Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Henyard 
A Business Success as Well as a Home¬ 
maker 
Poultry Problems. —It is seldom in¬ 
deed that a mother and homemaker is 
able to attain business success in spite of 
the many duties which confront the wom¬ 
an on a farm. For that reason the life 
story of Mrs. Robert Henderson, the well- 
known poultry breeder of Southern Michi¬ 
gan. is of special interest. For years she 
had been a successful school teacher, but 
at the time of her marriage she knew al¬ 
most nothing of the work on the farm 
where she was to live and attain success. 
On her arrival she found a good flock of 
Brown Leghorn hens which had been im¬ 
proved for many years until they were a 
valuable asset. These hens had estab¬ 
lished quite a name for themselves among 
the farm flocks around, so that people 
came for miles to exchange eggs for hatch¬ 
ing. This was not a profitable business, 
for the reason that many of the eggs re¬ 
ceived in return were worthless. Mrs. 
Henderson had realized this for some time, 
but had been unable to reach any satis¬ 
factory solution for her problems. She 
knew that her stock was good enough to 
bring fancy prices, but it seemed impos¬ 
sible to find the market for it. 
The City Newspaper Helps. —Then 
one day opportunity came to her door in 
the guise of a large Detroit daily. A 
daily newspaper was at that time quite 
an uncommon thing in a farm home, so 
this paper received careful attention from 
the family. As the editor had asked for 
letters on farm subjects, Mrs. Henderson 
decided to enter the contest, and won a 
prize, a three months’ subscription to the 
paper. On a certain day each week the 
daily had a farm section which discussed 
topics of interest to farmers and ctirried 
farm advertising at reduced rates. This 
probably got advertisements from people 
who had never advertised before. Mrs. 
Henderson had by that time a good work¬ 
ing knowledge of poultry. Pekin ducks 
had been added, and that year a large 
flock of young birds were being fed for 
market. The reputation which her poul¬ 
try had established, and the loss from ex¬ 
change of hatching eggs, made advertising 
seem like a splendid chance to branch out 
in the sale of stock for breeding purposes. 
There was, however, a tremendous risk in 
advertising in that way. There were 
many uses for every dollar obtainable, 
and the venture looked very foolish. It 
must be remembered that at that time, 
about 20 years ago. only the wealthy con¬ 
cerns carried advertising, and it took real 
courage for a young farmer’s wife to risk 
the four dollars necessary to carry an 
advertisement for three months. The sum 
would lie equal in buying power to many 
times the amount at the present time. 
All her friends and acquaintances pre¬ 
dicted only failure. In spite of all this 
opposition she decided to take a chance, 
even though it looked like a losing one. 
The ducks we>-e advertised at $1 each, 
fully twice the sum they would bring on 
the market. Fearfully s'he awaited the 
result, which surpassed even her fondest 
hopes. All her flock of ducks were sold 
for breeding purposes, then about 50 be¬ 
longing to her father, and she had to re¬ 
turn orders for about as many as were 
sold. 
Opportunities Through Advertising. 
—This venture marked the beginning of 
her business success. She soon found that 
by a little advertising, well placed, she 
could dispose of all her birds for breeding 
purposes at a much better price than they 
would bring on the market. Soon orders 
began coming in for hatching eggs. At 
first the orders were entirely from a dis¬ 
tance of a few hundred miles from her 
home. Now she ships to almost every 
State in the Union, as well as to Canada. 
If it were not for advertising, however, 
any great degree of success would be im¬ 
possible, because very little of the stock 
can be sold within the county. There are 
some good flocks in the vicinity of her 
home, but the majority of the farmers 
keep poultry only as a side line, so do not 
care to pay the prices necessary for fancy 
stock. In the matter of advertising, little 
advice can be given. Each breeder must 
find out for himself in just what localities 
his stock will sell best. As a general rule 
it will probably be found that farm papers 
bring the best success, as they reach the 
heaviest poultry raisers. Advertising by 
the year is cheaper and gives better re¬ 
sults than advertising carried only for a 
few months. 
•White Chinese Geese. —Several years 
later White Chinese geese were added, 
and during the time they have been kept 
have averaged a much greater profit than 
either of the other breeds. Fruit, espe¬ 
cially fine apples, is the chief crop of the 
Henderson farm, so the orchards make 
splendid pasture for the geese. After the 
laying season is over they can be turned 
in and will live on pasture until the frost 
comes. This cuts feed bills, aside from 
disposing of all waste fruit. Probably for 
this reason the geese are increasing in 
popularity each season. They are ex¬ 
tremely beautiful also, and closely re¬ 
semble swans in form and carriage. 
Satisfying Customers.—A large 
amount of Mrs. Henderson’s trade comes 
from customers who order again or tell 
their neighbors. In this way the expense 
of advertising is considerably lessened. 
