1875.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



183 



I 



Tlie appiinitiis of M. I5(iiineniain consislcd: 

 1. Of a lj>)ili'i- ami piiics for tin- circulatiiiii of 

 water; 2. Of a n'<,'ulaloi- calculalcd l<i iiiaiii- 

 laiiKiii i'(nial Ic 111 pciat lire; :i. Olaslovr apait- 

 nit'iit, licak'il coiistaiilly to tlie ilc^'ri'i' licsl 

 fitted for iiieiiliiitioii, which he ealled the 

 UiUrhliii/ pitch, lie also athiched to one side 

 a chicken room for cheiisliiii}; tlie chickens 

 diirins a few ilavs afier iiicidiatioii. A verti- 

 cal se<'lion, i;rouiid plan and idevation in part 

 to illustrate the older and perlniiis hetter plan 

 as used by M. Honneinain issiveii in and illus- 

 trated in "lire's Dictiouarv; subject, "Incu- 

 lcation Artificial,'' pa>?e 1042. My object is 

 more specially to call attention to the subject 

 and give a hint where a iniucextended descrip- 

 tion is given for the bem-lit of the eminirer. 



We also learn that the ('opts of Kgypt p;iy a 

 license to the government to carry on this 

 business. They nse a building willi a niimhcr 

 of ovens, trailed i)ta<iiinil, which contain I. ">(),- 

 OIK) eggs as a charge. An ollicial report for 

 IS.'il, gives for Lower Kgypt lO.j of these es- 

 tablishments, using l'.l,Oi)i),0iM) eggs, of wiiicli 

 l:!, 000,000 prodiici' cliickens. This .saves tlie 

 valuable time of l,.")00,Oi)0 hens for three weeks 

 of inactivity, and several succeeding weeks of 

 care and scralcliing, enaliliiig them to devote 

 their undivided attention to the other duties 

 of maternity, egg-laying and cackling. 



The eggs as collected are placed on mats 

 strewn with bran, and are brought nearer or 

 further from the heat by changing them in 

 the chamber for about six days. They are 

 then tested by a strong sunlight, for signs of 

 the formation of the chicken. They are tlieii 

 submitted for four days to the warmest posi- 

 tion, and again five days in a closed chamlier, 

 after which they are spread separattdy o\'er 

 tile surface of the mats, with frequent changes 

 and turnings for six or seven days, carefully 

 excluding outside air. The test for life is fre- 

 quently made, by putting the egs to the eye- 

 lid, as it will be found of greater coldness when 

 life is in the egg, than the temperature of the 

 eyelid. 



It may be interesting to knowthat hot min- 

 eral water or springs have been employed. A 

 letter by M. D'Arcet contains the following 

 statement : 



"In June, 1825, I obtained chickens and 

 pigeons at Vichy, by artilicial incubation, 

 eli'ected through the means of the thermal 

 waters of that idace. In 1S27, I went to the 

 baths of Chaudes-Aigncs, iirincipally for the 

 purpose of doing the same thing there. Find- 

 ing the proprietor a zealous man, I succeeded 

 in making a useful ai>plication of this source 

 of heat to the itroductioii of poultry. The ad- 

 vantage of this process may be couiiirehended 

 when it is known that the invalids who arrive 

 at Vichy, for instance, in the month of May, 

 fmd chickens only the size of quails ; whereas, 

 by this means they may be readily supplied 

 six months old," etc. 



He goes into further detail, but I did not 

 promise an original essa^' or article — simiily to 

 give you hints upon the subject that may in- 

 duce iiKiuiry into a valuable fact, wholly, or 

 too much overlooked, especially when w(^ con- 

 sider the native enterprise of many in supply- 

 ing the inarkc't. Why not introduce the farm- 

 ing of poultry, as well as fruit'i' It strikes me 

 it would pay. All that is wanted is the ap- 

 paratus, knowledge and attention, to make it 

 a success. We have intelligence and enter- 

 prise, and the necessary information can be 

 had. And experience and close observation 

 will .soon enable the poulterer to master every 

 difticulty; and should he still be incliiu'd to 

 make capons, and go into fattening and per- 

 fecting this branch of business, a full compen- 

 sation would certainly follow for all his labor 

 and expense, and, take my word for it, egg- 

 hatching or chicken-farming will pay. — J. 

