Part 13

Two half cocoanut shells, or small boxes, must be hung up on the end or back of each compartment as foundations for the nest. Cover the bottom of the tray with a thick layer of bird-gravel, and hang up materials for nest-building in each compartment. Dried moss, bits of raw cotton, or short fine hay, are all suitable. The material for a cage three feet long, eighteen inches high and deep, will only cost a dollar, so the homemade cage, in addition to being an economy, has the advantage of size, which means a great deal in a breeding cage, as it allows the birds so much more exercise.

Put a female in each compartment, so that they may become accustomed to each other. In about a week, the door in the partition can be opened, and both birds allowed the freedom of both compartments. During this time, the male bird must be kept in his own cage, and in another room. During these preliminary stages, which should run from three to four weeks, the three birds must have, in addition to their regular food, a small dish of mash every morning, made of hard-boiled egg chopped very fine, stale bread-crumbs, and hulled oats ground (not oatmeal or rolled oats), equal parts of each, just moistened with scalded milk, and, of course, allowed to cool before being fed to the birds.

After the two females are on friendly terms, bring the male bird’s cage into the room, and hang it before the breeding-cage, and out of sight, if possible. Curiosity will be aroused, and the birds will spend most of their time talking to each other, and endeavouring to see each other. A week later, close the door in the partition, leaving a female in each compartment. Put the two cages on a level; two or three days later, open the door of one compartment, and the door of the male bird’s cage, placing them close together. He will soon commence going in and out of the breeding-cage, and in a day or so his cage may be removed. After the hen-bird commences to sit, open the door in the partition, and let the male into the second compartment. When the second hen commences to sit, the door in the compartment can be left permanently open, as there is little fear of the birds’ fighting, and the male will divide his attention between the two families, helping to feed and care for the nestlings.

Special care is necessary during the incubating period, for the eggs of these little songsters are exceedingly fragile, and a loud noise to which they are unaccustomed, even the slamming of a door, will sometimes addle them. Too bright a light is also annoying, so a piece of green baize pinned around the corner of the cage will give a sense of seclusion which will keep the bird tranquil and happy. Allow nothing to worry or trouble them while sitting.

Fourteen days after the first egg is laid, the young appear. The tiny creatures are a great disappointment to those who see them for the first time. Chicks and ducklings are lovely from the time they first emerge from the shell; but a young canary is featherless, blind, and has the longest neck imaginable. In a short time, however, it becomes a golden ball of down, and its early unattractiveness is forgotten in admiration.

Continue the mash food, but after the little ones are hatched, feed night and morning. Add rape seed which has been boiled a few minutes, and then rinsed through cold water. The nestlings’ eyes open about the sixth day. After the thirteenth day they will begin feeding themselves in the most independent manner. When the brood is a month old, remove them to another cage. They will then begin to lose their first crop of feathers, and must be carefully protected from draughts, lest they take cold. At the end of this first moulting period, you can tell how the young will develop, both for shape and song.

The mother bird will usually begin to build a second nest when the babies in the first are about fourteen days old, sometimes keeping up this double family from February till June; so that with good birds you can count on having eight broods from the two females, with an average of sixteen male birds. If the trainer--that is to say, the bird who teaches the young ones to sing--is a good songster, the males should bring two dollars apiece when sixteen weeks old.

The young females can, with a little patience, be trained and taught tricks, which will make them worth as much or more than their brothers, who have only voice to recommend them; but if the female’s education is ignored, they are not worth more than fifty cents apiece, unless kept to breeding age. Cages must be kept scrupulously clean, with plenty of sand on the floor. Accustom the birds to having a bath dish put in for a time every morning. Should the feet look soiled, or the nails be too long, take the bird firmly, but gently, in your hand, and hold the feet in warm soap and water, to remove all dirt and soften the nails, the extreme points of which can be cut with a pair of sharp, fine scissors. Take care not to go above or too near the end--the end of the nerve that can be seen running through the upper part of the nail; for if you do, it will be painful to the bird, as cutting into the quick of your finger-nail would be. If you are a real bird-lover, and have time and patience, you can accustom a flock to your presence until they will let you go among them in a flying-room and handle them at your pleasure; for they are naturally most affectionate, gentle little creatures, as full of playfulness as a kitten. A solitary songster will feel neglect and loneliness to a pitiable degree, but will respond to petting as readily as a child. A canary from the general stock of a bird-store is timid and reserved at first, but will soon establish friendly relations between himself and his owner.

THE BUSINESS SIDE

To make the home profitable, there must be some system of bookkeeping instituted, no matter how simple, also there must be some ingenuity exercised about marketing. Take advantage of the long evenings to start books and lay plans for the disposal of surplus products to the best advantage. Unless you know what each animal costs to keep, and what returns you are receiving from it, you can’t be sure what your profits really are. I know how most amateurs hate to be bound down to the actualities of a balance-sheet with its cold facts on what it costs to produce this, that or the other thing. But experience has taught me that it is the crucial point and must be ascertained. Your accounts need not be elaborate but they must be clear and accurate. Establish some simple system of bookkeeping and after you have once overcome prejudice and made the plunge, it is really gratifying to know, for a positive fact whether things are really paying or not.

The first step toward general order is keeping records of individual animals or flocks, as the case may be, and also of the farm and garden crops. Bestow a name or number upon each animal, and if you are going in for husbandry in an extensive way, have a book for each variety. If only two or three animals are to be kept, a general stock-book will do. Each field and meadow should be named or numbered, and a book devoted to work done on each.

Poultry also needs a special book; so do expenses.