That is probably one thing which has 
given her such continued success, for 
neither time nor effort is spared to make 
each customer satisfied. Another policy 
is always to have the best stock on the 
market, even though considerable expense 
be required to keep up to the standard. 
Mrs. Henderson seldom exhibits birds at 
the shows, for she is unable to leave home 
for long at a time. There is also consid¬ 
erable risk to the small breeder, who may 
find that his birds have contracted some 
disease which will endanger the entire 
flock. In place of that, she buys stock 
every few years from breeders of national 
reputation, thus keeping her flock in ex¬ 
cellent condition. She keeps in touch 
with the latest discoveries in the poultry 
line, and culls out for market any birds 
which are not true to type, or which are 
not good layers. Because of this care, a 
flock of heavy laying hens has been devel¬ 
oped. Only a short time ago they were 
culled by an expert from the University 
Extension Department of Minnesota. lie 
stated that they were among the best 
laying hens he had ever handled in all 
his years of experience. 
Attracting the Customer. — The 
third secret of Mrs. Henderson’s success, 
• Some Friendly Birds on the Farm 
and the one which she believes is the 
most important, is the ability to write a 
catchy advertisement, and a good business 
letter, which will make her customers feel 
that they are getting full value for their 
money when they purchase stock from 
her. She uses a good quality of printed 
business stationery, and cards illustrated 
with cuts made from photographs of the 
stock. This is the advertisement which 
goes on the back of the price list: 
“'The poultry products of the United 
Stares amounted to over $1,000,000,000 
last year. Are you getting your share? 
If you are going to raise poultry, why 
not have purebred fowls and take some 
pride in your flock? They eat no more, 
are more profitable and are a greater sat¬ 
isfaction to their owner. Our strains of 
Mammoth Pekin ducks. White Chinese 
geese, Rose Comb Brown Leghorns, are 
from stock purchased direct from leading 
breeders in America at prices more than 
double what we ask.” 
The Human Touch. —Mrs. Henderson 
takes a personal interest in the affairs of 
her customers. This may not be highly 
efficient, but it brings business from those 
who are her customers. Many of them 
become warm personal friends of hers 
long after all business relationships have 
ceased. They write of their failures and 
successes, and she is always glad to hear 
of them. The woman who lost her home 
by fire, the soldier who returned from war 
only to find his cherished geese had died 
during his absence, the man who wrote 
touchingly of the loneliness of his goose 
which had no mate, and wanted eggs, as 
he ‘“hated to see animals suffer,” wishing 
to “see her be glad coming off with gos¬ 
lings,” all have a place in Mrs. Hender¬ 
son’s interests, as much as the ones who 
write only the briefest of notes according 
to the rules of efficiency. She also has the 
ability to write letters which will bring 
an order from almost every inquiry. This 
has puzzled many poultry breeders of her 
acquaintance, as they are usually well 
satisfied if they get orders from one-fourth 
of the inquiries. 
Work Needed. —Mrs. Henderson be¬ 
lieves that the man or woman who does 
not care to do the extra work necessary to 
sell stock and eggs for hatching can make 
very little profit in raising poultry for 
market at the present high prices for 
feeds. If one is willing, however, to 
write countless letters, spend much time 
in packing eggs carefully for shipping, 
and in crating birds, there is opportunity 
for a good business in poultry for breed- 
ing purposes. Last year Mrs. Henderson 
wrote over TOO letters, with the help of a 
typewriter. She usually keeps about 100 
laying hens, 15 ducks and 20 geese. The 
care required by that number takes all 
the time she is able to spare from her 
home. At the present time the business 
is growing to a surprising extent. Mrs. 
Henderson is never able to meet the de- 
691 
tnand for either eggs or young birds i 
the Fall, and always buys all the Leg¬ 
horns, ducks and geese that she can find, 
provided, of course, that they are from 
her stock, or are equally as good. There 
are very few weeks during the entire year 
in which she does not have orders for 
either stock or eggs. 
Returns. —The net returns the past 
year were about $350. A profit of about 
$1 a day may not seem a large sum to 
those who are able to leave home for even 
a part of the time, but to the busy house¬ 
wife, or the business man who can spare 
only a part of each day, that sum might 
mean many of the comforts and luxuries 
which the regular income cannot buy. 
Michigan. Esther marie betts. 
r 
Crops and Farm News 
A Country of Diversification 
In our vicinity all are planning for 
larger crops of everything. Ours is a 
country of diversified farming. Last year 
all farmers depended on tobacco for a 
money crop, many curtailing crops of 
things they needed for home consumption 
in order to be able to raise more tobacco ; 
then when the market opened up prices 
were so low that it would not begin to 
pay the cost of raising. All this has 
taught us a valuable lesson. We have al¬ 
ways been depending on live stock for our 
chief money crop, and shall do so again. 
