308 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



study of poultry culture was introduced into agricultural colleges, 

 and a new field was opened to poultry keepers with a faculty for 

 teaching, and for trained teachers with special knowledge of 

 domestic birds. The teaching of poultry culture impressed upon 

 those engaged in it the need of scientific investigation of many 

 problems not clearly understood even by the best-informed 

 poultrymen. 



The agricultural experiment stations had been giving little at- 

 tention to some of these problems except in a desultory way and 

 without important results. As the demands for more accurate 

 information on many topics increased, many of the experiment 

 stations began to make important poultry investigations. For 

 this work men specially trained in various sciences were required. 

 As a rule the men that were secured for such work knew very 

 little about poultry when they began their investigations, but it 

 was much easier for them to acquire a knowledge of poultry 

 sufficient for their needs than for persons who had poultry knowl- 

 edge and no scientific training to qualify for positions as inves- 

 tigators. The field of investigation of matters relating to poultry 

 is constantly being extended. Proficiency in physics, chemistry, 

 biology, surgery, and medicine, and in higher mathematics as 

 far as it relates to the problems of any of the sciences mentioned, 

 will always be in demand for scientific work in aviculture. In 

 the future the most efficient teachers and investigators will be 

 those whose early familiarity with domestic birds has given a 

 greater insight into the subject than is usually possessed by those 

 who take up the study of the subject comparatively late in life. 



Manufacturing and commerce. It is very much easier to build 

 up a large business in the manufacture or the sale of articles 

 used by poultry and pigeon keepers than to build up a large 

 business as a breeder of domestic birds of any kind. As has 

 been stated in connection with nearly every kind of bird men- 

 tioned in this book, a poultry keeper's operations are limited by 

 the difficulty of keeping large numbers of birds continuously on 



