HOW I BEGAN AS AN EGG-FARMER 65 
It is now a question of what should be allowed for depreciation 
of stock and buildings. The stock, with the exception of eight 
deaths, is still intact, and the new pullets are as good as the old. 
I have the old stock to breed from next season, when the birds 
will be two years old, and the progeny should be better than ever. 
If I allow £10 for depreciation and loss it will be ample. The 
buildings are none the worse for wear, but a ten per cent. deprecia- 
tion will leave them “free” in ten years’ time, when they will 
have many years of usefulness. Ten per cent. on £60, is £6; 
therefore, if I deduct £16 from a gross profit of £117, 6s. 10d., we 
get a net profit of £101, 6s. 10d. for the twelve months. 
Does anyone know of any other industry where a similar 
outlay will meet with a similar return? I cannot attribute my 
success to mere luck, because no matter how lucky a man may be 
other factors are demanded. He must work hard and patiently, 
pay great attention to detail, do most of the essential things himself, 
take the utmost care of his stock, buy in the cheapest markets, sell 
in the dearest and never spend a penny that is unessential. Had 
I been a handy man with tools I might have done a little better, 
but wherever it was possible I refrained from calling in outside aid. 
Do LikEwIsE 
If my experience in making over £100 during the first year 
were unique it would be necessary on the part of a second party 
to accept my statements with reserve, or at any rate to look upon 
the achievement as something in the nature of a freak result, 
but, as it happens, others have done equally as well, and several 
even a degree better. 
In The Journal of the Board of Agriculture for August, 1916, 
will be found the balance-sheet of Mr Hall, Grove Hill, West 
Peckham, Maidstone, in which it is shown that he made a net 
profit of £104 during the twelve months from 1st November 1914 
to 81st October 1915. Compared with my own experience Mr 
Hall did not produce nearly so many eggs as I did, but he bred 
far more birds and got a big slice of his profit in this manner. 
If I had sold all my eggs and done no hatching, my gross profit 
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