246 Profitable Poultry Keeping. 



geous to have them. But so far as those are concerned who 

 look upon their poultry as a means of adding to' their income, 

 and with whom they must be profitable if kept at all, it is 

 almost essential that they should set down every item of 

 expenditure and receipt, not only for reference and as a 

 means of seeing whether the fowls pay, but also for future 

 guidance. Armed with a full and faithful record of a year's 

 work, an intelligent poultry keeper will be able to avoid past 

 mistakes, to see in what direction he may develop his busi- 

 ness, with the greatest probabilities of success, to know 

 which breeds have proved the most profitable, what expenses 

 can be cut down, and, it may be, can discover how to turn 

 a loss into a profit. Figures are stubborn things, but a 

 study of them has saved many a man from ruin, and we 

 believe that in every pursuit of life, whether it be our ordinary 

 affairs, or those outside things which minister to our plea- 

 sures, but especially in matters of business, a strict account 

 should be kept of every item of expenditure. Without 

 this, there is great danger of getting the balance on the 

 wrong side. We have no wish to write a homily on the 

 economies of life, though such a subject is full of the deepest 

 interest, but this is not the proper place for it. We urge 

 every one, however, whether the number of his birds be small 

 or great, to keep an account of the same. The cost of a 

 book in which to keep the account, need not be more than a 

 shilling or two, and, except where very large numbers are 

 kept, one book will be sufficient. A quarto book, bound in 

 boards, ruled with % and cts. columns, and containing about 

 a hundred pages, can be obtained for a quarter, and the 

 majority of our readers will find this as large as they will 

 require. 



The poultry keeper must begin his account by taking stock 

 of all his birds, houses and appliances on hand at the beginning 



