LACK OF JUDGMENT AND STABILITY. 59 



tliinga left uuOoiie lor lauk of time — there are plenty of such thiiiga on tbe average |iouliiy 

 plunt — or take a little needed recreation. ' 



Tiiere are a great many old poultrymen who have their work so well eystematizeil tliiit it 

 would b^ hard to plan such a saving in time as this. Tlje old hand's shortcomings in tiuli 

 matters are generally limited to occasional tusks. His regular work as a rule he has, as the 

 saying is, down fine. But nearly all beginners, and most of those who, alter a lew years hanl 

 work, are still creeping along on the ragged edge of failure, could save much more than a half 

 an hour each day. 



The olil method ol learning a trade, when a boy worked as an apprentice lor a number of 

 years, and then as a journeyman traveled about, working a short time in each of a number of 

 places, is the ideal way of learning poultry keeping. I sometimes think that we will never 

 know just what can be done with poultry until we have among poultrj men a considerable num- 

 ber of bright intelligent men who have grown up in the business, and tlius learned it more 

 thoroughly than most ol those who pick it up later in life ever can know it. When that time 

 comes we may look to see successful poultry plants on a very large scale — and until then I do 

 not think we shall. 



I have already referred incidentally to the aptitude tor the work ol caring lor live stock as a 

 factor in successful poultry keeping. If we attempt to analyze this faculty we find that it con- 

 sists mostly of good judgment as to the condition and needs of each animal; and if we try to 

 learn the history, or trace tlie development of tliis faculty in individuals, we find that it is a 

 natural talent developed l)y experience and training. Where the talent is conspicuous, the per- 

 son possessing it will lie quite successful from the first with almost any kind ol live stock, and 

 in time will become notaljly successful. Where it is of less degree, experience and training — 

 in inverse ratio to the amount of talent — are required to make one proficient in the manage- 

 ment of live stock. Where this laeulty or talent is wholly wanting, I do not think it possiliie 

 lor the person so deficient to ever attain any respectable measure of success. His occasional 

 successes will, as a rule, l)e purely accidental. The proportion of persons thus deficient is 

 probably small — or appears so because lew of them attempt to go into stock breeding. Yet, 

 first and last, a great many such persons do engage in poultry keeping, and if they are ol per- 

 severing disposition, peg away at it for a long time belore they come to a realization of their 

 unfitness for the work. 



A very common idea, which seems to me wholly wrong, is that love ol animals is an impor- 

 tant factor in al)ility to manage them well. 



A great many prospective poultry keepers mention that as the first and most important ol 

 their qualifications lor making a success with poultry. 



As far as I have been able to analyze the conditions ol success in handling live stock, a love, 

 or strong liking lor animals, and good judgment in caring lor them are two entirely independ- 

 ent attributes. They are Irequently lound existing together, and sometimes one helps the 

 other; but an excess ol affection for animals is apt to bias one's judgment as to their needs. 

 The cultivation of the calculating spirit in considering animals is quite essential in one who 

 keeps them lor profit, and this spirit is likely to develop <■ very cold blooded matter-ol-fact 

 brand ol the article called love. 



A strain ol fickleness in a person's character is likely to develop in various ways when he 

 engages in poultry keeping, and nearly always in ways detrimental to the success ol his busi- 

 ness in poultry. 



Perhaps the most noteworthy illustration ol this is lound in the case of persons who are con- 

 tinually changing breeds of fowls, never keeping anyone long enough to know what it is or 

 what they can do with it. It takes several >ears ol careful handling and close observation to 

 show one just what his stock is, and if he is breeding for lancy points generally several years 

 more are required to get the stock on such looting that he is at all sure ol results Irom it. 



This being the case. It is as clearly impossible for one who changes breeds every year or two 

 to make any perceptible progress as it was lor the Irog in tbe well which, in the catch problem 

 in the old mental arithmetics, was said to crawl up three leet every day, and slip back lour feet 

 every night. 



