IS THERE MONEY IN POULTRY? 
Why is this true? Primarily because the hen is a natural 
Part of the equipment of every farm and of many village 
homes as well. It is these millions of small flocks that count 
up in dollars and men and give such an immense aggregate. 
More than ninety-eight per cent. of the poultry and eggs of 
the country are produced on the general farm. The remain- 
ing one or two per cent. are produced on farms or plants 
where chicken culture is the cash crop or chief business of the 
farmer. It is this business, relatively small, though actually 
a matter of millions, that is commonly spoken of as the poul- 
try business, and about which our chief interest centers. A 
farmer can disregard all knowledge and all progress and still 
keep chickens, but the man who has no other means of a live- 
lihood must produce chicken products efficiently, or fail al- 
together—hence the greater interest in this portion of the 
_industry. 
The poultry business as a business to occupy a man’s time 
and earn him a livelihood, is a thing of recent origin and was 
little heard of before 1890. Since that time it has undergone 
a somewhat painful, though steady growth. Many people have 
lost money in the business and have given it up in disgust, 
but on a whole the business has progressed wonderfully, and 
now shows features of development that are clearly beyond 
the experimental stage and are undoubtedly here to stay. 
The suggestion has been made by those who have failed or 
have seen others fail in the poultry business, that success was 
impossible because of the destructive competition of the farm- 
er, whose expense of production is small. Herein lies a great 
truth and a great error. The farmer’s cost of production is 
small, much smaller than that on most of the book-made poul- 
try farms—but the inference that the poultryman’s cost of 
production cannot be lowered below that of the farmer is a 
different statement. 
The farm of our grandfather was a very diversified insti- 
tution. It contained in miniature a’ woolen mill, a packing 
house, a cheese factory, perhaps a shoe factory and a black- 
smith shop. One by one these industries have been with- 
drawn from general farm-life, and established as independent 
businesses. Likewise our dairy farms, our fruit farms, and 
our market gardens have been segregated from the general 
farm. This simply means that manufacturing cloth, or cheese, 
or producing milk, or tomatoes can be done at less cost in 
separate establishments than upon a general farm. 
The general farm will always grow poultry for home con- 
sumption, and will aways have some surplus to sell. With the 
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