For the following plan we are indebted to the U. S. Dept, of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
Guinea fowl are growing in favor as a substitute for game birds, with the result that guinea raising is becoming more profitable.
They are raised usually in small flocks on general farms, and need a large range for best results.
Domesticated guinea fowl are of three varieties, Pearl, White, and Lavender, of which the Pearl is by far the most popular.
Guinea fowl have a tendency to mate in pairs, but one male may be mated successfully with three or four females.
Guinea hens usually begin to lay in April or May, and lay 20 to 30 eggs before becoming broody. If not allowed to sit they will continue to lay throughout the summer, laying from 40 to 60 or more eggs.
Eggs may be removed from the nest when the guinea hen is not sitting, but two or more eggs should be left in the nest.
Ordinary hens are used commonly to hatch and rear guinea chicks, but guinea hens and turkey hens also may be employed successfully, although they are more difficult to manage.
Guineas are marketed late in the summer, when they weigh from 1 to 11⁄2 pounds at about 21⁄2 months of age, and also throughout the fall, when the demand is for heavier birds.
The value of the guinea fowl as a substitute for game birds such as grouse, partridge, quail, and pheasant is becoming more and more recognized by those who are fond of this class of meat and the demand for these fowls is increasing steadily. Many hotels and restaurants in the large cities are eager to secure prime young guineas, and often they are served at banquets and club dinners as a special delicacy. When well cooked, guineas are attractive in appearance, although darker than common fowls, and the flesh of young birds is tender and of especially fine flavor, resembling that of wild game. Like all other fowl, old guineas are very likely to be tough and rather dry.
Guinea Fowl.
A few of the large poultry raisers, particularly those who are within easy reach of the large eastern markets, make a practice of raising a hundred or so guineas each year, but the great majority of guineas are raised in small flocks of from 10 to 25 upon farms in the Middle West and in the South. Many farmers keep a pair or a trio of guineas more as a novelty than for profit, and from these a small flock is raised. The guinea fowl doubtless would be more popular on farms were it not for its harsh and at times seemingly never-ending cry. However, some people consider this cry an argument in the guinea’s favor, as it gives warning of marauders in the poultry yard. Similarly, their pugnacious disposition, while sometimes causing disturbances among the other poultry, also makes them show fight against hawks and other common enemies, so that guineas sometimes are kept as guards over the poultry yard. Often a few guineas are raised with a flock of turkeys and allowed to roost in the same tree, where they can give warning if any theft is attempted during the night.
The highest prices for guinea fowl are paid in the large eastern markets. Guinea raisers, who are near these markets, or who have developed a trade among private customers receive prices that make this industry very profitable. One poultryman located near a New England summer resort has raised as many as 400 guineas in one season, selling them in August, when they weigh about 1 pound each, at $1.25 per pair. Wholesale prices in New York usually range from 75 cents to $1 per pair for dressed spring guineas weighing 2 pounds to the pair, and from $1.25 to $1.50 per pair for those weighing 3 to 4 pounds to the pair. Old guineas are not wanted and seldom bring more than 50 or 60 cents a pair.
Fig. 1.—White guinea, male.
In the city markets of the Middle West and South the demand for guinea fowl is small, and the prices are correspondingly low, the average price received by the producer being from 20 to 30 cents each. The ordinary retail price for guineas in Birmingham, Ala., is from 30 to 40 cents, while in St. Louis and Chicago the retail price usually is about 75 cents, and in New York $1. On the Pacific coast very few guineas are raised and only occasionally can they be found even in the largest markets.
The demand for guinea fowls as breeding stock is considerable, most of them being sold in pairs and trios. Breeders of the purebred Pearl, White, or Lavender varieties who have a reputation for high-class birds usually have little difficulty in disposing of surplus stock at prices ranging from $2 to $3.50 a pair and from $3 to $5 a trio. The demand for eggs for hatching is greater than for breeding stock. From 75 cents to $1 for 15 eggs from pure-bred birds is an ordinary price. During the last few years a limited market for guinea eggs has developed among commercial hatcheries which have an outlet for a few day-old guinea chicks along with their ordinary chicks, ducklings, goslings, and turkey poults. One hatchery near Boston has sold as many as 2,000 guinea chicks in one season, the eggs being purchased from an extensive breeder in Ohio and shipped by express in crates containing 360 eggs each.
Fig. 2.—Splashed guinea (cross between White and Pearl varieties).
