PREFACE . 



It is probably safe to say that considerably more than 

 fifty per cent of the correspondence of those engaged in 

 poultry work in the agricultural colleges and experiment 

 stations in this country relates to poultry diseases. The 

 poultryman or farmer sees that some, or perhaps all, of 

 his birds are ill, and he straightway writes to the nearest 

 college or station to know what the disease is, and what 

 to do for it. The Maine Station has for many years been 

 the recipient of a great number of such inquiries. It is 

 an unfortunate, but in the nature of the case an unavoid- 

 able fact, that in many instances it is quite impossible to 

 make any really satisfactory reply to these inquiries. In 

 the vast majority of cases the person who writes the letter 

 is quite untrained in pathology and either describes no 

 symptoms at all or only those very general ones which 

 are common to nearly all the ills of poultry. To one 

 who has not handled this class of correspondence it would 

 seem almost incredible that there should be so many let- 

 ters of the following type : " I have lost about a third of 

 my chickens in the last few days. They seem a little 

 dumpish for a while and then die. What is the trouble 

 and what shall I do for it ? " To diagnose and prescribe 

 on such a basis of information is impossible. Yet the 

 hard fact remains that the correspondent's chickens were 

 ill and did die, and he needs help to get out of the trouble. 



Only recently has any attempt been made by our agri- 

 cultural colleges to prepare its graduates in poultry hus- 

 bandry and general agriculture to meet intelligently these 



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