how many fowls 
will support a family of six persons, as though it was a 
matter of figures, and only necessary to procure a certain 
number of fowls and a kease, and start them laying 
eggs and producing chickens to secure a permanent in- 
come. Now it is quite sate to say that any person who 
knows so little about the trouble and risks of poultry- 
keeping as this would fail in it and lose his money, un- 
less he should start with a dozen or two fowls, and go 
through an apprenticeship to the business. For a cer- 
tain class of persons poultry-keeping is a very appro- 
priate business, and may be made profitable. Those 
who are possessed of plenty of patience and persever- 
ance, kindness and gentleness of disposition, a scru- 
pulous love of order and cleanliness, a habit of close 
observation and quick perception, and a ready tact in 
finding out the cause when anything goes wrong, and 
in quickly remedying it, will generally succeed in keep- 
ing poultry, while those not so endowed will generally 
fail, and should never attempt it. Again, one must be 
able to justly appreciate either the difficulties or ad- 
vantages of his location, such as the character of the 
land and its surroundings, the supply of food and the 
available markets. It would be folly to keep fowls on 
the borders of a forest or the margin of a swamp, on 
account of the vermin which such places shelter; it 
would be a great advantage to be located near a number 
of summer boarding-houses, where there is a good de- 
mand for eggs and chickens, or near a large city, where 
early plump chickens sell sometimes for %5 cents a 
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