Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1910-12-13
Poultry Profits.
FIFTEEN CENTS A DOZEN IS FAIR
AVERAGE FOR THE COST OF PRoDUc
ING EGGS.

produce eggs, and the average we'll bred
flock will lay an average of $50 eggs
year" Such is the substance of a state
ment In one OF the city papers that runs
a so-called farm department..
Now, am thorough believer in the
farm and in the ben as a good profit
maker, but / can see no good that can
possibly accrue from such uufounded
assertions as these. 1t certainly cannot
help the industry any to lead men to
apply false standards of measure to 1t as
a business venture. In the long run 1t
pays to place any kind Of business on a
fair basis in the minds of the people. 1t
can do no good and may do much harm
to misrepresent the matter before the
consuming public. When the consumer
is led to believe that the eggs for which
he pays 40 cents have cost the producer
less han oue-four,h of that amount he
naturally feels as though some one was
trying to rob him, or at best making an
unjust profit. Over. estimating the grow
er's profit Injuries the producer and con.
sumner alike: 1t creates a feeling of mu-
tual distrust which tends to disrupt all
business relations. The foundation Of
business is confidence between the men
who produce and those who consume.
This is no less true with eggs than with
other commodities.
So the truth should be told about the
matter for the sake of preserving that
necessary mutual confidence between
seller and buyer. But it is the effect of
such statements on the farmers and
would-be poultrymen that particularly
object to. Many men, and some women,
have jumped into the poultry business
only to jump out again after heavy
losses, simply because they have been
allowed 10 believe that an unusually
large profit could easily be made. De-
serted henhouses are more numerous
than deserted farms, and they bear
silent but eloquent testimony to the fact
that many men have been misled or
have made sad mistakes. To-day, after
all the years of successful work by ex'
periepced farmers and poultrymen, as
we'll as the teachings of the experiment
stations, the idea is too prevalent that it
costs next to nothing to produce eggs
and the profit is large. In the minds OF
many picking mp eggs is much the same
as picking up pocketbooks for which no
owner can be found, an easy way OF get
ting living for the man who will be
satisfied to live and an easy way of lay
ing up money for the man who is am-
bilious.
There is good profit in poultry both
as a speciality and as a branch of
general farm business, but in each case
profit comes as the result of intelligent
work and long continued effort to make
the business q success. For long time
have been producing eggs at profit
and am now keeping laying flock of
25O we'll bred hens and pullets. have
studied the question of feeding for eggs
and breeding for eggs with persistence
and patience, and while | have only
words of cheer for the business have
never been able to produce eggs for less
than an average of Is cents per dozen.
That sounds large, / know, but 1t Is less
than many have produced them for. At
certain seasons of the year the cost is
much less than this, while at other times
it reaches as high as 25 cents per dozen
or even more. Since the average selling
price runs somewhere near % cents net
for the year, it is readily seen that the
profit is not any larger than 1 have a
right to expect.
1t is so easy to keep hens on paper
that there is some excuse for those who
are led astray by false promises OF large
returns. do not know what the aver
age cost of dozen eggs may be at the
present time throughout the Eastern
section of this country, bnt | do know
that the man who could produce them
for cents as an average price would
have business that would beat banking
or steamboaiug. With In ever waiting
market for the products of the flock the
poultry branch of the farm business
holds out strong inducement for the
future, but it is work that means an
outlay of money, time and ability.
From it you cannot get something for
nothing. "Be not deceived. ."-E. c.
Dow, Belfast, Me-, in Tribune Farmer.