CHAPTER I 



A Little Personal History 



SUPPOSE it would be a good plan to commence at 

 the beginning ! So I am going to tell you my 

 actual experience in the poultry business, step by 

 step, from the first year when my total sales were 

 $160.00 to the gross income of $9,515.00 the sixth 

 year — all on a town lot. 



Back to the Country 



Cleveland was my home for a number of years. While there my 

 health was not the very best. It looked to me pretty much as though 

 it were a choice between getting farther away from the nerve-racking 

 push and bustle of the city, and spending more time in the great out of 

 doors, or of prematurely joining the ranks of the countless slumbering 

 army. Naturally, I resolved to go "back to the country" and soon selected 

 a location. 



Mrs. Sheppard and myself looked over a number of places on the 

 southern shore of Lake Erie. We decided to settle in Berea where 

 conditions were ideal, good schools and colleges to educate the children, 

 and all modern conveniences. It is located on three trunk lines of railroads 

 and a corking good electric line, so that shipping facilities are excellent. 



The Town Lot 



Well, I leased property for a couple of years, but at the end of 

 six months we were so deeply in love with the location that the property 

 became a Sheppard possession. We moved to Berea the latter part of 

 March, 1906. It was a revelation to me. There we were, living on a 

 nice town lot, the air pure and sweet, and as Spring pressed on and as 

 Nature budded forth in all her beauty, the grass grew green and the 

 air became redolent with perfume from a wilderness of fragrant blos- 

 soms. The songbirds returned and added greatly to the surroundings 

 with their cheerful and sweet songs. As the weather became warm, we 

 (my wife and children) commenced fixing up our lawn and preparing the 

 soil for a garden. After the ground was nicely cultivated, we com- 

 menced to set out trees, berry bushes, grapevines, sow the garden seed, 

 and set out the plants. By the first of June everything seemed to fairly 



