CHAPTER VII 
HOW I BEGAN AS AN EGG-FARMER 
beginning as an egg-farmer. While it is a remarkable 
record it is by no means unique. I link it up with the story 
of another ‘Man of Kent,” Mr Hall of Grove Hill, West 
Peckham, Maidstone. I do not know Mr Hall, have never spoken 
to him, but when his balance-sheet was published in The Journal 
for the Board of Agriculture, I got into communication with him 
and he sent me the balance-sheet in detail, which I reproduce at 
the end of this chapter. The difference between Mr Hall and 
myself is that he had kept chickens for years while I was a mere 
novice at the business. Our methods also were different. He 
used the ordinary old-fashioned wet-mash feeding, while I used the 
dry-mash method from the beginning, and I am so convinced of 
the labour saving in the latter method, apart from anything 
else, that I mean to stick to it to the end. The comparative 
value of the two systems is dealt with in the chapter on 
Feeding. 
My capital was strictly limited, but I reasoned that to make 
sure one ought to buy one’s original stock from a reputable man 
and pay the full market price for it. There is no business on earth 
where the cheap and nasty element is so common as in poultry- 
farming. There is, I regret to say, a section of the poultry world 
that lives by fraud. There is more downright swindling in the 
poultry business than in horse-dealing. You may buy a horse 
from an advertisement, but never buy a fowl excepting on approval. 
When I began the business I bought my birds from a reputable 
man and paid a lot for them. My Leghorn pullets—70 of them— 
cost 10s. each, my Leghorn hens—40 of them—cost 6s. each. I 
have not regretted the deal. By a stroke of luck I bought 40 
58 
I HERE give for the first time the true story of my own 
