INTRODUCTION. XI 



ly upon a suitable climate, and vhenever 

 that is unfavourable, we must remedy the 

 evil by extra attention and care. The im- 

 portance of climate is well understood by 

 our farmers, who have uniformly better suc- 

 cess in a hot and dry season than a wet 

 one ; and our poultry suffer more from a 

 wet winter, even if mild, than from one that 

 is intensely cold, provided it be clear and 

 dry. 



A dry, warm climate is so important for 

 the successful rearing of poultry, that in 

 England, for example, they are compelled 

 to depend upon foreign countries for no in- 

 considerable portion of their supply. It ap- 

 pears, from the custom-house returns of the 

 year 1838, that eggs were imported into 

 England (although loaded with heavy du- 

 ties) from the Continent to the value of 

 more than a million of dollars. Mowbray, 

 the author of an English work on poultry, 

 instead of admitting the fact of the unsuita- 

 bleness of the climate of England for such 

 purposes, treats it in the following absurd 

 manner : " In Britain, where a greater quan- 



