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 Two Dollars a Day 
 
 from 
 
 Poultry and Eggs 
 
 Price 50 Cent 
 
 Published by 
 
 CLARENCE C. DcPUY, Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
 1909. 
 
 
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Book- ri/2>0 
 
 Copyright N" 
 
 / 
 
 COPyRrCHT DEPOSIT 
 
V'^-^ 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 Two Dollars a Day 
 
 from 
 
 Poultry and Eggs. 
 
 A BOOK FOR BEGINNERS. 
 
 HOW TO START A POULTRY PLANT 
 
 AND MAKE IT PAY. 
 
 Price 50 Cents. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 CLARENCE C. DePUY, 
 
 SYRACUSE, N. Y. 
 1909. 
 
> 
 
 V 
 
 COPYRIGHT 1902. 
 
 EDGAR L. WARREN. 
 
 (EDGAR WARREN-) 
 COPYRIGHT 1909. 
 
 EDGAR WARREN. 
 
 luBRftR'' oi congress! 
 
 Two CoDies Received 
 
 MAY 21 1809 
 
 /\ XXc NOi] 
 
 (^ D3-3 
 
 COP>f 3- 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Poultry Business. 
 
 it must be apparent to all who keep posted on current 
 affairs that interest in the poultry business is increasing by 
 leaps and bounds. Talk with your friends and you will be 
 surprised to see how many of them are thinking" seriously oi 
 some day retiring to a poultry farm. There are in the United 
 States at least 100 papers devoted to poultry keeping, and the 
 prosperous appearance of many of these shows that they do 
 not lack patrons. The agricultural press is devoting ever 
 increasing space to poultry ; and the papers that deal with the 
 poetic, picturesque side of country life are exploiting with pen 
 and camera the possibilities of the hen. Large capital is 
 invested in the manufacture of incubators and brooders, and 
 poultry supply houses are springing up on every hand. Visit 
 one of the big shows, such as are held at Boston, New York, 
 Chicago or Washington, and you will find the great hall 
 thronged day after day with those who are interested in the 
 various forms of feathered life. Rich men are having their 
 attention called to poultry keeping as a profitable investment; 
 and clerks, mechanics and professional men are asking them- 
 selves if it is not possible for them to make money with poultry 
 on the side. 
 
 MAGNITUDE OF THE BUSINESS. 
 
 Some months ago the Success magazine published a very 
 readable article by Franklin Forbes, entitled "Raising Chickens 
 — Our Largest Industry," in which the author demonstrated 
 by figures and diagrams the magnitude of the poultry business. 
 According to the writer the value of eggs and poultry pro- 
 duced in one year in the United States was $280,000,000. Vast 
 as this amount is, it does not approximate the present facts, for 
 the figures are based on the census of 1900. Since then poul- 
 try keeping has largely expanded, and Government estimates 
 for last year (1907) of the value of poultry products of all 
 kinds footed up to the enormous total of $600,000,000. One 
 of the most appalling disasters of modern times was the 
 destruction of San Francisco by earthquake and fire, April 18, 
 1906. The loss approached $300,000,000. Thfe mind is stag- 
 
gered when it attempts to measure such figures. And yet the 
 great city by the Golden Gate could be rebuilt from the earn- 
 ings of the humble hen for six months. 
 
 NOT LIKELY TO BE OVERDONE. 
 
 Is there any danger that the poultry business will be over- 
 done? This is a question that must suggest itself to every 
 thoughtful mind. Enormous as the consumption of eggs and 
 poultry is, may it not be matched and passed by production, so 
 that those who venture into the business will meet with loss? 
 The possibility of this cannot be denied. With our modern 
 methods of artificial incubation, by which chicks may be pro- 
 duced at any season of the year and in countless numbers, 
 with so many constantly preaching the profits of poultry keep- 
 ing, there is a real danger that the business may be overdone. 
 There is a limit to everything finite. But on the other hand 
 there are reassuring considerations. This is a big country, 
 and it is growing bigger all the time. There are 2,000,000 
 more people in the United States to-day than there v/ere a year 
 ago. and there will be 2,000,000 more next year than there are 
 now. And all these have to be fed. Game is becoming scarcer 
 each year. Meats are constantly advancing in price. People 
 are being driven into increased consumption of eggs and poul- 
 try. When eggs fall in price in the spring their sale enor- 
 :mously increases. This shows that the American people could 
 ■consume many more eggs than they do now if they thought 
 they could afford them. It is probable that with the advance 
 in scientific methods of production and storage, the price of 
 eggs throughout the year will become more uniform — not soar 
 so high in the fall nor drop so low in the spring. And with an 
 equalization in price, eggs will be used even more than they 
 are noAv. 
 
 EXHIBITION POULTRY. 
 
 There is a department of the business not represented in 
 the Government reports, which must foot up to millions of 
 dollars each year — the production of birds for exhibition pur- 
 poses. There is a large and increasing number of persons in 
 the United States who keep fowls not primarily for poultry 
 and eggs, but to gratify their love for the beautiful. To a 
 genuine lover of fowls there are few more attractive sights in 
 nature than a specimen of his favorite breed that approaches 
 
his ideal of perfection. There are rich men who are willing to- 
 pay ahnost fabulous sums for birds that can win the blue- 
 ribbon at one of the large shows. And the market for such 
 fowls is not confined to the limits of the United States, but is- 
 as wide as the world. George H. Northup of Raceville, N. Y.,. 
 recently sold to Henry Schultz von Schultzenstein of Berlin. 
 Prussia, two rose comb Black Minorca cocks for $500 and 
 $1,000 each respectively. The 19 birds which he sold to this 
 gentleman brought him in $3,400. Mr. Northup gets $25 a 
 sitting for eggs from his best pens.. William Barry Owen of 
 Vineyard Haven, Mass., has in his circular a list of 30 fowls, 
 the value of which is $10,000. The leader of the list is a Black 
 Orpington cock which won first New York, first Boston, 1906, 
 first world's trophy. Crystal Palace, London, 1905, and is 
 valued at $750. 
 
 The record, however, was reached in March, 1908, when 
 Madame Helena Paderewski of Morges, Switzerland, wife of 
 the world-famous pianist, paid to Ernest Kellerstrass of Kan- 
 sas City, Missouri, $7,500 for five Crystal strain White Orp- 
 ingtons, the highest price ever paid for standard-bred birds 
 since the world began. Mr. Kellerstrass refused $2,500 for one 
 hen, "Pegg," as it was named after his little girl, and, being a 
 rich man, he did not need the money. 
 
 These of course are top-notch prices, and are paid only for 
 world beaters, but $100 for a single bird and $10 a sitting for 
 eggs are everyday occurrences. Even at one of the smaller 
 shows a winner in one of the popular classes will bring from 
 $25 to $50. The beauty of this branch of the business is that 
 it does not require a large amount of land nor a large outlay 
 for buildings, and a man who has skill in mating may grow a 
 blue-ribbon winner in his back yard. 
 
 POULTRY AS A SIDE LINE. 
 Even where a man has no thought of embarking in poultry 
 keeping as a vocation, he still may find pleasure and profit in 
 it as a side line. As a matter of fact, more than two-thirds 
 of the chickens and eggs produced in the country are produced 
 by men and women to whom poultry keeping is an adjunct 
 to some other business. In some ways it is pleasanter and 
 more profitable to engage in poultry keeping as a side line 
 than as a regular means of support. The man who engages 
 in poultry as a side line, as a general thing, will have more 
 money at his command at the start than the man who must 
 make his living from his fowls. Consequently he caii buy 
 
better stock, can supply himself with all needed appliances, 
 can build better houses, and as a result his profits will be 
 larger. I could tell story after story where the hens have paid 
 the grocer's bill, have sent a son or daughter to college, or 
 have even paid off a mortgage. Sometimes I think our Na- 
 tional emblem should be not the American eagle, but the 
 American hen. 
 
 DRAWBACKS. 
 
 Are there no drawbacks to the business? Candor compels 
 me to confess that there are, and that their existence should 
 be recognized. 1. Poultry keeping is dirty work. It is not 
 hard work, in the sense that la3ang a stone wall or swinging a 
 scythe is hard ; but it is dirty. Xo matter how much care one 
 may exercise, it is impossible to keep the houses strictly clean, 
 and some of the dust and dirt will communicate itself to the 
 person of the poultry keeper. One has to wear old clothes 
 when at work about fowls. The money that comes in, how- 
 ever, is clean. 2. Poultry keeping is confining. In many 
 kinds of business one can get away for a day or two now and 
 then, and even for a vacation of two or three weeks, but in 
 poultry keeping it is dift'erent. The fowls have to be fed and 
 watered and the eggs gathered each day, and when the incu- 
 bator and brooders are running and the chick season is at its 
 height one is almost as much a prisoner as if confined behind 
 iron bars and stone walls. 3. There are often quite serious 
 losses. There are times when eo'es will not hatch, and other 
 times when chicks will die. After the chicks are hatched and 
 arc tided over the first few weeks, there are enemies to meet 
 in the shape of hawks, skunks, cats and even human thieves. 
 Disease sometimes makes its appearance in a flock, and the 
 poultrvman finds two or three dead hens under the roos*-s 
 evcrv morning. There are times when the hens will not lay, 
 and these are often the times when eggs are in best demand. 
 The poultrvman "s jjath is not strewn with roses by any means. 
 
 ADVANTAGES. 
 
 On the other hand there are decided advantages connected 
 with the poultry business. 1. It is healthful. The work is 
 steady, but not hard, and much of the time one is in the open 
 air. 2. It is interesting. There is a constant variety to the 
 poultryman's day. He goes from one thing to another, and 
 is not held to a cast iron routine. 3. The products always 
 sell. Eggs are in steady demand, and poultry does not go 
 
begging for buyers. 4. It is independent. One is his own 
 boss, and need never fear getting out of a job. 5. It is 
 profitable. There is good money in the poultry business for 
 those Avho knoAv how to get it. 
 
 A HOME AND BUSINESS OF ONE'S OWN. 
 
 Poultry keeping ofifers pleasant and profitable employment 
 for those who are advancing in years. In all lines that I 
 know anything about, youth is at a premium, age at a dis- 
 count. It makes a man who is approaching middle life and 
 has a little family dependent upon him, wonder what he will 
 do when he comes to the point ahead when he is no longer 
 wanted in his trade, business or profession, but is ruthlessly 
 pushed aside by younger men. To such the poultry business 
 makes a strong appeal. Hens will lay as well for the veteran 
 as for the young man, and the ground will as freely bring forth 
 fruit. The small farm ofiers a haven of refuge to a man in 
 his declining years. It is the part .of wisdom for a man to 
 look facts in the face and to make provision for the time that 
 is sure to come when he will be no longer wanted. If he has 
 managed to lay aside a few hundred or a few thousand dollars 
 and has made a careful study of the poultry business he need 
 not fear, for he can at least make a living on the soil, and his 
 last days ma}' be his best. Released from the necessity of 
 toiling early and late under the watchful eye of a boss, re- 
 moved from the heated and poisoned air of the shop to the 
 free and life-giving ozone of outdoors, with no fear of losing 
 his job or beiing displaced, he will grow young again, and life 
 will take on new interest and charm. 
 
 EASY TO GET OUT OF IT. 
 
 The poultry business has one feature which I have never 
 heard mentioned, but which is worthy of consideration : it is 
 easy to get out of it. When a man engages in a new enter- 
 prise he naturally hopes and expects to succeed, but all the 
 while the grim alternative of failure must lurk in the back- 
 ground of his consciousness. It is said that a good general 
 before going into battle always determines what he will do in 
 the event of defeat. There are some kinds of business so per- 
 sonal in their nature, so complicated, that a man can get out 
 of them only with considerable loss. But the poultry business 
 is diflferent. Suppose a man has been engaged in the produc- 
 
tion of eggs and poultr}- for market, and wishes to close out. 
 All he has to do is to ship his fowls to a commission merchant 
 in the city, and in a day or two there will come back a check.. 
 Suppose a man has been engaged in the production of birds 
 for exhibition purposes. An advertisement in a poultry paper 
 will find him a customer who will take his flock off his hands. 
 There is a good demand for farms, and they are steadily ad- 
 •vancing in price. Should a man discover that he is unfitted 
 for the poultry business or grow tired of it, he can get out of 
 it with as little loss as any business I know anything about. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Making a Start. 
 
 If the poultry business is as pleasant and profitable as I 
 have represented, why is it that so many make a failure of it? 
 Riding through the country one sees plant after plant aban- 
 doned and falling into decay. The proportion of failures in 
 the poultry business is apparently as great as in any other. 
 One is continually meeting the man who was once enthusiastic 
 over poultry keeping, but is nOw disillusioned and tells you 
 sadly, "There's nothing in it." And when a man buys a poul- 
 try farm his neighbors shake their heads and prophesy failure. 
 
 EXPERIENCE NECESSARY. 
 
 The causes of failure in the poultry business are doubtless 
 as numerous as in any other, but the cause that "is the most 
 prolific is inexperience. There are three things that every 
 man seems to think he can do : preach the Gospel, edit a news- 
 paper, and run a poultry plant. But he finds if he tackles any 
 one of these jobs that he is up against a bigger proposition 
 than he realized. 
 
 Some time ago I received a letter from a woman whose 
 husband had made some money in the drug business and now 
 wanted to get away from it into the freer life of the farm. 
 There was a poultry plant near where they lived that was for 
 sale, the owner having made a failure of it, and the Avoman 
 wrote me to know what chance her husband would have for 
 success if he sold his store and bought the plant, knowing 
 nothing of the business. I wrote back that he would have just 
 exactly the same chance that a man would have who knew 
 nothing of the drug business and who should buy out her 
 husband's store. Set it down as the basic principle in all your 
 calculations, that the poultry business requires just as careful 
 an apprenticeship as any other, and that the man who is to 
 succeed must know it root and branch. ) 
 
 BEGIN SMALL AND GROW. 
 
 Fortunately a man can serve his apprenticeship to the 
 poultry business while he is earning his bread and butter at 
 something else, and this to me is one of its chief charms. In 
 what other business in the world can a man begin so small 
 
10 
 
 and invest so little money at the start? If a man has an old 
 dry goods box at his command, a sitting hen and a clutch of 
 eggs, he can set his feet in a path that may lead on to fortune. 
 
 Says "Commercial Poultry" : It is a matter of history that 
 nearly every one of the large poultry plants in the United 
 States that has proved successful has been built up from a 
 small foundation. It is also a matter of history that there are 
 a number of large plants that have proved unsuccessful and 
 unprofitable simply because the owner undertook to accom- 
 plish something without fitting himself for the task. Those 
 who succeeded have been content to start in a small way and 
 expand as their knowledge of the business and their ability to 
 handle it warranted the expansion. 
 
 "Take, for instance, the plant of U. R. Fishel at Hope, 
 Ind. : A\'hite Leghorn Poultry Farm at Waterville, N. Y. ; H. 
 J. Blanchard at Groton, X. Y. ; Henry Van Dreser at Cobles- 
 kill. X. Y., and many other of the largest and most profitable 
 plants in the country, — each of them had a small beginning 
 and simply grew into the mammoth institutions that they are 
 to-day. 
 
 "U. R. Fishel started with a few hens in a back yard a 
 dozen years ago. To-da}^ he has 120 acres devoted to poultry 
 and does an annual business very close to the $20,000 mark. 
 The White Leghorn Poultry Farm at Waterville, X. Y., is the 
 outgrowth of a score of hens kept in a house less than eight 
 feet square the first winter. To-day the farm consists of about 
 160 acres — with a recent addition — with a score or more of 
 large houses, the largest being 500 feet long. Although ten 
 thousand S. C. White Leghorns are raised annually upon this 
 farm, the demand for stock and eggs nearly always exceeds the 
 supply. H. J. Blanchard of Groton, X. Y., has become wealthy 
 from his chicken business, although he has a farm of but 
 twenty acres. Henry Van Dreser started in a small way and 
 to-day has one of the largest commercial and fancy poultry 
 plants in the East. 
 
 "The same is true of almost every large poultry plant in the 
 countrv. There are a few, to be sure, that have been started 
 on an extensive scale by men of wealth, but if they have proved 
 successful it is because experienced ijoultrymen have been 
 employed to manage them." 
 
 THE FIRST STEP. 
 
 Suppose a man has no practical knowledge of the poultry 
 business, but has become interested in it from reading about it 
 
11 
 
 in the papers and talkini;' with friends, liow would 1 advise 
 liim to proceed? It would depend something upon the season 
 of the }ear. Suppose it to be fall. I would advise him to send 
 away to a breeder of established reputation for a breeding pen 
 of the variety he has selected. A breeding pen consists of a 
 male and four females, and may generally be purchased for 
 from $15 to $25. The breeding pen may consist of four pullets 
 and a cock, but I think it better to reverse the arrangement 
 and purchase four hens and a cockerel. Pullets are all right 
 to breed from, provided they are mature ; but these are the 
 kind the breeder does not care to sell. On the other hand, he 
 is always ready to dispose of his mature birds. From such a 
 pen as this a man should get from 150 to 200 chicks in the 
 spring, and have a good number of choice pullets and cockerels 
 in the fall. 
 
 Four hens will not be enough to keep a vigorous cockerel 
 at work, and so I w^ould advise the beginner to pick up eight 
 mature, well-grown pullets around home. These may be put 
 in the pen \vith the rest. But before this is done, the}- sliould 
 be well dusted with some good insect powder, for farmers' 
 hens are proverbiallx' lousy, and if not "doctored" will infect 
 the rest. 
 
 These eight pullets of nondescript Aariet_\ will do for sitters 
 and mothers in the spring. The four hens should give you at 
 least 60 eggs apiece during the hatching season, and if the eggs 
 are reasonably fertile you should get from 50 to 200 chicks. 
 From these }'ou should get a..good number of pullets in the 
 fall. 
 
 The advantage of starting with a breeding pen is that one 
 "will be likely to have eggs on hand whenever they are wanted ; 
 and there are no delays, no eggs chilled or broken in transit. 
 The male with which you started should be kept the second 
 year and mated with pullets of his own get. 
 
 Starting in the spring one would naturally begin with eggs. 
 You will need at least 100 to give you anything of a start, and 
 these will cost you $10. Beware of cheap eggs and cheap 
 stock. You will never be satisfied until you get good standard 
 bred fowls, and these cannot be produced or sold for the price 
 you pay for dunghills. It has been my experience that the 
 "birds I paid the most for at the start were the greatest money- 
 anakers in the end. 
 
 KEEP ONLY THOROUGHBREDS. 
 It seems almost unnecessarv at this stage of the world's 
 
_^ 12 
 
 history to advise the prospective poultryman to keep only 
 thoroughbreds, and yet one still meets the man who insists 
 that crosses or mongrels lay as well and pay better than they. 
 Let us examine this proposition a moment. If mongrels and 
 crosses lay as well and pay better than thoroughbreds, why is 
 it that the great commercial plants throughout the land have 
 discarded them in favor of standard-bred fowls? Why is it 
 that the great egg records, as shown by the trap nest, uni- 
 formly come from thoroughbreds and not from mongrels or 
 crosses? It costs no more to raise a thoroughbred than a 
 dunghill, no more to feed it after it is raised. A flock of birds 
 of one variety looks better than a flock made up of everything 
 under the sun, and will do better. Dififerent breeds require 
 different treatment, and where they are all mixed up in one 
 flock conditions cannot help being unfavorable to some. Eggs 
 coming from one breed are more uniform, and when the birds 
 are sent to market they bring two or three cents more a pound 
 than a mixed lot. Where a man keeps only pure-bred fowls 
 of some popular strain he can, even without advertising, sell a 
 good many sittings of eggs to his neighbors in the spring and 
 dispose of his surplus cockerels to them in the fall. Time and 
 time again have I had visitors come to my place, who had no 
 intention of purchasing when they came, who became so fasci- 
 nated at what they saw of my beautiful White Wyandottes 
 that they placed a good order with me before they went away. 
 
 BREEDS THAT PAY. 
 
 One of the difficulties of the beginner is to determine what 
 variety to keep. The latest edition of the Standard of Per- 
 fection recognizes 73 varieties of the domestic fowl, not in- 
 cluding Bantams, which are miniature or dwarf specimens of 
 the various breeds. Should a man in this undecided state of 
 mind visit a great show in which are exhibited the best speci- 
 mens of all the leading varieties — the aristocrats of Poultry- 
 dom — his confusion becomes worse confounded ; and should 
 he run across champions of several of the leading breeds and 
 let them talk to him for half an hour each, his mind will be in 
 such a whirl that it is impossible for him to make a devision. 
 It is to help clear up the whole matter that this section is 
 written. 
 
 The money-making varieties may be counted up on the 
 fingers of both hands. I do not mean by this that men do not 
 make money on other varieties, for they do ; but there are six 
 or eight varieties which pay well in the hands of almost any- 
 
13 
 
 one. If a man is to become a fancier or a specialist it may be 
 wise for him to go afield and take an entirely different breed; 
 but if a man is after a safe, conservative proposition he would 
 better stick to the varieties I am about to mention. 
 
 1. The Leghorns, Brown and White. The Leghorns are 
 prolific producers of white eggs; mature early, are active, 
 hardv. and do not eat so much as the larger breeds. Non- 
 sitters. In some markets white eggs are demanded by the 
 best trade, and command a premium. 
 
 2. Rhode Island Reds. A valuable addition to the Amer- 
 ican class. Hardy, good layers of brown eggs, a rich yellow 
 carcass, good table bird. Mature early. 
 
 3. White Wyandottes. The most popular member of the 
 great Wyandotte family. A beautiful bird. Prolific layers of 
 brown eggs ; yellow skin and legs. A prime table fowl. A 
 favorite on broiler plants. "No matter when you kill them 
 you've always got something!" 
 
 4. Plymouth Rocks. Barred and White. The Barred 
 Rocks are undoubtedly the most popular breed in America to- 
 day. They are known as the "business hen." Hardy, large 
 sized, prolific producers of brown eggs ; killed and dressed they 
 make excellent poultry. 
 
