THE TEAP NEST TEXT BOOK 9 



one editor is bribable we are not warranted in assuming that all editors 

 are. Because one hundred advertisers are known to be obtaining 

 money under false pretences, we arc not justified in assuming that even 

 a single one of thousands of others are. 



Popular thoughtlessness is responsible for much that is obnoxious to 

 the intelligent observer in modern advertising. 



If the showman did not add a few hundred pounds to the bill-board 

 weight of the fat lady, or the strong man's burden, he would get less 

 patronage. 



The subscriber's unwillingness to read, think, reason and learn is in 

 great measure responsible for the unquestioned and bare-faced lies 

 that adorn the advertising columns of our poultry papers and are 

 thought by many business men to be necessary to success. 



The plain unvarnished tale lacks interest with by far the great maj- 

 ority of people. The author who attempts to disprove this is running 

 much risk unless he be well fortified by both money and acumen. 



The great trouble with those people who are sincere in the belief that 

 the trap-nest idea is not capable of general application is that a full 

 understanding of the question is wanting. They fail, first of all, to 

 comprehend that means for obtaining such understanding has been 

 generally lacking. The author of this book has been largely instru- 

 mental in making such means available, not only directly in connection 

 with the Ideal nest, but indirectly in other ways. If it is not meet that 

 he should say this for whom should he wait? 



Many very incorrectly assume that a popular recommendation of the 

 trap-nest system in the abstract embodies a failure to understand the 

 conditions under which poultry keeping', as a general proposition, is 

 (or must be?) conducted. To dismiss this as briefly as possible, I will say 

 that no one who cannot get his money's worth from a pratieal trap- 

 nest outfit can breed and maintain hens, either in large or small num- 

 bers, year in and year out, at a legitimate profit. Occasional ill-advised 

 endorsements of nests that are impracticable should not effect the 

 honest claims of other and practical nests, one of which is described in 

 this book. Within my reach at this moment are the descriptions ancl- 

 specilications of a large number of trap-nests the like of which the 

 poultry world has not yet heard of and some of them are good. 



The poultry keeper who is obliged to be away from his birds nearly 

 or quite all of the day is in constant evidence. He is not a fair repre- 

 sentative of the poultry business, as a business, and were we to cease 

 promoting appliances and supplies as of general utility that are of little 

 use to Mm, most of us, editors and all, would shut up shop. The most 

 serious fault possessed by an accurate trap-nest is that it . is willing to 

 work first, last and all of the time for the user's interests. 



The writer is not a scientist and there has been no effort to adopt a 



