I had for years used a camera as a source of pleasure, and now I turned 

 it to good account. I sent many pictures to the daily papers,and occasion- 

 ally to some magazines, and by this means added a snug sum to the annual 

 budget. I also did quite a lot of local post-card work, making them up 

 to order only. 



I now had time to give our garden all the care it needed, and it was 

 no longer an item of expense, but a source of profit. I found that a gar- 

 den is profitable if it is not tilled by hired help. Not only did we provide 

 sumptuously for our own table, had a little revenue from the surplus, and 

 at our agricultural fair we received nearly $50 in premium money. 



We never had had all the milk we wished. A little daughter came 

 to gladden our home, and we felt that we should have better milk and 

 more of it. The outcome was the purchase of a high-grade Jersey cow. 

 We were uncertain about the advantage of the deal, but we made the in- 

 vestment from other motives. 



How we did revel in "enough and to spare" of rich new milk, butter, 

 buttermilk, cream and cottage cheese! We sold some milk by the quart 

 to neighbors, who preferred it to bottled milk peddled from the wagons. 

 We also sold much butter, cottage cheese and buttermilk. People came 

 to the house for these things. Occasionally a local grocer sold some of our 

 surplus, but it was rarely that there was any more than regular customers 

 consumed. The first year the gross receipts from our Jersey cow were 

 $168, which, after deducting expense of feed, pasturing, and interest on 

 the investment, left a very satisfactory profit. (We have not kept any 

 book account of our cow since the first year.) The skimmed milk did 

 our hens and chickens good. 



We found it most satisfactory to feed only the best to our poultry, 

 and have always been liberal in the use of beef scrap, chick grain, charcoal, 

 grit, developing and scratching food, alfalfa, etc. Early in our poultry 

 career I took the agency of a few reliable poultry supply houses, which 

 allowed us to secure all our equipment and supplies at wholesale, and a 

 considerable profit on the goods sold at retail. 



It had never been possible for people in our vicinity to purchase poul- 

 try supplies at home, and it really was surprising how many farmers and 

 villagers were interested in poultry and well posted on poultry matters. 

 Hardly a day passed during the chicken season that we did not have 

 several customers for feeds, equipment, remedies, etc., and the second 

 year our sales amount to over $1,000. 



I spoke of our discarding our private trade in the city because we 

 found something more profitable. Our private trade was constant, cash 

 and always brought us from 5 to 20 cents per dozen above local market 

 price for our eggs, and a very fancy price for broilers. 



The first few years of our poultry business we did not give a thought 

 to the fancy. We had no idea of showing, or attempting to sell eggs for 



43 



