DECEMBER 1, 191^ 



785 



I shall also offer my services to poultrymen who 

 wish me to classify their hens into pens of the same 

 laying ability. This is what you asked me if I could 

 do, and I propose doing it. I have shown many, 

 who say it is easy. A man came over from Jackson- 

 ville who is to start a large farm, and I shall either 

 classify his hens or instruct him how to do so. 

 C. W. Leonard. 



St. Augustine, Fla., Oct. 30. 



Surely our expei'iment stations, and those 

 who have charge of the egg-laying con- 

 tests now going on, can decide whether he 

 is right ; and if so, it looks as if he really 

 had discovered something we had overlook- 

 ed, or which was unknown until the present 

 time. Can not somebody who is in daily 

 practice with trap nests enlighten us? 



INFERTILE EGGS; CAN THEY BE SORTED OUT 

 BEFORE BEING PUT INTO THE INCUBATOR? 



Some time back I said that competent 

 men of exjierience had decided that no se- 

 crets or machine could tell any thing about 

 the fertility of eggs before being given to a 

 hen or incubator. One of our friends sug- 

 gests that my position may be misleading, 

 and submits the following : 



In every lot of eggs taken from a breeding-pen 

 there is a percentage unsuitable for hatching, or, 

 rather, for using for hatching purposes. An ex- 

 perienced and competent man can set aside a part 

 of this percentage simply by examining the eggs as 

 he lifts them from the gathering-basket ; but the 

 other ijart of the percentage can be discovered 

 only by candling — an acquirement which can be 

 gained only by practical experience. If there is a 

 small percentage of useless eggs in a well-kept 

 breeding-pen, there will frequently be a large per- 

 centage in a fiock kept as the ordinary farmer has 

 his hens. This percentage often runs as high as 

 forty, but say twenty-five. In most cases these 

 twenty-five eggs are wasted! or if some of them do 

 hatch they are worse than wasted by producing 

 weakly or sickly chicks. If the farmer could avoid 

 this loss, the advantage would be considerable in 

 many ways. Last year the writer had charge of a 

 poultry-plant where the stock had up to the time he 

 took hold been abused in nearly every conceivable 

 way. On arrival he found the incubators giving 70 

 per cent fertility, and of this 70 per cent about 

 three-quarters produced living chicks. The hatching 

 eggs were at once taken in hand, but without pre- 

 incubating testing (for want of time), and the eggs 

 then showed 80 per cent fertility. For the next 

 hatches the eggs were carefully tested before being 

 put in the machines, the result being 90 per cent 

 fertility. 



The specific gravity of an egg is no proof what- 

 ever that it is fertile or unfertile. The onl" way to 

 know whether an egg is fertile or not is to break 

 it and use a microscope on the contents. But pre- 

 testing by a competent person usually gives results 

 that more than pay for the time and labor. 



Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 14. Fred Martin. 



Friend M., I agree that an exj^erienced 

 man o-r Avoman may sort out by the looks 

 eggs that are more likely to be fertile; 

 and perhaps the use of a candle or egg- 

 tester may help a little, especially if the 

 eggs are taken from a miscellaneous col- 

 lection. Old eggs can be sorted out fi-om 



the fresh ones by means of an egg-tester. 

 Some time ago my neighbor Abbott wanted 

 me to save him some eggs for his incuba- 

 tor. I charged him only the price I re- 

 ceived at the grocery; so he took the liberty 

 of sorting out the best in the lot. He threw 

 out under-sized eggs, crooked eggs, eggs 

 with heavy shells, or those with wrinkles on 

 the shells, and this secured a lot of nice- 

 looking uniform-shaped eggs. There is no 

 question but that such a course will pay. 

 As you say, specific gravity has little or 

 nothing to do with it; and yet the fellows 

 who advertise this machine at a big price 

 have the audacity to put in print that they 

 have never had a magic egg-tester returned. 

 1 returned the one they sent me, and Avrote 

 it up on these pages. 



In regard to the concluding sentence, I 

 very much doubt whether a microscope 

 would distinguish the germ before the egg 

 has commenced incubation. Will somebody 

 who has tested this matter let us know 

 about it 1 Of course, this would accomplish 

 nothing; but it would upset the claims of 

 some of the swindlers who profess to be 

 able to pick out the fertile eggs before they 

 are put into the incubator. Why not put 

 in as many eggs as you can by standing 

 them on the small end in the incubator, and 

 then throw out the infertiles in three or 

 four days? 



DOCTORING CHICKENS. 



The following, from such excellent au- 

 thority, we clip from the South em Fan- 

 cier : 



"Poultry doctor" is not a profession — it is a mis- 

 take. There is no need of medical science in the 

 poultry yard. Good methods and good common sense 

 are better medicines than drugs. 



Now, in addition to the above I want to 

 give you something clipped from the Rural 



New-Yorker: 



When you wish to tell your poultry-raisers .how to 

 save money I will tell you how to do it. A useful 

 article, being a disinfectant that can be used in 

 drink to help ward off parasitive disease, is germo- 

 zone. It is sold at 50 cents for about an eight-ounce 

 bottle. Mistrusting from appearances what it was, 

 I had it analyzed at the Connecticut Agricultural 

 College department of chemistry, and they found it 

 to contain a small quantity of permanganate of pot- 

 ash and a little alum, the rest being ordinary wa- 

 ter. All the drugs in it would not be the value of 

 one cent, the other 49 cents being charged for the 

 water and the bottle. The same preparation may be 

 prepared by any one by using one part permangan- 

 ate of potash to one thousand parts of water (this 

 germozone was somewhat less when used per di- 

 rections), and a little bit of alum added. It is use- 

 ful in roup, diarrhoea from germ infection, etc. 



Massachusetts. A. E. C. L. 



The germicide mentioned in the above 

 has been advertised for a year or two past 

 in nearly all of our poultiy journals. No 