Several species of wild birds known as guinea fowl are found in Africa, and derive their name from Guinea, which is situated on the West Coast of that continent. From one of these wild species (Numida meleagris) the common domesticated guineas are descended. They have long been domesticated, having been raised as table birds by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and were introduced into this country by the early settlers. In Africa, where there are still many wild flocks, they are highly prized by hunters as game birds, and in England they sometimes are used to stock game preserves. Even in this country a few flocks left to shift for themselves have become so wild as to afford excellent hunting.
Domesticated guinea fowl are of three varieties—Pearl, White, and Lavender. The Pearl is by far the most popular. It has a purplish-gray plumage regularly dotted or “pearled” with white and is so handsome that frequently the feathers are used for ornamental purposes. The White guinea fowl (fig. 1) is of pure-white plumage, and the skin is somewhat lighter in color than in the Pearl variety. Lavender guineas resemble those of the Pearl variety, except that the plumage is of a light gray or lavender, regularly dotted with white instead of a dark or purplish gray dotted with white. By crossing the Pearl or Lavender varieties with the White, what is known as the “Splashed” guinea is produced, the breast and flight feathers being white and the remainder of the plumage being Pearl or Lavender (fig. 2). Crosses between guinea fowl and other poultry, particularly chickens and less commonly turkeys, are not unknown, but such birds without exception are sterile.
The young guinea chicks are very attractive, those of the Pearl variety resembling young quail. They are brown in color, the under part of the body being lighter than the rest, while the beak and legs are red. The first feathers are brown, but these are replaced gradually by the “pearled” feathers until at about 2 months of age the brown feathers have disappeared completely. About this time also the wattles and helmet begin to make an appearance.
As yet no standard of perfection has been set for guinea fowl, the birds not being recognized by the American Poultry Association. They are exhibited at poultry shows throughout the country, however, and most of these shows offer prizes for the best birds. In judging guinea fowl, the points regarded as most important are good size and uniform color. White flight feathers in the Pearl and Lavender varieties are the most common defects. In weight, guineas average from 3 to 4 pounds at maturity for both male and female.
The male and the female guinea fowl differ so little in appearance that many persons have considerable difficulty in making a distinction. Indeed, it often happens that those who are inexperienced in raising these fowl will unknowingly keep all males or all females as breeding stock. Usually the males can be distinguished by their larger helmet and wattles and coarser head (fig. 3), but to be positive one should listen to the cry made by each bird. That of the female resembles “buckwheat, buckwheat,” and is decidedly different from the one-syllable shriek of the male. When excited, both the male and the female emit one-syllable cries, but at no time does the male imitate the cry of “buckwheat, buckwheat.” Sex can be distinguished by this difference in the cry of the male and female when the birds are about 2 months old.
Like quail and most other wild birds, guinea fowls in their wild state mate in pairs, and this tendency prevails among domesticated guineas also, provided the males and females are equal in number. As the breeding season approaches, one pair after another separates from the remainder of the flock and ranges off in the fields in search of a suitable nesting place. Once mated in this way, the male usually remains with his mate throughout the laying season, standing guard somewhere near the nest while the hen is laying and ready to warn her of any approaching danger. However, it is not necessary to mate them in pairs under domestic conditions to secure fertile eggs, and most breeders keep but one male for every three or four females. When mated in this way the hens are more apt to lay near home, and several usually lay in the same nest, thus making it much easier to find the nests and gather the eggs.
Fig. 3.—Distinguishing between male and female. The helmet and wattles of the male (on left) are larger than those of the female.
Most guinea raisers allow their breeding stock free range of the entire farm at all times, and this helps to keep the birds strong and vigorous. During the winter the breeders should be fed a grain mixture of corn, wheat, and oats twice a day, and where no green feed is available on the range at this time of the year, vegetables, such as potatoes, turnips, beets, and cabbage, should be substituted. Animal feed is essential to best results and can be supplied by feeding meat scrap or skimmed milk. Given free range, where the supply of natural feed during the winter and early spring is ample, as it usually is in the southern portion of the United States, the guineas can be left to pick up a considerable part of their feed. Free access to grit, charcoal, and oyster shell is necessary throughout the breeding and laying season. Avoid having the breeders too fat, but keep them in good firm flesh.
