PREFACE. 



For those who want to know about poultry keeping, for those who wish 

 to learn poultry keeping, and for poultry keepers who cannot always 

 remember things they know at the moment they happen to need them, this 

 book was written: to the small army of writers of permanent and current 

 poultry literature, nearly every one of whom has in some way contributed 

 to its making, it is respectfully dedicated. 



The growing interest in fine fowls and the widening of the field of profit- 

 able operations in poultry culture have created a demand for a book which 

 will give to one who thinks of engaging in poultry keeping an intelligent 

 understanding of its possibilities and probabilities, whether for pleasure or 

 profit, and a comprehensive idea of the ways and means of production and 

 distribution of this country's enormous crops of poultry and eggs. Following 

 this demand comes another, for a book of elementary instruction in all branches 

 of poultry keeping. Separate books to meet these demands would be, in large 

 part, duplicates, because before beginning it is necessary one should know, 

 though superficially, many things which afterward he must learn thoroughly 

 if his work with poultry is to be successful. With systematic, logical arrange- 

 ment of the text, and with a complete carefully prepared index it was possible 

 to make a book of information for inquirers and instruction for beginners, also 

 a book for ready reference on poultry topics. There has long been pressing 

 need of such a book. For years the publishers have had frequent calls for a 

 book to which a poultry keeper could go for information on any and every 

 matter, and find it in an instant. 



It is, perhaps, superfluous to say of such a book that it is essentially a com- 

 pilation. This is measurably true even of the matter not credited to other 

 writers. My work has been to condense and put in convenient form infor- 

 mation which by reason of its abundance and the multitude of its sources has 

 not been available for those who needed it most, to give, as it were, the 

 composite opinion of sometimes conflicting authorities on each matter treated. 

 That conclusions should invariably be correct and every estimate unaffected 

 by his personal opinion, would be more than a writer could hope, and more 

 than a reader ought to expect ; but, as I have endeavored to state each subject 



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