152 Agricultural Gazette of N.S. IF. [Feb. 3, 1908. 



Frusli city watci- is always Iscj't lirfdi'i' tlic iluekliiij^> : the vcssl-I I'usL-iuble.s 



a iralvaiiisc 



i| liamllos ( 



i|i]M'i', ii]it iiiiicil in a siuicer of the same material, 



a small Imlc iiraf the rim uf the ujitiinied vessel keeps a supjily in tin- 

 saiicex". 



ClIAPlKH IV. 



The Hatching. 



To have seven or ei^lit ihousaml (hicklin^s of v.ii'ious a<::es on a farm 

 must involve vt'ry extensive hatcliin^' upciat i<ins, ami in plaees where the 

 stock is consi(leral)ly less than at (ilenhrook, 1 have seen sixteen or 

 eighteen incubators of various sizes in use, tiiis being (piite a department 

 of the farm. Not so at The Spit farm. There certainly is an incubator- 

 room, ami not too largi' for the four machines it contains; but if each one 

 turned out the ducklings as two of them did on the nioiniing of the photo- 

 graphers visit, then both fertility and hatchini: mu>t be of the best. Tlie 



Fij. 8.— A yard of Leghorn and Orpington layers. 



incul)ators are home-made, and do good work : l)ut the principal hatching 

 is done by the system shown in Fig. 7, wlu're two rows of hatching boxes, 

 numbering from forty to fifty in each row. are seen, and over oOf) hoxes 

 in the distance. These are ]irinci])ally iiutler-boxes, place(l in rows close 

 to one another, in the middle of a lai'Lie jiaddocl-;. and each tenanted bv 

 a Muscovy duck, undei' which are from lifleen to twentv eggs in variou^ 

 stages of incuI)ation. 



It might appear a sort of ciaielty kee]»ing these humlreils of ducks in 

 a five weeks" imprisonment, without even a leaf of shade. The photo- 

 graph, however, shows that the sitt ing-l)oxes are all covei'eil, the mateidal 

 being thick (uUdoth or tarpaulin, some t(Uis weiuht of which wi're juir- 

 cliased at an auction sale t'liea]dy. I'lach I'ow In covei-( d with this inateidal, 

 which hangs over the front of the nest, with a s]ilit in centre, which allows 

 the duck to come off her eggs for food ami walei-, and return when satis- 

 fied. About (jno of these lioxes wej-e occupied on the da\- of the writers 

 visit. Fig. 12 shows a due hatch, ibu-kling> haviiiL; chijiped the sliell, 

 sonu' hatcluMl Ikuiil;' |>lainlv visible. 