My plan is to head a page in the cattle register with the animal’s name or number; date of birth or purchase, with price; followed by when bred, to whom, when due, actual date of event, sex of offspring and name or number bestowed upon it. On the opposite page, if the animal is a cow, the amount of milk she gives, a week after calving, and at one measuring every month until we cease milking her. Milk is tested for butter-fats once in every three months and the result recorded.

The record of pigs and sheep is not so elaborate, because, of course, there is only breeding and arrival of offspring to be noted. For poultry, the number of pens heads the page, followed by the number of birds it contains, and the individual numbers, and on the opposite page the number of eggs gathered each week.

The feed-book contains the amount of grain, etc., used for each variety of stock.

The farm-book is kept in a like manner, the field number heading the page; then, when ploughed; how and to what extent fertilised; with what variety of seeds sown; number of times cultivated, when harvested and the amount of the crop.

On the opposite page, in pencil, are suggestions for catch crops and rotation for main planting for a period of five years. Small note-pads with pencils attached are fastened up in every stall or pen of each outbuilding, and events are jotted down as they occur, so that there is no chance of forgetting or getting things mixed. Every Saturday the sheets are torn from the pads and brought to the house, for the items to be transferred to the different books. It does not take half an hour each week to do the clerical work, and it saves innumerable mistakes and accidents, besides furnishing proof of the relative value of each animal and piece of land.

On one side of the expense book all money spent is entered; on the other, all moneys received. A balance is struck every month and transferred to a general ledger, which, in turn, is balanced once a year.

Another thing that must be understood is that all profits must not be considered as a bonus to be used for personal pleasure. Some part of all moneys received should be set aside as working capital, otherwise improvement and extension are simply impossible.

Marketing home products advantageously is of paramount importance, and seems to be the point on which many beginners fail. Commission men and wholesale markets should not be resorted to, because home-grown products of all descriptions excel in quality and not in quantity; therefore, appeal to high-class private custom, who desire the very best, regardless of price.

I have never sold through any of the ordinary market channels, yet have always had more orders than I could fill and received a little more than the ordinary prices. Naturally the location of the home and the quality of the wares must influence the returns to some extent, but not half so much as the method of packing and shipping. Nicety in these respects captures the favor of customers and they take pride in exhibiting things to their friends--which is the very best sort of advertising a home business can have.

When I had reached the point where I knew that I could depend on a certain number of eggs regularly, I wrote to a doctor friend in the city and told him that I could promise to deliver six dozen strictly fresh-laid eggs twice a week for the whole year, at a uniform price of forty-five cents a dozen; customers to pay the express charges, which would be twenty-five cents on each six dozen. (Express companies return empty packages free of charge.) Within a month he had found four customers for me, who would take two dozen a week each, the box to be delivered at his house, where the other three customers were to call every Saturday and Wednesday.

All poultry-supply houses have wooden boxes for sale with divided trays, made to hold three, six or twelve dozen eggs, for about two dollars apiece. Before the year was out each of the three other customers had interested one or two friends, with the result that three six-dozen boxes were shipped three times a week, and the following winter I had orders from the same people for butter and table poultry.

In this way my market grew, as did my stock, and I never had any surplus to worry about. Of course, I realise that there was an element of good luck in having a doctor for a friend, but when there is no good Samaritan to start a clientele for you, energy will surely accomplish it; for every housekeeper longs to get good, fresh-delivered table delicacies which have not passed through a dozen hands.

I know one woman who got her first customer by writing personal notes to women of social prominence in a near-by town, whose addresses she got from a directory. From twenty letters she received two replies, but they both became regular customers, and recommended friends.

Another instance of personal effort took the form of calls upon doctors and clergymen. Still another woman interested the fashionable milliner of her town to canvass orders among her customers, and paid for the favour with eggs and butter.

A more impersonal way of gaining customers would be to arrange with one or two well-located drug or stationery stores for the display of large cards bearing notices of the things for sale and your address; but, of course, there are dozens of ways to find customers. Advertising in newspapers will do as a last resource, but strictly personal methods are the best.

Now about packing. Eggs should never be more than two days old and must be sorted into lots of uniform color and size. If the eggs should become soiled in muddy weather, wipe them with a damp cloth as soon as gathered, so that the shell does not become permanently stained.

For private customers, table birds should be especially fattened and dry picked, which means that the feathers are removed as soon as the bird has been killed, without its being dipped into scalding water. As the scalding spoils the flavour, birds so dressed are only accepted by third-class market.

After the feathers and pin-feathers have all been removed, the bird should be drawn, washed in cold water, wiped quite dry, a piece of charcoal or peeled onion put inside the body and then trussed, for they look so much more attractive than when shipped in a sprawling condition.

Drawing and dressing for market is not the custom for general marketing in this country, but it is universal in Europe, and private customers always appreciate the improvement such rigid cleanliness necessarily makes in flavour. Wrap each bird in a square of new cheese-cloth. Place a few sprigs of parsley, thyme and summer savoury at one side, for the convenience of the cook; then put on an outer wrapping of white paper and tie with clean, fresh string. Things going from a home should look dainty.

Don’t try sending butter by express unless you have orders enough to make it worth while to buy one of the refrigerator hampers which are now used for automobiles. A hamper which costs about four dollars will hold five or six pounds of butter, so it is not a very great outlay when you can get forty-five cents a pound for your butter. In making up hampers of fruit and vegetables, use small grape-baskets to divide the different varieties. Line them with green leaves. Pack everything with dainty care and reject everything which is not in perfect condition. Don’t let anything interfere with the arranged schedule for shipping. Gain a reputation for uniform excellence and punctuality, and success is sure.

THE END

[Transcriber’s Note:

Obvious printer errors corrected silently.

Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]

End of Project Gutenberg's Making Home Profitable, by Kate V. Saint-Maur