35 



cannot get it from stock bred on similar lines, thei'e being no other such 

 stock, he has to either go without new blood or use something dijfferent. 

 He has a] choice of only tAvo equally unsatisfactory courses. The 

 dilemma is easily avoided by using fowls of a popular breed, in which 

 it is always possible to get some such stock as one wants. 



What puzzles the person who wants to get a few good bii'ds to use as 

 foundation stock is where to go to get such stock. He finds many breed- 

 ers, all claiming to have just what he needs. If he is where he comes 

 in contact with many people who have at one time or another bought 

 stock from these breeders, he is very apt to come across one or more 

 people who tell 

 him of experiences 

 with this, that and 

 the other breeder 

 that make him 

 think he had better 

 not risk an order 

 with any of them. 

 I get scores of let- 

 ters every year 

 from such people. 

 They write to me 

 supposing that I 

 can tell them all 

 -about the different 

 stocks, which is 

 good, which is bad ; 

 and about the 

 breeders, who is 

 reliable and who is 

 not. They say 

 something like 

 this : " I have only 

 a little money to spend for fowls. I have had to save very carefully to 

 get it, and I cannot afford to buy stock that will not prove satisfactory." 



Now I am so situated that I am not at liberty to recommend one man's 

 stock in preference to another, and even if I were at liberty to do so I 

 would be very reluctant to express an opinion as to the best place to buy 

 stock of any particular kind, for I found out long ago that unless you 

 know what kind of stock a man wants, and know that he too knows 

 what he wants, advising him where to buy is too risky. If he is not 

 satisfied with the deal he blames you more than any one else connected 

 with it. I can do better b3' the man who wants to know where to go to 

 buy by telling him how to buy. 



In the first place he must know what he wants. If he doesn't know 

 he must find out before buying, and he must learn it so that he is sure 

 of his knowledge. 



To illustrate : suppose a man concludes that he wants fowls for a cer- 

 tain purpose and is told that White Plymouth Rocks would suit him. If 

 he was brought up on a farm he probably does not need to be told that 



Ideal White Wyandotte Pullet. 



