Introduction 5 



well repaid, even though I should be the cause of preventing 

 you from going into the business and perhaps putting in my 

 system, which would mean a few dollars to me. I consider 

 it less important to obtain a business success — regardless of 

 the methods employed — than to save some one from a life 

 of disappointment. Let us take, for example, a gray-haired 

 couple, near the end of their road through life, ready to put 

 their savings into poultry in the fond belief that it will prove 

 a paying investment; under conditions that exist at the 

 present time (1913) they would have about one chance in a 

 hundred of success. 



In this book I am giving conditions as they exist in the 

 poultry business in California in 1913. When you read it, 

 however, conditions may have changed, and if you intend 

 going into the business or intend improving your farm you 

 will do well to investigate my system. 



The facts contained in this book are the result of fifteen 

 years of practical experience in the poultry business in the 

 greatly varying climatic conditions of the Sacramento, San 

 Joaquin, Napa and Santa Clara valleys, in San Francisco 

 County and in Petaluma, during which time I have experi- 

 mented with every conceivable kind of poultry house and 

 every "up-to-the-minute" device for the successful raising 

 of poultry known to science. 



The results from various systems of feeding have been 

 obtained only after thousands of experiments had been made. 

 During this time I have practically lived with hens; I have 

 handled thousands of them at a time, each flock in a different 

 condition, different surroundings, different locations, some 

 flocks healthy, some unhealthy, some paying and some not 

 paying. Some of my experiments were carried out on hens 

 that were in a healthy condition and many experiments were 



