48 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



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tact, as with the natural hen-mother, was absolutely essential 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 necessary under such a system, in addition 

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

 this top contact, too, the eggs must be all of the same size; but, by Signor Minasi's plan, 

 the eggs of ducks and pigeons may be hatched alongside ^ach other. The heat he uses is 

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

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

 form or tray of metal, with a corrugated bottom, and filled with warm water at such a heat 

 as will keep a layer of sand thereon up to a temperature of 104 F. This sand-layer holds 

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

 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 of chopped hay, mixed with sand, this being changed daily. The heating lamp, 

 which is itself on a 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 sand, 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, if the egg be gently 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 seventh or 

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

 sufficiently experienced to detect this. The great advantage which science 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 Spanish, 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, fill a basin nearly full of water, heated to about 104 or 106, 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. If they do so, they are good for hatching; but if one end 

 rises higher than the other, they will not answer 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 is by examining them at the hole in the shutter. If there appears at the thick end a 

 vacuum about the size of a fourpenny piece only, the egg may be considered new-laid, or 

 only two or three days old ; but if the vacuum be greater, the egg is a stale one. When the 

 chicken commences to star the shell, it is 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, if allowed to 

 remain in the sand, they sometimes injure their eyes. The chickens may be 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 themselves, 

 and shojild remain for about five or six weeks. If a chicken appears weakly for the first 

 two or three days, it is perhaps as well to put it in the glass-box, away from its more robust 

 companions under the artificial mother, giving them, of course, a little food. In his ex- 

 periments, Signor Minasi has been remarkably successful ; and, having hatched several eggs 

 of rare birds furnished him from the Zoological Gardens, is about to experiment on the eggs 

 of the ostrich. 



Arrangement for Holding Eggs. 



A PATENT, for an improved arrangement for holding and conveying eggs, has been granted 

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



