The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-21
Salaried Man Should Con- slider Every Angle Before Making Change
Experience, Capital, Enthu-
 siasm, Knowledge of Busi-
 ness All Most Essential
By PROF. HARRY R. LEWIS Head of the department of poultry husbandry of the New Jersey State Agricultural Experiment Station.
Copyright, 1915.)

l tired of the nervous activity of ybusi- ness and the fixed income of sal aried position. They see prospects of getting in business for themselves, living close to nature, building up a
 fortune, with ease.
 Too often they fail to consider poul- try raising is business just like sell ing goods or bookkeeping, and it takes
 capital, knowledge and experience. But this should not discourage them from the enterprise, for they can obtain all these by making the sacrifice and eff fort
 l Thousands have done so and suc- ceeded. Others can do likewise. The
 following article may make the road more clear and certain;
 Shall l give up a city position to raise poultry?" This question expresses the thought in the mind of many city
 men at the present time Back to the land and to nature is but the whole some craving of a wholesome heart.
 This question has been put to me many
 a time in my official capacity at the
 New Jersey State Agricultural college.
 
 Ask yourself the following questions, Have l ample capital with which to finance the enterprise? Have I enough
 training and experience?' And last but
 not least Have I a personal liking and adaptation for the work? If the city enthusiast can answer these ques- tions satisfactorily in the affirmative, then he should not hesitate to tnakc the change But how few arc. those
 who can? The following discussion will
 possibly result in aiding some in an-
 swering these three pertinent ques-
 tions, and will also show ways and
 means of correcting possible deficien-
 cies The European war causing, as 1t
 is, higher prices for foodstuffs and re-
 sulting in the throttling of certain in-
 dustries will, I believe, make this question of greater and greater inn portance to certain classes of city l workers.
 How Much Capital
 The amount of capital to be invested
 in the farm and its equipment will de-
 pend upon the size of tho venture. the
 number of birds to be kept and the na- ture of the products to be produced. + | will require from S3000 to $5000 to buy
 and equip small poultry farm of ap- proximately 10 acres to carry 800 10 500
 
 person of limited experience to begin with the first year. Such an investment will also require the keeping of a re- serve or cash balance of from $500 ! to $500 to act as operating or surplus capital. Many failures in the poultry | business can be tradec to lack of capital, both as to the amount ex- pended in investment and by the amount of cash kept in the bank which can be used to operate the business More capital than this amount speci- | fled can be used to advantage. but i; is absolutely necessary to have that much. Without adequate experience / and training it Is rarely feasible for the city man to borrow considerable quantity of money on mortgage to supply this capital. The chances are that lack of experience will result ia lower returns than anticipated The Necessary Experience It is safe to say that more failures in poultry farming are due to lack of eX- perience on the part of the one taking care of the birds than any other ons cause Multitudes there are who wish to raise chickens, and many of them think that it requires no special knowl- edge. A little story in this connection will illustrate my point, and it is but one of many similar occurrences. One | day last week a young man who had considerable money invested in the clothing business in New York city | came into my office and told me that he had planned to start out in poultry keeping this coming spring and that
 he had no general Knowledge of the . work.
 Questions brought out the fact thai he had no experience other than whai he had gained by reading the news papers. I pointed out to him in a few l ! -l<y ...1. l. would have confront him in the man
 agement of the poultry flock and triec to force my point home. For ono thinl I asked him to consider our changins
 places. 1 personally had no experienc,
 in cutting clothes, nor could l hardl,
 tell one kind of cloth from another. A! expressed 1t, I could not cut brsi sack so that it would even set ove 6 mans shoulders, let alone fit him And, furthermore, pointed out thu fact that it would be just as appro rriate for him to expect to go into thu Ioultry business as it would be for m 1 to go into the tailoring business. TSn probability of Success would be equa in either case. The point was wei taken, and the young man decided to follow my suggestion and get som | experience before making the start l My advice to him was that he shout, understand thoroughly what was be | lore nlm DeIOre ne QeClueQ 10 give ul a good position and a pay envslop at the end of each month. How to Get Start There are many ways in which a cit man can gain poultry experience. would suggest the progressive steps a follows: First, move to a suburban com munity and keep from eight to 10 hens i the back yard By studying these closet much can be learned. And what is eve greater than this, the man can lear } whether he is going to like the work o not.
 Second he should subscribe to a nun Der of reliable poultry papers and req ] them intelligently and carefully H should not only read the news item but should study the advertisements an editorials carefully.
 Third. he should secure a number ( reliable poultry books, of which the<e al a number of excellent ones on the mai xet. and should read them carefully with the idea of applying the knowleda gained to the management of the fe hens in his yard.
 Fourth, he should get in touch with h state experiment station and request the ! bulletins and circulars. He should n, s hesitate to ask them questions by corr, spondence. nor should he fail to wis the college plant and become acquainte with the experiments unds~ way and u men in charge. This work Is at least part supported by his taxes. VI H< .t.A -r~ L