While guineas can be kept in the best breeding condition upon free range, still they can be confined, if necessary, and satisfactory results obtained. One extensive guinea raiser has confined as many as 45 hens and 15 males in an acre pen throughout the breeding and laying season and been successful. This pen is inclosed with a wire fence 5 feet high and the birds are prevented from flying over by clipping the flight feathers of one wing. Within the pen is a grass pasture with bushes here and there where the hens make their nests by scratching out a bowl-shaped hollow in the ground. The winters being severe, a roosting shed is provided, having a cleated board reaching from the floor to the roosts for the wing-clipped birds to walk up.
As profitable egg producers guinea hens can not compete with ordinary hens, but during the latter part of the spring and throughout the summer they are persistent layers. The eggs are smaller than hen eggs, weighing about 1.4 ounces each, while eggs of the common fowl average about 2 ounces each; consequently guinea eggs sell at a somewhat lower price. There is no special market for guinea eggs and they are usually graded by dealers as small hen eggs. Owing to the natural tendency of the guinea hen to nest in a patch of weeds or some other well-hidden place, many of the eggs are not found until they are no longer fit for market. The shells of guinea eggs are so thick and often so dark that it is difficult to test them by candling, and for this reason, and also because the eggs are small, dealers do not like to handle them. For home use, however, guinea eggs can be made to take the place of hen eggs, and many regard them as superior in flavor. In composition the greatest difference is that the shell is thicker and the yolk makes up a slightly larger proportion of the total egg contents than in the case of hen eggs.
Fig. 4.—Relative size of eggs of ordinary hen (left) and guinea hen (right).
Guinea hens usually begin laying in April or May, those in the South laying earlier than those in the North. A short time before the opening of the laying period the hens with their mates begin searching for suitable nesting places among the weeds and brush along the fences or in the fields. In this search the male takes as active an interest as his mate, and when a suitable location is found both help to dig out the nest and make it into a suitable shape. Each day as the hen goes to the nest to lay the male accompanies her and remains near by until she comes off. Should anyone approach he shrieks in warning and thus betrays the whereabouts of the nest, which might otherwise be difficult to locate. If several guinea hens are mated with one male they usually all lay in the same nest, but sometimes a hen after mating will wander off by herself to make her own nest. At other times the male bird, after helping one hen to make her nest, will then desert her and pair off with another hen to make another nest.
From 20 to 30 and often more eggs are laid before the guinea hen becomes broody, at which time she can be broken of her broodiness easily by removing the eggs from her nest, when she will soon begin laying again. If not allowed to sit, guinea hens will continue to lay throughout the summer, laying from 40 to 60 and in some cases 100 eggs during the season.
The wild nature of the guinea hen asserts itself in her nesting habits. Instinct demands that the nest be well hidden from all enemies, such as crows, dogs, skunks, opossums, rats, foxes, coyotes, and other predatory animals. If the hen becomes frightened by the intrusion of some enemy, or if her eggs are removed from the nest, more than likely she will change her nesting place to a safer location. For this reason she should not be disturbed while she is on the nest, and the eggs should not be removed without leaving a few nest eggs in their place. If a number of eggs are removed at one time, half a dozen left in the nest usually are sufficient to keep the hen from seeking a new nest. If the eggs are gathered every day, two or three usually are enough to leave as nest eggs. It is unnecessary to remove the eggs with a spoon or to scrape them out with a stick, as is sometimes done to prevent the hand from coming in contact with the nest and leaving a scent. After the eggs are gathered they should be handled with as little jarring as possible and should be set while fresh, never holding them more than two weeks if it can be avoided.
Ordinary hens are used commonly to incubate guinea eggs, but guinea hens, turkey hens, and incubators also can be employed successfully. The usual sitting for a guinea hen is about 14 eggs, for a hen of one of the general-purpose breeds such as a Plymouth Rock, 18 eggs, and for a turkey hen, about 24 eggs. The incubation period for guinea eggs is 28 days, although frequently they start hatching on the twenty-sixth day and are all hatched by the end of the twenty-seventh day.
If the nest in which the guinea hen becomes broody is safe from any disturbance, she may be trusted with a sitting of eggs and more than likely will hatch out every egg that is fertile, provided all hatch at about the same time. As soon as the guinea chicks begin to leave the nest the hen will leave with them, and any eggs that are late in hatching are ruined unless they are placed in an incubator or under a broody hen before they become chilled. Guinea hens usually are too wild to be set anywhere except in the nest where they have become broody, and often such a nest is unsafe. Because of these disadvantages and the fact that guinea hens do not make the most satisfactory mothers for guinea chicks, ordinary hens are most often used to do both the incubating and the brooding, at least until late in the summer, when the guinea hens often are allowed to sit and raise a brood without much attention being given them. Broody turkey hens, when not needed to incubate turkey eggs, often receive a sitting of guinea eggs, and they hatch them quite as well as ordinary hens and also are able to cover more eggs.
