MISTAKES DUE TO LACK OF EXPERIENCE. 55 



that a jiiece or kiiul of work becomes laigely mpchanlcal, head and hand working together 

 without consi;ious effort to keep their operations in harmony. 



Tha novice in poultry keeping who undertakes to establish and manage a plant all by him- 

 self, lias a great variety of unfamiliar things to think about. As the Irishman exprested it in 

 his parody on Poe's well known poem, " The Raven," he has to spend a great deal of time and 

 gray matter in " thinkin' thoughts he never thought of thiukin' of before." Pie also has to 

 learn lo do a number of things quite new to him, and as a re.-ult he does a great deal of hard 

 work both mental and physical, and has very little to show for it. 



Frequently he has never even seen a well equipped poultry plant, and has no knowledge at 

 all of good methods of doing the work on his plant. Often he makes very hard work of very 

 >irnple ihinL^s just because he has no one to tell him or show him what to do. 



But, after all, the work of caring for the poultry and the worry which this work causes an 

 inexperienced man or woman constitute the least part of the inexperienced proprietor's renl 

 troubles. Even before this work begins he is called upon to decide matters of deepest impcu- 

 tance to the success of his business while, as yet, his opinions on the subjects involved are Udt 

 worth a cent to himself or to anyone else. The result of this is that such beginners are con- 

 stantly doing things which to persons having any real working knowledge of the business, and 

 likewise to all persons in the habit of exercising plain practical common sense appear incredilily 

 stupid and altogether inexcusable. 



I had some correspondence not long ago with a man who was having a great deal of trouble 

 with roup and rheumatism in his flock. He used the most approved nmeiiies for both without 

 securing any permanent improvement in the general condition of his flock. After repeated 

 inquiries as to conditions I learned that his houses were located on low diimp ground, wheie 

 both soil anil atmosphere were objectionable from a poultryman's points of view. His houses 

 were only dry in periods of drouth, and often tliere was stagnant water all around them. He 

 had not even the excuse of having had the place already on his hands before he went into 

 poultry to ofl'er, nor could he plead that he did not know that the location was unfavorable. 



He had liought this land for a poultry farm because he had made up his mind to try poultry 

 keeping, and this was the only farm he had lieen able to find within the limited time he allowed 

 himself to find a farm that came within bis means, and he hiid thought ihat even with ihe di— 

 advantages of this location he could — by giving his fowls special care — make enough in a few 

 years to buy a more suitable farm. 



I could give numerous similar instances where people have deliberately gone contrary lo the 

 known teachings of experience, because that expeiience not being personal to themselves, they 

 could not realize the danger and folly of rejecting its lessons. Had they learned the business 

 first under a competent instructor they would not have been likely to go badly wrong, for the 

 habit of doing a thing right often keeps one out of trouble, even if he does not understand the 

 reasons for the method he uses — and has never seen a practical demonstration of the conse- 

 quences of doing that particular thing in some wrong way. Someone has said, " Success does 

 not consist in never making mistakes, but in never making the, same mistake twice." I don't 

 think that assertion will bear a very close analysis; very few generalizations of the kind will; 

 but it certainly has a great deal of truth in it. 



As I look back over the years when I was learning poultry keeping — experience made largely 

 of mistakes — I recall that at the close of each season I used to note, in reviewing that season's 

 work, that my marked progress had been principally along the one or two lines in which I 

 had found most discouragement and loss in the previous season, and to which I had therefore 

 triven most thought and attention; and in the next season work on those lines was compara- 

 tivelv easy, had perhaps advanced to the mechanical stage, and more time could be given to 

 some other troublesome matter. 



Tliis was progress, and there was a certain satisfaction in working things out for oneself, 

 but it was a slow and laborious progress, and the cost was enormously greater than if I had 

 learned tlie business in the right way. 



There is another way in which poultry keeping is hard for most people — and very hard for 

 some— which few think of until they learn it by experience. 



The business is very confining, and so In time becomes monotonous. 



