River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-09-25
SECRET OF SUCCESS.
Poultry business Not Suitable for
Those Occupied with Variety
of other Things.

Success with poultry is only obtained
by the utmost care and watchfulness.
A crop of wheat after the seed is sown
requires no attention until harvest.
Corn demands considerable cultiva-
ton, but there comes time when that,
too, can be laid by. But the cows and
the poultry must be cared for every
day, from the beginning of the year I'M
TIL its end. And of the two l think
poultry requires the more unremitting
care.
How foolish, then, for the man who
mas had little success in general farm
ing to rush into poultry raising on a
large scale because he reads in the
poultry books or papers that there is
money IN it. Perhaps, too, his wife, by
giving a small flock the care it requires
mas done we'll with few hens. But let
no man think he is going to get easy
money out of hens. If given proper at
tentlon they will pay a profit, and so
viii most other farm animals and
crops. Of course, there is not so much
hard labor required as in some other
branches of farm work. but it is work,
nevertheless. A farmer who has
hiking for poultry will be more likely
to give flock the food and care they
need than another, and such man dur
ing the winter months, when he has
little else to do, might be able to make
a good profit on his fowls. But it
must be remembered that they will
also require attention in the spring
and summer when other work presses.
Spring, too, is the time when most
of the Matching is done. To have good
winter layers one must have early
Matched chicks; to have these one must
in most cases raise them himself. A
farmer who is busy on the land is not
likely to spend his moons and evenings
looking for head lice or in taking pre-
cautions against rats and other chick
en- enemies. Yet this must all be done
or many of the chicks will never reach
maturity.
If farmer has a family of daugh-
tiers, or a son whose time is not fully
occupied, and, who will give the poul-
try due attention, it will be all right
to increase the size of the flock. A
large majority of men will not give
poultry the care they should have.
Most women would do so, and the at
tention in small details, the 'fussing"
which makes the difference between
success and failure in poultry raising, is
far more characteristic of the average
woman than the man. A woman will
watch the little chicks more closely
than with the mother hen; she will APP
ply grease to their heads or change
the feed at the first sign of dropping.
If the fowls show symptoms of scaly
leg, she will have them dipped in kero-
sene at the first appearance of the dis
ease-but the scaly leg is a filthy dis
ease not likely to appear in woman's
flock, unless brought there by pur-
chased fowls from some "mere man"
If a fowl becomes crOpbound she will
have the crop ope1. ed; sewn up again,
and the fowl will be well before the
ordinary man would know there was
anything the matter.
So turn the flock over to the women
folks, if they have not already all the
work they should do. Let them have,
of course, the gross receipts from the
poultry and they will soon be buying
incubators and other up-to-date APP
planes, and thus the farm poultry
business may increase in a natural and
profitable manner.-N. Y. Tribune
Farmer.