EVOLUTION OF THE POULTRY INDUSTRY 19 



the development of the industry is practically negligible. They are 

 best appreciated when considered as the concluding records of the 

 early period. The merely curious reader, more impressed by what 

 is odd than by what is familiar, may think he finds in them a great 

 many errors now obsolete. The close student, acquainted with 

 modern developments, is much more impressed by the practical 

 knowledge of poultry culture in earlier times. To him the most un- 

 satisfactory thing about these books is the faultiness of their descrip- 

 tions of breeds, names and terms being used so carelessly that the 

 identity of the birds alluded to is often doubtful. Their weakness 

 in this particular is one of the chief sources of confusion in regard 

 to the genesis of modern breeds and types. 



Modern poultry literature. As we have seen that the book 

 literature of the early period overlapped the beginnings of the 

 modern period, so we find the beginnings of modern literature 

 taking form in the closing years of the early period. The agri- 

 cultural papers, established a little earlier, furnished the natural 

 medium through which poultr)' keepers exchanged information and 

 ideas, and made the first steps toward transfers of stock. At first, 

 references to poultry matters in these papers were brief and inter- 

 mittent, but before long many of them regularly devoted special 

 space to poultry, — a practice still continued. The most intense 

 interest in poultry, however, was not among agriculturists but 

 among dwellers in towns and cities. As many of these people were 

 but slightly interested in other agricultural subjects, and as those 

 especially interested in poultry, whether in town or country, wanted 

 more information on the subject than the agricultural paper could 

 give them, papers devoted especially to poultry, or to poultry, pigeons, 

 and pet stock, began to appear. 



Journalism. The poultry press has been a unique factor in the 

 development of the industry. The great number of periodicals 

 devoted to this subject has often been cited as an illustration of the 

 wealth-producing capacity of a specialty which could support so 

 many more papers than any other of its class. As a matter of fact, 

 in only a small proportion of cases has the support given these 

 papers been sufficient to make them profitable to their publishers, 

 with most of whom the publication of a poultry paper has been a 

 side issue. But, regardless of its financial value to proprietors, the 



