PREFACE. 
“HIS book has been compiled with a twofold object: 
SE to increase the use of eggs as food, and thus 
increase their production. 
No other article of food is suitable alike for old and 
young, for rich and poor, for epicures and ascetics, for 
athletes and invalids. 
Believing that a greater use of eggs as food can best 
be brought about by a knowledge of their composition and 
the principles of cookery, the compiler has, by careful 
classification, tried to diminish rather than to multiply reci- 
pes and yet present such variations that any housekeeper 
may adapt each method to the materials already at hand. 
Few employments are better suited to women with 
small capital, either of money or physical strength, than 
the raising of eggs for market. 
The preparation of eggs for food, especially in cakes 
and desserts, is also a remunerative business for women. 
Small flocks of poultry are usually more successful than 
large ones. 
This work can be carried on at home, and proves a great 
economy of the household waste. 
‘¢Out of bugs and worms and seeds, and what it can 
pick and scratch from the waste of Nature’s laboratory, 
the hen produces the fair white egg —one of the most 
delicious morsels to the human palate, one which fills the 
heart of man with loving-kindness.” 
In the words of a writer two hundred and fifty years 
ago: 
‘¢ Believe, dear friend, that no alchemist ever produced 
from furnace or alembic, so rare a treasure as you may 
obtain from your hens, if you only know how to combine 
labor and delight.” 