Incubators are used as successfully in hatching guinea eggs as in hatching hen eggs. They are operated in exactly the same way for either kind, except that the thermometer is lowered sufficiently to make its relative position above the guinea eggs similar to its former position above the hen eggs.
Little has been done in the way of brooding guinea chicks artificially. They are naturally of a wild nature and require free range to grow into strong, vigorous birds. Nevertheless in one case a New England poultryman hatched 200 guinea chicks and succeeded in raising about 125 by brooding them in exactly the same way as common chicks in a hot-water brooder house. On bright warm days the chicks were allowed to run in a yard about 50 by 100 feet, which had been planted to corn, and thus afforded some green food for them to pick at. This yard was inclosed by a 5-foot wire fence of 1-inch mesh, with 2 feet of 1⁄2-inch mesh around the bottom. The guineas began flying over the fence when they were about 6 weeks old, and from then on they had free range and were allowed to roost in the trees. Other poultrymen who have tried brooding guinea chicks artificially report utter failures, sometimes due to white diarrhea, and at other times the birds seem to become weak and die from no apparent cause except too close confinement.
Ordinary hens make the best mothers for guinea chicks. Given warm, dry weather and plenty of range, turkey and guinea hens can be used successfully, but should a rain or heavy dew occur, the mother turkey or guinea hen is apt to drag the chicks through the wet grass and many are lost from becoming wet and chilled. Neither turkey nor guinea hens can be induced to seek the shelter of a coop at night and during storms, but will remain out in the fields to hover their broods wherever they happen to be when nightfall overtakes them. When the guineas are old enough to roost they can be trained to roost wherever desired by driving them to the roosting place and feeding them there regularly. After the first few nights they will come to the place themselves, but until they are old enough to roost many of the young guineas that are being raised with turkey or guinea hens are likely to be killed by exposure to cold and dampness or by being led over so wild a range that they become exhausted and are unable to keep up with the remainder of the flock.
If ordinary hens are used as mothers, it is very easy to raise a large percentage of the total number of guinea chicks hatched. Each hen that is to have a brood should be allowed to hatch out some of the eggs herself, after which she will mother all that are given her. A Plymouth Rock hen can care for 18 easily. After the hatch is completed and the chicks are strong enough to leave the nest, the hen and brood are ready to be removed to the coop provided for them. The greatest fault of the hen as a mother is that on the average farm she has become accustomed to staying about the barnyard, and if allowed to do so, she will keep her guinea chicks there also. Conditions about the barnyard are entirely unsuited for raising guineas, and to prevent the hen keeping them there the coop should be placed in a distant pasture or field. Here the hen should be induced to remain until the guineas are old enough to go to roost.
For the first two days the hens should be confined to the coop, allowing the chicks to run in and out at will. They will not stay away unless there is another brood near by which they are apt to join. After the first few days the chicks become so attached to their foster mother that they will never leave her. By the third day the hen will have recognized the coop as her home and can have free range without fear of her wandering far away. At night she will return to the coop with her brood and can be shut in to protect her from foxes or any other night prowlers. After the dew is off the grass in the morning the coop can be opened and the hen and her brood allowed free range again. Should a rain come up they can easily be driven to the coop and the chicks will be kept warm and dry. The coop should be rain proof and built without a floor. If it is moved a short distance every day, the ground beneath it is kept fresh and clean.
Hens to be used in brooding guinea chicks should first be completely freed from lice. This can be done by dusting them with some good lice powder at the time they are set and repeating once a week during the period of incubation. Guineas are less likely to have lice than common fowl, but when they are raised with hens care should be taken to keep them from becoming infested. Examine the young chicks about the head and along the wing bar at the base of the quill feathers, and if lice are found grease these parts lightly with lard. As the guineas grow older they take great delight in dusting themselves and usually are able to keep free from lice.
