PREFACE 



TO THE AMERICAN EDITION 



MOST of the experiments in keeping poultry on a 

 large scale have either failed entirely or only partially 

 succeeded. What is the cause of failure in such cases? 

 Is it to be found in any inherent difficulty in the system 

 itself, or does it arise from the want of the application 

 of rational principles ? Why should not poultry keeping 

 as a business succeed as well in proportion to the num- 

 ber kept as poultry keeping on a small scale? Why 

 may not an individual succeed as well with a thousand 

 inmates of his poultry yard as with fifty or a hundred, 

 provided he gives the proper attention to the individual 

 wants and requirements of each? 



This little work attempts to answer these questions, 

 and it appears to do so satisfactorily. It has attracted 

 a great deal of attention, not only in England, where 

 poultry keeping is followed with enthusiasm, but also 

 in this country, where, if it is followed on a smaller 

 scale, it is very generally pursued as a necessary con- 

 comitant of every farmyard. No work on the subject 



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