USEFUL POULTRY BOOK.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 331, 19 October 1908, Page 5

USEFUL POULTRY BOOK.

"Utility Poultry Farming," by F. E. A. Gordon (edited by J. B. Merrett),''published . by Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd., is worth a front place among poultry literature. It does, not tell us how many prongs there should be to the comb of a well-bred leghorn,. but it does tell the poultry farmer how make money. In fact, all through the book that is the refrain. And that, of oourse,V. is the.\.spirit which will please the men for whom the book is written. We have not before encountered a work so practical, so closely'concerned with the money side, as this present work. It breaks •new ground in poultry literature—ground that the poultry men have been longing to have broken. The author's mode of ; treating the many hundreds of utility points that the industry presents _ conveys a feeling that he has learned his subject, not only by experience of his. own, but also by constant opportunity of observing: the ■ -experiences- cf others. He-tells not only the good points of the methods he recommends, 'but / also the good and the bad points of the methods of which he disapproves. This is one respect in which the book is superior. Other writers write of what they deem the best way to farm poultry, but leave you wondering whether some . other way not mentioned might,, perhaps, suit your particular case better.- -This book seems to have talked about everything, and as far as a book can do this, it makes you an expert. But in going straight for points that make money the writer turns neither to . the right hand nor to the left. He discusses tho number or birds that can profitably be left under different conditions, the best modes of feeding, when-final profit for labour is the aim, the .best breed and strain of poultry for the same /purpose, and many other points {of the first importance.. All poultry keepers will bo, interested in this book,-and it should be of- material assistance to beginners.