CHAPTER I. 



Sunlight and Fresh Air 



UNLIGHT and pure fresh opja air are two of the 

 greatest and best gifts which the Creator has loaned 

 to all things on this wonderful earth of ours. Yet, 

 because both sunlight and fresh air are free and 

 easily obtainable they are seldom appreciated at their 

 full value. As a rule, and as a people, we seldom 

 appreciate anything until we have paid dearly for it in money or 

 experience, or both. Poultry keepers everywhere have paid dearly 

 through failure to appreciate the value of sunlight and fresh air. 

 Today we are just beginning to realize the great menace of "germ 

 diseases" among poultry. What we need is mo)-e attention to" pre- 

 vention and less fussing with treatments, remedies and "cures." 

 That great American master mind, Edison, tells us that: "The 

 unicellular (one celled) forms of life held undisputed sway for 

 ages. Then gradually the multicellular (many celled) forrns, of 

 which man is the highest product, developed, and the unicellular 

 forms at once sought their destruction. And so through all the 

 ages the fight has gone on, and today our deadliest enemies are 

 still the minute unicellular bacteria, that do their work unseen, 

 and by the majority of the people in the world unheard of.'"' 



Just bear that in mind and remember that disease germs belong 

 to the unicellular army and that some day we are going to eliminate 

 them, and that, notwithstanding the great strides made by medicine 

 and the science of reclaiming diseased bodies, prevention will be the 

 means of elimination, and sunlight, combined with pure open air all 

 the time, will be two of our most powerful agents in bringing the 

 battle to a successful issue. 



That distinguished physician and talented author, Dr. Oliver 

 Wendell Holmes, was an ardent advocate for the more general 

 recognition of the priceless value of fresh air and sunshine. In 

 one of his poems he aptly illustrates how blind man is to the benefits 

 of these great agents for maintaining health and vitality. Dr. 

 Holmes wrote : 



"God lent his creatures light and air, and waters open to the skies; 



Man locks him in a stifling lair and wonders why his brother dies." 



That is just what many poultrymen have been doing for years, — 



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