viii PREFACE 
all those interested in every phase of the industry. The book 
offers, to the student and teacher of poultry husbandry, a complete, 
concise, systematic course of lessons, commencing with a brief 
introduction outlining methods of teaching poultry husbandry. 
The main text opens with a discussion of poultry farming, its 
opportunities and requirements, the types and systems, methods 
of starting in the business, and an analysis of foreign poultry con- 
ditions. The breeds of poultry are classified and their uses given; 
methods of management are recommended, including housing, 
feeding, breeding, and all phases of hatching and rearing. 
Every phase of marketing is analyzed and improved methods 
are recommended. Suggestions are given on the subjects of exhib- 
iting, judging, advertising, and the keeping of records. In dis- 
cussing methods of management the principles underlying the 
operations are first given; this is followed with a few of the most 
successful practices. Illustrations are freely but carefully used to 
bring out important features. 
In the hands of the commercial poultryman the book affords a 
large field for study, because it points out the practices which 
prove to be most efficient on large, successful plants, and because 
it outlines methods which are recommended by experiment stations 
in the various States and by the Federal Government. By making 
free use of the index, the poultryman can quickly find information 
pertaining to almost any point about which he might wish to 
know. In case of disease, improper feeding, or environmental con- 
ditions, the information might be of inestimable value. 
To the farm poultryman the text clearly pictures methods 
which would enable the keeping of more birds with no more labor 
and a much increased profit. The methods given, if practised, 
would enable the average farmer to keep from two hundred to 
five hundred birds, as a “side line’ to general farm operations, 
and realize a handsome revenue. 
The text is so arranged that it will meet the needs for svstem- 
atic reading courses, for farmers’ clubs, poultry associations, and 
granges. 
The review questions at the end of each chapter are for the 
use of students in preparing for recitations, for the instructor in 
conducting reviews, and for the practical poultryman in grasping 
the fundamental points in the discussion. Reference list. are given 
at the close of many of the chapters. Most of the references are 
to Federal and State publications which can be obtained free of 
