136 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



Lice and all the Body Vermin, including Fleas, Chigoes 

 (" jiggers "), and What Not, especially the " What Not," 

 because that includes all that we are not usually look- 

 ing out for ! 



"Before"? or "After"? Friend, which is it to be? 

 "Before" means coops full of thrifty chicks, "luck" 

 galore, and enthusiasm unbounded as to the future of 

 poultry. 



" After " means small bunches of ailing chicks, dis- 

 couragement, losses inexplicable of chicks and fowls, 

 losses of enthusiasm and a pessimistic outlook on the 

 future of poultry (with a very small/). 



You who read do you think you are clever ? Do 

 you believe in yourself as a good business man or 

 woman ? Do you think it reasonable to believe that 

 the " billion-dollar " poultry industry of this country is 

 carried on at a loss ? Is it safe to wager that you can 

 come out even with the average of your more than five 

 million competitors, in a fair field and with no favor ? 

 So? 



Well, then, what about the rat ? An article in one 

 of the great magazines during 1910, entitled " Our Duel 

 with the Rat," made the statement that the rat was the 

 only living thing against which men had made no per- 

 ceptible headway, and more than hinted that it is to be 

 a duel between man and the rat for the possession of 

 the world. 



I have seen a more recent statement that the family 

 cat destroys more chickens than ALL other enemies taken 

 together ! Many of us may doubt this. But, as to the 

 rat ? Which is the worse, both being so guiltily guilty ? 



An exultant letter received from a farm on the day 



