STARTING IN THE BUSINESS 



man to do it all for him; that is, do all the managing, for if he 

 is able he will be doing it for himself. He can have fun if he 

 wishes, for he can get men who will about make the expenses 

 of the place; but the man who does not know his own business 

 had better not try to run it unless for experiment. 



A. 16. Learn it with a good firm. 



A. 17. Leghorns and Wyandottes. 



A. 18. They are thoroughly practical breeds. If you 

 have utility breeds you have a big sale for market and you have 

 the fancy too, for they are fancy as any breeds. There is no 

 breed of the egg-producing class equal to the Leghorns, all things 

 considered. The Wyandottes are the best in the world in the 

 meat class. 



A. 19. White or Silver Penciled Wyandottes. 



A. 20. I have found them good layers and large enough 

 for meat trade, and not so liable to be killed by improper feeding 

 as the Rocks. I have had a good many years to study this 

 and think I am right. 



means, either with stock or eggs or both. Do not attempt to 

 establish a "large business" in too short a time. Meantime 

 treat the business as you would any other business, i. e., give it 

 your undivided time and attention and use the best business 

 judgment. 



A. 17. Buff Plymouth Rocks. 



A. 18. First: As "fancy" poultry, by that I mean exhi- 

 bition specimens, there is always a demand at large prices. 



Second: As market poultry there is no breed that can 

 surpass them. They can be grown to two or three pounds 

 weight as chicks in less time and at less cost, and with less care 

 than any variety that I know anything about. As egg producers 

 the tests and records will show that they are the equals of any 

 breed, with this in their favor they do their heaviest laying 

 during the months when eggs bring the highest prices. 



POPULAR BREEDS BEST 



CORRECT MATING NECESSARY 



ANYONE CAN BREED POULTRY BUT EX- 

 HIBITION SPECIMENS ARE ANOTHER 

 PROPOSITION— EXPERIENCE IS REQUIRED 



F. C. SHEPHERD, Toledo, Ohio. 



BREEDER OF BUFF PLYMOUTH ROCKS 



A. 9. I would buy the best trio or pair of fowls that I 

 could afford, also eggs from two or three reliable breeders. 



A. 10. From a trio or pair I could breed a lot sufficient 

 to give me a start, but if they had not been mated right the 

 whole seasons' work might be lost. If I had chicks frotn several 

 other strains I could select the best from all and re-mate them 

 for my second seasons' breeding with more certainty of the re- 

 sults. Also by having the blood of several strains I could cross 

 them or breed them straight and note results and cull or abandon 

 such as did not show improvement, and in this way gradually 

 work to build up a strain of my own. 



A. 11. My advice would be to buy eggs, raise all the 

 •chicks possible from them. The following season kill all the 

 mongrel males he has. Breed that season from the pure-breds, 

 males only. By following this plan for two or three seasons 

 he will be free of his mongrels and have a flock of pure-breds. 



A. 12. The same as Nos. 9 and 10. Selection of the 

 finest to sell for exhibition or breeding purposes, after selecting 

 his own breeders. Sell the cuUs or those not needed as market 

 poultry. 



A. 13. Buy the best trio or pen that it is possible to get, 

 properly mated for breeding exhibition specimens. Be content 

 -to breed a limited number and to only keep a limited number 

 until the business is learned. Anybody can breed poultry, but 

 breeding exhibition specimens is another proposition. You can- 

 not teach anyone how to breed exhibition specimens by simply 

 "telling them. You might as well try to teach a boy to swim 

 by telling him how you do it; throw him in where it is over his 

 head a few times and he will learn himself. The beginner must 

 first have his breeding birds properly mated and then breed and 

 keep only a limited number until he learns, not what some one 

 tells him, but all the little "ifs, ans, ins and outs" that only come 

 -with practice and experience. 



A. 14. Buy eggs from the most reliable breeders and get 

 the best you can afford. 



A. 15. Employ a competent man and let him do the 

 inanaging. 



A. 16. Begin in a small moderate way according to the 



GET SOLID FOUNDATION STOCK — START 

 WITH ONE BREED AND GROW UP WITH IT 



AUGUST D. ARNOLD, Dillsburg, Pa. 



COLUMBIAN V^TANDOTTE SPECIALIST 



A. 9. Both. 



A. 10. Both are good to start with. If I had plenty -of 

 money I would buy the best pen of fowls I could get, regardless 

 of price, in fact, would get a number of pens and get a good 

 start as quickly as possible. If limited in means would then buy 

 eggs from an honest breeder, but never from a man who sells 

 eggs at $1. per sitting, for no man can sell good eggs at such 

 prices, unless his object is to benefit humanity at his own ex- 

 pense. Neither would I buy from a man who breeds sixty 

 varieties of fowls. 



A. 11. I would advise him to buy pure-bred males and 

 cross on the mongrels. We have seen common dunghills crossed 

 in this way with the best results, both as to looks of the flock 

 and as to improvement for market and in laying qualities. 



A. 12. Let him start with a variety that is a well known 

 all purpose fowl. CuU well, and sell for market each year such 

 as are inferior in fancy points. Keep only the best males. 

 Farmers are the only ones who can sell eggs for $1. per 15, 

 having a number of males running with the whole flock and not 

 pretending to breed for fancy points. 



A. 13. Get a variety that has a solid foundation as to 

 their make up. A general purpose fowl that is a pretty fowl 

 and useful both as to market and the fancy. A new breed or 

 variety of fowls for a beginner is better than an old breed. He 

 starts in with the new breed and grows up with it, and from the 

 start stands a good chance to make sales. If he takes up an 

 old variety he is in a crowd of hundreds and maybe thousands, 

 he stands only one chance in a thousand to make a sale and is 

 discouraged and goes out. In the selection of a new breed of 

 fowls he must use good judgment, for most of the new breeds 

 and varieties have not a solid foimdation and they fall by the way. 



A. 14. Get a few sittings of eggs from a specialist of 

 known reputation. Choose a variety of fowls that you fancy. 

 Select the best each season. When having a good start in 

 numbers place a small ad in a poultry paper, then keep the object 

 in view to do as you wish to be done by. Show at a county 

 fair, but never till you have something good to show. 



A. 15. Take up a popular variety or breed that has been 

 made so by its own merits. Buy stock and eggs from the best 

 breeders, no matter about the price. Get the best anyway. 

 Become a specialist and give all your time and attention to one 

 breed. Go to some successful breeder and get all the pointers 



37 