 5. Black Minorcas. A handsome, showy bird of the Med- 
 iterranean class. In size nearly equal to the Plymouth Rock. 
 Heavy layers of large white eggs. Fair poultry. 
 
 6. Black Langshans. A noble bird of the Asiatic class. 
 Large size, the cock weighing 10 pounds. Excellent table 
 fowl, the meat having a delicious flavor, and the bones being 
 small. Lay a beautiful brown egg. 
 
 7. The Orpingtons. Bufif, Black and White. Large, 
 stately birds, larger even than the Plymouth Rocks ; rightly 
 handled they make excellent layers. Good table fowls. They 
 would seem to have a grand future. 
 
 HOW MUCH MONEY DO I NEED TO START? 
 
 That depends. If you start the way I advocate in this 
 chapter you won't need much. Begin with a pen of thorough- 
 breds or an incubator load of eggs and let your birds build 
 your plant. But suppose you have advanced beyond this, 
 have been keeping hens for a number of years and have solved 
 some of the problems connected with the business, and now 
 
14 
 
 want to devote }-our time to poultry keeping, how much money 
 do you need to start? 
 
 Again I sa}^ that depends. I have known men without 
 any capital to move out onto a poultry farm, and in a few 
 years build up a nice little business. But in this case the farm 
 was located on the outskirts of some village or city, and they 
 worked at their trade during the day and looked after the 
 chicks morning and night. Of course, there was a silent ( ?) 
 partner in the shape of a faithful little wife, who looked out 
 for things during the day. It was hard work, but in a few^ 
 years things got easier and the husband was able to devote 
 more and more of his time to the farm. 
 
 Sometimes a man will bu_\' a farm with only about enough 
 money ahead to make the first payment, and depend on his 
 trade to give him an income while he is getting a start. Two 
 miles from where I write there is a friend of mine who has the 
 poultry bug in his brain. He is a blacksmith by trade, and a 
 mighty good one ; but he is growing old and finds shoeing 
 horses hard work. He is looking forward to making an easier 
 living from his hens. He has fitted up a little shop by the 
 roadside, and shoes the horses of the farmers in the neighbor- 
 hood. Between times he is building up his plant. A man so 
 situated does not need much money to begin with — not over 
 five hundred dollars. 
 
 But where a man has no such resource and must depend 
 upon his farm principally to supply his needs, it is a dififerent 
 story. Then the more capital he has the better. I should not 
 advise such a man to start in with less than one thousand 
 dollars. Even then he will have to struggle for a long time 
 to keep his head above water. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Finding a Farm. 
 
 Among j,he readers of this book there must be hundreds 
 if not thousands who are looking forward to the purchase of a 
 farm. In all men of Anglo-Saxon blood there is a land hunger 
 that is pretty sure one day to manifest itself. Some want a 
 farm for a home for the summer months. Others want one as 
 a haven of refuge for their declining years. Still others want a 
 farm as a business proposition, believing that a farm rightly 
 handled will yield large returns. Real estate agents say that 
 the demand for farms was never more active than to-day. It 
 is for the purpose of assisting the reader wdio wants a farm, 
 and especially the reader who wants a poultry farm, that this 
 chapter is written. 
 
 LOCATION. 
 
 Where shall the prospective farm be located? This is the 
 first question to be asked. Shall the bu3-er go to New England 
 with its teeming manufacturing centers and its innumerable 
 simimer resorts, its splendid markets and its pleasant villages? 
 Shall he go to New Jersey with its sandy soil especially 
 adapted to poultry, and its proximity to some of the greatest 
 cities in the country? Shall he go to the Middle AA'est where 
 the winters are mild and feed products can be bought at prices 
 that touch rock bottom? Or shall he cross the continent to 
 where Petaluma overlooks San Pablo Bay — that magic city 
 where the hillsides are dotted with White Leghorns as far as 
 the eye can see and where poultry keeping is the leading- 
 industry? 
 
 My answer to the cjuestion is : locate somewhere near 
 where you are. I do not mean necessarily to locate in the 
 same town or even in the same State, but I would not advise 
 you to go more than a hundred miles away. Why? Because 
 you have struck your roots down where yovi are, and men and 
 trees suffer from transplanting. You know the section where 
 you are— the people and their peculiarities, the soil and cli- 
 mate, the markets, and a thousand and one things that vou 
 would have to learn all over in a new field. Then, too, each 
 section has its ofifsets as well as its advantages, and in many 
 
16 
 
 cases the gain does not compensate for the loss. I am more 
 famiHar with New England than with any other part of the 
 countr3^ It is a grand place for the poultryman. The mar- 
 kets are among the best in the world. But there are draw- 
 backs: the winters are long and cold, feed products are high, 
 help is scarce and hard to get. There are men who are making 
 a success in the poultry business in every State in the Union, 
 and in every State there are men who are making a failure. 
 
 "The Fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, 
 But in ourselves, that we are underlings." 
 
 HOW TO FIND A FARM. 
 
 After you have settled the matter of location, the next 
 thing is to find the farm. There are three possible ways. The 
 first is to take two or three Aveeks, or two or three months, and 
 drive through the section where you wish to locate and look 
 up properties that are for sale. This takes time and takes 
 money, but if one has plenty of both it is not a bad way. One 
 becomes acquainted with farm values, and can sometimes 
 pick up a bargain that will pay him well for the time and 
 money he has spent. A modification of this plan is to canvass 
 a section for some good paper or magazine and keep one's eye 
 ■open for a farm at the same time. I believe that if a man 
 should start out in the fall of the year with my book. "Two 
 Hundred Eggs a Year Per Hen," and the Advocate, he would 
 take subscriptions enough to more than pay expenses, and 
 would be likely to find a farm before he got through. 
 
 The second way is to advertise. There are hundreds and 
 thousands of farms that are on the market, and an advertise- 
 ment for a farm in the right medium will be sure to bring 
 numerous replies. 
 
 When I was in the market for a farm I prepared a five- 
 line advertisement and sent it to the "Congregationalist," with 
 instructions to insert it in their "Subscribers' Column" for four 
 weeks, sending along a two-dollar bill at the same time. The 
 advertisement was as follows: 
 
 WANTED — A small fruit and poultry farm 
 in or near some pleasant village in Southern 
 New Hampshire or Eastern Massachusetts. 
 Send full description, lowest cash price, and 
 photograph of buildings. 
 
 Replies came in thick and fast, until in sheer desperation I 
 wrote the publishers after two weeks to discontinue the ad- 
 vertisement and apply the dollar that remained to my sub- 
 scription. 
 
17 
 
 Many of the replies were from widows who fclL unable to 
 carry on the farm after the death of their husbands ; others 
 were from old persons who did not think it safe longer to live 
 alone, and a few were from heirs who had no use for the prop- 
 erty. In every case, so far as I could judge, the price asked 
 was reasonable, and in some cases it seemed very low. If I 
 were in the market again I should try a similar plan. 
 
 The third way is to go to a real estate agent and look over 
 his lists. It is said that one real estate agent in New England 
 has 6,000 properties on his books. It is natural for a man with 
 a farm to sell to place it in the hands of a real estate agent, 
 and in looking over a list one ought to be able to find two or 
 three properties that he would like to investigate. In dealing 
 with an agent one must be on his guard lest he be over- 
 persuaded and purchase against his better judgment. It is 
 the agent's business to make a sale, his commission depends 
 upon it, and naturally he is going to make the property as 
 attractive as possible. There is danger that one may be hyp- 
 notized. Still, agents have their place, and an honest agent 
 is a good friend to both buyer and seller. 
 
 ABANDONED FARMS. 
 
 In nine cases out of ten when a man begins serioush^ to 
 consider a country home he turns his thoughts to an aban- 
 doned farm. So much has been said and written about these 
 farms that a glamour has been cast over the subject, like the 
 magic spray that half conceals, half hides, the figure in the 
 fountain. The price asked seems ridiculously low — it is like 
 getting something for nothing. But I most earnestly adjure 
 the prospective buyer to turn all thoughts of one of these 
 farms out of his mind. If a farm has been abandoned it is for 
 a cause ; either the soil is rocky and sterile, the place is remote, 
 or the buildings are in a state of dilapidation and decay. 
 Leave the abandoned farm to the man who only wants it for a 
 summer home — it may be a good thing for him — but if you are 
 thinking of a farm on which to make a living, don't touch it. 
 It has starved one owner ; it will starve you. 
 
 POINTS TO BE CONSIDERED. 
 
 What are the points to be considered in buying a farm? 
 They are five, and they are as follows : 
 
 1. Township and Neighborhood. There is a great dififer- 
 ence in townships, even in those lying side by side. In one 
 township there are high ethical standards — the churches are 
 
18 
 
 well supported, the schools are maintained at a good degree of 
 efficiency, there is a healthy public sentiment on temperance 
 and sexual morality. In an adjoining township, perhaps, the 
 ethical standards have fallen into decay. Drunkenness and 
 licentiousness abound. Schools and churches are neglected. 
 Crime is common. It is no place to live and bring up children. 
 In one township the economic conditions may be far ahead of 
 those that prevail in another. Taxes may be lower, roads 
 better, methods of communication with the outside world 
 easier. Farms are higher in these towns, but they are worth ' 
 more and sell quicker when placed on the market. 
 
 In even the best towns there may be undesirable neighbor- 
 hoods. The slum is not peculiar to the city alone ; the country 
 town often has it. In the country one is thrown much in con- 
 tact with his neighbors, and therefore it is important that he 
 gets in a good neighborhood. 
 
 2. Size and Soil. The demand now is for small farms, 
 farms that range from five to twenty-five acres in size. Such 
 ■farms sell better than larger ones and are more desirable. The 
 large farm requires a large outlay for machinery, and the owner 
 must keep help. Five acres will keep a man busy, provided he 
 practices intensive farming, and will often yield a larger profit 
 than fifty. 
 
 Sometimes you hear it said that any kind of land will do 
 for hens. This is true in one sense, and in another sense it is 
 false. If a man were to keep hens and nothing else, if he pro- 
 posed to buy all their feed, he could get along with a place that 
 had poor soil. But poultry keeping should be combined with 
 other things for the maximum profit. At least the poultryman 
 should raise a good proportion of his feed. And there are 
 certain paying crops especially adapted to a poultry farm. No 
 soil is too good for the poultryman. The better the soil the 
 more money he can make. 
 
 The ideal soil is a sandy loam, and if there is a slope to the 
 south or southwest so much the better. But fowls can be kept 
 upon almost any soil, provided it is not so damp that water 
 stands on it a good part of the time. Even if the soil is run 
 out the hens will soon bring it around if there was anything 
 to it to start Avith. 
 
 3. Water and Wood. Who does not remember the "old 
 oaken l)ucket"' that came splashing up from the cool depths of 
 the well, brimming and overflowing with its liquid load, and 
 how refreshing a draught of that water was on a sultr}- sum- 
 
19 
 
 mer day? A good well on a place is worth hundreds of dollars- 
 in health and comfort. Always test the water and find out 
 whether the well goes dry in season of drought. In our New 
 England fortunately few farms are without good wells. A 
 spring or brook in the pasture is also important. 
 
 It is a good thing if there is a good lot on the farm of 
 sufficient size to supply the family fires, although this is not 
 indispensable. Coal is now burned in many farmhouses, and 
 kerosene stoves in summer decrease the housewife's burden. 
 
 4. Condition of Buildings. It makes all the difference in 
 the world in the value of a place whether the buildings are old 
 and dilapidated or whether they are in good repair. Nothing- 
 is more deceptive than an old building. It looks as if it only 
 needed a few slight repairs to put it in good condition, but 
 when you commence there seems to be no place to stop. A 
 place is not cheap, no matter the selling price, if the buildings 
 are in a state of decay. 
 
 5. Title. See that there are no defects in the title. In 
 order to do this it may be necessary to employ a lawyer. He 
 will look up the records in the office of the Register of Deeds 
 and report whether or not there is any encumbrance. I was 
 told of a case where an heir had a life interest in the estate tO' 
 the amount of $100 a year. It was represented to the buyer 
 that this heir was 80 years old, tottering into the grave. But 
 he found, when too late, that the heir was only a little over 
 60, and likely to live many years. The annuity that the pur- 
 chaser is obliged to pay is a serious drain upon him, and may 
 eventually lose him the farm. 
 
 A mortgage upon a place need not necessarily be con- 
 sidered an encumbrance. The buyer simply deducts the 
 amount of the mortgage from the amount paid the seller, and 
 assumes the liability. 
 
 Always demand a warrantee deed, and be satisfied with 
 nothing short of it. The cost of making out the deed is 
 assumed by the seller. 
 
 The insurance may be transferred at the time a place is 
 bought, provided the company consents, the buyer allowing 
 the seller for the time the policy is to run. But it is usually 
 better to take out a new policy. 
 
 PAYING FOR THE FARM. 
 
 Such a farm as I have described, from five to twenty-five 
 acres, well located, with buildings in good repair, may be 
 bought from one thousand to twenty-five hundred dollars. 
 
20 
 
 Usually the asking price is from one to five hundred dollars 
 above what the seller will ultimately take. The ideal way, of 
 course, would be to pay cash down; but in the majority of 
 cases this is impossible. Something must remain on a mort- 
 gage. It is always better to place the mortgage with a savings 
 "bank than with the seller of the farm. Something may happen 
 in a year or two that will cause him to need the money, and he 
 may press the buyer or dispose of the mortgage to a money 
 shark. Savings banks, on the other hand, make a business 
 of loaning money on mortgages, and as long as the interest is 
 paid and the property kept in good shape, will not distress the 
 mortgagor. The rate of interest demanded by savings banks 
 on first class mortgages here in New England is now five 
 per cent. 
 
 It is not generally known, but it is a fact, that savings 
 banks are now encouraging men to buy farms by making it 
 possible for them to pay the mortgage in monthly installments. 
 If a man can pay $10 a month a bank will advance $1,000 on a 
 ■$1,500 farm and apply the monthly payment to the reduction 
 ■of both principal and interest. 
 
 In general it should be said that a man should not pur- 
 chase a farm unless he is able to pay at least a third down and 
 then have something left over for working capital. 
 
 FARMS FOR WOMEN. 
 
 Women are now buying farms to a considerable extent. 
 While a woman on a farm is at a disadvantage on account 
 of not being able to do the harder and rougher work, yet many 
 women are such good managers that they overcome this handi- 
 cap. A woman in buying a farm should be sure to get one 
 near good neighbors, or, better still, in a village, even if she 
 has to be content with a smaller farm than she would buy 
 otherwise. The social isolation of a farm is not felt so much 
 where there is a large family ; but where a woman is alone, or 
 has only one companion, she needs to be where she can come 
 into contact with people easily. 
 
 WHEN TO MOVE ON A FARM. 
 
 No matter at what season a man moves on a farm, he will 
 wish he had gone there six montjis before. There is always a 
 vast amount of work to be done in getting settled and getting 
 started. Perhaps' the time of year when a man can move on a 
 farm with least loss is in the late fall, say in November. He 
 can then be settled before severe cold weather sets in, and be 
 
21 
 
 on the ground in time to make a good start in the spring. He 
 need not wait long, for if he is a poultryman he can start the 
 incubator going the first of January for broiler chicks and have 
 them coming right along. Farms can usually be bought a 
 little cheaper in the fall than in the spring, which is another 
 argument for going on at that time. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 An Income from the First. 
 
 The ideal way to start in the poultry business of course 
 would be to have capital enough to pay for one's farm out- 
 right and then have sufficient reserve to maintain one's self 
 until a good income could be established. There are but few, 
 however, who are able to start this way. The majority have 
 not money enough ahead to pay for their farm, to say nothing 
 -of being able to wait to build up a business. To them it is 
 imperative to have an income from the ver}^ first, and it is 
 the object of this chapter to show how such a result may be 
 accomplished. 
 
 It may be cheering to the reader of moderate means at 
 this point to remind him that it does not cost nearly so much 
 to live in the country as in the city. In the city it is money 
 every time one turns around, but on the farm one may go 
 days and not spend a cent. There is no rent to pay, no fuel 
 to buy, and the farm itself will largely supply the table. It 
 is not too much to say that one dollar in the country will go 
 .as far as two dollars in the city. 
 
 POULTRY GIVES QUICK RETURNS. 
 
 'One good thing about the poultry business is that it gives 
 ^uick returns. There is no other branch of live stock keeping" 
 that compares with it in this respect. In the raising of beeves, 
 horses, sheep and swine considerable time must elapse before 
 returns are made on the investment. Not so with poultry. 
 A year is a long time in the poultry business. If a man wishes 
 to raise broilers he buys an incubator in November, buys his 
 ■eggs to put into it a short time afterwards, and in the months 
 ■of early spring has marketed his two-pound birds and is ready 
 to reinvest. Even if he wants to produce winter eggs he does 
 not require a year to get returns. It is always possible to pur- 
 chase pullets in the early fall which will soon begin to lay. I 
 have known a flock of hens to lay the next day after being put 
 into the pen, so that the owner began to realize on his invest- 
 ment in less than 24 hours. Where a man gets out his own 
 
23 
 
 laving- stock, he ought to begin to take money for the sale of 
 eggs in less than eight months after he first starts his incu- 
 bator. 
 
 READY MONEY IX MILK. 
 
 I would not advise a man to combine poultry keeping with 
 dairying to any considerable extent, for it is inevitable that 
 he will neglect either his hens or his cows. Bu,t when a man 
 is getting started and needs ready money it will pay him to 
 keep two or three cows and sell the milk. In most country 
 towns in New England and the Middle States milk now sells 
 at the door, and the producer receives a check once a month 
 for his output. While there are many charges against the 
 contractors, and the producer is no doubt subjected to annoy- 
 ances and exactions, yet it is a great advantage in being able 
 to sell what one produces at the door and be sure of one's pay 
 for it. A cow rightly handled should net the owner $50 a year, 
 even at the price at which milk sells to the contractors. If 
 the good wife has the knack of making gilt-edge butter a cow- 
 will earn even more than this, and there will be a large amount 
 of skim milk left to feed to the hens or the swine. 
 
 OTHER THINGS THAT PAY. 
 
 Potatoes are a money crop. They are easy to grow and 
 easy to sell. An acre of potatoes seldom nets less than $50> 
 and from this it may run up to $200. While potatoes exhaust 
 a soil, already too greatly depleted of potash, yet the tempta- 
 tion to plant them is always great, as they bring in such quick 
 returns. 
 
 Apples. On most farms there is an apple orchard. Too 
 generally it has been neglected and the trees have not been 
 fertilized or properly trimmed for years, yet it has a way of 
 surprising the owner by bearing heavily now and then. The 
 first year the writer went on his farm he received a check for 
 $48 for his apples, which was like finding money, for he had 
 not counted on any income from this source. 
 
 Timber and Wood. On some farms there is standing 
 timber and a large amount of firewood. This is as good as 
 money in the bank. It is probable the price of lumber will 
 never be less than it is now, and firewood is steadily appreci- 
 ating in value. The man with a good-sized wood lot can put 
 
24 
 
 in his winters pleasantly and profitably, and the sale of wood 
 will go a long ways toward the support of himself and family. 
 
 CHANCES OF EMPLOYMENT. 
 
 The country offers a man many chances of employment. 
 While wages are not as high as in the city, yet, as has been 
 shown, the cost of living is much less. The traditional work- 
 ing day of the fathers — "from sun to sun" — is no longer in 
 evidence, and the man in the country works only nine hours, 
 or, at the most, ten. The trades most in demand are carpen- 
 ter's, painter's and mason's. If a man is master of one of these 
 he can be sure of employment at least six months out of the 
 twelve. Unskilled labor is also in great demand. If a man 
 is strong and willing, ready to turn his hand to anything", it 
 is surprising the number of jobs that will come his way. His 
 wife, too, can find plenty of employment, if she is willing to 
 work. If she is a skilled milliner or dressmaker her advent 
 into a country town will be hailed with delight, and if she is 
 willing to take in washing or go out to help she can have more 
 than she can do. The price of unskilled labor in the country 
 is for men from $1.50 to $2.00 a day and for women from 12 to 
 15 cents an hour. 
 
 WORK IN FACTORIES. 
 
 In many country towns there are factories of some kind 
 where a man can find employment. Some of these factories 
 make a practice of taking on additional help in winter. In 
 these factories, too, there are good chances for women and 
 children to earn something. I have known a man and his wife 
 in one year in a shoe shop to earn enough to put up a pretty 
 and substantial set of buildings. 
 
 CHANCES FOR CLERKS AND PROFESSIONAL MEN. 
 
 The clerk or professional man who goes on a farm is at a 
 disadvantage at first, compared with his brother who is accus- 
 tomed to work with his hands, because he seems to have noth- 
 ing to sell that the country wants. What the country needs, 
 and what the country is willing to pay for, is muscle, and the 
 clerk or professional man is generally short on that. How- 
 ever, let him not despair; the country has something for him, 
 too. In most towns there is a fine chance for a man to make a 
 good living buying and selling poultry and eggs. Between 
 
25 
 
 what the farmer gets and what the city grrocer is wilHng to 
 give there is often quite a margin. A man can make five dol- 
 lars a day, two days a week, running his team out among the 
 farmers. He should take along a few standard poultry sup- 
 plies, and will find that they sell well and yield a good profit. 
 
 SUMMER BOARDERS. 
 
 The American people have the vacation habit, and every 
 summer hundreds of thousands of them go to the country, the 
 seaside or the hills for recreation and rest. If one is equipped 
 for summer boarders there is no way in which one can make 
 money so fast. It is hard work, especially for the women 
 folks, but the season is short. Rates of board run from $5 to 
 $7 a week for single guests and from '$10 to $12 for two, and 
 in some cases even higher. The city man who goes into the 
 country and buys a farm should be much better qualified to 
 cater to the wants of summer boarders than the average 
 farmer, 'for he knows what they want. Plenty of berries and 
 vegetables, poultry, eggs, milk and cream are what the sum- 
 mer boarder wants, and all these are produced on the farm. 
 
 OTHER CHANCES. 
 
