I have written this book for the purpose of assisting in placing the poultry business on a sound scientific and economic basis. The book does not pretend to be a complete encyclopedia of information concerning poultry, but treats only of those phases of poultry production and marketing upon which the financial success of the business depends. The reader who is looking for information concerning fancy breeds, poultry shows, patent processes, patent foods, or patent methods, will be disappointed, for the object of this book is to help the poultryman to make money, not to spend it. HOW TO READ THIS BOOK Unless the reader has picked up this volume out of idle curiosity, he will be one of the following individuals: 1. A farmer or would-be farmer, who is interested in poultry production as a portion of the work of general farming. 2. A poultryman or would-be poultryman, who wishes to make a business of producing poultry or eggs for sale as a food product or as breeding stock. 3. A person interested in poultry as a diversion and who enjoys losing a dollar on his chickens almost as well as earning one. 4. A man interested in poultry in the capacity of an editor, teacher or some one engaged as a manufacturer or dealer in merchandise the sale of which is dependent upon the welfare of the poultry industry. To the reader of the fourth class I have no suggestions to make save such as he will find in the suggestions made to others. To the reader of the third class I wish to say that if you are a shoe salesman, who has spent your evenings in a Brooklyn flat, drawing up plans for a poultry plant, I have only to apologize for any interference that this book may cause with your highly fascinating amusement. To the poultryman already in the business, or to the man who is planning to engage in the business for reasons equivalent to those which would justify his entering other occupations of the semi-technical class, such as dairying, fruit growing or the manufacture of washing machines, I wish to say it is for you that "The Dollar Hen" is primarily written. This book does not assume you to be a graduate of a technical school, but it does bring up discussions and use methods of illustration that may be unfamiliar to many readers. That such matter is introduced is because the subject requires it; and if it is confusing to the student he will do better to master it than to dodge it. Especially would I call your attention to the diagrams used in illustrating various statistics. Such diagrams are technically called "curves." They may at first seem mere crooked lines, if so I suggest that you get a series of figures in which you are interested, such as the daily egg yields of your own flock or your monthly food bills, and "plot" a few curves of your own. After you catch on you will be surprised at the greater ease with which the true meaning of a series of figures can be recognized when this graphic method is used.