Part 16 (2/2)

”Chickens, chickens!” replied the doctor, briefly.

I a.s.sured the gentleman that I had near a thousand fowls on hand at this time, and had no possible wish to increase the number.

”They are pure-bred--cost me high,” he continued; ”are very fine, but I must part with them--come!”

I joined him, and we rode a mile or more, when he halted before a fine, large house; his servant in waiting took his horse, and he ushered me into his well-appointed poultry-house, at the rear of his dwelling.

The buildings were glazed in front and upon the roofs; the yards were s.p.a.cious and cleanly, and appropriately divided; the laying and hatching rooms were roomy and convenient; the roosting-house was airy and pleasant, and everything was, seemingly, in excellent order, and arranged with good taste throughout.

”That c.o.c.k cost me twenty dollars,” said the doctor, calmly. ”Those two hens I paid eighteen dollars for. That bird, yonder, twelve dollars.

These five pullets stand me in about forty-five dollars. I have never yet been able to hatch but one brood of chickens. The rats carried _them_ off by the third morning after they came into this world. The hens sometimes lay, I believe; at least, my man says so. I have never _seen_ any eggs from them myself, however. I have no doubt this species of fowls (these Changays) _do_ lay eggs, though. There are twenty-two of them. Buy them, Mr. B----,” continued the doctor, urgently.

I said no; I really did not want them.

”I _had_ nigh forty of them,” continued the doctor, ”two months ago. But they have disappeared. Disease, roup, vermin, night-thieves, sir. Will you buy them? John----drive them out!”

The fowls were driven into the main yard. There were but sixteen in all.

”Where are the rest, John?” inquired the doctor, anxiously. ”There were twenty-two here yesterday.”

”I dunno, sir,” said John.

”Drive 'em back, and box them up, John. Mr. B----, will you make an offer for the remainder? To-morrow I shall probably have none to sell!

Will you give anything for them?”

I declined to buy.

”Will you permit me to send them to you as a present, sir?” he continued.

I did not want them, any way. I had a full supply.

”What will you charge me, Mr. B----, to allow them to be sent to you?”

continued the fancier, desperately, and resolutely, at last.

I saw he was determined, and I took his fowls (fifteen of them), and gave him ten dollars.

He smiled.

”I have had the hen fever,” he added, ”_badly_--but I am better of it. I am convalescent, now,” said the doctor. ”You see what I have here for houses; cost me over seven hundred dollars; my birds over four hundred more; grain and care for a year, a hundred more. I am _satisfied_! Your money, here, is the first dollar I ever received in return for my investment. You see what I have left out of my venture of twelve or thirteen hundred dollars; the manure, and--and--the lice!”

Such were the exact facts! His stock was selected from the Marsh and Forbes importations, and the birds were good; but, by the time he got ready to believe that it wasn't _all_ gold that glittered, the sale of _this_ variety of fowl had pa.s.sed by. A chance purchaser happened to come along soon after, however, who ”hadn't read the papers” so attentively as some of us had, and who wanted these very fowls. I sold them to him, ”cheap as a broom,” because the fever for this kind of bird was rapidly declining. He paid me only $150 for this lot; which _was_ a bargain, of a truth. The buyer was satisfied, however, and so was _I_.

These were but isolated instances. Scores and hundreds of gentlemen and amateur fanciers found themselves in a similar predicament, at the end of one or two or three years. Without possessing a single particle of knowledge requisite to the successful accomplishment of their purpose,--utterly ignorant of the first rudiments of the business,--they jumped into it, without reason, forgetting the wholesome advice contained in the musty adage, ”look before you leap.” And, after sinking tens and hundreds or (in some cases) _thousands_ of dollars in experiments, they woke up to find that they had _had_ the fever badly, but, fortunately, were at last convalescent!

I was busy, all this time, in supplying my friends with ”pure-bred”

stock, however, and had very little leisure to tarry to sympathize with these ”poor creeturs.” The demand for _my_ stock continued, and the best year's business I ever enjoyed, was from the spring of 1853 to May and June, 1854; when it commenced to fall off very sensibly, and the prospect became dubious, for future operations, even with _me_.

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