IN THE BEGINNING 15 
and I consulted various experts. I did not take any lessons, did 
not become a pupil, nor attend a “ course” at a college. I would 
probably have done better if I had taken a few lessons before 
starting—the experience might have saved time and money in 
the end. I do not advise others to do exactly as I did, but as 
matters turned out luckily for me, I have little to regret. 
At the same time my success, which is neither isolated nor 
unique, goes to prove that poultry-keeping and poultry-farming 
can be undertaken without any special knowledge, by most 
persons of average intelligence. I claim to be a person of average 
intelligence—no more, no less. I did not “go at it blind,” but my 
eyes were only opened step by step. Even now I have much to 
learn and probably always will remain in that delightfully un- 
finished state. The man who is too proud to learn will never get 
near the top. 
My argument is that if I could succeed, you, dear reader, could 
hardly fail. So essentially profitable is poultry-farming that it 
was a very long time before I discovered how it was possible to 
fail at it, but I suppose there are people who are so constituted 
that they would fail with a gold mine in their back-yard. 
One cold day I called upon a man who had started a poultry 
farm. It was about noon and I found him smoking a pipe with 
his feet in front of a roaring fire. Very nice, and very comfort- 
able! Who would not be a poultry-farmer ? I thought. 
In the course of conversation I discovered that he had not fed 
his fowls that morning. No, he confessed, he had not exactly 
forgotten about them. He had meant to go out hours earlier, 
only his breakfast and a pipe and the morning paper intervened. 
I was present at the settling-up of that man. He was still 
smoking his pipe, and no doubt wondering where he had gone 
wrong and why he had failed. Some people never learn. 
If there be such among my readers, they should not touch 
poultry-farming or any other industry. The only safety for them 
is to convert all their cash into an annuity and live (or rust) on 
the result. 
Another class of people who rush into poultry-farming is 