Never again, I believe, will our farmers 
put as much confidence in tobacco, while 
many will put out a small patch, but noth¬ 
ing like last year. All farmers whose land 
will grow wheat have enough sown for 
home use. and a small surplus for sale. 
Nearly every farmer sowed some oats; 
all are preparing for a big corn crop; 
many already have Irish potatoes planted 
and many to plant yet. 
We always raise garden and cornfield 
beans to use green, can, dry in the hull 
or put up in brine; then in July we plant 
kidney beans for dried soup beans next 
Winter. Nearly all bed sweet potatoes 
and raise plenty for home use and some 
to sell. Big gardens are the rule here ; 
we raise every kind of vegetable that can 
be raised here ; beets, beans, parsnips, cab¬ 
bage, tomatoes, turnips, rutabagas, let¬ 
tuce. salsify, squash, cucumbers, etc. Then 
in the Fall we plant a large patch of tur¬ 
nips for Winter use and to sell greens 
from in the Spring. The cornfields are 
planted to pumpkins, and loads of them 
are used for home use and to feed cattle 
and hogs. 
We all raise hogs for our meat and 
usually some for market. Nearly every 
farmer has meat stored away to do him 
until November. Blackberries grow wild 
here, and we count on them any year; 
once in a while apples and peaches get 
killed, but blackberries never fail, and no 
more delicious fruit ever grew. We can 
them, jam and preserve them, dry them 
or make them into jelly, and we seldom 
fail to have plenty of other fruit, so there 
is no danger of us starving, even if money 
is scarce. Our long growing seasons make 
this the ideal country for live stock. We 
can turn out on pasture in April and sel¬ 
dom have to feed cattle and sheep before 
the first of December. Sorghum is made 
for home use and some to sell; even the 
broom corn for our brooms is raised at 
home. We are looking hopefully forward 
to better times. Soon the farmer is com¬ 
ing into his own. Just now things are 
temporarily “out of kilter,” but these hard 
times will not last forever; they never 
Lave, and “what has been will be.” 
Tennessee. adda c. iiall. 
There is considerable wheat in farm¬ 
ers’ hands yet. and it is bringing 95c at 
the mills at Lockport, our nearest city. 
Last .Tulv wheat was worth $2.40 here. 
Potatoes are selling for 40c at car (to 
farmer) ; oats, about 40c; hay, $20 per 
ton, delivered, balers paying about $14 
not. Apples are the crop I am most in¬ 
terested in. I belong to a co-operative 
packing association. We have 1100 bbls. 
in storage yet. and at the way they have 
been selling, I think our association will 
receive between $1.50 and $1.75 net for 
all we had. 12.000 bbls. We shipped our 
small anples to England. They net us 
about $5 back here, and our packing 
charge is over $3; barrels cost about 
$1.50 each. Many growers lost money 
by storing their apples privately. Labor 
is cheaner, 31.25 per day and board; $5 
last Fall ; has come down in last two 
months, as factories are shut down and 
times are dull, but most farmers have not 
made much money for the last tfiree 
years. Fertilizers and spray materials 
started off at practically the same prices 
as last year, but are dropping a little. 
We have a canning crop association here, 
and canners want to pay $12 per ton for 
tomatoes ($22.50 last year), and the as¬ 
sociation has refused to raise any for 
that price this year. The canning crops 
do not pay much, either. Withal. I do 
not think that the farmers of this com¬ 
munity were ever so depressed in spirit 
as this Spring. Several hard frosts in¬ 
jured fruit J. C. R. 
Niagara Co., N. Y. 
The weather was warm and unseason¬ 
able during February and March, causing 
all fruit buds and vegetation to start, 
consequently several frosts and two or 
three light freezes during April have 
practically wiped out pears, cherries, 
peaches, plums, and badly injured' ap¬ 
ples. grapes and strawberries. All farm 
products are selling low. Corn, 57c; 
wheat, $1.25. Choice veal calves, 10c; 
butter. 50c; eggs, 24c. Sweet potatoes 
doing fairly well, but no market for white 
potatoes. Mules selling as high as $500 
per pair. Horses much lower. Farm 
help more plentiful and wages some lower 
than last year. Farm implements and 
machinery almost or quite as high as 
ever. Farmers do not like the drop in 
milk prices. The obnoxious school law 
which was passed in 1919 was repealed 
at the session of the General Assembly 
just ended, and another one passed which 
is feared will be even more obnoxious 
than our present law. However, there is 
one improvement over the 1919 law for 
real estate holders, as the tax rate has 
been reduced from 95c on $100 worth of 
property to 25c. The overhead expenses 
of running the schools, which were 
thought to be out of ail reason, have not 
been reduced, but a provision has been 
made to tax corporations doing business 
in the State, and to tax all incomes of 
single persons which amount to more than 
$1,000. and married persons which 
amount to more than $2,000. This in¬ 
come and corporation tax is expected to 
make up for the loss on real estate, but 
some well-informed persons predict that 
this will fall short, and real estate will 
have to be taxed heavier again to meet 
the very heavy expenses of the school law. 