 There are a few other chances for an educated man to pick 
 up a little money in a country town, which occur to me as I 
 write. Something may be done in insurance. Farmers as a 
 general thing do not insure their lives, but nearly every farmer 
 recognizes the importance of carrying insurance on his prop- 
 erty. Not every company will take farm risks, but there are 
 good ones that do. It takes some time to work up an insur- 
 ance business, but once established it runs on from year to- 
 year with but little effort. There is in every country town a 
 demand for a man who can draw up conveyances, write wills 
 and advise on a few elementary principles of law. If a man is 
 qualified to teach he can generally find a school which will pay 
 him $40 to $50 a month for the winter term. The leading peri- 
 odicals of the country pay good commissions to agents, and 
 pay for renewals as well as new subscriptions. If a man has 
 no false pride he can do a good business in the fall and winter 
 in this line. 
 
 Perhaps in closing a leaf from life may be interesting. 
 Since moving upon his farm the writer has supplied pulpits,. 
 written insurance, contributed to papers, looked after invest- 
 
26 
 
 ment for a relative, and in short done whatever his hand could 
 find to do. All this has been in addition to his work on the 
 farm. The first year he earned in various ways $928.73. His 
 ^experience has convinced him that if a man is in earnest, and 
 is willing to turn his hand to any honest work, he will succeed. 
 No man ever yet starved to death on a farm. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Side Lines That Pay. 
 
 While it might be possible for a man to make a living from 
 poultry and eggs alone, yet it would not be wise for him to try 
 to do so. If a man keeps hens enough to keep him busy all the 
 time, he will have to keep enough to keep him more than busy 
 a part of the time. If he keeps the number he can care for 
 comfortably in rush times he will not have enough to keep him 
 busy at other times. Hens work in well with other things ; 
 they furnish a large amount of valuable fertilizer which should 
 be utilized ; they consume by-products that would otherwise 
 be wasted ; they can be kept on ground that at the same time 
 may be used for other things, notably fruits. It would seem 
 to be good judgment, therefore, to combine poultry keeping 
 with other lines. 
 
 PIGEONS. 
 
 Where a man is properly located there is no side line that 
 will give him better returns than pigeon raising. I am aware 
 that pigeon raising as a business enterprise is looked upon with 
 suspicion by many, such extravagant cFaims have been made 
 for it by those who have stock to sell. And yet an acquaint- 
 ance with the business has convinced me that where a man is 
 well located with reference to markets, begins on a small scale 
 and thoroughly masters the subject, gives his pigeons careful 
 attention, there is no line in which there is such "easy money" 
 as squab growing. 
 
 To begin with, pigeons are much less care than hens ; they 
 look after themselves. In pigeon raising the most laborious 
 and unsatisfactory part of the hen business is eliminated: the 
 incubation and care of the 3^oung. There is no incubator to 
 manage, no "moisture problem" to trouble one, no fussy sitting 
 hen to bother with, no brooder to look after. Pigeons build 
 their own nests, hatch their own eggs, rear their own young, 
 and take care of them until they are ready to be sent to market 
 or start in to housekeeping for themselves. If necessary, one 
 
28 
 
 can leave his pigeons all day, while he attends to other work, 
 as there are no eggs to gather and the flock may be automati- 
 cally fed. 
 
 A pair of good-working Homer pigeons will rear from six 
 to eight broods of young ones in the course of a year, and I 
 have known an unusually good pair to rear eleven broods. 
 
 Scene in the Pigeon Yard on a July morning. — The Building where 250 
 
 Pigeons are housed cost but $50.00. It was 
 
 originally a hen liouse. 
 
 Squabs bring from 40 to 60 cents a pair in the Boston markets, 
 according to the season. It is estimated that it costs 10 cents 
 a month to feed a pair of Homers, and the old birds feed their 
 own young. Reckoning the price at which squabs ma}' be sold 
 at the minimum, 40 cents a pair, and the increase eight pairs a 
 year, cost of feeding $1.20, and we have a net profit of two 
 dollars from each pair of working Homers. I know a success- 
 ful business man who draws $50 a week from his business for 
 personal expenses. This man engages in pigeon raising as a 
 side line. And he tells me that the money comes easier from 
 his pigeons than it does from his business. 
 
29 
 
 Any house that is adapted to poultry is adapted to pigeons. 
 It is generally safe to allow five square feet of floor space for 
 each pair, and put put over 25 pairs together in a pen. Besides 
 the house space, pigeons need a flying pen, which should be 
 at least twice as large on the ground as the breeding pen. The 
 flying pen should be eight or ten feet high, and should be 
 roofed with poultry wire as well as have poultry wire on the 
 sides. 
 
 The two secrets of successful pigeon raising are perfect 
 sanitation and complete mating. Pigeons are subject to two 
 serious diseases — canker and diarrhoea. Canker is a filth dis- 
 ease, and diarrhoea is caused by improper or unseasonable diet. 
 If the water for the daily bath is allowed to stand long enough 
 to become polluted and the pigeons drink it, the germs of can- 
 ker are introduced. And if care is not exercised in regard to 
 diet, diarrhoea is likely to break out. 
 
 Pigeons are generally given their feed in hoppers, and the 
 standard ration is a mixture of red wheat and cracked corn — 
 much more corn being fed in winter than in summer. Pigeons 
 are also given peas, Kaffir corn and pigeon feed. Grit and 
 charcoal must be kept before them all the time and also plenty 
 of oyster shells. Pigeons build their own nests (two boxes 
 being provided for each pair), but must be furnished with 
 nesting material — tobacco stems in summer and straw in 
 winter. 
 
 Squabs are generally marketed when four weeks old. Their 
 necks are wrung and they are shipped undressed. They are 
 handled by commission merchants, who pay from 40 to 70 
 cents a pair for squabs weighing from 9 to 10 pounds a dozen, 
 according to the season of the year. Prices are at their. lowest 
 in June and July and at their highest in February and March. 
 
 To realize the largest profits one needs a good summer 
 market close at hand. In many places this market already 
 exists, and in nearly every place of any size it may be created. 
 The consumption of squabs is likely to largely increase in the 
 future, ^nd there does not seem to be any danger that tlie busi- 
 ness Avill be overdone. 
 
 Pigeon raisers may add considerably to their profits by 
 selling birds for breeding purposes. Pigeon raising is a new 
 business in most localities, and its picturesqueness and possi- 
 ble profitableness make a strong appeal to many. Scores start 
 in with a few birds in every village every year, only to abandon 
 the enterprise in a few weeks or months, and these beginners 
 
30 
 
 make good cusioniers for stock. In pigeon raising, as in every- 
 thing" else, it is the man who stays with the business wha 
 succeeds. 
 
 DUCKS. 
 
 The profitableness of duck culture is not preached so 
 assiduously as it was a few years ago, but where a man's place 
 is adapted to it and where he is well located as regards mar- 
 kets, he may, as in the case of pigeons, embark in it to ad- 
 vantage. Ducklings are easier' to raise than chicks, grow 
 faster, are unmolested by vermin and are not subject to disease. 
 They are easily confined — a two-foot wire fence will keep them 
 enclosed. While a stream or pond is an advantage in raising 
 ducks, 3'et some successful duck raisers grow them without 
 this accessory. They need plenty of water to drink and to 
 rinse their faces in, but more than this is not needed. In the 
 case of ducks besides the eggs and meat, there is another 
 source of revenue — the feathers. 
 
 POULTRY KEEPING AND GENERAL FARMING. 
 
 As a matter of fact, three-fourths of the eggs produced in 
 the United States are produced on farms, where poultry keep- 
 ing is a side line. Hens pay on the farm, there is no doubt of 
 that, but it is a qviestion whether it would pay a man to com- 
 bine poultry keeping on a large scale with general farming. 
 Hens pay on the farm because they are allowed to shift for 
 themselves and pick up a great part of their own living. Fifty 
 hens may range at will and not be a nuisance, but five hundred 
 hens roaming at large would be as destructive as a Kansas 
 cyclone. If a man keeps five hundred> hens he must house 
 them, yard them, feed them, and devote considerable time to 
 their care, it is a question whether this time may not be more 
 profitably spent in regular farm work. Other things being 
 equal, it does not pay a man to disturb a routine he has estab- 
 lished and which is reasonably profitable to try a new thing. 
 
 > 
 MARKET GARDENING. 
 
 Where soil and site are favorable poultry keeping" works 
 in well with market gardening, as I demonstrate elsewhere. 
 Summer, which is the market gardener's busy season, is the 
 time when the poultryman's duties are light. The poultryman 
 has at his command a large amount of stimulating manure, 
 which is just the thing for early crops. It is surprising", too,. 
 
31 
 
 what a demand there is for early vegetables, even in country 
 towns. Marketmen will tell you that they cannot begin to 
 supply the demand from the local growers, but have to send 
 away for a great part of their stuff. If a man has a small green- 
 house he can add largely to his profits, and even with two or 
 three hot beds can force the season. Asparagus, early peas, 
 string beans, green corn, cucumbers, radishes, lettuce, beets, 
 etc., are money makers not to be despised. The beauty of mar- 
 ket gardening is that there is no long wait — a man gets returns 
 from his investment at once. ' 
 
 STRAWBERRIES. 
 
 Probably the ideal combination, where conditions are 
 favorable, is poultry keeping and straw^berry growing. Straw- 
 berries are the one berry of which people cannot get enough. 
 It is surprising how many boxes the market will absorb. In 
 the little town in which I live I have known one dealer to sell 
 250 boxes in a day. In order to grow strawberries to advant- 
 age, three things are needed — rich, moist land, clean culture, 
 plenty of cheap help in the picking time. By a suitable selec- 
 tion of varieties the fruiting season may be extended to full 
 four weeks. For New England the following varieties are rec- 
 ommended : Early — Fairfield, Senator Dunlap, Virginia; mid- 
 season — Sample, Glen Mary, Abington, Brandywine, Minute- 
 man. Parson's Beauty; late — Stevens' Late Champion; latest. 
 Rear Guard. 
 
 For growing on light soil, Minute-man and Haverland 
 pollenized with Meade or Senator Dunlap ; for medium to 
 heavy soil, Sample pollenized with either Brandywine, Abing- 
 ton, Parson's Beauty or Senator Dunlap ; Glen Mary. The 
 latter variety may be planted alone if desired. Plant new 
 varieties in a small way, or better still, allow the experiment 
 stations to test them for you. 
 
 The grower of strawberries may add considerable to his 
 income by the sale of plants. There are many in every com- 
 munity who have their own strawberry bed. They are accus- 
 tomed to send away for plants, but will buy at home if they 
 can get what they want. One cannot get as large prices for 
 plants sold around home as he could if he advertised and got 
 out a catalogue ; but half a cent a plant for the common varie- 
 ties and a cent a plant for the newer ones will pay a man well. 
 The question arises in this connection : If I sell plants do I 
 not create competitors who will cut into my berry business? 
 
32 
 
 It IS the experience of strawberry growers that the sale of 
 plants does not injure the berry trade. New varieties are 
 coming out all the time. If a man has a reputation for grow- 
 ing good stuff his customers will stick to him. The w^ay to 
 succeed is to do things a little better and a little dift'erent from 
 the other fellow, and then let the public know it. 
 
 RASPBERRIES, BLACKBERRIES AND CURRANTS. 
 
 The grower of strawberries will be likely to add "bush 
 fruits," as they are called, to his collection. Raspberries and 
 blackberries are not so satisfactory to handle as strawberries, 
 as it is more difficult to keep them under control ; but where a 
 plantation is well established it is profitable. Raspberries 
 especiall}^ pay well, as the demand is good and the price high. 
 The raspberry grower has a clearer field for his wares than the 
 strawberry grower, for owing to the soft and fleshy nature of 
 the fruit it does not stand shipment well and the demand must 
 be supplied from near home. Currants also have a limited 
 sale, and owing to their extraordinary productiveness are 
 profitable. In raspberries the money making varieties are the 
 Kansas and Cuthbert ; in blackberries, the Snyder; in currants. 
 Red Cross, Wilder or Cherry. 
 
 PEACHES AND PLUMS. 
 
 These do not yield so quick returns as vegetables, berries 
 and bush fruits ; but when the orchard is established, the work 
 is less and the profits large. The poultryman who plants 
 peaches and plums in his garden has the great advantage of 
 using his land for a double purpose. Peaches are profitable 
 in the peach belt, but when one gets out of the region where 
 they grow naturally, it does not pay to bother with them. 
 Plums are hardier, and are adapted to a wider range of terri- 
 tory. 
 
 Any land that will grow good corn will grow peaches and 
 plums. Some set the trees in holes dug for the purpose, but I 
 get better results by plowing the land and growing the trees 
 the first year or two among hoed crops. In buying trees get 
 them as near home as possible. They will be more likely to 
 live, as they can be set immediately upon being dug up, and 
 the price is less. One should not pay over 10 or 15 cents for 
 trees suitable to set out. 
 
 This book is written for the latitude of southeastern New 
 
33 
 
 England, and all varieties mentioned in this chapter are the 
 ones adapted for money-making here. Other parts of the 
 country will perhaps require a different selection. I would 
 advise the reader to write to the pomologist of his State 
 experiment station for a list of trees and fruits best adapted 
 to his locality. For my section the best varieties are as fol- 
 lows : Peaches — Greensboro, Waddell, Carman, Champion 
 (delicious late peach), Elberta, Crosby (the best yellow peach 
 known) ; plums — Red June, Abundance, Satsuma (superb for 
 
 canning). 
 
 It is good judgment to set a few quince trees in the runs, 
 
 and also a few late pears. 
 
 APPLES. 
 
 The easiest and simplest way in which a man can make 
 a Hving, I believe, is to have an apple orchard of from two 
 hundred to five hundred trees, and to keep hens among the 
 trees on the colony plan. One drawback to an orchard is that 
 it takes it so long to grow. But in buying a farm, a man can 
 sometimes find one with an apple orchard already established 
 upon it ; and if the trees are young and well selected, each tree 
 is worth at least $10 on the price of the farm. Where there 
 is no orchard it will pay a man in middle life to set one out, 
 for the time is coming wdien he will want to make his money 
 the easiest way. In setting out trees, I would urge greater 
 space given to fall fruit. The trees grow fast, the apples sell 
 well, and there is not so much competition as on the winter 
 varieties. Everybody knows what varieties of apples sell best, 
 so it is hardly necessary for me to enumerate them. But if I 
 were setting out 100 tre^s, I would have the proportion as 
 follows: Astrachan 1, Early Harvest 1, Golden Sweet 1, Grav- 
 enstein 15, Mcintosh Red 15, Rhode Island Greening 5. North- 
 ern Spy 10, Ben Davis 10, Roxbury Russet 7, Baldwin 35. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Houses and Yards. 
 
 One of the greatest problems that confronts the poultry- 
 man is the location and construction of his plant. It is here 
 that, more men meet their Waterloo than anywhere else. I 
 have visited many of the leading breeders of the East, and 
 before coming away have asked this question : "If you were 
 starting anew would you build and locate your houses just as 
 they are now?" And in nearly every case, I think, the answer 
 has been, "No." The man has gone on and suggested modi- 
 fications and improvements that I could see would be of great 
 advantage. 
 
 It is my purpose in this chapter to describe two poultry 
 houses — one for layers and one for young stock — such as 1 
 have demonstrated in my own experience to be practical and 
 economical. Indeed, I do not see how either of them can be 
 improved. If a man will think out his plant in advance and 
 determine where he will build if his business grows, and then 
 begin with one laying house and two of the smaller houses, he 
 will Inake no mistake, but will be in a position to advance from 
 year to year. 
 
 LAYING HOUSE. 
 
 There seems to be a tendency on the part of poultrymen 
 to-day to larger flocks. There wa€ a time not so long ago 
 when it was believed that twelve or fifteen birds were all that 
 should be kept together where the maximum egg product was 
 desired. It has been found, however, that fowls may be kept 
 together in any number up to fifty with good results, provided 
 they are given ample room and their quarters are kept clean 
 and sanitar}'. It would seem to be good judgment, therefore, 
 to build a house sufl(iciently large to accommodate fifty laying 
 hens, and to make this number the unit in one's calculations. 
 Fifty hens in one flock may be cared for as easily as fifteen. 
 They re([uire but one feed hopper, one drinking dish, one box 
 with grit and oyster shells, one dust bath, and all may be fed 
 their grain ration at the same time. A 50-hen house, therefore, 
 is oin- first consideration. 
 
35 
 
36 
 
 The house shown in the picture is 24_fcet long and 12 feet 
 deep. 7 feet high in front and 45-2 feet high in the rear. The 
 foundatioTiS are old railroad ties set 2J/2 feet in the ground and 
 cut ofT six inches above the surface. There are five of these 
 in front and five in the rear. The end sills and floor timbers 
 are also supported in the middle by piers of stones. This gives 
 stififness to the fran^ie. although not absolutely needed. 
 
 In the construction of the frame, 2x4 joists are used. Th^ 
 sills are 4x4, but no other heavy timber is employed. The 
 uprights are placed three feet apart, and the floor and roof 
 timbers 30 inches. The frame is covered with pine or hemlock 
 boards, and there is a double floor. 
 
 The roof is double pitch, with one side much longer than 
 the other. The rafters in the short pitch are 3 feet long and 
 those in the long pitch 10 feet. The distance from the floor to 
 the highest point of the roof is a little over 8 feet. 
 
 The house faces south, as all poultry houses should. There 
 are in fr(jnt two windows of glass, each light 9x12. These 
 windows are made in one piece and are wdiat is known in the 
 East as ''storm windows." They are screwed to the frames 
 and are not intended to be removed. There is also one of these 
 glass windows in the east end. This gives a splendid distribu- 
 tion of light, and the house has sunshine all the day long. The 
 windows are set 20 inclies from the floor. Besides the glass 
 windows there are two windows for the admission of fresh air, 
 ■each 4 feet long by 3 feet high. These windows are covered on 
 the outside with poultr}- wire, and on the inside there are 
 frames made of 3-inch stuft' and covered with 10-ounce duck. 
 These frames are so arranged that they may be swung up and 
 fastened tu the rcof during the day and closed and buttoned 
 at night, or in stormy weather. As a matter of fact, for eight 
 months in the year the frames are fastened to the roof and are 
 not let down at all. The reader wnll perceive that I believe in 
 plenty of fresh air for hens. 
 
 The arrangement of the interior is very simple. There is 
 a roost platform 16 feet long and 3^^ feet wide on the back 
 side. This platform is 2y2 feet from the floor, and the perches 
 are 8 inches above it. The platform is boarded in at the west 
 end, and if one desires he can arrange a curtain to drop down 
 in front of the birds when they have gone to roost at night. 
 
 Running along the west end is another platform 18 inches 
 high and 24 inches wide. This platform is for the nests. For- 
 merly I placed the nests under the roost platform, as is com- 
 
37 
 
 monly the case, but this required so much stooping and pulling" 
 out of nests to gather the eggs that I decided to introduce a 
 nest platform, and find it a great con\enience. The nests are 
 up oft" the Hoor, out of the way, and are easily accessible to 
 both the laying hen and the owner. 
 
 The only other furniture in the house is two shelves six 
 inches from the floor, one for the grit and shell box and the 
 other for the feed hopper and the dust box. It will be seen 
 that every inch of floor space except the small amount recjuired 
 for the dust box, is available for scratching and exercise. 
 
 The sides and ends of the house are covered with Neponset 
 roofing, painted soon after being put on, and the roof is 
 shingled. A saving in cost might be eft'ected by covering the 
 roof with Neponset, painting it, and then in a few years after, . 
 when the Neponset begins to wear through, putting on 
 shingles. I have tried many things, but I have never found 
 anything so good as shingles for a roof. Next to shingles I 
 put Paroid, which is easy to apply and will last for years. 
 
 The cost of this house, exclusive of labor, is about $50. It 
 will cost more in localities where lumber is high. 
 
 HOUSE FOR YOUNG STOCK. 
 
 Besides houses for his laying hens, every poultryman needs 
 a number of houses for his young stock. As a general thing 
 these houses are quite cheaply constructed, and I have known 
 a breeder to rear prize winners in old piano boxes. But where 
 a man is not too greatly cramped for capital, it will pa}' him 
 to put up good, substantial buildings for his young stock. 
 They will last longer and be more satisfactory. There is a 
 time in the fall when every breeder is crowded for room, and 
 these houses which I am about to describe will come in handy 
 for supplementary quarters. 
 
 The houses for young stock are each 12 feet long by 8 feet 
 wide, 7j% feet in front by 5 feet in the rear. The sills, plates, 
 rafters, studs and floor timbers are all of 2x4 stuft', and I put 
 in enough to make a stiff frame. 
 
 The floor is double, as in the other house, and is made of 
 boards. The roof is single slope or shed roof, as it is called. 
 
 The foundation for the house is made of old railroad ties. 
 Instead of setting the ties in the ground, as is the case Avith 
 the other house, the ties are sawed into sections 16 inches long 
 and laid down upon the grass and the sills laid upon them.. 
 For a light house this answers all right. It also makes it con- 
 
38 
 
39 
 
 ^•enient when one wishes to move the house from time to 
 time to get it on new soil. 
 
 The house is covered with Neponset put on over sheathing- 
 l^aper, and the roof is covered with Paroid. Both sides and 
 roof are kept carefully painted to protect the paper. 
 
 I ought to have added to my description of the laying house 
 that I use some kind of lining or sheathing paper under the 
 Xeponset siding. One cannot have a poultry house too wind 
 proof and free from draughts. 
 
 In the house for young stock there is no glass window in 
 front, but its place is taken by an open window, 4 feet by 4, 
 divided into two parts by a joist or scantling. This window is 
 covered with poultry wire and is fitted with a curtain which 
 is tacked to a frame. The frame is fastened to the upper joist 
 by three back-flap hinges and the greater part of the time is 
 swung up and hooked to the roof. As the house is used prin- 
 cipally in warm weather, the curtain is kept hooked up the 
 greater part of the time, and is only let down and fastened 
 (luring a storm. 
 
 The frame for the curtain is of three-inch boards, with a 
 support running down the center. As the house is not in- 
 tended to be used in the very coldest weather, the covering 
 for the frame is not of duck, but of cotton cloth, oiled. 
 