Guineas are fed in much the same way as chickens, but they require less feed, as they are natural rangers and can be trusted to find enough seeds of weeds and grasses, buds, insects, and green vegetation in the fields to supply much of their living. For the first 36 hours after hatching no feed is required, as the sustenance from the egg is sufficient to nourish them for this period. The first meal may consist of a little hard-boiled egg mixed with bread crumbs, or bread may be soaked in milk, squeezed partly dry, and fed in small bits. Clabbered milk also is very good. Three times a day is as often as they need to be fed, one feed consisting of clabbered milk or the bread and egg or bread and milk mixture, and the other two of chick feed. If the coop is placed in a field or pasture where green feed is available, the guinea chicks can secure this for themselves; otherwise, sprouted oats, dandelion leaves, lettuce, or onion tops cut fine should be furnished. Water, grit, and fine oyster shell should be before them always.
By the end of the first week the young guineas will be finding enough worms and insects to take the place of the egg or milk feed, so this may be eliminated and chick feed given morning and night. If clabbered milk is available, however, it can be continued with excellent success, since guineas are very fond of variety in their ration and it is conductive to quick growth. As the birds grow older, whole wheat, oats, and cracked corn can be substituted gradually for the chick feed.
When guinea fowl are from 6 to 8 weeks old they will leave their coop and start roosting in some near-by tree or other roost that may be provided for them. They prefer roosting in the open, but if they have been raised with a hen they can be induced to follow her inside a poultry house and roost there. It is advisable to have them become accustomed to going in a house or shed of some sort, for otherwise it is almost impossible to catch them when they are wanted for the market. Guineas, even after they are grown, will not allow the mother hen to leave. When she goes to her nest to lay, they follow and wait near by until she is ready to leave again. This attachment affords an easy method of controlling the natural wild instincts of the guinea fowl and makes raising them under domestic conditions much simpler.
The marketing season for guinea fowl is during the latter part of the summer and throughout the fall. At this time the demand in the city markets is for young birds weighing from 1 to 2 pounds each. At about 21⁄2 months of age guineas weigh from 1 to 11⁄2 pounds, and at this size they begin reaching the markets in August. As the season advances the demand is for heavier birds. During the fall of 1916 New York wholesale quotations for dressed guineas were as follows:
| Sept. 1, guineas, spring, 2 pounds to pair, per pair | $1.00 | |
| Sept. 1, guineas, spring, 21⁄2 to 3 pounds to pair, per pair | $1.25 to 1.37 | 1⁄2 |
| Oct. 1, guineas, spring, 2 pounds to pair, per pair | 1.00 | |
| Oct. 1, guineas, spring, 3 to 4 pounds to pair, per pair | 1.25 to 1.50 | |
| Nov. 1, guineas, spring, 2 pounds to pair, per pair | .75 to 1.00 | |
| Nov. 1, guineas, spring, 3 to 4 pounds to pair, per pair | 1.50 to 1.75 |
The usual practice in marketing game birds is to place them on the market unplucked, and in most markets guineas are sold in this way (see fig. 5). They look more attractive with the feathers on and sell more readily. When dressed the small size and dark color of the guinea are likely to prejudice the prospective customer, who may be unfamiliar with the bird’s excellent eating qualities. For hotel and restaurant trade, however, guineas should be dressed in the same way as common fowl. Before shipping any birds to a market, it is advisable to inquire of the dealer to whom they are to be shipped whether the feathers should be removed.
Fig. 5.—Guinea fowl usually are marketed unplucked, except for hotel and restaurant trade, for which they are dressed like ordinary fowl.
If the guineas are to be marketed with the feathers on, all that should be done is to bleed them by severing the vein in the roof of the mouth, allowing them to hang head downward until bleeding is complete. If the feathers are to be removed, this should be done by dry picking. The vein in the roof of the mouth is severed first to insure thorough bleeding, and the knife then thrust through the groove in the roof of the mouth into the brain. When the brain is pierced the feathers are loosened by a convulsive movement of the muscles and can be removed easily.
A Spokane man, whose total capital was $75, perfected a plan for making money out of post cards, and realized a profit of about 90 per cent.
He bought 9,000 post cards of different designs, including embossed floral, birthday greetings, best wishes, air-brush embossed fruit and flowers, live series, embossed and family mottoes, cards for all the holidays and seasons, etc. These he bought at $4.00 per 1,000 for $36. To send out these cards in registered packages of 100 each, cost $14.50, a total of $50.50.
