6 . FlS"r LENOXX IF: POULTRY KEEPING. 



In this course of lessons we are going to take up the many different things that have to be 

 considered as nearly as possible at the time when the poultry keeper has to think most about 

 them in his work with poultry ; and in this first year's work we are going to discuss them only 

 as far as is necessary to make it plain what ought to be done what general practice, or the best 

 practice, indicates as best to be done. 



The reader who will be content to let each lesson pass after he has got that much out of it 

 will, I think, be the one who will get most actual value out of the lessons for the year. 



Remember that these lessons are but one part of the course; the other part is the work each 

 one is doing in his poultry yard. The purpose of this course is to supplement practical work, 

 to help each one to form his plans and apply his energies for practical results, and to give him 

 a better insight into the teachings of his own experience. 



As we proceed there will be propositions laid down and rules given that a good many will at 

 the time think extreme, but the great majority of beginners will find it to their advantage to 

 accept these propositions and conform to the rules, for they will be based on what the experi- 

 ence of many beginners has shown is safe for the average beginner. 



I know that there are few beginners who do not think they are going to be the exceptions, 

 but the beginner makes a mistake when he assumes that. The better way is to take it for 

 granted at the start that at the best one is likely to get only average results, and to stick to con- 

 ditions that are safe, and to methods that make the work as easy as possible. 



Here are three more things to think about: 



The thing of prime importance is to make a success, however small, by some method, 

 however simple. 



A small success by safe methods is better, as far as learning from it goes, than strik- 

 ingly good results by unsafe methods. 



One can build safely on such a small success, while the longer he plans on the unsafe 

 basis the more likely he is to fail beyond his power to redeem the situation. 



Almost all readers will accept these as abstract propositions, but what I want of those who 

 follow these lessons is that one and all keep their poultry keeping on a safe basis, and take only 

 the unavoidable risks. If they will do that they will avoid many (I hope most) of the small 

 losses that discourage the beginner. All should go slow in fact, as we will go in these lessons, 

 on paper. 



Remember we have plenty of time. This is not to be a ten lesson course, or a one year 

 course. The first year course is only the beginning. We expect to take three full years to 

 complete the course, digesting and assimilating facts, principles, and rules as we go. 



There may be people who can learn faster than that, but a course of instruction should 

 proceed at a pace adapted to the average, or, better, the slow student. Then the brighter and 

 quicker ones can put their superiority to good use by doing better and more thorough work. 

 You know the common fault of smartness is that it goes too fast for its possessor as well as 

 too fast for others. In these lessons we want a pace all can hold, and that will hold all to 

 their work. 



I don't want to discourage anyone from reading as much about poultry and poultry culture 

 as his interest in the subject may tempt him to read, and his time allow; but I urge every 

 student in this course to make a thorough mastery of the particular facts presented in the 

 current lesson, his first object throughout the year, and let all other poultry interests be 

 secondary. 



It will take but a little time only a very few minutes a day to learn the lessons in the 

 paper. It will take hours of thinking and trying every day to put them into practice, and it is 

 practice that makes perfect. The student can learn his lesson by rote in a very short time, but 

 applying it in profitable practice is a very different matter. It is experience and experiment in 

 the poultry yard day by day that gives him a real understanding of what he learns or reads. 

 One can learn theoretically as much faster than he can acquire judgment and skill practically, 

 as one can think faster than he can put his thoughts in good language. Keep this in mind. 

 Reading increases one's information very rapidly, but thinking and working the same things 

 over and over, make one thorough and skillful. In this is the true science of poultry keeping. 