Kent Co., Del. c. n. 
A general freeze, plenty of ice and 
frost, the first week in April, cut short 
our expectations of what promised to be 
a bountiful fruit crop; also berries and 
grapes, although grapes may do well yet, 
the vines being only started in growth 
when the freeze came. Vegetables were 
either killed down or stunted in growth 
until they will be much later getting to 
the table, although we have onions, let¬ 
tuce and mustard for the table now (April 
12). but beets, peas and radishes will be 
later. Then we had a white frost yes¬ 
terday morning which cut the potatoes 
back again, and I suppose got the second 
crop of strawberries. L. R. Y. 
Cherokee Co., Okla. 
I surveyed my apple orchard April 22. 
The buds were just large enough to make 
the blossom clusters distinguishable at a 
glance from the ground. Prospects are 
for a 25 or 30 per cent crop. One large 
tree that has borne never less than four 
barrels in any year and in good years 10 
to 12 barrels, will not bloom at all. 
Hillsborough Co., N. II. j. t. h. 
Coming Farmers’ Meetings 
„ May 2-5—Thirteenth Annual Purdue 
Egg Show. Lafayette, Ind. 
May 11 —Annual meeting American 
Guernsey Cattle Club. New York City. 
May 19 — Washington County. Pa., 
Guernsey Field Day, Washington,'Pa. 
Coming Live Stock Sales 
May 17 — Holsteins, State Fair 
Grounds, Milwaukee, Wis. Holstein-Frie- 
sian Breeders’ Association of Wisconsin. 
L. L. Oldham, secretary, Madison, Wis. 
May 18—Jerseys. Monroe County .Ter- 
sev Breeders’ consignment sale at Tomah, 
YV is. 
May 18-19—-Holsteins. Manitowoc 
( ounty Holstein-Friesian Breeders’ Asso¬ 
ciation. Manitowoc, Wis. Chas. Hampke, 
manager. 
tt May 23-24—Holsteins. Missouri State 
Holstein Association show and sale at Se- 
dalia. Mo. 
May 24—Guernseys. Marathon County 
Guernsey Breeders’ Association second 
annual consignment sale at Wausau. Wis. 
rotary. F. E. Fox, Waukesha, sales man¬ 
ager. 
May 25—Guernseys. Portage County 
Guernsey Breeders’ Association annual 
consignment sale of registered Guernseys 
at Amherst. Wis. R. I\. McDonald, soc- 
rteary. F. E. Fox, Waukesha, sales man-, 
ager. 
May 26 — Holsteins. Michigan IIol- 
stein-P riesian Breeders’ Association sale 
at Grand Rapids. Mich. II. W. Norton, 
Jr., secretary. Lansing. 
May 26—-Guernseys. Portage County 
Guernsey Breeders’ Association annual 
consignment sale of registered Guernsey 
males and grade females at Amherst, 
Wis. R. PC. McDonald, secretary; F. E. 
Fox. Waukesha, sales manager. 
May 26—Holsteins. Marshfield. Wis., 
IIolstein-Friesian Breeders’ Association 
of Wisconsin. L. L. Oldham, secretarv, 
Madison. Wis. 
May 27—Holsteins. Outagamie Coun¬ 
ty Holstein Breeders’ Association sale at 
Appleton, Wis. Edw. O. Mueller, secre- 
ta ry. 
.Tune 1—Holsteins. Dispersal of Fair- 
view Stock Farm’s herd at Anderson. 
Ind. O. L. .Tanney, owner. 
June 3—Guernseys. Fond du Lac 
County combination sale. Charles L. 
Hill, manager. 
June 9—Holsteins. First annual bred 
heifer sale, Thorp. Wis. W. II. Krause, 
June 9 — Michigan Aberdeen - Angus 
Breeders’ Association sale, East Lansing. 
Mich. Ward Hathaway, Ovid, Mich., 
secretary. 
.Tune 22—Ohio Aberdeen-Angus Breed¬ 
ers’ Association sale. Fair Grounds, Co¬ 
lumbus. O. C. D. Littleton, Kenton, O., 
secretary. 
Sentember 23—Eastern Aberdeen-An¬ 
gus Breeders’ Association sale. Eastern 
States Exposition. Springfield. Mass. F. 
W. Burnham, Greenfield, Mass., secre¬ 
tary. 
