OF THE 



UNIVERSITY 



PREFATORY AND INTRODUCTORY. 



IN presenting this volume, on the subject of the Breeding, Treatment and 

 Management of Fowls to the public, we do so more for the purpose of supply- 

 ing a need greatly felt by the American breeder and fancier, the amateur 

 and beginner, and placing within the reach of all desiring a knowledge of 

 poultry the breeds best for market purposes and as egg-producers a 

 cheap and reliable guide. Not only shall we be able to present our own 

 views and the results of our experience in poultry-rearing, diseases, their 

 treatment, etc., in these pages, but the experiences of the most careful, 

 scientific and reliable breeders and fanciers in this country, (as given from 

 time to time, for the past twenty-one years, through the columns of the 

 Agricultural Journals and other periodicals,) and place the same in juxta- 

 position with each other, so that they will prove of the utmost value to the 

 amateur breeder, as well as to the new beginner. 



We have often wondered why our rural population do not rear fowls 

 more universally than they do. It has been demonstrated, beyond a perad- 

 venture, that they can be reared with little expense by nearly every house- 

 keeper, and can be made to pay an hundred fold on the investment. Not 

 only can this be done by our rural population, but also by those living in 

 cities and villages. Having had several years' experience in rearing fowls in 

 a city, we can speak understandingly on the subject. Fowls can be bred in 

 cities and villages equally as well as on the farm not on so large a scale, 

 but with as much, if not more profit to the breeder. It requires but a small 

 space to keep a dozen or twenty fowls in either of the localities mentioned; 

 and then the pleasure it gives a person to know that with a little judicious 

 management he will be able to supply his table with birds of his own rearing, 

 and his larder with fresh eggs the year round, can well be imagined. 



Nothing, in our opinion, looks more comfortable, home-like and rural, 

 than to see strutting about the premises of a city or village resident, a few 

 select and well-kept fowls. Thus we have city and country, as it were, com- 

 bined. Undoubtedly some city people, or the male portion of them, will 

 object to this theory, on the plea that it would take too much of their 

 valuable time to look after the fowls. This objection is easily overcome by 



