The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-01-08

"We did not even have book knowl.
edge on the subject. We made up our
minds to succeed and we have sue
ceeded At the same time, though
there is good living in the business
I'VE never advise women to follow
our example, because where one might
succeed dozen might fail We con-
stantly receive letters from woman ask
ing our advice on this subject.
school teachers want to abandon
their nerve-wearing vocation, widows
and spinsters with little capital think
they see in the chicken business an easy
road to fortune.
1T is only fair. for the benefit of this
class of inquirers and hundreds of
other women whose thoughts are
turned to this branch of woman's
work. to give them some idea of what
the labor connected with the business
really is.
First of all, no woman should dream
of entering this business unless she is
possessed of strong constitution.
This is a species of work which requires
the most robust health.
1T is preposterous to think that
semi-invalids could ever be successful
in poultry business; l mean, of course,
if they are carrying on the business for
the purpose of making money. Then,
again, you must have enough capital to
make fair start OK you will fail
"A vourfg woman wrote to us from
Connecticut the other day, saying that
l eh h,I th,rrfrbf ~ mt
the business; we advised her not to do
it She could not carry on the business
alone; it takes two to attend to the
work. and sometimes, literally, we
have to work day and night
For instance, we only pick and pre-
pare our chickens to order. Friday is
our busiest day, for customers-restau.
rant, boarding-house and hotel keepers
are preparing for Saturday and Sun.
day.
"On Friday night, when we have fin
ished big days work, we may receive
by telegraph three or four orders to be
| filled at once. That means that the
! chickens are to be sent by the early
morning express. The consequence is
that we are obliged to sit up all night
to pick the chickens, for all the fowl
are sent dry, hand-picked.
Some one asks: Why don't you
employ helpE
Because the help, nine times out of
ten, would not do the work properly; il
is very difficult to get that kind of as
sistance when you are most in need OF
it, and it would eat up too much OF the
profits to keep pickers on hand all the
time. because they would not be con-
stantly employed
Amateurs think it is easy TO find
customers for their fine poultry, and
any other kind it certainly would not
paw a woman to raise If you send to
middlemen-jobbers-they take all the
profits.
In the large hotels the chief pur-
chases all such food from the produce
dealers Those who raise spring broil-
| ers or pecan ducks are obliged to charge
a good price for them to cover expenses
and yield fair profit on the labor. We
| found, at the outset, that butchers
could not afford to pay our prices, and
we soon learned that all the very rich
were the hardest of all to secure as pat
rons
''The truth is, after you have got the
poultry to sell, it requires a great deal
of hard work and enterprise. No wom-
an must think that simply because she
can raise fine poultry she will find at
once profitable market for the same.
OF course she will find Il demand for
good fowl. but she must receive fair
prices or she can not conduct the busl-
ness profitably.
Amateur poultry raisers generally
fail because they go into the business
too extensively. and, in their employ
ment of help, all the profits are eaten
/ up. boston Globe