RANKIN'S DUCK BOOK 



tion had a diseased fowl. Within a year they had put up a 

 nice, warm building with a glass front, and their fowls had 

 been diseased ever since. They had shut their birds in a build- 

 ing that would run up to 100 degrees during the day and that 

 would go down nearly to zero at night, subjecting their fowls 

 to 1 hernial changes, under which neither animal or vegetable 

 life could possibly live, and then expect them to thrive. 



The amatuer poulterer should understand in the begin- 

 ning that it is far easier to anticipate disease in poultry than 

 to cure it. Where fowls are kept in large numbers, their health 

 and well-being can only be insured by extreme care and clean- 

 liness, together with a free use of disinfectants. Buildings 

 should be kept dry, clean and sweet, and not too warm. The 

 greater the variety of food the better, so long as it is healthy 

 and nutritious; while gravel, sand, shell and granulated char- 

 coal should be kept by them during confinement in winter. 



I am often asked by parties, "Why do so many would-be 

 poulterers fail if it is a legitimate business and fairly profii- 

 able?" I reply, I am not prepared to concede the point that 

 the proportional number of failures in the poultry business is 

 greater than among other vocations in life. Hundreds of men 

 fail every year in mercantile, manufactu'ring and brokerage 

 pursuits. People do not decry any legitimate business from 

 this cause, because they know there are hundreds who are not 

 only getting a livelihood, but are amassing fortunes at them. 

 There are hundreds, yes thousands, of farms on the market 

 in New England today, for less than the value of the buildings, 

 because their owners have made failures of them. Do men de- 

 nounce agriculture? No! Because they know that from time 

 immemorial men have not only secured an honest living, but 

 have gained a competence from tilling the soil. You simply 

 say that it is the men. Why not be equally frank with the 

 poultry business? 



They say the whole thing is contrary to nature, and you 

 can't improve upon nature. Can't we? That is just what 

 man is placed upon this sublunary sphere for, and he must 

 begin by improving himself. With the present opportunities 

 for obtaining information, no one has a right to remain ig- 

 norant because he begins by making a failure of himself; and 

 when a man has failed in the poultry business or elsewhere, 

 it is simply want of that indomitable pluck, energy, and per- 

 severence, which are the requisites of success everywhere, 

 coupled with a disclination to sacrifice his comfort and ease, 

 or conform his life to his business requirements. 



In fact, I know of no branch of farm industry that af- 

 fords so promising an outlook for an energetic young man as 



t 91 ] 



