THE CALL OF THE HEN. 11 
incurred in the management are infinitely heavier than in the case where 
utility. points are the only consideration. 
“IT would not advise anyone unversed in poultry-culture to give up 
''a situation, however poor, in order to go in for poultry-keeping as a 
means of earning a livelihood. To think of such a thing is foolish in 
the extreme, but for anyone to burn one’s boats behind one in this way 
would be suicidal. What I would suggest to poultry-keeping aspirants 
(and I believe the number of these reaches well into four figures) is that 
they should keep as many fowls as they can attend to properly in their 
spare hours, and see what profits they can make from the birds. Above 
all, they must find out if they have a genuine love for the work, for withr 
out this nothing can be done. When a name has been made as a breeder 
of good stock, then, and then only, is it time for the amateur to consider 
the advisability of adopting poultry-keeping as a business; and long 
before this point is reached the glamour of the idea may have faded 
for the life of a poultry-keeper is, contrary to popular belief, far from 
being a bed of roses. Practically all the men who are today making 
a living from poultry commenced keeping fowls as a hobby, and the 
knowledge and experience which they gained in this way enabled them 
to found the establishments which are to-day of world-wide reputation. 
“To those who are qualified for the work poultry-keeping offers 
a good living; but to the idle, the thriftless or the pleasure-seekers of 
this holiday-making age it offers more desolate prospects than any other 
trade or profession. In this business nothing but dogged determination 
will enable the beginner to climb the rugged, precipitous path to success, 
and anyone who is lacking in this essential, or who is afraid of hard, 
continuous work, will save himself the obloquy of failure by choosing 
some other field in which to exercise his powers.” 
“Tue Goop LItTLeE HEN. 
“What She Will Do for You if You Will Treat Her Right. 
“ By Mrs. A. Basley. 
“There is money in poultry for the man and especially for the 
woman that will dig it out. This I can assure the Fanciers’ Monthly 
readers, if they are in doubt. 
“ ‘Dig it out’ seems a curious way of putting it. When I spent 
a summer in a big mining camp in Colorado, I noticed a great many 
holes in the sides of the mountains. ‘Yes,’ said a miner, ‘and not 5 
per cent of those holes have paid.’ It was appalling to think of the 
thousands ‘of dollars lost in those holes. ‘Give me a hundred hens,’ 
said I. The money it took to dig one of those unprofitable holes would 
have started a fine poultry plant and the good’ little hens would have 
brought in a living for their owners. 
“There is money in poultry. Every inch of a hen is valuable. 
I would like to give you one of the values of the hen and what it costs 
to keep her. 
“First, there are the eggs she will lay, if properly fed and treated. 
Twelve dozen eggs per year is the average, although I personally know 
poultry plants now being’ operated in Southern California where the 
output, as shown by carefully kept records, is sixteen dozen per year. 
The average price at the Arlington Egg Ranch for the past year was 