The next he secured the names of several hundred general store keepers in towns of 700 or under, and selecting 90 of these at one time, he sent each of them 100 of the assorted cards, offering to accept $1.00 for the lot if paid inside of ten days, or $1.25 for the 100 cards if kept more than 10 days before remitting. He added that if they did not want to keep the cards, he should be notified at once, and he would send postage for their return. He also enclosed a price list of other cards, and asked the merchants to compare the quality and prices of his cards with other cards, and note the saving made by patronizing him.
In practically all cases the $1 was remitted inside the ten days named, and his gross receipts from the cards that cost him $50.50 was $90, or a net profit of $39.50. This afforded him a comfortable income by the year.
An enterprising agent who had secured several formulas, had them printed separately on good paper, with the selling price marked at 50 cents each.
He made up a small quantity of each article mentioned, for demonstration purposes, and bought a gross of cheap silverene sugar spoons at a cost of less than 5 cents each, to be used as premiums, and started out on a house-to-house canvassing expedition.
He would call at a house and ask the lady if she had any clothing that was soiled with grease or paint or a soiled glove that she would allow him to clean without charge. Almost every housewife had exactly what he mentioned, and quickly brought it out, as it would cost her nothing to have it cleaned. Having thoroughly cleaned the clothing or gloves he would then rub a little of the furniture polish on a chair, and clean a silver spoon or the nickel on the stove with his metal polish, and by this time he would have her deeply interested. Then he took from his grip one of the silverene spoons, with the remark that he was not selling the cleaners or polishers but simply the formulas for making them from ingredients procurable at any drug store, and that she could have any two of the 50-cent formulas for 50 cents and he would throw in the sugar spoon as a premium. Usually he got the half dollar without further argument, but if the lady hesitated he would add another formula or two more if necessary, as they cost him nothing but the printing, and the spoon cost but 5 cents, so he would have been away ahead if he had given her one each of all the formulas and the sugar spoon besides.
There are several ways of establishing circulating libraries, but probably the best plan yet devised is one worked out by a young man living in a middle-western city.
Going into a town of not less than 800 or 1,000 people, he first arranges with some trustworthy merchant, usually the local druggist, to handle the books and make his place the library headquarters. The druggist is glad to do this without charge, as it will bring many people to his store who have not been coming there before, and probably mean a number of new customers.
He then canvasses the town for members, on a basis as follows: The membership fee to be $1.75, and for two years will entitle the members or their families to the use of any of the books in the circulating library, one book to be placed therein for each member secured, but at least fifty members must be secured, thus giving each one the chance to read the fifty books in the two years for $1.75. Of course, more than fifty members are secured, if possible, and the membership fee is to be paid to the druggist or merchant handling the same, upon the arrival of the books.
When all the members possible have been secured, the originator of this plan orders the books forwarded to the resident manager, who is the druggist or merchant already mentioned, and the membership fee is collected and sent to the home address of the man who established the library, while he goes on to the next town to start another library. It does not require more than a week in each town, and as the books are bought in quantities at a very low figure, he makes a good living each year from this plan.
A young man living in a southern city originated a plan by which he was able to sell thousands of memorials all over the country, while not appearing to be selling anything.
Supplying himself with an impressive looking blank book, in which long lists of names could be written, he called at every house in the territory he was canvassing, and informed the lady at each place that he was compiling a list of the deaths in the county for statistical purposes. In those cases where deaths had occurred in the family he would ask for the names, dates of births and death, and having secured these, he would say, as he was leaving:
“These records are going to be very beautiful, and the lady next door has asked me to show her what they will be like. If you wish, I can bring yours at the same time, so that you may see if I have all the facts correctly stated.”
Having bought several hundred memorials at a low figure, those with angels on them predominating, and selecting from books of poetry stanzas appropriate to each of the memorials, he had these, together with the names and dates, printed in gold letters, pasting the printed slips on the memorials, near the bottom, thus making them very attractive.
Returning to the route he had formerly canvassed he would call at each house where he had procured names and dates and say to the lady that, in compliance with her request, he had come to show her the record. It was so beautifully done that in practically every case the lady would ask if it were for sale. He would sell the record for $1.60 or $2.00, and as at least half of this was clear profit, and he sold many thousands of memorials in this way, some idea of his earnings may be gained.
An Illinois woman, wishing to earn a little money for herself, obtained catalogs from various seed firms, and sent 50 cents to one of them for geranium seeds.
She planted them in shallow boxes, and got more than 200 plants from them. She shifted these plants from the boxes to small tin cans, and sold them to her neighbors for 10 cents each, thus receiving $20 for her 50-cent investment.
