4C6 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Decainber 



We reduced the number of Dorkings, Harnburghs, and 

 Cochins, parted with the whole of the Crcve Cceurs, and in- 

 creased the number of Brahma Pootras, so as to keep in 1S66 



as nearly as possible the same number of hens as in 1864 and 

 1865. I herewith send you the exact number of eggs produced 

 daily in Novenib er, 1864, 1865, and 1866. 



November 1 2 



6 



9 10 11 12 13 11 15 IS 17 18 19 21) 21 



23 



ISM. 

 1865.. 



1866.... 10 12 15 11 10 11 12 10 12 10 



2 14 3 2 4 4 

 2 3 4 2 14 4 4 

 9 10 9 9 8 10 7 9 



-I 23 26 27 33 29 30 Total. 



4 4 3 4 i S 4 83 



4 6 7 8 5 7 6 116 



8 10 12 10 11 13 12 315 



Should this meet the eye of your correspondent " New- Brahmas, &c, in the Number of the Journal for the 16th Oeto- 

 market," I trust he will in future have a more favourable ber, exclaimed, " Hich, the man must be blin, or takin o'er 

 opinion of this most handsome and useful bird, and never more > muckle whuskey and couldna see, or maybe he kent nathin 

 apply such epithets as " awkward, clumsy, and ugly," to one of aboot em." — J. Hartnell, Blyliiswood, Renfrew. 

 the most prolific and docile fowls of the poultry -yard. An old [We shall be obliged by a detail of the produce of eggs of 

 lady here who has just read " Newmahkex's " remarks on Silver-spangled Harnburghs which your offer. — Eps. 



INCUBATORS. 



To invalids and those who are confined much to their homes, 

 hatching eggs artificially affords a pastime attended with a 

 certain amount of interest which is, of course, distinct and 

 apart from any public advantage derived from an unusual pro- 

 duction of chickens. 



I know by experience that there arc great difficulties attend- 



ing the hatching of eggs by artificial heat ; but if those persons 

 who attempted such hatching were to compare notes through 

 your Journal, I think it possible that some way of overcoming 

 them might be invented. 



My trials were made in a tin box about 6 inches deep 

 covered with a glass top, through which the thermometer could 



A. Boiler and heating apparatus forobtain- 

 ing the neceseary circulation. 



B. A pipe leading from thence to an iron 

 tank {cl, fitted by preference with a plate- 

 glass bottom, under which are the egg- 

 drawers (El, so arranged with ventilttniN 

 that the temperature may be kept under 

 perfect control. The bottoms of these 



drawers are of perforated zinc, to allow the 

 evaporation of water from the cold-water 

 drawers (FJ to percolate through the chaff 

 or other material to the eggs during the 

 time of incubation. 



D. The return-pipe from the tank to the 

 boiler. 



o. A perforated zinc covering or frame, 



wlucn may be filed witb sand or other 

 material, for preserving the heat, and for 

 the chicks to run in when hatehed. 



h. A ventilating shaft, 



i. A pipe for testing the heat of water in 

 the tank. 



.7. The improved gas-burner. 



k. A curtain to exclude light and draught. 



be observed without trouble. It is warmed by flat tin pipes 

 about an inch deep, which take four turns through it, and are 

 connected by two junctions to a small tin boiler on the outside 

 of one end. There pipes, which have about half an inch space 

 between them, are covered with a plate of tin, which- is again 

 covered with 1J inch of sand to rest the eggs upon. The ra- 

 diation of heat from this box I found to be quite disastrous 

 during cold nights ; and, therefore, I surrounded it by an outer 

 coating of wood. The reader may observe, perhaps, that I 

 might as well have had a wooden box at first. 



For my heating power I used one of Price's composite 

 candies in a Palmer's candle-lamp, and as this commanded a 

 steady heat of 40* above the atmosphere of the room in which 

 the experiment was tried, I thought I was uncommonly lucky 

 in hitting upon exactly the right means by which to obtain suc- 

 cess. I imagined the heat would be steady and regular, the 

 candle always remaining at 3 inches distance from the bottom 

 of my boiler, and giving out the same amount of heat. I found, 

 however, that eyen after surrounding my box with the coating 

 of wood before mentioned, the variations of the external at- 



mosphere affected the internal temperature vexatiously, the 

 sun's heat for about an hour before noon and an hour or two 

 afterwards causing a heat in the box disproportionate to that 

 in the atmosphere of my room, necessitating the withdrawal 

 of the candle to a considerable distance from the boiler. 



It is this atmospheric action of cold and heat upon the 

 exterior of the incubator that appears to me to be the grand 

 difficulty which at present lies in the way of artificial hatching, 

 and it must be overcome by some means. Shutting the 

 windows of a room lessens the radiation of heat from it by 

 night, as well as keeps out the sun's warmth by day, and so 

 fur contributes to the object in view, — a uniformity of heat in 

 the room, but still this leaves much to be desired. 



As to my success I have only to say, that in one trial in 

 which I endeavoured to keep the eggs at lul°, which Mr. 

 I-iiindley says is the 'proper heat, I hatched five chicks, which 

 all lived, and should have hatched several more, but that the 

 heat twice rose to 110°, which is, as he says, destructive to the 

 embryo life of chicks. 



In my other trials I aimed at a maximum temperature of 