 As the house would be somewhat dark with the curtain 
 down, if there were no other means of admitting light, I have 
 inserted a single window in each end. The windows are what 
 are known as cellar windows and have three lights each, the 
 square of glass being 10 by 12 inches, and cost 50 cents apiece. 
 
 The following is an estimate of the materials required : 
 Hemlock boards. 564 feet; spruce joists, 2x4, 218 running feet; 
 spruce joists, 2x3 (roosts), 24 running feet; matched pine for 
 doors, 20 feet; finish, 3-inch, 60 feet; finish, 4-inch, 60 feet; 
 Xeponset roofing, 250 feet ; sheathing paper, 250 feet ; Paroid, 
 110 feet. Two small windows for ends, hardware, sheeting, 
 etc. . The cost of this house, where a man does his own work, 
 is not far from $25. 
 
 I make use of these houses from March up to about Christ- 
 mas. After the young stock is removed from them in the fall 
 or earl}^ winter, they are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, 
 and the floor is covered with fine gravel or sand. The house is 
 then allowed to rest until needed for the chicks in the spring. 
 When taken front the incubator they are put into these houses. 
 
40 
 
 50 to a house. When the chicks are six or eight weeks old, the 
 brooder is removed, but the chicks are allowed to remain. 
 When they are 10 or 12 weeks old, low perches or roosts are 
 introduced, and the chicks encouraged to use them. When 
 the cockerels get old enough to begin to pay attention to the 
 other sex, they are separated from the pullets and put in houses 
 by themselves. 
 
 The pullets are allowed to remain in their houses until they 
 begin to lay, when they are removed to their permanent quar- 
 ters in the laying house. Sometimes, however, when I am 
 crowded for room, the pullets are allowed to stay longer, even 
 up to Christmas. But I like to get them into the laying house 
 as soon as they begin to lay, for any interference with a laying- 
 hen has a tendency to check egg production. 
 
 YARDS. 
 
 In my opinion too much space is often given to yards, and 
 valuable land devoted to the purpose which could be better 
 utilized in growing crops. Unless the yard is large enough to 
 maintain a stand of grass in spite of the depredations of the 
 fowls, there is no particular need of going to the expense of 
 wiring in a large space ; for if you have watched hens in con- 
 finement you have doubtless noticed that they restrict them- 
 selves to a comparatively small area. They need a place for 
 dusting, for exercise, for outdoor enjoyment, but it need not 
 be large. 
 
 Shade is a necessity in the yards, and if it is not provided 
 naturally it must be artificially. Remember that it is in the 
 hot season of the 3'ear that the hens are outdoors, and they 
 need protection from the fierce heat of the sun. An apple 
 orchard or a grove of standing timber makes an ideal yard. 
 If there is no shade and trees are to be planted for the purpose, 
 plum and peach should be given the preference, for they grow 
 faster than the apple and give good results. 
 
 Yards should run to the rear of the houses, and not to the 
 front. Where yards run to the rear each house is directly 
 accessible, and one does not have to open and shtit half a dozen 
 gates and penetrate a labyrinth of yards to get where he wants 
 to go. I believe that I was the first writer on poultry topics 
 to advocate running the yards to the rear, but now many are 
 falling into line with me. 
 
 Formerly it was the custom to run a bottom board along 
 the ground, from post to post, nail the wire to. and also to 
 
41 
 
 crown the fence with a top rail ; btit this practice is no longer 
 followed. It is made nnnecessary by the fact that wire is now 
 manufactured with horizontal strands running the whole 
 length, and with meshes smaller at the bottom than at the 
 top. This wire tloes not sag or buckle and follows the contour 
 of the land. 
 
 Posts should be planted one rod apart. Aside from the 
 corner posts, which are subjected to considerable strain, large 
 posts are not needed. Small, cheap posts, which can easily 
 be inserted in the ground by means of a bar and sledge, are as 
 good or better than expensive posts of cedar or chestnut. 
 Young pines that have died on the stump from too close 
 crowding, make excellent posts, and may be bought for about 
 five cents each. Removing the bark and dipping them in hot 
 creosote up to about six inches above their ground line greatly 
 increases their durability. It does not pay to spend much time 
 and money upon the construction of the yards, for the wire 
 should be removed every few years and the ground ploughed 
 up and planted to renovate it. 
 
 LiTER.vruRE. — "Practical Poultry Houses" b}^ A. F. Hunter, should be 
 in the hands of all who plan to build. Fully illustrated with half-tone 
 and line engravings, taken from actual photographs on plants, and per 
 drawings of plans by a competent draughtsman — 96 pages. Price, 50 cents. 
 American Poultry Alvocate, Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Incubation and Broodins:. 
 
 Possibly a man might run a poultry plant and make a suc- 
 -cess of it and use only hens to hatch and brood the chicks, yet 
 it would take a mighty smart man to do so. In order to secure 
 the laying stock chicks must be got out in large numbers and 
 got out in the spring, and it is not always possible to get a 
 supply of sitting hens when they are most needed. Then it is 
 always the best and earliest laying hens that want to sit first; 
 and to employ them for this purpose means that you lose their 
 ■egg output when you need it most, and doom yourself to breed 
 from inferior layers. You lose the time of your hens, the feed 
 they consume, and the extra labor on your own part when you 
 hatch and brood in the good old-fashioned way. An incubator 
 is always ready to sit, never breaks eggs, never leaves the nest, 
 never inoculates the chicks with lice as soon as they are born ; 
 and a brooder rightly handled and not overloaded will bring- 
 up chicks much better than any old hen you ever saw. 
 
 SELECTING AX .INCUBATOR. 
 
 I receive many letters in the course of a year from persons 
 who wish to know what is the best make of incubator. In 
 repl}' I tell them I do not know, but can tell them the name of 
 the one I run. I suppose there is no best. There are a dozen 
 incubators on the market, any one of which will do good work. 
 "It is the man behind the gun" we used to say during our war 
 with Spain : and it is the man behind the incubator who is 
 responsible for success or failure. The man who gets a 90 per 
 •cent, hatch Avith one machine could probably duplicate it with 
 another if he should try. 
 
 The best size for a machine is probably somewhere about 
 .200 eggs. A 50 per cent, hatch is regarded as a good one for 
 an incubator. This will give a man 100 chicks at a run. If he 
 wants fewer he can put in fewer eggs, and if he wants more 
 lie can get another machine. A 200-egg inctibator may be run 
 with 100 eggs, but a 100-egg machine cannot be run with 200. 
 It takes little more oil. if any, for a 200-egg incubator than for 
 
43 
 
 a smaller one, no more lime to attend it, and the 200-egg' 
 machine is generally more satisfactory. On the other hand 
 should the hatch go wrong-, as will sometimes happen, 200 eggs 
 are enough to spoil ; and for this reason I do not recommend 
 the purchase of extra large machines. The 200-egg incubator 
 is the standard. 
 
 FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS CLOSELY. 
 
 Accompanying- each machine as it comes from the factorv 
 is an illustrated chart showing- how to set it up and a book of 
 directions for operating- it. Follow 'the instructions closelv. 
 It's a difficult thing to bea^ a man at his own game, and the 
 incubator makers have been at it for years. They are more 
 anxious to have you succeed than you are yourself, for success 
 means that you tell your friends about their machine and so 
 influence future buyers. They ought to know their own ma- 
 chine. Set the incubator where the temperature is the most 
 uniform, least subject to variations. A cellar is the best or the 
 worst place. A cellar that is moderately moist and contains 
 no artificial heating apparatus is the best place for an incu- 
 bator, and a cellar with a heater or furnace about the worst. 
 After you get the incubator adjusted run it two or three davs 
 before putting in the eggs. 
 
 SOME INCUBATOR CAUTIONS. 
 
 You \\-ill trim and till yuur lamp once a day and turn the 
 eggs twice ; but after doing these things the less you touch 
 your incubator or go near it the better. There is a weird 
 fascination about an incubator, and- one can hardly leave it 
 alone. But the less you monkey with it the better. This is 
 -especially true in hatching time. The thermometer will do all 
 kinds of stunts, and you will be tempted to keep your hand on 
 the regulator. But if the incubator has been running well 
 through the hatch, let it alone. After the eggs are through 
 hatching it may be well to open the door and quickly remove 
 the egg trays. This will give you a better chance to see the 
 ■chicks and will give them more room. 
 
 The thermostat may need slight adjustment se\-eral times 
 •during the hatch. The best way to see the thermometer is to 
 use an egg tester to flash light into the machine. This should 
 he done every morning and night before you turn the eggs. 
 
44 
 
 INSURANCE. 
 
 Before you start in to run an incubator in your house 
 secure a written permit from A'our insurance agent to do so. 
 There is very little danger of fire from an incubator, and the 
 company would probably indemnify you even if there were no 
 such addenda to your policy. But it is better to be safe than 
 to be sorry. Most companies grant such a permit upon appli- 
 cation, while a few refuse to do so. If you are insured in a 
 company of the latter kind the only thing to do is to surrender 
 vour policy and take out another in a more progressive con- 
 cern. 
 
 TESTING THE EGGS. 
 
 Eggs should be tested at the end of the seventh and again 
 at the end of the fourteenth day. In the first test all infertile 
 egg's should be removed. These may be told by the fact that 
 they are perfectly clear, while the fertile eggs show a dark 
 spot from which radiate red, spider}' lines. An air cell also has 
 begun to form. In the second test it will be found that some 
 of the germs that began to develop have died, and these eggs 
 should be taken out. A little practice will soon enable one to 
 distinguish a fertile from an infertile egg. and to tell whether 
 the egg is incubating satisfactorily or not. 
 
 THE MOISTURE PROBLEM. 
 
 Why IS it that the best incubator made will seldom hatch 
 as large a ])er cent, of the eggs as a hen? The common idea 
 is. lack of moisture. Incubator manufacturers say otherwise. 
 They say that the air constant!}' circulating around the eggs 
 supplies moisture, and that no artificial moisture is necessary. 
 I said just a moment ago that the reader should follow the 
 instructions of the manufacturer carefully and not think he 
 can beat a man at his own game. But in the matter of moist- 
 ure I am inclined to make an exception — I believe there are 
 times when moisture may be supplied to advantage. 
 
 A certain amount of evaporation is necessary from the 
 Qgg, whether in an incubator or under a hen, or the air cell 
 will not form, and the chick will die. But if the evaporation 
 is too great the chick becomes weak and ^shrunken and the 
 membrane inside the shell tough and leathery, so that when 
 the period of incubation is completed the chick cannot extrude 
 itself. The problem, therefore, is to keep the air cell the right 
 size. A good way for the beginner is to set some eggs under 
 
45 
 
 a hen at the same time he starts his incubator, and whenever 
 he tests the eggs in the incubator to test those under the hen. 
 If the air cell in both cases is the same size, the moisture prob- 
 lem is taking care of itself. But if the air space in the eggs in 
 the incubator is much larger than the air space in the eggs 
 under the hen, evaporation is too rapid and should be checked. 
 Moisture may be supplied by means of water in shallow pans 
 set under the egg trays, by a wet sponge introduced into the 
 incubator, by shallow boxes filled with wet sand, or by 
 sprinkling the eggs with water of the temperature of 95 
 degrees. 
 
 VENTILATION. 
 
 Closely connected with the subject of moisture is the sub- 
 ject of ventilation. During the first four days of incubation 
 the germ wdll develop with very little ventilation. After the 
 fourth day the air cell begins to form, and then more ventila- 
 tion is necessary ; on the seventh day the germ requires treat- 
 ment according to local conditions ; in cold w^eather, more heat 
 and less ventilation; in warm weather, less heat and more 
 ventilation. At an altitude of 500 or 1,000 feet, more ventila- 
 tion ; at an altitude of 4,000 feet or more, less ventilation. In 
 extremely dry weather or in a high altitude, about the same 
 quantity of ventilation is required the third week as during 
 the second. 
 
 REMOVING CHICKS TO THE BROODER. . 
 
 Chicks may be allowed to remain in the incubator for 24 
 hours after the last one has come out ; they should then be 
 removed to the brooder. Meanwhile the brooder should haAC 
 been got in readiness. If it has been used before it should 1>e 
 washed out thoroughly with warm water and carbolic acid 
 soap. The lamp should be cleaned and the burner boiled out. 
 A new wick should be put in. After the brooder has dried out 
 carpet the floor wnth half an inch of sand or soft earth and then 
 si art the lamp. The brooder should be thoroughly warmed up 
 l;efore the chicks are put in. 
 
 The temperature under the hover should be 95 when the 
 chicks are introduced, and should be kept at 95 the first week. 
 Then it may be reduced a degree a day until it gets down to 
 70. Some men use no thermometer, but can tell whether the 
 temperature is right by the action of the chicks : if they bunch 
 
46 
 
 together they need more lieat ; if they spread out and appear 
 contented the temperature is right. 
 
 MANAGEMENT AND CARE OF BROODER CHICKS. 
 
 Brooder chicks come out from one to three months earher 
 than chicks raised in the natural way, and consequently the 
 mortality among them is likely to be greater. The brooder 
 itself should be kept clean. Every few days the litter should 
 be removed and replaced with fresh sand or earth. The chicks 
 should be given as much liberty as is consistent with safety. 
 They should be let out of the brooders into the brooder house. 
 It will be necessary to make a little fence of boards around 
 the brooder for the first day or two after they are let out, and 
 to guide the little things back into their house when they 
 begin to show signs of being cold. But they soon learn. And 
 in a short time they may be alloAved to go in and out at their 
 own free will. 
 
 It is a good plan to keep the floor of the brooder house 
 covered with sand or earth, and to sprinkle it from time to 
 time. There is such a thing as having the brooder house too 
 dry. Mother Earth has a natural moisture which must be 
 reproduced in the brooder house if the chicks are to do their 
 best. Not over 50 chicks should be put together. 
 
 HOW TO FEED. 
 
 The chicken business has been relieved of much of its 
 drudgery by the introduction of the dry feeding method. 
 The poultryman throws in a few handfuls of chick feed four or 
 five times a day, and the chicks do the rest. But there is room 
 for a few suggestions even here. Chicks need vegetables to 
 balance the grains of which the chick feed is composed. A 
 blood beet cut in two or a mangel will be eagerly attacked. 
 The heart of a cabbage is good. Onions chopped fine are 
 relished. A handful of beef scraps scattered over the floor 
 once a day will be found and devoured. It is a good rule never 
 to give little chicks more chick feed or cracked corn at a time 
 than, they will eat up clean. 
 
 I find it a good plan after the chicks are three weeks old 
 to keep before them all the time a mixture made up as follows : 
 bran, two parts, ground alfalfa, two parts ; bone meal, one part \. 
 a little salt, a little charcoal. This is fed dry, and is in addi- 
 tion to the chick feed and vegetables. I ought also to add that 
 I keep clean, cool water before my chicks from the very start.. 
 
47 
 
 When my chicks are six weeks or two months old then I 
 let them out into their yards. From now on I use the hopper 
 system of feeding, and keep feed before them all the time. In 
 one compartment of the hopper is a dry mash made as follows : 
 two parts ground alfalfa, two parts mixed feed, one part beef 
 scraps, a little salt, a little charcoal. The ingredients are com- 
 pounded by bulk rather than by weight. In the other com- 
 partment of the hopper I keep cracked corn. In their yards 
 the chicks find grass, bugs, worms, and later in the season 
 apples, peaches and plums. As soon as practicable I separate 
 the sexes, and always aim to keep chicks of the same size to- 
 gether. 
 
 BARTON BROODER SYSTEM. 
 
 Where one desires to get out chicks early and in large 
 numbers, something like a brooder system is necessary. Brood- 
 ers such as are sold on the market do not do their best work 
 with the thermometer at zero; they are intended for a milder 
 temperature. When used in mid-winter they need to be kept 
 in a house in which there is a fire. Consequently on large 
 plants where extra early chickens are wanted, they are gen- 
 erally raised, in large brooder houses in which the pipe system 
 has been installed. But this is expensive. Not every man feels 
 capable of running a steam heater. Under the pipe system the 
 mortality is likely to be large at best, and in case of an acci- 
 dent a man may see all the chickens he has on hand perish in 
 a few hours. A system less expensive than the pipe system 
 and where the unit is the individual brooder wotild seem to be 
 what is wanted in the poultry world. 
 
 Aly friend, Mr. O. P. Barton of Seabrook, K. H.. has de- 
 vised such a system, and when its merits are known it is likely 
 to supersede all others. A description of this system will be 
 worth many times the price of this book to anyone interested 
 in artificial incubation and brooding. 
 
 Mr. Barton has lately built a new brooding house in which 
 his ideas are more fully worked out than in previous ones, and 
 I feel that I can best explain the system by describing the ncAv 
 brooder house both outside and inside. 
 
 The brooder house shown in the cut is 16x40 feet, and runs 
 north and south. It has five-foot posts, and the height from 
 the sill to the apex of the double roof is 10 feet. The sills are 
 of 4x6 stufif, but all the studding, plates, rafters, etc., are 2x4.- 
 The floor is of earth. The building is covered on the roof,, 
 sides and ends with a patent roofing. 
 
48 
 
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 K 
 
49 
 
 What impresses one most about the building when he sees 
 it for the first time is the number of windows. I don't know 
 whether Mr. Barton is a member of the Masonic fraternity or 
 not, but he certainly believes in light. "There is nothing so 
 good for chicks as sunshine," he says. There are 19 windows 
 in the house, if I have counted right — four on each side, four 
 on each side of the roof, two in front and one in the rear. The 
 side windows are half windows, each with six panes 10x18 ; the 
 roof windows are each four feet ten inches long by two feet 
 eight inches wide ; the front and rear windows are also of 
 generous size. 
 
 Opening the door in the south end one steps inside, and 
 if the season is winter the transformation is remarkable, for 
 we are in a place where sunshine, warmth and life hold car- 
 nival. Running the whole length of the house is a central 
 walk or aisle, a little over five feet wide. At the north end 
 there is a stove, in which, however, fire is kept only in the 
 most arctic weather. On both sides of the aisle there are two 
 tiers of shelves, which make one think of the bunks in a log- 
 ging camp, or, better, the exhibition pens at a poultry show. 
 These shelves are divided into compartments, each containing 
 53 1-3 square feet. Each compartment is 10 feet long and five 
 feet four inches wide. Each compartment has a board floor 
 and is enclosed by a wire frame or fence two feet high, so 
 arranged that it can be raised or lowered at will. When in 
 place the fence is secured by wooden buttons. 
 
 There are four of these pens or compartments in each tier, 
 and as there are two tiers on each side, there are 16 pens in 
 all. As each pen will hold comfortably 50 chicks, the capacity 
 of the house is therefore 800 chicks. But as it is not intended 
 to hold the chicks more than six weeks it can be used two or 
 three times in a season. Mr. Barton estimates that in a house 
 like this he can brood 2,400 chicks from January to July. 
 
 The hovers themselves are of the very simplest construc- 
 tion. Those in the upper pens are two feet three inches square, 
 and those in the lower pens two feet six inches. They are 
 made of narrow matched boards, beaded and mortised to- 
 gether, and are set on wooden legs — those in the upper pen 
 five inches high and those in the lower six inches. The curtain 
 is of thin oilcloth. Mr. Barton uses a double curtain, or rather 
 two curtains, so arranged that the flaps "break joints," so as 
 to retain as much warmth as possible under the hover. 
 
 Heat comes from a lamp set on a little shelf directly under 
 
50 
 
 the center of the hover. The shelf is secured by iron straps 
 running" from the shelf to the floor above. The lamp is an 
 incubator lamp with an "indestructible" glass chimney. 
 
 Above the chimney a circular hole is cut in the floor of the 
 brooding compartment, four and a half inches in diameter, 
 and this hole comes under the exact center of the hover. This 
 hole.is protected by a tin collar, which projects an inch or two 
 above and below the floor of the compartment. Above the tin 
 is a circular chimney or screen made of fine meshed wire, and 
 extending upward to within an inch of the roof of the hover. 
 Above this a tin plate is tacked to the hover to protect the 
 wood from too great heat. 
 
 Chicks are taken from the incubator and placed in these 
 compartments, and in a surprisingly short time they learn 
 how to adapt themselves to their surroundings. Mr. Barton 
 uses no thermometer, but turns on more or less heat according 
 to the weather. At first it seemed to me a mistake to use no 
 thermometer, but now I have thought it out I can see why 
 none is needed. The heat under the hover must vary in 
 degree according to the distance from the chimney or heater, 
 being considerably greater near the center than at the edges. 
 Unlike other hovers that I know anything about, the center 
 of the hover is the lightest part, and this naturally attracts the 
 chick as he seeks shelter. As he becomes warm he retires fur- 
 ther back, and in this way is always able to find a temperature 
 that suits his needs. 
 
 It will be seen that this brooder of Mr. Barton's violates 
 several principles that have been considered well established. 
 The fumes of the lamp pass directly up into the hover, but 
 the chicks seem to sufifcr no ill effects from them. Indeed a 
 healthier or happier set of youngsters it would be hard to find. 
 I know many men who have made a study of artificial incu- 
 bation, but I never met a man who can get such a growth on 
 chicks in a given time as Mr. Barton. 
 
 The cost of the brooder house and equipment described 
 here was $150, but it is doubtful if it could be duplicated under 
 $200. But even .at $200 it is the cheapest and most practical 
 brooder system that the writer knows anything about. 
 
 WHITE DIARRHOEA. 
 
 This is the fatal foe that attacks incubator chicks and makes 
 them fade away like the mist before the morning and die like 
 flies at the approach of autumn. So serious is the disease that 
 
51 
 
 
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 J3 
 
 4> 
 
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 t/i 
 
 
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 ^ a. 
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 cq 
 
 CQ. 
 
52 
 
 it is predicted in a few years, if a remedy is not found, it will 
 be as difficult to raise chickens as it is now to raise turkeys. 
 The symptoms are a thin white discharge from the vent soon 
 after the chicks are hatched, accompanied by dullness and 
 weakness, which almost always proves fatal. 
 