Succeeding so well in her first venture, she sent for more seeds, some plants and thumb pots, and bought collections of small plants, from which she took cuttings when they had grown larger.
She soon had more orders for plants than she could fill, so she built a low shed on the south side of her house, with old window frames and glass for a roof, and produced on a larger scale. She found that geraniums, begonias and ferns were most in demand, and she specialized in these. In a year or two she had a business of her own that was not only pleasant and fascinating but profitable enough to give her an independent income.
Very few people seem to know that although geese pay greater profits than any other domestic bird, they cost much less to raise than other species of fowl. But a farmer’s wife in Kansas knew this, and she utilized her knowledge in a very profitable way.
She realized that the market for live goose feathers never could become glutted, and that dressed geese for Thanksgiving and Christmas time brought enormous prices.
She began early in the summer as she knew they were expensive to keep over winter. She bought one pair and a setting of eggs and from these she raised fifteen fine young geese within the first three months. Another setting brought out twelve more, and by fall she had a nice flock of thrifty young ones. By late November they were almost full grown, raised entirely on green stuff, so that just before Thanksgiving she plucked them all, including the old ones, and had a fine lot of fresh, clean feathers which later sold for very high prices. Then, after plucking the birds, she killed them all, dressed them, and sold every one of them before Thanksgiving. She could have sold many more for they were choice, fat birds, and all young except the two she started with.
When she counted up her total receipts from the sale of the feathers and the dressed geese, she was surprised, and the next year she went into the business on a much larger scale, with correspondingly increased profits, which were sufficient to make her livelihood.
A literary woman in a small city, realizing the inability of many people to make proper selections of books from the public library, in conjunction with the librarian, induced the editor of the local daily paper to let her establish a “library column” in the Saturday issue, in which she sought to instruct the public regarding the choice of books, the use of the card catalog, the consultation of shop lists, the periodical index, and various reference works. She was to be paid $5.00 a week, if she “made good,” which she did.
Then she inaugurated a “club column” in the same issue of the paper, and gave interesting news of club meetings, with comments upon the work done, etc., and for this she received another $5.00.
Later the editor urged her to add a “home department” to her work, at still another $5.00 a week, and on this modest salary she managed to live comfortably. In two years, however, she was offered the control of the home department of the Sunday edition of a large city daily at more than twice her $15 a week in the small town, and she promptly accepted it.
A farmer’s wife, who had plenty of fruits, small fruits, berries, vegetables, etc., but had very few jars in which to put them up, arranged with a number of families in the city to have them furnish the jars, while she would furnish the fruits and the sugar, and do the canning, for 20 cents per jar. As the fruit thus put up was worth at least 50 cents per quart jar, the city people obtained it cheaply enough, while the farmer’s wife made $80 by putting up 400 jars during the season. This made it profitable all around, and saved a lot of farm products that would otherwise have gone to waste. This plan can be worked on a larger scale to afford any one a good living each year.
Plan No. 265. He Loves the Out-of-door Life
Two landscape gardeners, who lived in a residence part of the city where scant attention was paid by the owners to the appearance of their lawns and parking strips, undertook to change the looks of the neighborhood, and create a good business for themselves.
Selecting ten blocks on a graded street, along which were good houses and many trees, most of them sadly neglected, they proposed to the owners of the various houses on both sides of the street to give it the careful and skillful attention the places needed, at so much a month.
Most of the owners signed contracts for this work, and at the end of the season each property so cared for by these men had improved better than 100 per cent in appearance. The result was that several owners were offered higher prices for their property than they had ever thought it worth, and the next year those who had at first refused to employ the landscape gardeners were the first to sign up for the season just starting.
A suburban resident who knew all about gardens and gardening, yet realized the utter ignorance of the average suburbanite regarding the planting and care of gardens, the prevention and extermination of insect pests, and a lot of other things necessary to know, decided one spring that he would not raise a garden that year, but would make a good living by taking care of other people’s gardens, not doing the work himself, but taking general supervision of it and telling the owners just how it should be done, if they wished to make a success of gardening.
Most of the people in that suburb wanted to raise gardens, but didn’t know how to do it themselves, so they were glad enough to secure the services of this expert at so much for the season, and do as he told them.
He made a careful survey of every garden under contract, noting the soil, slope and general characteristics of the location, named the kind and quantity of seeds or plants, to be given a certain amount of space, the kind of fertilizer, if any, that must be used, the time of planting, the method of cultivation, the symptoms of insect pests, and the kind of spray to be used in their destruction, and every other item of knowledge needed by those who didn’t know but were willing to learn.
