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in the trough a fungus growth forms upon them which 

 extends to the other eggs in the immediate vicinity and 

 kills them. Care should be taken in using nippers, not 

 to hurt the other eggs, and to do this the bad egg should 

 be feathered entirely separate from the rest ; a very slight 

 blow or jam from the nippers will be sufficient to destroy 

 their vitality. Rats and mice in the hatching house 

 often destroy many eggs ; they are very fond of them, 

 and going into the troughs to get them will destroy with 

 their feet many more than they eat. A wire screen, or"| 

 boards laid over the troughs will keep them out, but it 

 is a much cheaper way and just as effectual, to keep 

 them down by traps or poison. The eggs should be 

 feathered over occasionally so that their whole surface 

 may be exposed to the action of the water. 



TRANSPORTATION OF EGGS. Eggs should be packed in 

 round tin boxes, about three inches wide and two and 

 one-half inches deep ; a few small holes are punched in 

 the bottom to let the water run off, as water left in the 

 box will kill the eggs. Specimens of eggs from different 

 parts of the square are first examined with the microscope 

 to see if a good percentage is impregnated. If they are, 

 a six-quart pan is filled with water to the heighth of the 

 box in which the eggs are to be packed. The bottom of the 

 box is then covered with moss, and the box placed in the 

 pan and filled with water. The moss used is that which 

 grows in swamps, or on stones and timbers, in wet 

 places, such as the stones in a brook, or the timbers of 

 an old dam. It may be collected and kept all. winter in 

 a damp place in the hatching-house. The bottom of the 

 tin is filled with apiece of this moss, somewhat depressed 

 in the middle, so that the eggs shall not touch the sides 

 of the box, the moss having previously been well washed 

 to free it from dirt and insects. The moss to be used in 



