News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1917-03-07

man, and do not believe there is any
danger of my ever being a burden of
expense to the county for my support.
When my chicken house was built and
my little brood housed in it | believe
there was never. happier boy on
earth. Father allowed me to cut my
cedar posts from his land, so they cost
me nothing but the work. The fifty
six rods of wire fencing cost NE eX-
actly $40. My Leghorn hens did not
seem to possess much maternal spirit,
for they neither took time from their
laying to hatch eggs nor attend to the
chicks when Matched, so | borrowed
some Plymouth Rock hens from father
and soon had my flock increased to
147. Before. fall l had 3S6 and but
$50 with Which to buy the feed to
carry them through the winter. In the
spring l found myself $50 in debt.
"The next winter there were $40
chickens, out of which 800 were sold.
The following spring l owned eleven
incubators and sixteen brooders and
had purchased sixteen acres of land.
Besides these, houses large enough to
care for the flock comfortably had
been built. But the winter was terri
BILE, and | again ran behind. More
than 100 chickens died, and l was feel
ing mighty blue. l took several farm
and poultry journals and did my best
to solve the problem of getting rich
in the poultry business, but all of them
demanded more capital than / pos
sessed.
81 went to the bank and tried to bor-
row $500, but could not give sufficient
security. Finally l persuaded an old
uncle to let me have the money, giving
mortgage on my land and fowls,
Being under age, l had to have my
fathers name on the note Father
was ready to do this, for he was salts
fed that l would make good With
this money l built more houses and
large heating plant They were all
paid for before my mortgage came
due. That was the last time | have
ever borrowed money. l am now one
of the directors in the bank that re-
fused me the loan.
There are now 1877 acres, on which
l have comfortable buildings for my
self and stock. l have thirty chicken
houses, 36 by 120 feet, all built of ce-
ment blocks, and a centrally located
plant that keeps my colony houses
warm and comfortable. There are for I
ty-six acres devoted to chickens, and :
my three teams and two automobiles |
are busy much of the time in getting |
feed and taking the poultry to market |
or TO the railroad station. now turn
Off about eight tons of broilers, 1900 /
dozen eggs and $1,000 worth of fancy /
stock each year. l employ nine men
and two office girls, who run the type
writer's.
The teams are busy each forenoon
collecting food and in the afternoon at
work upon the farm. The eggs average
81 cents a dozen the year round, and
have seldom been obliged to take less
than 30 cents a pound for early spring
Droilers. L caponize all the male broil-
ers before they are four weeks old and
ind that it pays to do so. 1 keep the
Plymouth Rock and Rhode Island Red
breeds for broilers, and the Leghorn
ind Wyandotte breeds for egg produc-
ion and fancy stock.
last year the receipts from the
arm were $12,747 and the expenses
we're S4,4S0, leaving me a net profit of
'S,267, without considering, however,
he interest on the investment. My
owls dispose Of sixteen tons of alfalfa
,ach year, GOO bushels of carrots, 1000
'ushels of beets and mangels, 5000
leads of cabbage. five tons ground feed
md from ten to fourteen tons of ami
nal food. The last item does not cost
cry much, as | have made arrange
nents with butchers and refiners for
heir scraps and cracklings."