554 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



a small hollow should bo scraped in the earth, and a nest box placed over it, to screen it par 

 tially from sight, since whether for laying or sitting, a hen naturally likes her nest to be in a 

 partially darkened place, where it will be screened from observation. Soft hay, or straw, cut 

 into two inch lengths should be spread over, and shaped into a very slight hollow, but care 

 should be taken to fill up the corners of the box, so that the eggs may not roll out of the 

 nest, and get into them. &quot;When nests are made in boxes, a few shovels full of damp earth 

 should be put into the bottom of the box before putting in the hay or straw in summer, and 

 dry earth or ashes in winter. A little sulphur sprinkled over the earth before putting in the 

 hay, or kerosene oil turned into the corners of the boxes, will also aid in preventing trouble 

 from vermin, and will do no harm to the eggs. The eggs set should be marked with a pencil, 

 so that if another hen should chance to add to the sitter s original number, as is sometimes 

 the case, such eggs may be readily distinguished, from the others. 



Miss M. H. Reed, of Amenia, N. Y., in an address before the Connecticut Board of 

 Agriculture, gives her method of setting hens, which contains so many useful suggestions, that 

 we give the following extract from it: &quot;In selecting the eggs, we choose the larger and perfect 

 ones, and gather two or three times a day, and keep in a cool place. We have found that the 

 fresher laid eggs hatch in the greatest proportion, but have often kept them two weeks, or 

 even three, and had good success, but the chances are greatly in favor of those just laid. 

 When two or three hens are fully determined to sit, unless this should occur too early in the 

 season, the sitting-room is prepared for their exclusive use by shutting out the other fowls, 

 and putting it into a perfectly clean and orderly state it is emptied, swept, garnished. The 

 floor is sprinkled with clean, dry earth, and covered with straw. The nests are made in 

 movable boxes, with soft hay, and placed on the floor in a close row around three sides of the 

 room. 



The feeding trough is placed through the middle of the room, and is always supplied 

 with corn. The drinking trough and the dusting box on the unoccupied side of the room, 

 with a small box of gravel, complete the outfit. In here the hens stay until incubation is 

 over, and sometimes fifteen hens live in peace after a few days quarreling at first. And this 

 is just where the trouble begins; but with proper care the loss from this source is far less 

 than the gain. In the early part of the season eleven eggs are enough for a sitting, and thir 

 teen later when the weather is warmer. The hens are taken in just after dark, and if they 

 have been properly tamed and trained, they will stay where they are put; and even if they 

 do conclude to exchange nests after a few hours, or a few days, it will do no harm, as there 

 are only enough nests with eggs to go round and so all are kept covered. But sometimes it 

 happens that an old hen will not go on at all unless she can have her choice. We put her 

 gently a few times where we want her, and if she will not obey then, we make the other hen 

 give up her place. 



Sometimes a giddy young creature will refuse to sit at all unless she can have her nest 

 where she first selected it outside the sitting room, and we find her at all hours of day and 

 night wandering about the room defying authority or persuasion. Such are soon taught 

 better manners by a few days cooling in an out-door coop in solitary confinement, with only 

 bread (wheat) and water. 



At first the hens need close watching at about noon when they all come off to feed; but 

 they soon learn to go wherever they find an unoccupied nest. If others are added to this 

 flock after the first week, more care is necessary to keep them on their own nests, as a hen 

 knows best how long she can safely, leave her nest at the different stages of incubation, and 

 to put a hen that has been sitting two days on eggs that have been covered two weeks or 

 more, would almost insure the death from chill of the chick in the shell. For a few days the 

 hen can remain off a long time, but as the twenty-first day draws near her periods of recrea 

 tion are much shorter, and a sensible hen will not leave her nest after hearing the first peep. 



