SUCCESS WITH POULTRY 



crank! He either has had, has now, or wiUhav* sometime 

 in his life what is called the ' ' chicken fever. ' ' The point is 

 this: Everyone of these men believes he has a plan in his. 

 head out of which he can make big money in the poultry 

 business. The milk of human kindness is so plentiful that 

 each one of these men is willing to try his plan on some 

 friend or neighbor. We want to advise the reader in all 

 seriousness against being that "friend or neighbor." You 

 really cannot afford it; In ninety-nine cases out of a hun- 

 dred these well-meaning men do not know east from west 

 in the poultry business. Their knowledge consists of 75 per 

 cent of hope and enthusiasm and 25 per cent of what they 

 have read, seen and heard here, there and everywhere. These 

 men are dangerous advisers — look out for them. 



A Montana woman came 1,300 miles to consult the writer 

 about embarking in the 'business of producing eggs for mar- 

 ket. We said to her, "Madam, write out a check for $25, 



inclose it in a letter of inquiry to Mr. and ask him to 



kindly write out for you in black and white a full account 

 of his fifteen years' experience in this line of work, stating 



fi V/n 



lit I 



I 





A Pair of Full-Feathered Buff 'Cochins. 



in full the mistakes made by him, what they cost him, how 

 he overcame 'every obstacle, what measure of success he 

 has met with, etc. When he writes you all about it, 

 advising you, as he will, just how in his opinion you should 

 proceed, make up your mind once for all to follow his ad- 

 vice closely, disregarding anything and everything any olie 

 else tells you. Beware of the man who has a planbutwho has- 

 never had actual experience. Above all things distrust 

 your own pet schemes and ideas, based as they are on theo- 

 ry and -lead- pencil work rather than on actual experience. 

 Do this, stick to it we.t or dry, hot or cold, and you should be 

 able to succeed. Pay precious little attention to what inter- 

 ested friends tell you and steer clear of the worthless poultry 

 paper. Fully 75 per cent of the stuff that is printed in vari- 

 ous poultry papers and m the poultry departments of the 

 average agricultural paper is clear gu«t»3 work. It is not 



only valueless, but dangerous, for the man or woman who 

 does not know any better, may accept and follow bad advice 

 just as eagerly as pure gospel, but the outcome will be very 

 different. Above all things, you want the best that money 

 will buy in the shape of advice, and really valuable advice 

 generally costs something. That which we get for nothing 

 is too often worth no more than it costs. 



PURE-BRED OR MONGREL STOCK. 



No man is justified in handling mongrel poultry— not in 

 this day and age of the world. It is the same with, poultry 

 as with horses, or cattle, or sheep, or hogs— the most money - 

 is to be made in producing thorough-bred or standard-bred 

 stock. It takes no more house room or yard room, no more 

 feed, no more time and labor to raise 100 or 1,000 pure blood 

 fowls than it does to raise an equal number of mongrels, but 

 the value of the product in one case ranges from twice to 

 several times as much as in the other, according to your 

 sKili as a breeder; and the market you reach. 



In tjiis day of over-production (so-caUed), what is want- 

 ed in many lines of effort is quality, not quan- 

 tity alone. We have too much quantity and 

 not enough quality. There is a premium in 

 every market on quality, and that premium is 

 nine-tenths profit. When asked by the inexper- 

 ienced "Which will pay the best, breeding 

 thouorghbred poultry, or raising poultry for 

 market?" we invariably answer, "Unite the 

 two. ' ' If you are a farmer or villager and have 

 mongrel stock, make up your minds to work into 

 pure-bred stock as soon as you can, without un- 

 wise haste or expense. If you have no stock at 

 all, decide upon some plan of securing pure-bred 

 st(?ck. It may be wise for you to get some mon- 

 grels to telp make your start in the business, 

 but by all means lay your plans with a view 

 to handling nothing but pure-bred stock at the 

 earliest date consistent with your capital and 

 opportunities. 



"SILVER WYANDOTTES VS. 



"DUNG-HILL SOUPERS." 



"Armour & Co., are killing and dressing 

 three thousand to six thousand head of chickens 

 a day; it would pay you to see their place; you 

 would get some interesting facts," wrote Mr. 

 Hawk, of Kansas City, when we were consider- 

 ing the advisability of a trip west this winter. 

 A few days later while turning over the pages 

 of the Midland Poultry Journal (of Kansas 

 City) we came upon an advertisement of Messrs. Ar- 

 mour & Co., urging farmers to - get thoroughbred Wyan- 

 dotte, Plymouth Eock or Indian Game males to improve 

 the quality of their poultry. 'That certainly is unique.' 

 we thought. 'There is a meaning to that, if we could only 

 get at it. Business men are not as a rule, paying advertis- 

 ing, bills without there being reasonable grounds for expect- 

 ing returns in the shape of profits.' 



That advertised advice was a puzzle, and the solution of 

 the puzzle was one of the first things we asked, for when 

 we stepped off the train at Kansas City, and found Mr. 

 Hawk awaiting us. It is a simple story. Armour & Co. have 

 added poultry dressing and shipping, to their beef, mutton 

 and pork packing and shipping. One day last fall there 

 came to the slaughter house, among a great many other 

 coops of chickens, several coops containing "culls" from a 