 Mr. Barton thinks he has found a remedy, or rather a pre- 
 ventative, for this dread scourge ; it is to spray thoroughly with 
 a good germicide or disinfectant. Before using the incubator 
 he sprays it with a solution of sulpho-napthol — one teaspoonful 
 of sulpho-napthol to one quart of water. He also sprays the 
 eggs on the 12th, 15th and 18th day with the solution, applying 
 it by means of a whisk broom. Since adopting this method 
 Mr. Barton has practically eliminated the disease from his 
 houses. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Laying Stock. 
 
 Someone has said that it takes three generations to make 
 a gentleman. Paraphrasing this remark, I would say that it 
 takes at least three generations to make a strain of laying- 
 hens. Blood will tell, and like begets like. It is true that 
 nutrition is a powerful factor in egg production, but nutrition 
 must be supplemented by heredity for best results. You can't 
 get eggs out of a hen unless the eggs are there, any more than 
 you can get water out of an empty well or seeds out of a navel 
 orange ! 
 
 SELECTING THE BREEDERS. 
 
 How shall we tell what birds to breed from? Of course 
 where trap nests are used the answer is comparatively easy. 
 But few poultrymen can take time to bother with trap nests; 
 they have troubles enough without them. So some simple 
 method must be thought out. At the Maine Experiment Sta- 
 tion, where they are doing some of the best work in poultry 
 study in the world, it is found that the pullets that mature 
 earliest make the best layers, as shown by the trap nest. By 
 maturing, I mean reach full development and do not begin to 
 lay prematurely. Says Bulletin 117: "Early maturity in. 
 pullets is generally accompanied with physical vigor; and 
 when the function of such birds is to produce eggs and they 
 give evidence of it, they are certainly the best of their race to 
 breed winter layers from, if we accept past experience in 
 breeding as our guide." 
 
 THE PHYSIOLOGICAL TEST. 
 
 The practiced eye can tell at a glance whether a pullet is 
 ready to lay or not. As she approaches this interesting stage 
 her plumage brightens, her comb reddens, and she becomes 
 more than ordinarily alert. She begins to croon her mother 
 song— to "prate" or "talk eggs," as it is often called. She is 
 hungry all the time. But there is a physiological test which 
 
54 
 
 I shall now describe which is of great value, and which may be 
 used to confirm the results of observation. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that in all mammals the pelvic 
 bones soften and separate before the female is delivered. The 
 pelvic bones are "the two or more bony or cartilaginous pieces 
 of the ^•ertebrate skeleton to which the hind limbs are articu- 
 lated," Something analogous to what takes place in mam- 
 :mals takes place in fowls. In the case of a male or a non- 
 laying female the pelvic bones are close together, but in the 
 female as the time approaches for her to lay, the bones sepa- 
 rate and become pliable until it is possible for an egg to pass 
 between them. Such being the case, it is possible to determine 
 the female's condition in respect to egg production by exami- 
 nation and manipulation of the pelvic bones — the bones found 
 just below and on each side of the vent. If these are suffi- 
 ciently far apart or can be forced apart by gentle pressure so 
 that an egg might pass between them, the hen is in laying 
 condition, but if they are close together and rigid, the hen is not 
 ready to lay. In the case of a young pullet the pelvic bones 
 are close together, but as the egg begins to develop the bones 
 begin to separate until as she approaches ovulation they are an 
 inch or more apart. In the case of heavily-laying fowls I have 
 known the pelvic bones to be separated by at least two inches. 
 
 PULLETS PAY BEST. 
 
 It is my experience that pullets lay better and are more 
 profitable every way than hens, and that cockerels are better 
 to breed from than older males. I know that this statement 
 as it stands Avill be challenged, and I want to qualify it so that 
 it cannot be misunderstood. I do not mean that one is to 
 breed from undersized, immature pullets, nor from cockerels 
 that have not reached the limit of their growth ; but where a 
 pullet is hatched in March and begins to lay in October she 
 ought to be mature enough the following March to make a 
 good dam. And a year-old cockerel is old enough to make a 
 good sire. The advantage of keeping young stock is more 
 eggs, less sickness and higher fertility than with old. 
 
 I recognize the fact that there are exceptions to this rule. 
 A man may have breeders of such vigor and value that it will 
 pay him to keep them for years. In exhibition poultry if a 
 man has a prize winner he had better keep it until a superior 
 is found, even if it is old enough to sprout whiskers. But on 
 the ordinary commercial plant, where sentiment does not rule. 
 
55 
 
 where a man is after the dollars, the quicker he can turn his 
 stock the better; and if he renews his laying pens every year, 
 his dividends will be all the larger for it. 
 
 CARE OF THE HOUSE. 
 
 The poultry house should be kept clean and supplied with 
 everything needed for the health and comfort of the fowls. 
 \Mien I speak of keeping- a house clean, I speak relatively. I 
 do not expect it to be kept as immaculate as a lady's parlor, 
 but to be kept clean enough so that the health of the fowls 
 will not suffer. The droppings should be removed at least 
 once a week or sprinkled over with land plaster or sifted^ coal 
 ashes, and the roosts and side supports should be kerosened 
 once a month in winter and once a week in summer. It is a 
 good plan to sweep the walls and ceiling and whitewash twice 
 a year. During the winter the floor should be covered with 
 litter, which should be renewed frequently. In each pen there 
 should be a dust box kept well filled with sifted coal ashes, so 
 that the hens can take a bath whenever they wish to. 
 
 FEEDING FOR PROFIT. 
 
 Readers of my book, "200 Eggs a Year Per Hen," will find 
 in it the subject of feeding treated with considerable detail. 
 Several methods are given, and if the poultryman follows any 
 one of them he will not go astray. The whole matter of feed- 
 ing is summed up as follows : 
 
 "Give the hen a sufficient variety and quantity to meet 
 all the needs of her system and leave a margin for egg pro- 
 duction. A warm mash in the morning, all she will eat with 
 good reUsh in 15 minutes to half an hour. Enough grain 
 during the day so that she will go to roost with a crop mod- 
 erately full, neither distended on the one hand nor nearly 
 empty on the other. Green food, either in the mash or sepa- 
 rately. More heating food in winter and more of it than in 
 summer. In general it may be said that one ounce of food 
 a day for each pound she weighs is about right for the average 
 hen." 
 
 Since this was written the method of dry feeding has come 
 into considerable prominence. This method consists in feed- 
 ing the hens the same products that are fed them by the usual 
 method, but in feeding them dry — in other words the wet mash 
 is eliminated. Feed is placed in hoppers and kept before the 
 
56 
 
 fowls all the time, and they are allowed to help themselves. 
 A modification of the method is to throw the grains into the 
 litter and let the hens scratch for them, while the mash is fed 
 ■"rom the hopper. 
 
 The great argument in favor of this method is economy 
 of time. Everyone who has fed a mash knows how long it 
 takes to mix it up so that it will be of the proper consistency 
 and feed it to the hens. Where a wet mash is fed it makes it 
 necessary to be at the hen house at a given hour each day, 
 while under the dry mash system enough feed can be placed 
 in the hopper to last the flock a week. It is said that under 
 this system a man can take care of at least four times as many 
 hens^s he could in the old way. 
 
 A secondary argument in favor of the system is that all 
 the fowls get enough to eat. Where a limited quantity of food 
 is placed before them the more aggressive and stronger hens 
 get the lion's share. As I have heard it expressed, one-third 
 the hens get two-thirds the mash. But under the dry-feed 
 system there is enough for all — none are turned empty away. 
 
 Probably the dry feed formula that is the most popular is 
 that used at the Maine Experiment Station, and is as follows : 
 
 Wheat bran, 200 lbs. 
 
 Corn meal, 100 lbs. 
 
 Wheat middhngs, 100 lbs. 
 
 Linseed meal, 100 lbs. 
 
 Beef scraps, 100 lbs. 
 
 Part of the year the linseed meal is omitted, and the 
 amount of beef scraps doubled. 
 
 Another formula that I have used and found very satis- 
 factory is this: 
 
 Mixed feed, two parts. 
 
 Ground alfalfa, two parts. 
 
 Corn meal, one part. ■ 
 
 Gluten, one part. 
 
 Beef scraps, one part. 
 
 Salt, charcoal. 
 
 Compound by bulk, and not by weight. 
 
 Perhaps a step in advance is to supply the different ingre- 
 dients and let the hens help themselves. I do not believe that 
 it is possible for a man to compound a ration that will perfectly 
 meet the needs of a flock of 50 fowls, day after day, six months 
 at a time. One reason is that their needs differ on different 
 days. On a cold day, for example, they need a ration rich 
 
57 
 
 in carbohydrates, and on a warm day more cooling food. A 
 hen that is laying needs more protein than one that is about 
 to sit, and a hen that is moulting needs a different diet from 
 one well supplied with plumage. 
 
 The logical and scientific way to feed, in my judgment, is 
 to assemble the different ingredients in a large hopper with 
 at least half a dozen compartments, and give the fowls access 
 to this hopper at all times. The grains should be scattered in 
 a deep litter twice a day, but the soft feeds may be kept 
 constantly before them. 
 
 Let the hens mix their own mash! This is the next step 
 in advance in poultry feeding. 
 
 THE WET MASH. 
 
 There are some who still prefer the wet mash, thinking 
 it more digestible and appetizing. Let such compound a mash, 
 using either of the formulas given, and then let them stir it up 
 with boiling water until the whole mass is moist, not sloppy. 
 Feed all the fowls will eat clean in half an hour. Feed morn- 
 ing, noon or night as you may prefer. 
 
 GREEN FEED. 
 
 Green feed of some kind is necessary if the hens are tO' 
 keep in good health and do their best in Qgg production. In 
 order for the food to be digested the gastric and pancreatic 
 juices must circulate freely, and where the food is concentrated 
 these juices cannot penetrate easily. Consequently, digestion 
 is not so thorough. Green feed lightens up the mass, and also 
 supplies a mild vegetable acid that acts as a tonic to the 
 system. 
 
 After the feed has passed through the crop and gizzard it 
 enters the intestines, and it is passed along by peristaltic action 
 until it is either absorbed or eliminated. It is evident that the 
 intestines can do their work more easily if they have to deal 
 with a soft, moist, porous mass than they can if they have to 
 ptfsh along dry, hard, concentrated fecal matter. Thus the 
 health of the fowl demands that the ration shall be bulky 
 rather than otherwise, and that green feed shall form a con- 
 siderable part of it. 
 
 Where hens have a free grass range they will secure their 
 own supply of green feed during the summer months ; but 
 where they are confined in their pens or shut up to yards 
 
58 
 
 denuded of all vegetation, they must be supplied by their 
 owner. 
 
 Second growth clover is an ideal green feed, if it can be 
 produced at a moderate price. It need not be cut up, but may 
 be fed on the stalk, say a bushel a day to every 25 hens ; and 
 the stalks may be allowed to remain for litter. 
 
 Cabbages are excellent, and so are mangels. Mangels may 
 be grown with little labor, and a small plot of land will produce 
 a generous supply, as they grow to immense size. 
 
 Onions are good in limited amounts, but fed too freely 
 they flavor the eggs. Cabbages and mangels may be fed 
 whole, but onions should be chopped. 
 
 GERMINATED GRAINS— FEED 15 CENTS A BUSHEL. 
 
 Where green feed is not forthcoming in sufihcient quantities 
 it can be manufactured with a little effort. It is a well-known 
 fact that seeds will germinate at any season of the year if 
 supplied with sufficient warmth and moisture. Poultrymcn 
 are now taking advantage of this knowledge to produce green 
 feed in winter. The process is thus described by Mr. L. E. 
 Keyser in the Petaluma Weekly Poultry Journal : 
 
 "Take a quantity of clipped or whole oats and soak them 
 in water for 24 hours. Then pour off the water and place the 
 oats in a shallow box which has holes in the bottom to let the 
 water drain oft'. Night and morning water the oats, using a 
 sprinkling pot and warm water. Spread the oats out in the 
 box to the thickness of about two inches. This may be done 
 as soon as the oats are placed in the box, or they may be left 
 in a pile until they begin to sprout ; but continue to water them 
 night and morning. In ten days or two weeks, depending on 
 the temperature of the room where they are kept, they will be 
 readv to feed. The sod should be from three to four inches 
 thick, and the growth of green food on top of this will be from 
 six to eight inches high. To feed, cut into blocks eight to 
 ten inches square. By this process one bushel of oats will 
 make about four bushels of feed. . . . With oats at the 
 present price . . . this feed costs 15 cents a bushel." 
 
 Barley is recommended by another writer in the same 
 paper, Mr. N. S. Trowbridge, as a substitute for oats. Barley 
 possesses nearly the same constituents as oats, but as it germi- 
 nates more quickly is more desirable for use in winter. The 
 method of preparation is the same. The oats or barley should 
 be germinated in a moderately warm room, preferably a cellar. 
 
59 
 
 EXERCISE. 
 
 Laying hens cannot keep in good health and produce the 
 maximum number of eggs without a reasonable amount of 
 fresh air and exercise. They do not need to be kept on the 
 jump from morning until night, and a poultry house is not a 
 camp for consumptives. But a certain modicum of fresh air 
 and exercise they must have if they are to do their best work 
 in egg production. 
 
 Exercise breaks down the old tissues, which must be re- 
 placed with new ones. It is on the new wood that the tree 
 bears its fruit, and it is with the new tissues that the egg- 
 making organs are stimulated. Where the old tissues are not 
 broken down with sufficient rapidity, the fowl takes on fat, 
 becomes lazy, and comparatively few eggs are produced. 
 
 No matter what system of feeding is adopted, the hens 
 should be made to work, and work hard, for a part of their 
 ration. To this end the grains that are fed should always 
 be scattered in a deep litter, and the hens compelled to dig 
 them out. 
 
 While hens are at work in the house the windows should 
 be opened, and closed when they are through. On every pleas- 
 ant day in winter, when the snow is not too deep, they 
 should be let out in their yards for a little while. A few 
 minutes' exercise with the snow shovel will furnish the biddies 
 with a patch of bare ground which they will greatly appre- 
 ciate. 
 
 Mr. O, P. Barton, whom I have referred to more than 
 once in this book, hangs two lanters in each pen at five o'clock 
 every winter morning; and the hens get down from the roost 
 and make the litter fly. In this way he adds two hours to his 
 hens' working day. The first week in January this year (1908) 
 he got 649 eggs from 158 hens, the highest number for any 
 one day being 106. Thus Wisdom is again justified of her 
 children. 
 
 SICKNESS IN THE FLOCK. 
 
 Where hens are kept under sanitary conditions and fed 
 properly, there will be but little sickness. After more than 
 10 years' experience I have come to the conclusion that it 
 seldom pays to doctor sick hens — they rarely get well and 
 are not worth a continental if they do. They are worthless 
 for breeders and receive a check in Qgg production from which 
 
60 
 
 it takes months to recover. The hen in her normal state lives- 
 fast — her temperature is high, respiration rapid, digestion 
 good. She enjoys life to the utmost in her way. She is like 
 a six-cylinder, 40 horse-power automobile on a good road — as 
 long as the road is clear all is well. But let her strike an 
 obstruction, take too sharp a curve, or let some piece of hidden 
 machinery give way, and the result is disaster and death. 
 I am not sure but that God intended this to be so in the case 
 of all his creatures. A crowded, vital life, the concluding 
 tragedy sharp and short — is not this better than dragging out 
 10 to 20 years of chronic invalidism ? I am not sure but that 
 the animals have the best of us in this matter after all. . 
 
 The only diseases that I have found it to pay to bother 
 with are those that can be treated by the wholesale, and minor 
 accidents. Colds may be met by putting a teaspoonful of 
 aconite into a gallon of drinking water or giving in the drink- 
 ing vessels a few doses of some good roup remedy; and leg 
 weakness among brooder chicks by putting a few drops of 
 nux vomica ,,into their drinking vessels and feeding a less 
 stimulating diet. A dessert-spoonful of castor oil for males 
 and for females of the larger breeds is to be recommended 
 where the comb turns purple and the liver is sluggish. Reduce 
 the dose for smaller birds. Apply carbolated vaseline to 
 frosted combs and wattles. Impaction of the crop is easily 
 relieved by a slight operation ; and scabies, or scaly legs, can be 
 cured by spraying the legs with kerosene. Bumble foot may 
 be cured by soaking the foot for half an hour in water as warm 
 as tlie hand can comfortably bear, putting on a flaxseed poul- 
 tice, until the abscess discharges, and then anointing- the foot 
 \yith an ointment made of one part boracic acid and five parts 
 vaseline. It is of course understood that the foot is to be kept 
 bandaged while the poultice and dressing are applied. Put the 
 fowl in a house with low perches. 
 
 When disease breaks out in the flock "remove the sick to 
 the hospital, put the worst cases out of their misery, and give 
 the milder ones a chance to get well. Feed lightly on warm 
 mashes. Thoroughly clean up and disinfect the premises. 
 
 i< BROODY HENS. 
 
 li Where a large egg output is desired, the key to the situa- 
 t;ion is found in the treatment of broody hens. Broodiness is 
 nature's signal that the vital forces have been drawn upon in 
 egg, iproduction and that the hen needs rest. When I find a 
 
61 
 
 l^roody hen on the nest at night, I remove her to the breaking- 
 up pen. carefully noting down in a memorandum slip the day 
 of the month and the hen's pen and number. The breaking 
 up pen dififers from the other pens only in one particular — the 
 nest boxes have been removed. In this pen the broodies have 
 their headquarters until the fever abates. They are fed lightly 
 — not more than one-fourth the usual amount — and are given 
 access to a grass range. Most people are in too great a hurry 
 to break up sitting hens. Do not bother them, but let them 
 take their own time. In a week or ten days they will be cured. 
 
 LiTER.^TURE. — "200 Eggs a Year Per Hen" by the author of the 
 present book, is an invaluable treatise on egg making and its conditions 
 It deals with the elementary principles that every poultry keeper should 
 know, and has had a sale unparalleled in the history of poultry literature — 
 ^96 pages. Price, 50 cents. American Poultry Advocate. Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Business Methods. 
 
 Some of the best and most hard-working farmers that I 
 know anything about make only a bare living from the culti- 
 vation of the soil. Others who do not work nearly so hard get 
 ahead every year. What is the reason for this seeming favor- 
 itism of Fortune? It is that the latter are better managers; 
 they buy to better advantage, sell at better prices, and look 
 more closely after their own interest. As a consequence they 
 make a grand success of farming, while the others make only 
 a moderate success or perhaps a failure. 
 
 Poultry keeping has its business side. The poultryman 
 has to buy and has to sell. He has capital invested. In one 
 way he is a business man. It should be his ambition to con- 
 duct his business on business principles. 
 
 KEEP ACCOUNTS. 
 
 One reason why more farmers do not keep accounts is 
 that in treatises on the subject farm accounts are made too 
 elaborate. The farmer is supposed to fit himself out with a 
 set of books similar to those of the merchant or manufacturer 
 who does a business of a hundred thousand dollars a year. 
 This is all nonsense. The simplest kind of bookkeeping is 
 enough. Reduced to its lowest terms all the farmer needs is 
 to set down on one page his receipts and on the other his 
 expenditures, and add them up and balance them at the close 
 of each month. 
 
 Let the farmer set down 
 on the left hand page what 
 he receives in the course of 
 a month. 
 
 And on the right hand 
 page what he pays out dur- 
 ing the same time. 
 
 A good sized diary is as good a book as any for this pur- 
 pose, as it is provided with pages for the cash account. In the 
 diary, too, the farmer may set down his engagements or obli- 
 gations under the date on which they fall due, and also the 
 date in which accounts in his favor are to be paid. If he 
 
63 
 
 desires he can jot down under the appropriate dates interesting- 
 and important facts pertaining" to his business : price of eggs 
 or fowls, price of grain and other feed stufifs, condition of 
 markets, etc. In this way with very Httle trouble the farmer 
 can always know approximately how he stands. 
 
 Once a year a man should balance his accounts and take 
 an inventory of all he has on hand. In this way he can tell 
 whether the year's business has been conducted at a profit or 
 at a loss. If at a loss by studying the itemized accounts he 
 may possibly be able to determine how he can retrench more 
 closely in the year to come. And if at a profit he may perhaps 
 discover how next year the profit may be increased. In taking- 
 an inventory the farmer should be perfectly honest with him- 
 self, and allow for deterioration in values on account of the 
 year's wear. 
 
 Sometimes it is desirable to keep accounts with animals 
 or impersonal things — such as a horse, a herd of cows, a flock 
 of hens, an orchard or a field. It is a convenient plan to per- 
 sonify the animals or thing, and in your own mind think of 
 Mr. Horse or Madame Cow or Mr. Field. 
 
 Write on the left or debit | And on the right or credit 
 
 side all that you expend in \ side all that the animal or 
 
 money or labor for the bene- 
 fit of the animal or thing 
 personified. 
 
 thing personified brings to 
 you in return. 
 
 Receipts should always be given and taken where the 
 amount exceeds five dollars. These receipts should be filed 
 away for reference. I find a stout Manila envelope. 7^ by 
 10/^ inches, with a patent clasp, excellent for this purpose. 
 On the cover I write the year, and keep receipts for any given 
 year together. The practice of preserving receipts has saved 
 me more than once from paying a bill the second time. 
 
 WHAT IS NEEDED OX A POULTRY FARM. 
 
 The poultry farmer has a great advantage in one particular; 
 he does not require such an expensive outfit as in other kinds 
 of farming. Poultry farming is light work, and one does not 
 need a heavy team or heavy machinery. It is cheaper to 
 hire occasionally than to lock up good money in tools and 
 machinery that are seldom used. 
 
 There are some things, however, that a poultry farmer must 
 
64 
 
 have. First and foremost, I place a horse. It does not seem 
 Hke Hving- in the country not to keep a horse. Half the pleas- 
 ure of country life comes from the ownership of a good family 
 horse. Horses are very high nov^, but if one knows how, he 
 can get a good one at a reasonable price. On a poultry farm 
 a man does not need a heavy horse — one weighing from nine 
 to ten hundred is heavy enough. Light horses can be bought 
 considerably less than heavy ones. The older the horse, too, 
 the less the selling price. And yet a horse 15 years old that 
 has always been well cared for and kindly used will outlast 
 a horse half his age that has been overworked or neglected. 
 There are often chances to get a good family horse at a nom- 
 inal price, on condition that the horse be well cared for and 
 put out of the way when his days of usefulness are over. 
 And in the fall a horse can be bought cheaper than at other 
 seasons of the year. 
 
