PREF ACH. 
‘TRIFLING as chickens and eggs may, at first sight, appear, it is, never- 
theless, a fact, that the output from the poultry of the United States exceeds 
in value that of all the silver mines therein. Therefore, whatever will add 
even a trifling percentage to the profit derived from our poultry must he, 
not only of individual, but of national importance, and it is by the hope that 
he might accomplish something in this direction, that the author was in- 
duced to prepare the present work. 
T have put the subject in the form of a story, in the hope that some who 
would be repelled by a mere treatise may find the work sufficiently interest- 
ing to read it through. But although the principles and methods are 
strung ona slender thread of fiction, they are none the less true. Every 
house described, every device herein detailed, every method practiced, has 
been successfully used as related, so that the reader need not hesitate to 
put up coops and use them after these patterns. I have given the best 
practical results of years of experience, and not the mere imaginings of a 
theorist or a novelist. 
In some of the chapters, notably that on feeding, I have been obliged to 
abandon the story form, and to give my results in a general form, otherwise, 
this chapter would have expanded into a book. And in other chapters, for 
the purpose of giving the practical information more thoroughly, I have 
frequently anticipated the course of events as they actually occurred. 
T firmly believe that the methods herein detailed are the very best for 
all those who do not aspire to the refinements of the business—incuba- 
tors, etc. While these are no doubt valuable aids to the extensive and experi- 
enced poulterer, I am afraid they are not the thing for the ordinary chicken 
raiser. I must confess that I have never owned an incubator, but I have 
entrusted eggs to men who claim to be professionals in their use, and I 
have not been so encouraged as to be induced to try it again, unless some 
new and more powerful inducements are offered. I have always been able 
to command enough brooding hens to meet my wants, and my success with 
them has been far greater than anything that has come under my observa- 
tion from the incubator. But of course this is only my own experience, and 
under different circumstances that experience might have been very differ- 
ent; so that I hold that in this matter each man must decide for himself. 
In the earnest hope that my readers will derive as much pleasure and 
profit from their poultry as I have done, I place this little book in their 
hands. 
J. P. HAIG. 
Ferniebield, May 1st, 1885. 
