cuxri.rsiox 125 



A few letters or conversations reporting' smoke have caused some 

 people to imagine that the world was on tire and they have sought to 

 quell the conflagration with printer's ink. 



Those who desire to postjtheuiselves regarding the actual trap-nest 

 situation will have to spend more lime and money in research than 

 most of the critics have yet shown evidence of having done. One of 

 our very best and most practical poultry editors' has had an especially 

 favorable opportunity to judge of the working of some unpractical 

 trap-nest equipments and methods, and his very moderate and con- 

 servative opinions regarding the general adoption of the trap-nest idea 

 are well justified from his point of view. 



Those who have the legitimate interests of any industry at heart should 

 consider that the prospect of commercial success is generally the in- 

 centive that leads to improvement in any direction. 



The more successful the undertaking becomes, financially considered, 

 the more wide spread will be the benefits, and the more, rapid will be 

 the progress made. 



The attitude of the industrial press toward inventions, the patent 

 system, and the interests of honorable commercial effort — present or 

 possible — iu general, gives a good forecast of (lie probabilities of 

 success for any proposed improvement. 



Commercial failure never proves lack of merit, even when it clearly 

 accompanies it. 'J he right thing must be advanced at the right time in 

 the right way iu order to be successful. 



New things do not flash upon the world in a full burst of success at 

 once. They are opposed by all sorts of conditions, most of which are 

 wholly out of the view or possible knowledge of any but those most in- 

 timately interested. 



In estimating the 1 elation of the individual system to time and 

 money we should study each element of the system separately and 

 understandingly. If an insufficient number of nests are installed the 

 necessity for very frequent attention is an indication that more nests 

 should be put in. If the nests are so designed that it takes considerable 

 time to remove a hen and prepare the trap for another it shows a specific 

 defect that should not be charged to the fundamental trap-nest idea. If 

 the system of keeping the records is clumsy and takes too much time a 

 more simple and practical plan should be sought. 



If at first we are slow iu handling the hens and the nests and recording 

 the data we should consider that practice will enable us to work much 

 faster in time. 



If bv keeping individual records and basing our practice upon the 

 information so obtained we increase our egg supply and diminish the 

 number of unprofitable hens we should consider that the time and 

 monev commonly spent in hatching, rearing, housing, feeding and 



