CHAPTER XIV 

 POULTRY SECRETS 



A secret is something studiously concealed. Many widely adver- 

 tised "secrets" have been sold at high prices, which proved on investi- 

 gation to be merely well known facts. One of the worst of these fakes 

 was a little booklet advertising a so-called "original* strain" of birds, 

 eked out with a few facts stolen bodily from a produce firm's year 

 book, which this firm sent out gratis! In this "way" the knave was able 

 to sell a catalogue of his pretended "strain" at a dollar each. The only 

 original thing in the whole wretched swindle was th^ advertising, 

 which the fellow hired somebody to prepare, and which heedless pub- 

 lishers accepted — not thinking, possibly, that in taking his rcioney they 

 were sharing his plunder. 



Other alleged "secrets" were those of the various "systems" — 

 some good, some bad, mostly bad, because they promised impossibili- 

 ties. One fellow had a "system" for making more than sixty dollars 

 yearly from each hen! Another swindler of the same sort advertised 

 that his "system" would enable "six people to make a good living from 

 six heno! Aided by his stool pigeons this petty cheat robbed thou- 

 sands of unsophisticated people before he was finally taken in hand. 

 The poultry business offered a rich field for these contemptible crooks, 

 because it took the authorities some time to close down on them. And 

 in the interim the industry suffered and thousands were plundered, 

 directly and indirectly. 



Many of the secrets discussed in this book are known to various 

 breeders. Some of them have been disclosed and are secrets no 



