48 THE TEAR-BOOK OF A' Oil I I.'ITKE. 



tact, as with the natural hen-mother, was absolutely essentia] for successful hatching by 

 artificial agents. It is this view which has so long retarded the progress of this curious art, 

 as great complication of mechanical details was accessary under Buch a Bystem, in addition 

 tu the constant attendance of a watcher, to keep the temperature to the right point. 'With 

 this top too, the eggs must lie all of the same sue; but, by Signor Minasi's plan, 



the id pigeons may be hatched alongside each other. The heat he u- 



derived from a simple spirit-lamp, by which he obtains the necessary oniform temperature. 

 Our perspective sketch represents the hatcher complete. It consists of a water-tight plat- 

 form or tray of metal, with a corrugated bottom, and tilled with warm water at BUCh a heat 



as "ill keep B layer of -and thereon up to a temperature of 104° F. This Band-layer holds 

 the eggs, which are screened by a glass-cover. The sand, which is of the "silver'* kind, isa 

 quarter of an inch deep, and the eggs, when deposited in it, are covered with a blanket, another 

 blanket being employed to envelop the whole of the glass-frame. Under the tray is placed 

 a mass oi chopped hay, mixed with sand, this being changed daily. The heating lamp, 

 which is itself on B novel principle, is placed with its flame about three inches from the 

 bottom of the boiler or water-holder. "When the proper heat has been obtained, the eggs, 

 with their opposite sides numbered, are placed in the -and. and left for twenty-four hours, after 

 which time they are reversed, to expose the other side. At the end of the sixth day that 

 the eggs have been in the machine, it may be ascertained if the chicken is formed or not, 

 by darkening the room, and holding them against a hole the size of a shilling, cut in the 

 shutter for the purpose, when, it' the egg be genth r turned, the germ will be seen to float to 

 the top. If no germ appears, the egg may be considered a bad one for hatching purposes. 

 A bit of soft leather should be placed round the hole, against which the egg may be held 

 without the fear of breaking. If the shell be a dark one, it will not be until the Beventh or 

 eighth day that tliis can be known. It requires a little practice before the eye becomes 

 sufficiently experienced to detect this. The great advantage which scienco has over nature 

 is here apparent, for if by the sixth day no chicken is visible, the egg may be at once 

 removed as containing no germ, and its place filled by another. In eggs with lighter shell, 

 such as Bp misli. Poland, and Sultan fowls, the chicken is seen clearly after the fourth day. 

 If, at the end of twenty-one days, any doubt should exist as to the vitality of the chickens 

 then due, till a bain nearly full of water, heated to about 104° or 100°, and place some eggs 

 gently in it. When the water is quite still, the eggs that contain live chickens will be seen 

 to move about, and should be immediately replaced in the machine, and allowed another 

 day or two more. When buying eggs for hatching, they must be placed in water, to find if 

 they will lie flat at the bottom. It' they do so, they are good for hatching: but if one end 

 - higher than the other, they will not an-wcr the purpose; and should they float to the 

 surface, or near it, they are rotten. Another method of telling new-laid eggs from stale 

 ones i- I oing then at the hole in the shutter. It' there appears at the thick end a 



vacuum about the BUS Of B four|>enny piece only, the egg may be Considered new-laid, or 



only two or three day- old; but it the vacuum be greater, the egg is a stale one. When the 



chicken commences to star the shell, it i- better to remove it to a glass-box at the end. 

 With a little flannel laid lightly underneath, and the same to cover over it, as, [f allowed to 

 remain in the s and, they sometimes injure their eyes. The chickens may DC allowed to 



remain in the glass-box without food for the first twenty-four hours of their existence. 

 They should then be removed to the artificial mother, where they will shift for themseli 



and should remain for about five OT -ix weeks. If a chicken appears weakly for the fir-t 



two or three days, it is perhaps as well to put it in the glass-box, away fir its otore rob 



companions under the artificial mother, giving them, of course, a little fond. In his 6X- 

 i Mina-i has l,,.,.,, remarkably successful; and, having hatched several eggs 



.re bird- furnished him from the Zoological Gardens, is about to experiment on the eggs 

 of the ostrich. 



Arrangement for Holding Eggs. 



A r-.\TKNT. for an improved arr ingement for holding and conveying eggs, has been granted 

 to Francis Arnold, of Haddani, Conn. It consists in having a suitable box, with u number 



