Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1900-11-15
CHEAP THINGS ARE COSTLY.
Ia Starting In the Poultry Business
II Paws IN Buy the Reat

Ia Starting In the Poultry Business
Ii Pays to Buy the Best.
81 wanted something cheap, ard |
have concluded that | got just what |
wanted" That was the remark of a
gentleman who had been trying in vain
to successfully hatch chickens in a
cheap incubator. The man who made
the remark was a man of wealth and
has made his mark in the business
world, but when it came to investing
in an incubator he fell into the same
error so many others have fallen into
and bought the kind he could buy
cheapest.
AS this gentleman related his expert
ence with his cheap incubator to me |
recalled the many opportunities anna
teur poultry men have to invest in
something cheap. One of the most
tempting of these opportunities is
found when the purchase Of an incuba-
tor is contemplated. To one who has
studied artificial incubation the impos-
sibility of success with an incubator
which extends below a certain point in
cheapness is apparent. An incubator
to do satisfactory work must be con-
structed of good material, and the ma
teriaI must be put together in the best
possible manner. If one will stop to
figure out the cost of material and
skilled labor, it will be found that
there Is an approximate figure below
which really good incubator cannot
be sold.
1t Is not alone in the purchase of an
incubator that the beginner makes the
mistake Of letting something cheap in
fiuence his judgment. Any one who
has had much correspondence with be-
ginners who are looking for eggs for
Matching or fowls for breeding knows
how great figure cheapness cuts with
them. The majority of such persons
would much rather get three sittings
Of eggs at 81 per sitting than one sit
ting for So, and yet, as the more expe-
rienced breeder knows, eggs at 81 per
sitting, when the object desired is
prize winning chicks, prove to be about
the costliest investment that could be
made. If the beginner resolves to buy
a pair, a trio or a pen of breeding birds,
this same tendency to get something
cheap shows itself. | remember in
particular one letter | received the
writer Of which had evidently taken
copy of The Standard and with that
before him, had written out a descrip-
tion of u pair of birds which, had it
been followed would have scored 90
points each at least, and then for
closing paragraph he said: Il do not
want exhibition birds; simply good
breeders, and | cannot afford to pay
over s. each for them" / could have
filed that mans order, but the pair of
birds would have cost him $50. l
broke this to him as gently as possible,
but never heard from him again. He
doubtless found some one who sent
him pair of birds worth just about as
much as he wished to pay, and he ell
ther became disgusted because they
did not produce winners for him or
else, possessing the spirit and grit Of
the true fancier, he tackled about on a
different course, paid fair prices for
some good birds and finally attained
success in the showroom.
While cheap incubators, eggs and
fowls prove to he dear in the end, there
Is another investment which every
breeder is called upon to make and in
which cheapness also proves costly to
the investor This is in the purchase
of feed. Good, sound, wholesome grain
Is far cheaper in the end when the pre-
vailing prices are paid than damaged
grain at one-third the regular price. In
the vicinity in which l live great guam
titles of wheat and corn are annually
damaged by fire or water, and num-
Der of men are engaged in the business
of drying or sorting the damaged grain
into different grades and then offering
it for sale. | have seen wheat sold to
poultrymen that had been so badly
charred that it was but little better
than charcoal. Corn after having been
for days In the bottom Of the harbOr Is
raised, partially dried and then offered
for sale and sold, too, after it has turn
ed black from heating. Most Of this
damaged grain goes to feed the fowls
Of men who think they are getting a
cheap ration, and they congratulate
themselves on the imagined saving ef-
fected.
Cheap equipment also proves to be
costly in the end. Buildings should be
well constructed, and good material
should always be used, although there
Is no necessity for adding to the cost
by ornamentation.-Hen l.. Allen in
Feather.