INTRODUCTION 



During the past ten years The Rural New Yorker has given much 

 space to poultry matters. It was necessary to do this in order to answer 

 the thousands of questions asked by readers. These questions were from 

 practical men and women — not fanciers — who asked how to obtain a good 

 hen, and how to feed and care for her in a business-like way. In order 

 to answer these questions we found it necessary to scour the country from 

 one end to the other and to obtain help from hundreds of practical poul- 

 try keepers. We find that from year to year many of these questions 

 are repeated — by new readers or by those who have mislaid their papers. 

 This has led us to prepare this book, for it is evident that the informa- 

 tion will be far more accessible in book form. These thousands of 

 questions were grouped and analyzed. We then went to the most practi- 

 cal poultry keepers for information. The vast amount of information thus 

 obtained has been sorted, cut down and rewritten to fit into this book. 

 There are of course many details which cannot be crowded into these 

 pages. New conditions are constantly arising, and the most expert 

 poultry keepers are often puzzled by things which they cannot under- 

 stand. We must all know also that many of the most important things 

 can only be taught by experience. Any reader of The R. N.-Y. is welcome 

 to ask for further information. We can obtain it for him, and in this 

 way supply all the details which he may need. We have avoided all 

 reference to "big stories" or fancy operations, and attempted to give a 

 statement of methods which practical men have found safe and useful. 

 While hundreds of men and women have helped with experience and ad- 

 vice, I wish to express special thanks to Prof. James E. Rice, who pre- 

 pared the chapter on "What is an Egg" and "Marketing the Egg" and to 

 Dr. Cooper Curtice, who wrote the article on "Health of the Hen." 



H. w. 



■sis2m 