 Carriages, harnesses, robes, etc., may be bought new, or 
 may often be purchased at less than half of their original price 
 at second-hand. There are always those in every community 
 who for one reason or another have these things to sell, and 
 if you are looking for good value rather than latest style you 
 will do well to call on them. 
 
 Incubators and brooders. I have already stated what I 
 think of them. I don't see how a man can conduct an up-to- 
 date poultry farm without using both. 
 
 Bone cutter. Where a man can get plenty of bones and 
 has plenty of time and muscle at his command, a bone cutter 
 is a splendid investment. 
 
 Other things needed : a root cutter, wheelbarrow, grind- 
 stone (a good size is three inches thick and two and a half 
 feet in diameter), small crowbar, pickaxe, shovels, hoes, 
 scythe, lawn mower, pitch forks, drawshave, steel square, saw, 
 about No. 9, pruning saw, planes (fore plane and short jointer), 
 level (24 inch), set bits (Wright-Jennings, ^, J^, 34), bit 
 brace (ratchet), hammer, axes, chisels (^ and 1), mallet 
 (wooden), lantern, etc. 
 
 ECONOMY IN FEEDS. 
 
 One of the great problems that confronts the poultry 
 keeper is to keep down his feed bills. There are times in the 
 year in the poultry business when comparatively little is com- 
 ing in ; at such times it takes the heart out of a man to pay 
 out a dollar and a half or two dollars a day for feed, when 
 perhaps there is not more than fifty cents coming back. 
 
65 
 
 The two elements that are needed in feeds are protein and 
 carbohydrates, or things that build up and things that warm 
 up. The great source of protein is beef scraps or blood meal 
 or feed of this sort ; and beef scraps and blood meal are both 
 expensive. 
 
 Green ground bone is an inexpensive source of protein, 
 after the first cost of the bone cutter is taken out. I do not 
 see how a poultryman can carry on operations without a hand 
 cutter, or a power cutter if he keeps a large number of fowls. 
 
 Where shall a man find the bones after he buys his ma- 
 chine? This is quite a problem with many. Strange to say 
 it is easier to find bones in large quantities than it is in small. 
 If a man will use all the output of the shop he can generally 
 make a contract with his butcher to get all the bones he has 
 to spare at from one-third to one-half a cent a pound. Hotels 
 and boarding houses will be glad to set aside their bones and 
 waste meat for him if he will guarantee to call once or twice 
 a week. 
 
 If a man is going into business on this scale it will pay 
 him to install an engine and cut up his bones by power. A 
 three-horse-power gasoline engine may be purchased new, but 
 a second-hand one can be bought for much less and will do 
 equally as good work. The other day I had an engine offered 
 me at a big discount which had been used by the manufac- 
 turers simply for exhibition purposes. 
 
 There is good money, if a man has an engine and a power 
 bone cutter, in cutting bones to be retailed to other poultry 
 keepers. Ground bone will sell in ten pound packages for 
 twenty-five cents, or two cents and a half a pound. A man 
 who was once in the business told me he could clear $5 a day 
 two days each week selling bones to people in his neighbor- 
 hood ; and $5 a day in winter looks pretty good. 
 
 There is a trick in cutting bone, whether by hand or by 
 power, which it is well to know. Bone will cut much easier 
 if it has been frozen, and meat that is frozen will cut up clean 
 and not clog the machine. 
 
 The cheapest feed that I know anything about that will 
 make hens lay is boiled potatoes and green ground bone, in the 
 proportion of four parts potatoes to one part ground bone. In 
 this combination I am assuming that the poultry keeper makes 
 his own ground bone and also uses a grade of potatoes not 
 worth over 10 or 15 cents a bushel. 
 
 Indian corn is a valuable feed for hens, if not used exclu- 
 
66 
 
 sively. The town in which I Hve is a great corn town. The 
 soil is a sandy loam, easily worked. The beaches after a 
 northeast storm afford a large supply of seaweed. Corn can 
 be produced for 33 cents a bushel. The way I feed it is on the 
 cob. There is no danger of giving the hens too much if other 
 things (such as clover, green ground bone and waste potatoes) 
 are fed. It ought not to cost over 7}i cents a year to feed a hen 
 if a man is so situated that he can raise some of the feed and 
 also take advantage of the markets to get bargains when they 
 are oft'ered. Where everything" is bought (at the present high 
 price for grain) it costs twice that. 
 
 Where it is necessary to buy feed one can get a good dis- 
 count by paying spot cash and purchasing in ton lots. 
 
 ECONOMY IN BUILDING. 
 
 There was never a time, I am told, when it cost so much 
 to build as to-day. Lumber and labor are higher than -ever 
 before. Unless the poultryman has an unlimited supply of 
 money it will be necessary for him to practice the utmost 
 economy in building, or he wnll exceed his estimates. 
 
 On many farms, especially in the East, there is a stand of 
 pine or spruce sufificient to furnish all the boards a man needs 
 for his plant. The tops and branches will pay for the cutting, 
 and the owner will get his material for the value of the stump- 
 age. Where there is no timber lot on the farm, it is often 
 possible to pick up small lots of boards from the farmers far 
 below the listed price. 
 
 Clapboards are especially high, and unless one has access 
 to a clapboard machine and can saw out his own clapboards, 
 it will be better to cover the sides and ends of his houses with 
 some good roofing material. There are a dozen kinds on the 
 market, Init I have found nothing better than Neponset and 
 Paroid. 
 
 Poultry houses are simple in construction, and if a man has 
 any mechanical ability he can build his own. Where it is nec- 
 essary to hire, one can often find a carpenter who is not a fine 
 workman, but who is speedy and who will do twice as much 
 in a day as a man who has the reputation for being more par- 
 ticular. Give him a boy for a helper, and it is surprising how 
 fast a house will grow under their hands. 
 
 MARKETING THE PRODUCT. 
 
 On nearly every article sold in the stores, at least three 
 profits are made — the producer's, the jobber's and the retailer's. 
 
67 
 
 The problem of the producer is to eUminate the jobber and if 
 possible the retailer. It is self-evident that if a man can make 
 three profits instead of one, his business will be far more 
 lucrative. 
 
 The poultryman is a producer. But between him and the 
 consumer there are several others to be considered. The 
 poultryman sells to the country grocer, the country grocer to 
 the commission merchant, the commission merchant to the 
 city grocer, and the city grocer to the consumer. Here are 
 four profits to be made. It should be the aim of the poultry- 
 man to secure as many of these profits for himself as possible. 
 
 The simplest way is to eliminate the country grocer and 
 ship directly to the commission man. It is comparatively easy 
 to get the address of several reliable commission men and to 
 keep in touch with them. Every commission man that does 
 any amount of business publishes a market report, and he 
 will gladly put your name on his mailing list. The commission 
 merchant is as anxious to get good stufif as you are to sell, and 
 will go out of his way to capture your business. 
 
 The next step in advance is to eliminate the commission 
 merchant and to do business with the city grocer direct. In 
 order to do this, it is necessary to produce a gilt-edge product 
 and to produce enough of it to make it an object for the city 
 grocer to buy. Tihis trade is secured by correspondence and 
 personal interview. 
 
 The final step is to eliminate the city grocer and deal 
 directly with the consumer. Not every man is qualified to do 
 this. But far more can do it than imagine they can. To de- 
 vote one day a w^eek to calling on city customers is a pleasant 
 break in the monotony of farm life, and yields big dividends in 
 the shape of maximum returns for one's products. 
 
 THE JEWISH TRADE. 
 
 The Jewish trade has become an exceedingly important 
 trade to cater to. Whatever may be thought of the Jews from 
 the standpoint of business and religion, the fact remains that 
 they have become a powerful and influential factor in our 
 cosmopolitan population. New York City is the largest Jew- 
 ish community in the world. The Jews are good livers, and 
 want the best. In the Jewish religious year there are a num- 
 ber of festivals, and at these festivals fowls are in great de- 
 mand and bring good prices. The Jews eat no pork and use 
 no lard in cooking, and so consume more fowls than they 
 
68 
 
 otherwise would. Fowls for the Jewish trade should be large 
 and fat, and should be shipped alive; for they must be killed 
 by a rabbi in order to be pronounced "kosher" or clean. Any 
 commission merchant is glaxl to get large, fat fowls before tlie 
 Jewish holidays, but the best prices can generally be obtained 
 from merchants of the Jewish faith. 
 
 The festivals of the Jews do not fall on the same dates each 
 year, as their months are "lunar" and not "solar" ; but any 
 commission merchant with whom you get in touch will keep 
 you informed when they come, and when is the best time to 
 ship. The following from the pen of Michael K. Boyer will 
 give an approximate idea when the festivals fall ; but needs 
 to be constantly revised, as the dates vary more or less with 
 each year : 
 
 "The Hebrew New Year begins September 30, and is cele- 
 brated from that date on until the close of October 1st. This 
 festival makes a heavy demand for choice fowls, turkeys, 
 ducks and geese. To meet the opening of the celebration, 
 shipments had best be made from the 25th to the 27th of the 
 month, 
 
 "Next comes the Day of Atonement (October 9), when 
 there are calls for spring chickens and young roosters, although 
 prime stock of all kinds are saleable. Poultry for this market 
 had best be shipped a week beforehand. 
 
 "The Feast of Tabernacles occurs October 14 to 15, and 
 there is a market for fowls, ducks and fat geese. The best 
 days for shipment are October 10 to 12, inclusive. 
 
 "The Feast of Law is observed October 20 to 21, when 
 prime quality of all kinds of poultry is wanted. Market from 
 16th to 18th. This feast ends the Fall Holidays. 
 
 "March 11 the spring services begin and fowls and prime 
 hen turkeys are most saleable, to be marketed 6th and 8th. 
 
 "The Passover commences early in April, and prime quality 
 of all kinds of poultry are bought about the 3rd to 6th — the 
 feasts being on the 10th and 11th. 
 
 "The Last Passover dates April 16 to 17, for which event 
 prime stock of all kinds should be marketed on the 12th and 
 13th. 
 
 "The Feast of Weeks takes place May 30 and 31, and for 
 this feast fowls are wanted, which are bought mainly on the 
 28th." 
 
69 
 
 FEATHERS. 
 
 Something may be added to the poultryman's income by the 
 sale of feathers, and what is usually mere waste converted into 
 a source of income. Prices vary from year to year, but the 
 following- quotations from a large dealer will give the reader 
 an idea what to expect : 
 
 Geese. — China, pure white, 60 cents ; white, 55 cents ; 
 largely gray, 42 cents ; goose quills, long, 15 cents. 
 
 Duck. — Pure white, 42 cents; white, yellow or stained, 38 
 and 40 cents ; colored, 33 cents. 
 
 Chicken. — all white, 20 cents; colored, 4^ cents. 
 
 All feathers should be dried by being spread out upon a 
 floor for some time, or placed in sacks and hung out in the sun 
 and air. When shipped to market they are usually packed in 
 burlap sacks or light cases and sent by freight. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Laying Down Eggs. 
 
 There is no article in daily use that I know anything about 
 the price of which varies with such astronomical regularity as 
 does that of eggs. Their movement up and down is as periodic 
 as the rise and fall of the tides or the oscillations of the pen- 
 dulum. Generally the period of lowest prices begins in March 
 and continues well into May. This is the natural breeding 
 season of fowls, and eggs are produced in greatest abundance. 
 By the first of June eggs begin to take an upward turn, and 
 advance slowly until September. In September many of the 
 older fowls begin to moult, and cease production altogether. 
 From this point the rise is rapid, reaching the maximum at 
 Thanksgiving, then the price drops a little, but soon recovers 
 itself and continues high until well into January, when it 
 begins to break, dropping rapidly in February and March as 
 the spring flood of eggs comes into the market. 
 
 Now it follows from what has been said that it would be 
 of great advantage to both producer and consumer if some 
 •simple, practical methods of preserving eggs were generally 
 l-^nown and adopted. It would be of advantage to the pro- 
 ducer because it would serve as a balance wheel and prevent 
 ■eggs from dropping so low that it is unprofitable to produce 
 them. Statistics show that the average hen does not produce 
 ■over 120 eggs a year; and nearly half of these are laid in 
 March. April and May. If the owner of the hen could obtain 
 say a cent apiece more for these eggs it would mean a great 
 •addition to his annual profits. 
 
 If ever}' poultr}- keeper in the United States would lay 
 down his family supply of eggs for the year in .March it would 
 take at least 250,000.000 dozens of eggs out of the market at a 
 time when eggs arc lowest, and the price of eggs would never 
 drop below 25 cents a dozen. For by April millions of dozens 
 more are required for incubation, and this absorbs the surplus 
 to a considerable extent. 
 
 And it would be a great advantage to the consumer if he 
 or she would lay down the year's supply in the spring. There 
 is no article of diet more nutritious and healthful than eggs. 
 
71 
 
 They are in themselves a perfect food, and are easily prepared. 
 In England eggs appear on the breakfast table of the better 
 classes every day in the year, and it would be better for the 
 people of this country if they ate more eggs and less meat. 
 And yet at certain seasons of the year the price of fresh eggs 
 is practically prohibitive. Who can afford to have fresh eggs 
 for breakfast when they are 45 or 50 cents a dozen? Only the 
 wealthiest and most extravagant. How much it would mean 
 to the health and economics of every family if they knew how 
 to lay down the family supply of eggs in the spring, when eggs 
 are at their best and lowest in price ! 
 
 COLD STORAGE. 
 
 Gold storage is the process of preserving eggs, meats, 
 fruits, etc., by keeping them in a temperature so low that 
 decay is impossible. Decay is produced by bacteria, micro- 
 scopic vegetable organisms, which multiply with marvelous 
 rapidity, or by stimulation of the germ of life already within 
 the egg. Chemical changes follow, and the result is fermen- 
 tation and decomposition. Like all living things, these bac- 
 teria require warmth for development. When the temperature 
 is kept near the freezing point their ravages are held in check, 
 and the substance to be preserved does not change in compo- 
 sition. 
 
 Storage plants are now erected in all our large cities and are 
 under government supervision. In the largest of them United 
 States inspectors are constantly on duty to see that they are 
 maintained under sanitary conditions. The articles to be re- 
 frigerated are stored in large chambers or compartments, where 
 the temperature is reduced by the constant circulation of 
 ammonia through pipes or by means of ice. 
 
 Thousands of cases of eggs (each case containing 30 
 ■dozens') are placed in these storage plants every season, to be 
 liberated as they are needed. These eggs are largely Western 
 €ggs, few Eastern eggs being available for the purpose, and 
 come from farms and ranches. They are bought when eggs 
 are lowest, and average two weeks old when put in storage. 
 The egg chamber is supposed to be kept at a temperature of 
 32 degrees, cold enough to freeze cracked eggs, but not cold 
 enough to freeze whole ones. They are taken out in prac-. 
 tically the same condition they are put in. Indeed, eggs have 
 1)ccn kept in cold storage for three years, and when taken out 
 
72 
 
 could not be distinguished from eggs that had been there only 
 a short time. Before being placed on the market each egg is 
 "candled," or exposed to the rays of an electric light, which 
 reveals its condition. If the egg is clear it is passed ; if cloudy, 
 it is thrown out and sold to moroccb dressers to be used in 
 tanning their leather. Cracked eggs are 'placed in a class 
 by themselves and sold to bakers. 
 
 Cold storage plants might be used by poultrymen who live 
 in the neighborhood of cities to store their surplus product. 
 The price charged for storage is low. At the large plant at 
 which I obtained material for this chapter the rate of storage 
 is only 10 cents a case a month. As each case contains 30 
 dozens, it would cost only two cents a dozen to hold eggs six 
 months, when they could be sold at a large increase. Storage 
 eggs generally sell for about two-thirds the price of the fresh 
 article. But these eggs, as I have said, will average two 
 weeks old when put into storage, and many of them are very 
 inferior specimens. There is no reason why selected eggs 
 from the farm, laid down when perfectly fresh, should not sell 
 at retail around the price of new-laid eggs, for they equal new- 
 laid eggs in many particulars. I was surprised in going 
 through a large local plant to learn that poultrymen did not 
 avail themselves of the opportunity that lay at their very doors. 
 If it pays the cold storage people to buy eggs in the West, 
 with the inevitable breakage in transportation, carry them six 
 months and then sell them for two-thirds the price of fresh 
 eggs, it would certainly pay the poultryman to put his own 
 eggs in storage ; for there would be no breakage, no express, 
 no shrinkage in "candling," and the eggs would be sure to be 
 fresh when laid down, and not two weeks or more old. 
 
 Where there is no cold storage plants at hand the poultry- 
 man can construct one at a moderate cost. In this case he 
 would cool his plant not with chemicals, but with ice. A small 
 building may be constructed for the purpose, or a room can 
 sometimes be fitted up in the shed or stable. 
 
 To those who are interested in the subject and wish to 
 pursue it further, I would say that probably the best authority 
 on cold storage is "Practical Cold Storage," by Madison 
 Cooper, published by Nickerson & Collins, Chicago, 111. The 
 price, I believe, is $6. I know of no cheap reliable book on the 
 subject. 
 
 LIME AND SALT SOLUTION. 
 
 Decay being caused by bacteria or germs, it follows that if 
 these can be combatted or excluded decay will be arrested. 
 
73 
 
 This may be done in tive ways ; 1. By keeping the eggs at 
 such a temperature that the germs remain dormant, or cold 
 storage. 2. By immersing the eggs in a solution which will 
 cover the shell and prevent the entrance of air, the great germ 
 carrier. 3. By coating the shell with some substance that will 
 make it impervious. 4. By destroying the germs by means of 
 the X ray. 5. By a combination of one or more of these 
 processes. 
 
 In the past many have attempted to preserve eggs by pack- 
 ing them in salt, wood ashes, plaster, or even iij oats ; and 
 when the period was short have met with comparatively good 
 success. Experiments, however, have shown that these sub- 
 stances are not to be depended on when it is desirable to keep 
 eggs in good condition for some months, and more ettectual 
 preservatives must be discovered. 
 
 Probably where eggs are to be laid down for family use 
 one of the best methods is to use the lime and salt solution. 
 It is inexpensive, easily prepared, and will surely do the work. 
 Eggs laid down by this method are liable to have a slightly 
 limey taste, which interferes with their being placed on the 
 market. But for home use they are excellent. 
 
 The formula appears in several forms, but the best is the 
 one which follows, which, so far as I know, has never before 
 been made public: 
 
 Mix three pounds of quick lime in three gallons of water 
 that has been boiled and cooled. Slake the lime in part of the 
 water before adding all. Stir well; then add one-half pound 
 of common salt. After stirring a few times let stand for 
 several hours to settle. Separate the clear liquid for use, and 
 in this dissolve one-fourth ounce of boracic acid. 
 
 Eess lime will suffice, if of good grade, but the formula calls 
 for enough to insure a saturated solution. Solutions contain- 
 ing more salt sometimes serve well, but with an excess of salt 
 the egg yolk is often found thickened. Saturated solutions of 
 lime alone have been used successfully. 
 
 Eggs are kept immersed in this liquid, which should cover 
 them continuously to the depth of two inches or more. Glazed 
 earthenware, glass, or clean wooden receptacles are used, and 
 should be stored in a cool place, as on a cellar floor, until the 
 eggs are wanted. Eggs just taken from the liquid should not 
 be subjected to a sudden rise in temperature. 
 
74 
 
 The amount of solution made by this formula will be 
 found sufficient to preserve 12 dozens of eggs; if more eggs are 
 to be preserved the proportions should be increased. 
 
 For successful preservation by any method eggs must be 
 absolutely fresh with clean and perfect shells. 
 
 Note.- — In any of the solutions given in this book allow one 
 quart of the solution to each dozen eggs. The reader can thus 
 determine at once wdiat quantity to prepare. 
 
 THE LEVI HOYT METHOD. 
 
 Before cold storage came into prominence eggs were pre- 
 served by other methods. At certain seasons stores were full 
 of "limed eggs," as they were called. There were a number of 
 secret ways of preserving eggs, each one of which was jeal- 
 ously guarded. Men made good livings by buying up eggs 
 in the spring, laying them down, and then selling them in the 
 fall. As there was no cold storage to absorb the surplus the 
 range in prices in course of a year was very great. 
 
 There was a man living in Danville, N. H., by the name of 
 Levi Hoyt, whose business was that of an egg merchant. He 
 perambulated the country, buying eggs of farmers and ship- 
 ping them to Boston for sale. So successfu'l was he in his 
 business that he left an estate of some $20,000. Mr. Hoyt had 
 a secret method of laying down eggs, which many tried to 
 discover when he was alive, but with no success. When he 
 died it was supposed the secret had died with him. But his 
 executor, in looking over his papers, found in the strong box 
 where he kept his most valued documents — his will, deeds, 
 notes due, etc. — the secret method which had been so eagerly 
 sought, and which had brought the fortunate owner many 
 thousands of dollars. The recipe was found written on paper, 
 which had become yellow and discolored by age, and the 
 ingredients were designated by letters and not put into words. 
 Further search disclosed the key, which made all plain. The 
 executor, a personal friend of mine, knowing that I contem- 
 plated writing a book on egg preservation, allowed me to make 
 a copy of the recipe and key, and for the first time they are now 
 given to the world. 
 
 THE $20,000 RECIPE. 
 
 Slack A. Add water till it forms a thin slush. Now strain 
 it through a fine sieve into a forty gallon barrel or vessel, wash- 
 ing out all the strength of A. 
 
75 
 
 Dissolve B, and add to former. Dissolve C, D, E and F 
 in boiling water; add to former mixture. Now add water and 
 stir well, until the whole amounts to twenty gallons. 
 
