70 AX EGG FARM. 



In undertaking to compete with artificial incubation 

 and rearing and to distance the artificial methods, any 

 and every kind of sitters must not be employed. The 

 Asiatic breeds give a gentle disposition and unrivalled 

 persistence, but the feathers on their le^s are in the way. 

 The most gentle and Brahma-like Plymouth Rocks of 

 large size, selected for motherliness and for freedom 

 from the nervous activity and liability to scare and fret 

 that some of the smaller breeds possess, are just the 

 thing. To all intents and purposes, they are Light 

 Brahmas, with their excessive size and the black of the 

 plumage and the leg and toe feathering bred out. and 

 length of wing and a certain lightness of movement, the 

 reverse of the Brahma clumsiness and awkwardness, 

 bred in. A hen of the improved breed of sitters can 

 cover from sixteen to twenty eggs, according to the 

 season. 



Some persons have objected to the cost of the feed for 

 sitting hens while they are incubating. It is not lost. 

 They need a rest from laying, anyhow, and lay the bet- 

 ter for it. If they do not Jay at one time of the year, 

 they will make up for it at another. While at a resting 

 spell they would have to be fed, whether sitting or not, 

 but the expense of heating incubators is a dead weight. 

 Among other advantages of the natural system, an 

 important one is that it does not demand so high priced 

 a man as the artificial system does. The first is easy, 

 the last is comparatively difficult and keeps the attend- 

 ant on a rack and strain more or less, that must be paid 

 for; or if he is a master of the art and so has little 

 anxiety, then the time he spent in becoming a master of 

 the art must be paid for. But, if you have the proper 

 conveniences, calm as a May morning you can attend 

 sitters, not by the hundreds, but by the thousands, with 

 not a care in the world. Their temperature will always 

 be correct. 