The outcome of it all was that that particular suburb was frequently mentioned in the city papers as the one possessing the prize gardens for many miles around, and the owners found them the source of profit instead of loss, besides having the satisfaction of knowing how to do it next year.
And the expert was equally pleased for he had made $2,000 that season by simply telling other people what to do.
One would scarcely think there could be much of a living in simply traveling around and repairing lawn mowers, but a man in a western city, who is “handy with tools,” and has a taste for machinery, makes a good living for himself and a large family.
The mechanism of a lawn mower is easily learned by carefully studying its construction, finding out what each particular piece is for, how it gets out of order, how to repair it, in short, to become a master of the machine.
He not only covers a large territory in his home city, where all work in that line is reserved for him, by those for whom he has already done repairing, but he occasionally finds time to take in one or two outside towns where, in a few days, he takes all the lawn mowers that need repair and puts them in first class working condition.
His charges are 50 to 75 cents an hour. He makes a living, and has bought and paid for a nice home.
That “many a mickle makes a muckle,” is pretty well exemplified in the case of a young man living in Buffalo, who has built up a very good business of his own through supplying soda water counters, small lunch rooms, tourists, school houses, factories, etc., with what he calls “nut sandwiches.” These he makes from shredded wheat “triscuits” by cutting them in two and spreading peanut butter between the two sides. He puts these up in wax paper and retails them at a low price, yet one that enables him to make a discount when selling them in quantities.
There is a concern in a southern city that puts up and delivers lunches in any part of town, to those who cannot go home to their mid-day meal. A lunch they sell and deliver for a comparatively small sum, which includes two ham sandwiches, one cheese sandwich, a piece of pie and a piece of cake, packed in a paper box, with paper napkin, toothpicks, etc. Less elaborate lunches are sold for 10 cents, and more complete ones for a higher price, and deliveries are made by boys on bicycles, who are hired for two hours each day.
As the expense has been reduced to a minimum, the young fellows at the head of the concern are able to send out a better lunch than can be bought at the restaurants, for the same price and yet make a good profit out of the business for themselves.
A lady in southern California motored to a little tourist town up the mountain side to look at some property she thought of buying. Noticing an abandoned street car in the rear of a gift shop, she leased it from the owner and converted it into a “dining car.” Taking out the seats, she put in adjustable tables and chairs, electric lights and pretty cretonne hangings. The tables she painted buff, with black enamel tops; the dishes were in conventional designs of the same coloring, while quaint birds and flowers were the shapes given the salt and pepper shakers. Table runners and napkins she made of soft Indian-head, hand-hemmed.
A kitchen was built at one end of the car and reached by a protected platform, so no kitchen odors reached the car.
The menu was of the “homey” variety, and light lunches were served all day, with a 6-o’clock dinner.
The patronage of hungry motorists from cities on the coast, as well as the people of the little mountain town, makes it lively at all times, and a very profitable as well as pleasant business.
Other disused cars all over the country could be put to the same practical and profitable use, if people only thought of it.
To help her husband rise from a $10-a-week clerkship to a factory of his own, where he is making more money in a day than he formerly made in a month as a “hired man,” is what a New York woman accomplished by a little idea that came to her one day.
Having made a practice of visiting the large markets late in the evening, and buying over-ripe fruit for a small price, as much of it would not keep over night, she suggested to her husband that, as he quit his work at 5 o’clock every day and had a half-holiday on Saturdays, he should visit these markets as late as possible on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, buy fruit at low prices, bring it home and let her can or preserve it. Then on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings, he could carry samples of the canned or preserved fruits on his bicycle to clubs, hotels and the best residences, let the chefs and cooks sample them, and take orders.
Her husband thought the suggestion a good one, so he bought the fruits, berries, etc., as cheaply as possible, near closing time of the markets, and she canned or preserved them in the best way.
The fruit sold readily; he found many orders waiting for him when making his second calls, and the first week their profits were $30, or three times the amount of the husband’s salary. Of course, he resigned at once, and they enlarged the scope of their operations to such an extent that in a year or two they had removed to a suburb, rented a piece of ground, where they raised cucumbers for pickles, which she pickled according to a recipe that created a tremendous demand for them, and later they established a factory for putting up fruit which has made them good profits every year since it started.