 Staiifftr, LancusKr Oily, Pa. 



Oxr>Y ONE DOLLAR for all the variety of use- 

 ful information set forth in the table of con- 

 tents of tills volume I Where can any farmer 

 get its much in return for his money V Then 

 send us your dollar for another year. 



For TiiK I.VNC'A^rKii Faumku. 

 DECREASE IN STREAMS AND WELLS 



Is water found deeper beneath the surface 

 of \.\w. earth now, in digging wells, than it 

 formerly was, and if so, what are the causesV 

 1 am always anxious to Hnd out causes and 

 elVects. ()ne cause luctty generally assigned 

 all over the civilized world, is the wholesale 

 destruction of forest trees. Even if this is not 

 the ti'iie cause, it suggests a good piact ical 

 idea, because the replenishing of deiileti'd for- 

 ests will become an absolute necessity before 

 anotlu'r generation passes away, whether they 

 have any iiillueiice on water streams or not. 



It has been oliserved that the Danube and 

 other foreign streams have been getting lower 

 for some years; hen;e the ITnited Kingdoms of 

 Europe have appointed a commission, consist- 

 ing of three distinguished men of science, to 

 ascertain the cause and report thereon. I have 

 often wondered whether the general body of 

 water does not diminish in (luantity, and I 

 have always been answered that it does not — 

 that it fitiinot decrease. My attention was 

 latidy calU^d to the subject again. In making 

 mortar for mason work, how many barr.ds or 

 hogshead are absorbi'd in the process, and how 

 many millions of hogsli 'ads are used in gener- 

 ating steam for engines. 



And now, in what form can it reappear? 

 When the earth is very dry how much water 

 is absorbed ; admitting that the sun and the 

 atmosphere will evaporate a great portion, and 

 draw it back to the clouds again, is not the 

 water in mortar and steam entirely annihilat- 

 ed ? Is not the water diminishing on the sur- 

 face of the earth 't' It is no longer a matter 

 of doubt that water has receded from many 

 places within the memory oi man. In many 

 of the lak(!S, in a great [lart of the State of 

 New Jersey, and in the ground on which the 

 city of Washington stands, then; has been a 

 great diminution of water — indec^l the, last 

 named place was once nearly all under water. 

 In some of the Western States, and on Euro- 

 pean mountains that are hundreds of feet above 

 the level of the sea, are large boilies of oyster 

 shells — enough to burn hundreds of bushels of 

 lime. This illustrates at least that water has 

 changed from one locality to another, if it has 

 not decreased in quantity. Timber was also 

 discovered several hundred feet under moun- 

 tains in California, and the wreck of a ship 

 was found sixty miles from Stanton, C'al., in a 

 ravine, on dry laud, in a well preserved condi- 

 tion. The formation of coal in our own State 

 is another case in point. In Sclmvlkill county 

 the coal formation shows wood, vegetable im- 

 pressions, as fern leaves and many other fossil 

 forms, which proves that we have had great 

 changes on the earth's surface at dilierenl 

 times, perhaps many thousands of years apart. 

 But, again, what causes a decrease in our wells 

 and water streams V Our meteorological ob- 

 servations were more irregular for the last live 

 years than they had been previous to the period 

 named. In August and Seiitember last, we 

 had inori> rain than we often have in an en- 

 tire summer. In local rains we had enough 

 to swell some of the streams in Lancaster 

 county almost beyond comparison. Probably 

 more water ran down the Coi-aJico and Conea- 

 tii(/n in August and September than for years 

 liefore. Three years ago on the 10th of Au- 

 gust, we had a water-spout in our neighbor- 

 hood, which carried trees and saw-logs from 

 dry land two miles into theCouestoLra. An old 

 man (seventy-five years of age) said it washed 

 and ruined more cultivated tields in 1S70, 

 1S71 and 1S72 tli;ui it did in all his lifetime. 

 The water was for several years ponreil super- 

 abundantly overtheearth, and then again there 

 was a great deti('iency of rain in 1S74 and '75. 

 There were no rains of any con.sequence from 

 July, 1S74, to June, 1875, and no .letthd 

 rain for some two years )irevious to this sum- 

 mer. The winter of 1874 and 1875 was very 

 cold, the ground frozen for four months in 

 succession. The water streams and wells 

 were h)wer than they had lieen within the 

 memory of the oldest settlers of the county. 

