INTRODUCTION. 



I esteem ifc a privilege and a pleasure to introduce this 

 excellent hand-book to all who are practically interested in 

 keeping poultry. I would say to the veriest tyro, provided he 

 had a modicum of common sense : " Here, take this book of 

 Stephen Beale's, study it carefully in whatever it is applic- 

 able to your needs, and follow it. You will find it a safe 

 guide, and you will almost surely come out well with your 

 poultry the first year." Any old poultry-keeper may study it 

 with profit, and if he finds some few passages to criticise, and 

 opinions advanced with which he does not agree, let him con- 

 sider that no two parts of the country are subject to the same 

 conditions of soil, climate and surroundings. 



English current literature is far richer than ours in the 

 results of experience in poultry matters, and the systems in 

 vogue there and in France among the most successful poultry 

 raisers are very much superior to general practice in this 

 country, so that Mr. Beale's obvious familiarity with the best 

 practice in those countries, in connection with his own large 

 experience, is a very great advantage to the book. 



The author shows himself upon every page to be a practi- 

 cal man, fertile in expedients, gifted with rare common sense, 

 with a knowledge of his subject in matters of useful and 

 essential detail, and one can readily pardon a little ve'rbose- 

 ness of style and occasional repetitions. It is a business 

 book, and as such it should be regarded. It was not written 

 for fanciers, though no poultry book (and these are, gei*er- 



