“But of what use will the eggs be, father, without a duck to hatch them?” inquired Clinton.
“Never mind about that now,” replied his father, “you get the eggs first, and then we will see what we can do with them.”
Clinton was already somewhat largely interested in the poultry line. When he was nine years old, his father gave him all the fowls belonging to the farm, on condition that he should assume the whole charge of them, and take good care of them. There were in all about twenty hens and chickens, and half a dozen young turkeys. Mr. Davenport agreed to pay Clinton for all the eggs and poultry they needed for the table, but Clinton must purchase with his own money whatever was necessary for the subsistence of the fowls. Clinton was much pleased with this arrangement; and as he knew that when men engage in business they usually keep account books, in which they record all the sums they spend or receive, he procured a few sheets of paper, with which he made a little blank book, for this purpose. His first entry was simply an enumeration of his fowls, with an estimate of their value; or, as the merchant would call it, a schedule of his stock in trade. It was as follows:—
Commenced this account July 18th, 1847, with the following fowls:—
| 1 rooster and 8 hens, (old), worth 30 cts. each, | $2,70 |
| 10 pullets, ” 40 ” | 4,00 |
| 6 turkeys, ” 75 ” | 4,50 |
| Total value, | $11,20 |
Whenever he sold any eggs, he entered the date, the number sold, and the price, on a page which he reserved for this purpose. On the opposite page, he set down the sums which he paid his father for the corn and meal consumed by his fowls. At the end of the first year, he struck a balance, to use a mercantile expression; that is, he added up the various sums he had received and spent, and ascertained how much he had made by the year’s operations. His account stood thus:—
| Dr. | |
| Value of fowls on hand one year ago | $11,20 |
| 12 bushels corn, at 75 cts. | 9,00 |
| 6 ” meal, at 80 cts. | 4,80 |
| 4 ” barley, at 60 cts. | 2,40 |
| 2 ” potatoes, at 40 cts. | 80 |
| Meat | 92 |
| Total cost | $29,12 |
| Cr. | |
| Now on hand, 2 roosters and 32 hens and pullets, worth 36 cents each | $12,24 |
| 9 turkeys, worth 75 cts. each | 6,75 |
| 150 dozen eggs sold | 22,50 |
| 10 hens and chickens sold, 36 cts. each | 3,60 |
| 6 turkeys sold at 83⅓ cts. each | 5,00 |
| 2 loads manure | 2,50 |
| Total value | $52,59 |
| Expenses | 29,12 |
| Profit | $23,47 |
Of this profit, $18,99 was in the shape of hens and turkeys, and $4,48 in ready cash, safely deposited in the old bureau drawer, in Clinton’s bed-room.
The second year, Clinton made a much larger profit on his poultry, his father having given him a patch of ground, where he raised with his own hand a crop of corn sufficient to carry his fowls through the year. At the end of this year, he had about $30,00 in money, which his fowls had earned for him; and as he continued every year to raise his own grain, when he was thirteen years old, he had about $75,00 in cash, which, at his request, his father had deposited in a bank in Portland, where it earned him interest. In addition to this, he had about $25,00 worth of hens and turkeys; so that the $11,20 worth of fowls which his father gave him, had, by his own industry and prudence, swelled into $100 in four years.
The same afternoon on which the conversation upon ducks was held, Clinton managed to run over to Jerry’s again, to see if he could procure the eggs. Jerry told him he had not now got enough for a litter, but would be able to supply him in a few days. Clinton therefore engaged the first dozen he should have, for which he agreed to pay 25 cents.