 We had also the dryest weather that occurred 

 for many years— but was the destruction of 



the forest timb;-r the cause of the great 

 drouth? There must have been .some other 

 cause, lis yet nnknown. Meleorological 

 changes may come and go from one extreme to 

 anollier. When once enough without rain to 

 cause a — to us, invisible — reaction, it may 

 gradually or suddenly turn to rain again to 

 excess. We have had alternate rain and sini- 

 shine from August last up to the ))ri'sent 

 time, and tlie earth has been Well .saturated 

 ever since. The snblerrauean reservoirs are 

 again replenished, the April springs are al- 

 ready starting. We lii:iy likely have an ojieii 

 winter, with plenty of rain. If so, and streams 

 and W(dls will continue ri'iilenislied, we shall 

 have water as in limes iiast. 



I have a run passing through my farm. It 

 started formerly in a forest, when it failed oc- 

 casionally to run. It now has its starling 

 point and coiitinuan(!e in cultivated fields, 

 and becomes less dry than formerly. I know 

 a spring that was di.scovered seventy-live 

 years ago in quarrying stone. It rims out 

 from limestone rocks. About one hundred 

 and lifty feet from its source there wius heavy 

 timber land, wesl of it, on higher ground, the 

 water flowing south. This spring is also more 

 regular and stronger since it is surnanided by 

 cultivated lielils. The reason is, cultivated 

 ground w'ill absorb in )re water than timber 

 lands, and the water will run olT timber land 

 more readily than oil' cultivated land. But I 

 have asked the (inestion; does water diminish 

 or not? I believe that water in mortar is just 

 so much less than it was before it entered into 

 the mortar, and that water will decrease to a 

 certain ))eriod, when it will again increa.se, 

 through an agency or iiroc^ess as yet unknown. 

 I only ask for information ou this subject, 

 from simie person who may be thoroughtly 

 hiformed on it. The study of this subject may 

 be of \mn\: benefit to mankind than the study 

 of astronomy, for which tliousaii<ls of dollars 

 are annually exiieiided. Why not, then, stiulv 

 the phenomena of rain and water flows, W'hicli 

 are the foundation of all our agricultural suc- 

 cess?— I/. A', if., Wnncick twp., Dec. 2, 1875. 



For Thk Lancasteb Fabheu. 

 SKIRMISHES. 



I trust yon have not construed my not con- 

 Iribnliiig to your journal, for a time, a disap- 

 proval of it, or dissatisfaetion on my part, on 

 a(rcount of any matter that has appeared in its 

 columns. Far from it. Tlie only excuse 1 li.ave 

 to offer is the lethargy which ail of us are lia- 

 ble to sink into at times, and whii'h in too 

 many cases become chronic, thus deiiriving 

 the public of many a hint that would be of 

 value to some, and also of facts of no little 

 importance, which, in consequence, may lie 

 dorinant for a time. I believe no one has a 

 moral right to hide his talent by which his 

 fellow-man may be benetited, for he may some 

 day be called to aeeoimt lor it, an instance of 

 w liicli we hnd recorded in the good book. 



Very few who write for public journals and 

 papers I'an help but lielieve that there are 

 others who know as much, or more, upon the 

 subject than the writer himself ; at the .same 

 time it is known that there are many who have 

 not had the advantages of the writer, and who 

 may be greatly benefited. Superiors often 

 profit by hints or facts given by inferiors. WHio 

 can claim originality nowadays? Are we not 

 all riding on waves caused by others? By con- 

 tinued agitation truth and error will eventu- 

 ally bctcoine separated, provided selfishness is 

 left in the background. We have no more 

 ri^dit to be sellish with our knowledge than with 

 anything else we may pos-sess. If the atntve 

 premises are tenable, they may be aiiplied to 

 other departments of life; but I wish to apply 

 them to the tiller of the soil. 



There is, no doubt, a vast store of valuable 

 knowledge lying <lormaiit among the latter 

 cla.ss, wliicli,"if made i>ublic, wonld^ make an 

 aggregate of incalculable value. Xo brancli 

 of indnsti-y compares in magnitude with that 

 of tilling the soil, ami it is comparatively the 

 least s.v.stematized Why such is the caae it is 

 diflieult to explain, unless it has from time 



