PART VII. 
POULTRY AND LARGE BIRDS, 
INCLUDING 
CHICKENS, TURKEYS, DUCKS, GEESE. AND OTHER DOMESTIC FOWLS. 
INTRODUCTION. 
PHE rapid growth of poultry-interests in America and the conse- 
quent increase in the financial value of the stock have made a 
practical treatise on the diseases of fowls a pressing need, Feel- 
ings of mercy, to say nothing about self-interest, should prompt one to seek 
relief for his suffering flocks, but many find themselves helpless in the ab- 
sence of a reliable guide. The family physician can give no advice, even 
if his services did not involve too great an expense, for the subject lies out- 
side of his field. Nor does the domain of the veterinary surgeon adequately 
cover this ground. The poultry-raiser must therefore be his own counselor. 
He is, however, generally limited to the advice of equally uninformed neigh- 
bors, and to stray clippings from newspapers which are as useless as the 
large class of specifics for human ilJs which the paragraph-hunter commits 
to the columns of the same papers. 
During many years of practical poultry-culture and an exhaustive 
study and publication of literature pertaining thereto, the writer has kept 
in mind this deficiency in domestic works and has reduced the fruits of his 
experience to an accessible form, together with such reliable information as 
he has gleaned from intelligent and trustworthy breeders and dealers. He 
confidently believes that a rational use of the following pages, even by those 
of little or no experience, will result in the saving of many valuable lives 
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