136 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



Lice and all the Body Vermin, including P'leas, Chigoes 

 ("jiggers "), and What Not, especially the "What Not," 

 because that includes all that we are not usually look- 

 ing out for ! 



" Before " ? or " After " ? Friend, which is it to be ? 

 "Before" means coops full of thrifty chicks, "luck" 

 galore, and enthusiasm unbounded as to the future of 

 poultry. 



"After" means small bunches of ailing chicks, dis- 

 couragement, losses inexplicable of chicks and fowls, 

 losses of enthusiasm and a pessimistic outlook on the 

 future of poultry (with a very small/). 



You who read — do you think you are clever ? Do 

 you believe in yourself as a good business man — or 

 woman.' Do you think it reasonable to believe that 

 the " billion-dollar " poultry industry of this country is 

 carried on at a loss .-' Is it safe to wager that yon can 

 come out even with the average of your more than five 

 million competitors, in a fair field and with no favor .-' 

 So? 



Well, then, what about the rat .' An article in one 

 of the great magazines during 1910, entitled " Our Duel 

 with the Rat," made the statement that the rat was the 

 only living thing against which men had made no per- 

 ceptible headway, and more than hinted that it is to be 

 a duel between man and the rat for the possession of 

 the world. 



I have seen a more recent statement that the family 

 cat destroys more chickens than all other enemies taken 

 together ! Many of us may doubt this. But, as to the 

 rat .'' Which is the worse, both being so guiltily guilty } 



An exultant letter received from a farm on the day 