 Fill the vessel with eggs to within four or five inches of the 
 top, being sure that the liquid is three or four inches deep over 
 the eggs. 
 
 Now take a hoop, small enough to go inside the barrel ; tack 
 a coarse cloth to the bottom of the hoop ; set the hoop down 
 into the barrel ; cover the hoop to the depth of two inches with 
 the moist lime so as to exclude all outside air. 
 
 Shortly before the eggs are needed take them out of the 
 barrel, wash them thoroughly with clean water, let them dry 
 from 24 to 48 hours, pack them in G, points down, and keep in 
 a cool, dry room or cellar. 
 
 The eggs must be sound and fresh, as no process will make 
 a bad egg good. 
 
 The casks should be tight and clean, and if pork barrels 
 are used they should first be scalded out. 
 
 KEY TO THE ABOVE. 
 
 A is unslacked lime. 
 
 B is salt. 
 
 C is bi-carbonate of soda. 
 
 D is cream tartar. 
 
 E is borax. 
 
 F is saltpetre or nitrate of potash. 
 
 G is dry oats. 
 
 Quantities. — Lime, 12 pounds ; salt, 3 quarts ; bi-carbonate 
 of soda, 2 ounces ; cream tartar, 2 ounces ; borax, 2 ounces ; 
 saltpetre, 1 ounce ; oats, quantity sufficient. 
 
 WATER GLASS. 
 
 As we have seen, decay originates from one of two sources: 
 L The stimulation of the germ of life within the egg. 2. The 
 introduction of bacteria from without. Either of these 
 sottrces will produce chemical changes that will destroy the 
 freshness of the egg. Exposing the egg for a few days to a 
 high temperature will start incubation if the germ of life is 
 present ; and exposing the egg to the outside air for a longer 
 period will cause decay by the introduction of germs from 
 without, even if there is no germ of life within. 
 
 Cold storage is the perfect method of preservation, for the 
 low temperature stops the development of germs both within 
 
76 
 
 and without. As in the world without us all vegetable growth 
 is checked by the cold of winter, so artificial cold checks the 
 growth of bacteria, which are minute vegetable organisms, and 
 decay is prevented. But. as we have seen, cold storage is not 
 practicable in all cases, and so other methods must be substi- 
 tuted. 
 
 Following out the principle we have discovered — that all 
 decay comes from the stimulation of the perm within the egg 
 or the introduction of germs from without — we can easily see 
 that if we can keep the egg frorn the air, the great carrier of 
 germs, and also keep it at a low temperature, we shall greatly 
 retard if not altogether prevent those chemical changes that we 
 call decomposition. 
 
 In what goes before I have given the formulas for two 
 salt and lime solutions that have proved very eiTective. In 
 this section I shall outline a method that is rapidly advancing 
 in favor and is probably destined in time to supersede the 
 others. I refer to the use of sodium silicate, or water glass, 
 as it is commonly called. Water glass is cleanly, convenient 
 and sure; and where it can be obtained at a reasonable price 
 should be given the preference. 
 
 Where It Can Be Obtained. — The merits of water glass as 
 an egg preservative are becoming known, and there are many 
 inquiries for it at the local druggists. But the price charged 
 is often prohibitive. I have known a woman to pay 30 cents 
 a pint for the article. One gallon of water glass in the 10 per 
 cent solution (one part water glass to nine parts water), will 
 preserve 40 dozen eggs ; and at 30 cents a pint it would cost 
 six cents a dozen to lay down eggs — a price that is altogether 
 excessive. Unless it can be procured at a much less cost than 
 this its use is out of the question. 
 
 Where water glass is bought in gallon lots (and no one 
 should buy less than this) it can be obtained of wholesale drug- 
 gists for 50 cents a gallon. The Eastern Drug Company, 8-20 
 Fulton Street, Boston, Mass., quotes me the following prices: 
 In one gallon lots, 50 cents a gallon, with 20 cents extra for 
 can, which is returnable. In five-gallon lots, 35 cents a gallon, 
 and 75 cents for can ; can returnable. In barrels of 600 pounds, 
 1^ cents a pound, or 16^^ cents a gallon. John Shaw & Co., 
 40 India Wharf, Boston, manufacturing chemists, put up water 
 glass in gallon cans, especially for egg preservation, for 50 
 cents a gallon ; no charge for can. I have no doubt that in 
 every large city glass may be procured of wholesale druggists 
 at a reasonable figure. 
 
77 
 
 The best way to buy the article to advantage would be for 
 a little group of neighbors to club together and purchase five 
 gallons at a time, or even a barrel. In dividing it, remember 
 that it is sold by weight rather than by measure — 11 pounds 
 constituting a gallon. 
 
 How to Use It. — The formula most generally used calls for 
 a ten per cent, solution — that is, one part water glass to nine 
 parts water. In order to secure a perfect fusion the water 
 should be at the boiling point when added to the water glass, 
 and the solution should be stirred for several minutes with a 
 stick. Meanwhile the eggs should be got in readiness. For 
 containers use clean wooden barrels, or firkins, stone crocks, 
 galvanized iron tubs, or in fact, almost any receptacle that is 
 convenient. Put in the eggs, and after it becomes cold pour 
 on the solution. The eggs should be well covered with the 
 liquid, and the container should be set away in a cool, dark 
 place — the cellar, if possible. 
 
 While a ten per cent, solution is generally recommended, 
 yet it is probable that a much weaker solution will answer 
 every purpose. Experiments conducted at the Rhode Island 
 station showed that a five per cent, solution — one part water 
 glass to 19 parts water — will keep eggs perfectly. Owing to 
 evaporation the solution is continually growing stronger, and 
 its preservative qualities enhanced. 
 
 Chemical changes will take place in the solution after a 
 little period. It will begin to coagulate and whiten, until after 
 awhile it resembles whitewash in appearance. Then a jelly- 
 like precipitate will form, and the eggs near the top will be- 
 come coated. The reader need not be alarmed at these chemical 
 changes, for they do not interfere with the preservative qual- 
 ities of the solution. The weaker the solution the less pro- 
 nounced the chemical changes, and the smaller the amount of 
 precipitate. A ten per cent, solution will keep eggs perfectly, 
 and is to be recommended for the beginner. After a few ex- 
 periments he acquires confidence, and will not hesitate to use 
 a weaker solution. The writer used a 6 2-3 per cent, solution 
 — one part water glass and 14 parts water. 
 
 MARKETING PRESERVED EGGS. 
 
 A\'here eggs are laid down to be sold again much greater 
 care must be exercised than where they are laid down for 
 family use. In the first place, the number of eggs is far larger, 
 .and in case of a loss it will be more severe than where onlv the 
 
family supply is involved. And in the second place, the eggs 
 must have a fresh, bright appearance. Where eggs are to be 
 eaten at home the appearance of the shells is of minor import- 
 ance so long as the eggs are fresh, but where they are to be 
 put on the market one cannot be too particular. 
 
 In laying down eggs for market be sure to select those with 
 the whitest shells. The water glass seems to enter into chem- 
 ical combination with brown-shelled eggs, turning them a 
 pinkish hue. But it has no appreciable efifect upon light- 
 shelled eggs. Indeed, it is practically impossible to tell those 
 which have been in the solution from those which have not,^ 
 when they are ready for market. 
 
 W'hen the time comes to sell the eggs you will begin with 
 those that were laid down first. As I have explained, the water 
 glass will probably have coagulated, and the eggs will be cov- 
 ered with a jelly-like precipitate. Remove as much of this as 
 possible when you take out the eggs, splashing each egg 
 arovmd in the water. Put the eggs in a tub similar to the one 
 they were taken from. After the tub is filled pour on soft, 
 cold water, and let stand 24 hours. Then take the eggs out 
 of this and put in a basket, washing each egg before it is taken 
 out and rubbing oil all traces of the water glass with the 
 fingers. After the eggs are dry they should be gone over 
 again. They will have a rough appearance, and look as if 
 they had been in an old flour barrel, or been sprinkled with 
 chalk. A brisk rubbing with a woolen cloth or old towel will 
 greatly improve their appearance, and make white-shelled eggs 
 look as good as new. If you care to go to the trouble, a final 
 touch with a cloth wet in strong vinegar, and then wrung 
 nearly dry, will make them look very nice. Water glass is an 
 alkali and is neutralized by the acid in the vinegar. 
 
 And now about marketing these eggs. They are not 
 strictly fresh eggs, and must not be sold as such ; and, on the 
 other hand, they are much better than the average cold-storage 
 eggs. A good way to sell them is to show them to your cus- 
 tomers, tell them they are laid down by a special process, and 
 that you will sell them for five cents a dozen less than strictly 
 fresh eggs, guaranteeing to replace every one that is not satis- 
 factory with a fresh egg. You will have no trotible in dispos- 
 ing of your stock for double what you cotild have got for them 
 in the spring. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Becoming a Fancier. 
 
 It will doubtless be a surprise to many who read this 
 chapter to learn that for the average poultryman there is more 
 money in utility than in fancy fowls. A little reflection will 
 show why this is so. The fancy business requires the personal 
 touch. A man who is keeping fowls for meat and eggs can 
 delegate much of the work to others, and can increase his plant 
 indefinitely. But the fancier must know his birds as indi- 
 viduals, or else employ a high-priced superintendent who does. 
 He must know how to mate and handle for best results, and 
 even then not one bird in ten will be likely to be a prize win- 
 ner. He must pay out more for foundation stock, and if he 
 wishes to introduce new blood must often spend hundreds of 
 dollars for what he wants. He must take his birds to the 
 shows ; and the car fare, express charges, entry fees, loss of his 
 own time, etc., will make a big hole in his profits. Then he 
 must advertise, and advertise generously, and advertising runs 
 away with a lot of money. So it will be seen that the breeder 
 of fine birds must get good prices for what he has to sell if his 
 books are to show a balance on the right side. 
 
 THE APPEAL OF THE FANCY. 
 
 Still there are many to whom fancy poultry keeping makes 
 a strong appeal. The Creator of the universe has implanted in 
 man a love for the beautiful, and there are few objects in 
 nature more beautiful than a fine specimen of one of the stand- 
 ard varieties at its best. There is an excitement in the attempt 
 to produce a bird that will score high in the 90's, like the 
 excitement of the chase. In the show room there is a battle 
 royal that appeals to a man's fighting blood. The breeder is 
 matched against other breeders of his favorite variet}', and 
 victory over them is sweet. The silver oup and the blue rib- 
 bon that he takes home to show his friends have a value that 
 money cannot represent. But there is good money, too. in 
 fancy poultry. If a man can produce a specimen of any one 
 of the popular varieties that will win the blue at one of the 
 
80 
 
 big shows, he can name his own price. Five hundred, one 
 thousand and even fifteen hundred dollars have been paid 
 for a winning male. Then it does not take much land or many- 
 buildings for a man to carry on quite a business in fancy poul- 
 try, and world-beaters may be raised in a back yard. All 
 these things conspire to recruit the ranks of the fanciers with 
 a stream of new men who are after fame and fortune in the 
 poultr}^ business. 
 
 BECOMING A FANCIER— THE START. - 
 
 Unless a man buys his birds and shows as his own what 
 other men have produced, the one who aspires to be a fancier 
 must make up his mind to a long, slow, up-hill climb. But at 
 the summit of the hill there weaves a blue banner with the 
 word "First" upon it in golden letters, and there approaches 
 to meet him one of Uncle Sam's servants in the grey uniform 
 of a letter carrier with a big bundle of letters, each containing 
 a check for sittings of eggs and shipments of birds. 
 
 The first thing a man should do who aspires to be a 
 fancier is to purchase a copy of the American Standard of Per- 
 fection, and the second thing is to decide upon the variety he 
 will keep. The Standard of Perfection is the olBcial publica- 
 tion of the American Poultry Association, and contains a 
 complete description of all recognized varieties of fowls. It 
 supplies the breeder with the ideal that he is to try to make 
 real in his yards. As a man turns over the pages of the Stand- 
 ard and sees the beautiful birds pictured there, he is quite apt 
 to become bewildered and to wonder how he can ever make a 
 choice. But here is where the fancier has an advantage : the 
 field is much wider for him than for the man who keeps utility 
 fowls. In the utility field there are not more than six or eight 
 varieties that are money makers, while in the realm of show- 
 doni a man can make money dn any one of half a hundred 
 kinds. If a man breeds good birds and advertises them faith- 
 fully, he can find customers no matter what variety he selects. 
 Then in a non-popular variety there is not so much competi- 
 tion in (he show room, and a blue ribbon comes one's way 
 much sooner than is the case where competition is fierce. 
 Still I Avould advise a man to select a variety that is reason- 
 ably popular, or he will be disappointed in sales. If he is 
 shrewd or lucky enough to hit upon a breed that is about to 
 have a boom and gets into it before the crowd, his fortune is 
 made. Let me illustrate. The Uiqhl Brahmas are grand 
 
81 . 
 
 birds — there is something- majestic and stately about them. 
 They are handsome. They have many friends. Still, I would 
 not advise a man to go into Light Brahmas. They have had 
 their day. But the Columbian Wyandotte, which is a new 
 variety, with Light Brahma markings but Wyandotte size and 
 shape, would seem destined to have a great run ; for they 
 appeal to those who admire the Light Brahma markings and 
 to those who admire the many good qualities of the Wyan- 
 dottes. If I were starting out I should not hesitate to try 
 them. 
 
 TH'R FOUNDATION STOCK. 
 
 Perhaps as good a way as any to get a start is to purchase 
 a pen of birds of the variety one has decided upon of some 
 reputable breeder in the fall. Ask him to mate them up for 
 you for the best results. You can generally buy old birds for 
 considerably less than you can young ones, and where you 
 are not after eggs for market, but for incubation, old birds 
 are as good or better than young ones. You will devote the 
 winter to getting acquainted with your birds. (I assume that 
 you have kept fowls before and understand their care and 
 'management. If you do not, it will hardly pay you to start 
 out with high priced specimens at first.) In the spring you 
 will get out all the chicks you can take care of, and in the 
 fall should have several pens of likely pullets. Mate your 
 cock bird with the best of these, and send off to the man of 
 whom you bought your foundation stock for more males. 
 
 SHOW YOUR BIRDS. 
 
 One who aspires to become a full-fledged fancier must 
 show his birds. There is nothing that will help out sales like 
 a good show record. There is no place in which a man can 
 learn so much in a short time as in the show room. It is a 
 liberal education to see the judges work; and the score card 
 that one finds attached to his coop is of inestimable value: it 
 reveals to a breeder as by a flash of light where his birds are 
 strong and where they need to be built up. 
 
 PREPARING BIRDS FOR SHOW. 
 
 The Standard of Perfection should have a chapter on the 
 preparation of birds for the show room : it would be worth 
 the price of the book to a beginner. I do not claim to be an 
 
82 
 
 expert, but perhaps I can give a few hints that may be of 
 assistance. 
 
 After the owner selects the birds that seem to him the 
 best, he should examine them carefully to see that there are 
 no disqualifications^ — nothing that will throw the bird out of 
 the con^petition. The bird should be healthy, vigorous, free 
 from A-ermin. and as near the standard weight as possible. 
 Of course the prospective exhibitor has handled his birds more 
 or less and treat-ed them so well that they are reasonably free 
 from shyness. There is nothing that looks worse than to see 
 a bird in the exhibition coop dashing its head against the slats 
 in its vain efforts to escape, or crouching in the corner as if 
 half frightened to death. White birds should be washed, and 
 I am inclined to think that a good washing will not harm birds 
 of other colors. The process is very simple. Three tubs half 
 full of water should be set side by side, of a temperature of 
 about 95 degrees. The birds should be stood in tub number 
 one and well soaped with Ivory or some good white s.oap, 
 taking care to rul) the soap the way the web of the feathers 
 runs. After the bird has been well soaped, remove it to tub 
 number two, and rinse the lather out of the plumage. The 
 bird should then be removed to the third tub and given a final 
 rinse. If the bird is a wdiite one, a little bluing should be 
 added to the last water. Take the bird from the water and 
 stand it on a table or box, and wipe it as dry as possible with 
 tow^els. If you have a furnace in your house, and 3^our wife 
 will let you do so. ])lace the sawhorse over the register and 
 let the bird stand on the round of the sawhorse for a little 
 while, lie will be so tamed by this time that he will not try 
 to get away. If you have no convenient register, place the 
 bird in a large slatted box. well littered with straw, and let 
 him remain in the box in a warm room until thoroughly dry. 
 Before shipping the l)ird to the show, feed him well ; give 
 him a little whiskey and water or a one-grain quinine pill, and 
 rub his comb and wattles with a piece of flannel which has 
 been saturated with alcohol. Dig out the dirt from under the 
 scales on the legs with a toothpick, and rub the legs briskly 
 W'ith a i)iece of chamois skin. 
 
 ADVERTISING. 
 
 For everything a man has to sell there is another man 
 somewhere who stands readv to buy, and there is a man some- 
 
83 
 
 where waiting" to buy stock and eggs of you. How may you 
 find him? I can tell you in one word — Advertise. 
 
 1 used t(^ think that something could be done through the 
 local ]japer to sell stock and eggs, but an experiment has 
 rather shaken my confidence. The fact is, not one reader in 
 a hundred of the local paper is willing to pay a living price ."or 
 stock and eggs — he doesn't know their worth. If you can. 
 afford to sell eggs for hatching for from 50 cents to a dollar 
 a sitting, and cockerels for one or two dollars each, you can 
 sell some by advertising in the local press ; but if you want a 
 living price you must look elsewhere. The poultry press is 
 the place for a poultryman to advertise. Time and time again 
 have I had men come to me to borrow a poultry paper to find 
 out where they could get stock or eggs of a certain variety. 
 
 Fortunately there are a number of grand poultry papers 
 in this country and Canada, and any one who has anything to 
 sell can easily find a good medium. How shall a man decide 
 what papers to advertise in? There are two rules: 1. Ad- 
 vertise in papers that carry the most advertising. 2. Adver- 
 tise in papers that themselves advertise. 
 
 Advertise in papers that carry the most advertising! "But 
 is not my little ad. in danger of being lost in the mass?" you 
 ask. Xot at all. The paper that carries the most advertising 
 does so because it is the best medium. Men advertise in it 
 because they have found it pays. Somebody is going to see 
 and read your advertisement, and send to you for birds. 
 
 Advertise in papers that themselves advertise! Why? 
 Because those papers have for their readers those who answer 
 advertisements. The reader with the mail-order habit is the 
 one you want to go after. 
 
 "How large an appropriation shall I set aside for adver- 
 tising?" For a beginner, a good ride is one dollar a year for 
 each bird in your breeding pens. If you have 50 birds your 
 appropriation should be $50. For $50 worth of advertising 
 you ought to be able to sell $400 worth of eggs and stock. 
 
 As you increase your breeding stock you can decrease the 
 amount you allow for each bird, for a large advertisement 
 pulls proportionately better than a small one. 
 
 Some papers have what is called a flat rate— so much an 
 inch, whether for one insertion or twelve. Others have a 
 sliding scale — the rate being less proportionately for a year 
 than for three or six months. Where you advertise with a 
 paper that has a sliding scale you can arrange so as to use the 
 
84 
 
 greater part of the space from October to May, and cut down 
 in the summer months. 
 
 Poultry papers generally offer special inducements to be- 
 ginners and small breeders by running short, classified ads. at 
 a low rate. These are called "Breeders' Cards," and I know 
 of no way in which a man can make his advertising appro- 
 priation go so far as by patronizing this department of the 
 paper. 
 
 \\'riting a good advertisement is quite a trick, but like all 
 great things it is simple. The best advertisement tells a story 
 and gives a reason. It is not funny, it is not verbose, it is not 
 sensational, it is not extravagant. It is a plain, striking state- 
 ment of facts. Write out your story, then strike out every 
 unnecessary clause and word, and let the printer display it to 
 suit his taste. Study the advertisements of successful men in 
 other lines, especially in the magazines, and you will learn 
 much from them. 
 
 Besides your advertisement in the paper, you will need 
 a neat and attractive circular. The circular will describe your 
 stock more fully than the advertisement. The circular will 
 save you a vast amount of letter writing, for it will answer 
 nine-tenths of the questions asked by prospective customers. 
 
 Attend to your correspondence promptly, if possible an- 
 swering a letter the very day it is received. The man who 
 writes you may have written some other fellow at the same 
 time, and if you want his trade you must be prompt. 
 
 Enclose a circular in each letter, but do not rely upon 
 the circular to make a sale. Write a few cordial, friendly 
 words, even if every question the man asks is answered in your 
 circular. Personality is the greatest power in the world, and 
 you can put a good deal of personality in a short letter. 
 
 SHIPPING EGGS AND STOCK. 
 
 Eggs for hatching are generally shipped in a basket or 1)Ox 
 made for the purpose. In cold weather they should be moved 
 only in the middle of the da}-, and great care should be exer- 
 cised to prevent freezing. 
 
 Where eggs are shipped b_v the hundred, perhaps as good 
 a way as any is to pack each separate egg in excelsior. Take 
 a small piece of excelsior from the roll and pull the fibres 
 apart, then with your thumb or with a round stick like the 
 end of a l)room handle, make an indentation in the mass. Put 
 
85 *, 
 
 the egg in the hole and close in the excelsior about it. The 
 egg is now in a ball or nest, protected on every side by its 
 resilient carrier. If carefully done the ball may be dropped 
 upon the floor and the egg' inside will not break. These balls 
 may be packed in a box like oranges, and will go safely any 
 distance. 
 
 In shipping stock, provide light and strong shipping coops. 
 If the bird is to go an}- distance, a loaf of stale bread soaked in 
 water and placed in the box, will be meat and drink for him 
 on his way. Write the party to whom you ship the bird when 
 you send him, enclosing express receipt. 
 
 COAI PLAINTS. 
 
 Ever}' shipper of eggs and stock is bound to receive more 
 or less complaints. Accidents will happen, and there are 
 customers hard to please. Sometimes you run across a dis- 
 honest customer who wants to get more than his money's 
 worth and who sends in a complaint that the eggs were broken 
 when they reached him or failed to hatch. You can generally 
 tell from the tone of a letter whether the writer is sincere or 
 not, for an honest letter has an honest ring. 
 
