200 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



Yet, for purposes of education, a rceord of failure is often 

 far more valuable than a record of success. 



Nothing less than the facts and figures spread nakedly 

 before him will enable one who has not been successful 

 to ferret out the real points of difficulty. But the one 

 who fails is too often the very one who has not courage 

 to look at his poultry past ! 



It is not merely that one ought to know whether or 

 not the stock as a whole, or any special side line, has 

 paid fair returns on whatever of money, time, or strength 

 has been spent in its interest. But, if it have not done 

 so, one must be able to find out just what caused the 

 leaks. For "leaks," in any business which deals with 

 very numerous items or entities, are the most dangerous 

 and uncertain things with which one must deal. And, 

 it is just this one key fact, viz., that he cannot find 

 and 'stop the leaks, that often makes one man a failure 

 as a poultry handler, while his near neighbor makes 

 money "hand over hand." 



A stranger wrote me out of the depths of experience a 

 story of initial success, followed by failure almost abso- 

 lute. This is so unusual that it was no wonder he felt hu- 

 miliated, and was on his mettle to re-reverse the situation. 

 Yet, as I reviewed his story, I saw that he had failed at 

 the very point where the Near-Beginner is always prone 

 to fail, — that is, at the point where he begins to increase 

 largely. This workei', however, had not struck quite the 

 usual snags. 



His story was that he began with a small flock of In- 

 dian Runners. He was fortunate in getting the white 

 egg strain, from the original importations from England, 

 where these ducks have been bred for scores of years. 