 When a complaint comes in that is unreasonable, it should 
 be met courteously and kindly, but firmly. The customer 
 should be shown, if possible, the untenability of his position. 
 When a complaint that is reasonable comes in an attempt 
 should be made for a satisfactory adjustment. It is the prac- 
 tice among poultrymen, I believe, to duplicate the order at 
 half price where less than seven out of the thirteen eggs hatch. 
 Where a customer is dissatisfied with the bird sent, he should 
 be allowed to send him back, paying the express, and his mone}' 
 should be returned to him. While a poultryman needs to 
 make sales he needs to make friends even more, and a good 
 way to secure them is to treat every man according to the 
 teachings of the Golden Rule. 
 
 Literature. — Tlie American Standard of Perfection. A complete 
 description of all recognized varieties of fowls. Illustrated. Indispensable 
 to every breeder of pure-bred or exhibition birds. Price, $1.50. Ameri- 
 can Poultry Aihocate, Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Men Who Make $2.00 a Day. 
 
 In the pouhry lousiness, as in all others, there is a tend- 
 eiic}- to specialize. A man discovers that he likes one part of 
 the business better than the rest, or is more successful in one 
 department than in another, and naturally he prefers to devote 
 his time to the thing- in which he excels. In the future, this 
 tendenc}' to specialization will be more marked than it is to- 
 day. There will be farms devoted to the production of eggs 
 —and nothing else. Not a chicken will be hatched on these 
 farms, and not a male will be kept. There will be other farms 
 where chickens will be raised the year around. The young 
 cockerels will be sold for broilers and the pullets will go to 
 stock the egg farms of which I have spoken. There will be 
 men who will devote their time to the breeding of pigeons, and 
 other men who will raise nothing but ducks. There" will be. 
 as now, men who will devote their entire time to exhibition 
 fowls. 
 
 It is my purpose in this chapter to select three or four 
 representative men and detail their methods. I have not 
 chosen for my purpose men who do a business of $30,000 or 
 $40,000 a year, and widely advertise ; but men that I know 
 who are making a comfortable living out of pt)ultry, or men 
 \vho keep poultry as a side line and make it pay. 
 
 CHICKS, PULLETS AND BROILERS.— 
 MR. O. P. BARTON. 
 
 The first man I shall mention is ^Nlr. O. P. P>arton of Sea- 
 brook. X. H., whose system of brooding has already been 
 described in another chapter. Mr. Barton is a shoemaker by 
 trade, and for man}' years carried on shoemaking at his home 
 in Seabrook, taking work from Xewburyport. He began to 
 experiment with poultry keeping some 15 years ago, and his 
 plant has grown from the usual small beginnings. 
 
 Mr. Barton started out to raise broilers and soft roasters, 
 but has been compelled to mochfy his plans to satisfy the 
 demands of his customers. He started in with good thorough- 
 
87 
 
 bred stock, selecling" W hite \\'}-aiKlc)ttes as best adapted to his 
 purpose. It was his original plan to start his incubators the 
 first day of January each year and to sell the young birds for 
 broilers, reserving only enough pullets to give him the neces- 
 sary eggs for hatching' the next winter. The novelt}' of Mr. 
 Barton's brooding arrangements attracted visitors from far 
 and near, and soon he was confronted with a brisk demand 
 for day-old chicks as well as for eggs for hatching-. He also 
 found that when the young birds were ready for broilers there 
 were plent}' who were eager to take the pullets at an advance 
 over the price of broilers ; and now he sells day-old chicks and 
 young pullets as well as broilers. 
 
 Mr. P)arton"s figures for 1907 are calculated to make the 
 average poultry keeper sit up and take notice. He began the 
 year with 90 pullets and si.x cockerels. These were sold April 
 13th, so the entire receipts for the year were the product of 
 keeping this limited amount of stock three and one-halt 
 months. Nothing was sold for what could be called fancy 
 prices, but when he balanced his books he found that his 
 receipts for the year were $1,004.29, expenditures $369.50, 
 profits $734.79, or over $8 per hen. Xo account was made of 
 the eggs or poultry consumed at home, neither was the hen 
 manure reckoned. Mr. Barton closed the year with 158 pullets 
 and eight cockerels on hand, which, valued at the low price 
 of $1 each, would add materially to his profits. 
 
 Mr. Barton made his mone}- off his chicks, 2,600 of which 
 he hatched out. He sold day-old chicks for 15 cents each, and 
 pullets for 50 cents each wdien they were large enough for the 
 sex to be distinguished. He sold broilers for 32 cents a pound 
 as late as the luiddle of June, and mature pullets for one dollar 
 apiece and upwards. He believes that a man can easily clear 
 $1,000 a year from 100 hens by following his methods. 
 
 It was the middle of Jul}' wdien the writer visited Mr. 
 P)arton at his pleasant home, to gather data for this book. He 
 found all hands busy picking straw^berries. A little patch. 
 less than half an acre in extent, netted Mr. Barton $150 that 
 season. 
 
 By a singular coincidence, the Boston papers that verA- 
 morning had the account of a man who had committed suicide 
 because his farm, devoted to poultry and Angora goats, did 
 not pay. 
 
 "No man can make a success at poultr}- raising and hire 
 another man to run his place," said Mr. Barton. "Success de- 
 
pends upon a hundred and one little things that a hired man 
 would never think to do." 
 
 "Do you intend working at your trade?" was asked. 
 
 "Xo," was his response. "I am done with shoemaking 
 forever. I can see all kinds of money in the poultry business. 
 My ambition is to clear up $1,000 the first six months of each 
 year, and I think I can do it." 
 
 "I have another plan," said Mr. Barton, "and that is to buy 
 up little cockerels in the fall and caponize them. There are 
 always plenty of little cockerels that can be bought in Septem- 
 ber and October as low as 15 cents apiece. These can be 
 caponized and sold for big money in the spring. In this way 
 I can add to my profits and utilize my plant in the fall months 
 when it would otherwise be idle." 
 
 EGGS FOR MARKET— MR. F. H. DUNLAP. 
 
 Even more remarkable than the story of Mr. Barton is 
 that of Mr. F. II. Dunlap of West Salisbury, N. H., for Mr. 
 Barton is located on the seacoast close to some of the best 
 markets in New England, while Mr. Dunlap lives in a little 
 hamlet, up amor.g the hills, five miles from the nearest railway 
 station. Then for six months in the year Mr. Barton devotes 
 practically all his time to his stock, while Mr. Dunlap has but- 
 two or three hours a day to give them. Mr. Barton gets the 
 highest prices for what he sells, while Mr. Dunlap ships to 
 commission merchants and gets only current quotations. 
 
 Eggs and eggs alone are what Mr. Dunlap works for. 
 His main business is that of a country merchant, while poultry 
 keeping is with him a side line, an avocation. His place is 
 small, only two acres and a half of sandy land, but the system 
 of the trained business man shows in everything he does. His 
 houses are well built, well arranged, and he can carry on his 
 poultry business with the utmost economy of time and labor. 
 
 Starting in 1887 with a flock numbering but 20. he has 
 steadily kept increasing the number, until now the annual 
 hatch is between 1.000 and 1,100 chickens, with the average 
 winter stock of layers about 500. 
 
 Mr. Dunlap has built houses according to the constantly 
 increasing number of fowls, until the present number is lo. 
 These are kept whitewashed and regularly cleaned, so that the 
 best sanitary conditions prevail. 
 
89 
 
 ' The old subject as to whether the poultry business is a 
 profitable vocation is one that has been under much discussion 
 of late, and in answer Mr. Dunlap submits the following 
 figures : 
 
 The land, with tne hen houses and frequent improvements 
 which ha\e l)een made during this period of 22 years, totals 
 $2,047.02. This includes the poultry houses only, and is ex- 
 clusive of the dwelling" house. v 
 
 During the past 22 years the net profits have been $11,- 
 347.13. Besides that $9,656.31 has been expended for grain 
 and supplies, making a total of $21,003.41 for all poultrv 
 and eggs sold. 
 
 Three principal varieties of hens kept are Rhode Island 
 Reds, White Wyandottes and White Leghorns. These birds 
 are bred from the best strains, and their laying qualities alwavs 
 stand first, as no birds are ever exhibited or eggs sold for 
 hatching. 
 
 Following is the statement of the poultry account of Mr. 
 Dunlap from Jan. 1, 1908, to Jan. 1, 1909: 
 
 Debtor. 
 
 To 535 birds on hand Jan. 1, 1908, at cost $ 183.75 
 
 " feed bought during year 830.46 
 
 $1,014.21 
 
 Creditor. 
 
 By 64,117 eggs in 1908 $1,131.57' 
 
 " 767 birds sold 329.13 
 
 " 210 eaten 000.00 
 
 " 592 birds on hand 207.20 
 
 $1,867.90 
 Profit . $ 853.69 
 
 HIGH GRADE UTILITY AND EXHIBITION BIRDS.— 
 LITTLE CHICKS.— MR. T. N. SMITH. 
 
 Some years ago, while pastor of Trinity Church in North 
 Attleboro, Mass., I had a young man in the congregation by 
 the name of Smith. He was ambitious and industrious, strictly 
 temperate, and I looked for him to make a success in whatever 
 he undertook. I lost run of the young man after I left town. 
 
90 
 
 but after a few years I began to see his name in the poultry 
 papers in connection with a short advertisement of Rhode 
 
 Island Reds. How he succeeded I shall let him tell in his 
 own words : 
 
 "1 shall endeavor to tell of my struggles to establish a 
 good business for the benefit of those who are thinking of 
 going- into the poultry business to make a living. I started in 
 five years ago right after I ha'd taken the special course in 
 ])oultry culture at Kingston Agricultural College. I had been 
 breeding Rhode Island Reds for six years before, and I selected 
 out two ])ens of the best birds and raised about 200. I put a 
 small classified ad. in Farm-Poultry, run it in that paper 
 through the spring months at a cost of $6. Sales from this 
 advertising" of eggs for hatching and breeding stock were $125. 
 
 "I worked as a motorman on the electric railroad right 
 along while building u]^ ni}- trade. AI}- wife helped me all she 
 could. The second year sales were $478 for eggs for hatching 
 and breedingvStock. These figures do not include what was 
 sold for market, as that was kept separate. I spent $50 for 
 advertising" this year. The third year a great many articles 
 derogatory to Rhode Island Reds appeared in a number of 
 ])i)uhr}- papers, and the boom on Rhode Island Reds had fallen 
 out. This year 1 think my hat had grown too big. As I had 
 about 300 Reds I spent $200 in advertising and a catalogue 
 this vear : my sales for breeding stock and eggs for hatching" 
 were only $251. I had lost at a time when I felt it most, but 
 I knew the demand would increase if T just stuck to it. as the 
 Reds wcndd be recognized for their sterling cpialities. In the 
 meantime, wife and I worked to build up one of the best laying 
 strains in the countr}-. We used trap nests. We had a good 
 laying strain to work on from the start. The fourth year I 
 spent S78 for advertising, exhibited some and won a good 
 share of first prizes, and sold $1,100 of breeding stock, exhi- 
 bition birds and eggs for hatching. I worked on the electrics 
 just the same, but was able to get off most aiiy time it was 
 necessary to attend to n"iy poultr}- l)usiness. \\ hen I made 
 full time on the road I got $16.28 per week of seven days. 
 
 "The fifth year, which has just been completed, I paid out 
 $87 for advertising, exhibited at a number of shows, won a 
 lot of prizes; and sold an average of over $200 per month for 
 breeding" stock, exhibition birds and eggs for hatching. Since 
 the beginning of the new year (1905) my sales for breeding 
 stock and eggs for hatching" are from $7? to $100 per week, and 
 
91 
 
 1 have just started to sell newly-hatched chicks. Am now sell- 
 ing about $105 per week. This I keep separate from sales of 
 eggs and breeders. I have a nice lot of fruit trees in poultry 
 yards, peach, plum and quince. 1 have farmed out a lot of my 
 stock on account of working on cars. My intention was to 
 l)uild up a good trade and then leave to attend to my poultry 
 business altogether. I am now ready to go into it altogether, 
 having no fear I will not be successful, as I now have a good 
 trade established and customers are coming back each year, 
 besides the new customers I get each year. I would advise 
 anyone to do as I have : keep your situation or business while 
 building up a poultry business, if possible. I have worked 
 early and late to do this, and the success I have met amply 
 repays my trouble." 
 
 Under date of August 28, 1908, "Sir. Smith Avrites me, 
 bringing his experience down to the present time. 
 
 ''I will now take up the subject of newly-hatched chicks." 
 he says. "The first year I started to sell newdy-hatched chicks 
 ( 1905 ) I sold 10.000. I thought that pretty good for the first 
 season. The second year (1906) I hatched out 27,000 chicks, 
 and sold 24,000 of them. That year I sold a little over $6,000 
 worth of chicks, breeding stock, exhibition birds and laying 
 stock. The third year (1907) I sold over 35.000 Rhode Island 
 Red chicks, and besides that hatched out a lot of chicks for 
 other people who either bought or shipped their eggs here, 
 charging them $2.50 per hundred for wdiat eggs they left. 
 I did a $10,000 business that year, selhng eggs for hatching, 
 brooder chicks, breeding stock, exhibition birds, laying stock, 
 a few broilers and soft roasters, and making something on 
 hatching eggs for other people. Up to this year (1907) I had 
 done all the work myself, but this season for the first time I 
 employed an assistant, a practical poultryman. I ought to 
 add that my wife has helped me from the first, and now attend^s 
 to all the correspondence : and as this is large, it takes her a 
 good half day to get it out of the way. 
 
 "We are now w^ell into another year's business (1908), 
 and it bids fair to be a prosperous year, notwithstanding the 
 whole country has passed through a financial crisis. I sold in 
 the spring 35,000 chicks, the most of them for 15 cents apiece, 
 and a few of the best for 25 cents, and inquiries for breeding 
 and exhibition stock are beginning to come in. It looks as 
 if I would do an $11,000 business this year. 
 
 'T attribute my great success in the poultry business to 
 the fact that I have developed one of the greatest laying strains 
 
92 
 
 of Rhode Island Reds in the country, using trap nests, and 
 breeding only from birds that have reached a high average in 
 egg production. I have bred birds that ha\e won in the largest 
 shows in the country ; and have shipped birds all over the 
 globe, to New Zealand, South Africa, Cuba and Japan, as well 
 as all over the United States and Canada. 
 
 "This year I started in selling real estate, and find it works 
 well in connection with the poultry business. I have a man 
 who shows the farms, and when there is nothing doing in that 
 line he helps me in the care of the poultry. I was brought up 
 on a farm, and know just what kind of a farm is best adapted 
 to poultry, and m}- customers profess themselves well satis- 
 fied." 
 
 SMALL CHANGE. 
 
 Capitalize your mistakes. 
 
 Don't slip twice on the same banana peel. 
 
 Don't trust anything to a hen's judgment, for she hasn't 
 any. She is sure to do the thing you don't want her to do. The 
 only safe wa}' is to have your fowls where they are completely 
 under your control. 
 
 Read widely, but check and correct what you read by ex- 
 perience and experiment. 
 
 The best breed is the one you like best. 
 
 Cleanliness is next to egginess. 
 
 Iveep the hens at work, and the chances of their contracting 
 bad habits will be reduced to a minimum. 
 
 A good breeding cockerel should be of good size, with well 
 developed comb and wattles, a bright eye. and with a bright 
 and fearless mien. In other words, he should show his mascu- 
 linity in every act and look. 
 
 Separate the sexes as soon as the cockerels begin to crow. 
 
 The time to doctor a sick hen is before she is sick. 
 
 Give value received the first time, or 3-ou may never have a 
 second time. 
 
 Fowls should never be roughly handled, violently chased or 
 badly frightened. Best results can only be obtained when the 
 birds feel at ease and free from the attacks of enemies of all 
 kinds. The keeper, whose fowls fiy at his approach, is not a 
 success. 
 
 Satan finds some mischief still for idle hens to do. 
 
 In caring for the youngsters, a little neglect may mean a 
 big loss. Better do it right or not at all. 
 
93 
 
 Remember that the early hatched chicks needs an unusual 
 amount of care in order to fully protect them from the cold of 
 ■early spring. 
 
 Have the best stock obtainable, and never start with any 
 other kind. Better get good birds and fewer of them. You 
 can't breed anything- but disappointment from poor stock. As 
 in everything else, the best is the cheapest. 
 
 Don't be too cautious.- The man who never loses anything 
 never makes anything. . 
 
 Distrust the doctrinaire who says that chicks do not need 
 much heat. They come from a warm place and need consider- 
 able Avarmth until well feathered out. If they have warmth 
 they will grow ; if not, they will become stunted and die like 
 flies at the approach of frost. 
 
 The whole tendency to-day on the part of those who have 
 the poultry business most at heart is towards simplification of 
 methods. The old farmer who feeds nothing but corn and not 
 much of that, letting his hens shift for themselves on the range, 
 may not be the highest type of a poultryman, but Itc makes 
 poultry keeping pay. He doesn't get many eggs, but what he 
 gets are all profit. 
 
 A¥hile there are an indefinite number of things a man might 
 do in the poultry business, yet the things that are absolutely 
 necessary are after all very few. To keep one's hens clean, to 
 keep them comfortable, to give them plenty to eat — this is 
 about all there is to it. Perhaps the greatest gain a man ever 
 makes is when he resolves that he will no longer doctor sick 
 hens — unless the sickness is very simple. While he may lose 
 a few more hens in the course of a year than he otherwise 
 would, vet the saving in time, the removal of the strain upon 
 his patience and sympathy, the higher average of health on the 
 part of the hens that remain, more than offset the loss. It was 
 never intended that the poultryman should add a drug store to 
 his outfit. 
 
 AA^hen a man sells eggs he sells futures, and when a man 
 buys eggs he buys possibilities. If a buyer gets a good hatch 
 he gets more than his money's worth, and if the hatch is poor 
 he has no cause for complaint. If only two or three chicks 
 come out, one of these may be a blue-ribbon bird that will be 
 worth ten times what he paid for the eggs at the start. 
 
 One of the temptations that must be resisted is to load u]) 
 the incubator just once more when the eggs are hatching good. 
 
94 
 
 When you have all the chicks you are equipped to take care of^ 
 you have enough. Nothing was ever gained by crowdinjj- 
 chicks, putting two where there is only room for one. 
 
 Before you give up your job to go into the poultry business, 
 you should thoroughly master the art of artificial brooding of 
 chicks. Here is where the majorit}- of beginners fall down. 
 It's easy enough to get out chicks (any good incubator wall 
 hatch them by the hundred), but when it comes to rearing 
 them, that is another story. It's easy to foresee the finish of 
 the man who is obliged to carry to the graveyard one-half to 
 three-fourths of the chicks his faithful incubator has hatched 
 out. 
 
 Wayside Advertising. — On my way to the cit}- I pass a 
 place that always attracts my attention : a very pretty little 
 house with perhaps an acre of land attached. It is a good 
 sized city lot, nothing more. It is owned and occupied, I un- 
 derstood, by a widow with three children. What interests me 
 is the system with which this acre farm is managed. Every- 
 square foot is utilized, and every square foot is made to pay. 
 The owner has had a number of neat signs painted, and when- 
 ever I go by one of these is out, calling attention to something 
 she has to sell. "Eggs for Hatching" greets my eyes in the 
 spring. Later comes "Strawberries," then "Raspberries" or 
 "Flowers." And in the fall there is a board with the legend. 
 "Honey for Sale." I understand that this woman makes fabu- 
 lous profits out of her acre farm. Customers call at the door 
 and pay big prices for all she has to sell. Her success suggests 
 the possibilities of wayside advertising. Every reader of this 
 book wdio lives on the main road and has anything to sell 
 should have a number of neat signs painted with the name of 
 some commodity on each, to post by the wayside to be read 
 by passers by. The best market in the world is often at our 
 very doors. I know a man who lives in a country town who 
 had potatoes to sell. He had a sign printed, "Potatoes for 
 Sale," and stuck up where everybody who drove by could see. 
 As a consequence, he sold all he had for one dollar a bushel, 
 the same price his neighbors received for theirs in the cit3^ six 
 miles away. If a hundred people pass your door every twenty- 
 four hours, the chances are that some of them will be inter- 
 ested in what vou have to sell. 
 
 Lb '09 
 
POLLTRY TARMS 
 
 » =^=^= =<< 
 
 FOR 
 
 POULTRY RAISERS. 
 
 Exeter, New Hampshire, and vicinity, in the South eastern part of 
 Rockingham County, is an ideal location lor the poultry fancier 
 and poultry marketman. 
 
 Exeter, famous for beauty and health, noted for schools of national 
 reputation and excellent social lile, is conveniently and delight- 
 fully situated. Only 51 miles from Boston, with frequent express 
 trains, about 15 miles distant from four smaller cities, 10 miles 
 by road and trolley through beautiful country Scenery of Hamp- 
 ton and Rye Beaches, is surrounded by pine covered hills and 
 divided by fresh and Salt water rivers, the latter navigable to 
 the sea. 
 
 The City and local markets will take an unlimited supply of live and 
 dressed poultry and eggs, and the beach hotels, in the season, are 
 great Consumers of broilers, chickens, fowl and eggs at fancy 
 prices. Fancy poultry is in great demand for breeding. An 
 admirable show is held here yearly and greatly stimulates the 
 business. Small and large farms and village homes are for sale 
 at low prices and often on easy terms. 
 
 $1,500 will buy a 9 room two story house, two large barns, corn 
 house, 15 apple trees and 5 acres good land, near neighbors, 
 district and high schools and church. Mortgage can be placed 
 for $1000. 
 
 $1,200 will buy a similar farm with 7 room smaller house. 
 
 $600 will buy a half acre place with a good house and barn. 
 
 $500 will buy 4 room house, shed and 3 acres with a few apple 
 trees. $200 down will get this. A great variety of places 
 listed. Inquiries cheerfully answered. 
 
 Dana W. Baker, Exeter, N. H. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 002 849 595 A^ 
 
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