368 THE TURRET. 



thirteen Eggs are enough to give her; a large Hen might 

 cover more : but a few strong, well-hatched Chicks are better 

 than a large brood of weaklings that have been delayed in the 

 shell, perhaps twelve hours over the time, from insufficient 

 warmth. At the end of a week, it is usual to add two or three 

 Fowls' Eggs, " to teach the young Turkeys to peck." The 

 plan is not a bad one ; the activity of the Chickens does stir 

 up some emulation in their larger brethren ; the Eggs take up 

 but little room in the nest ; and, at the end of the summer, you 

 have two or three very fine Fowls, all the plumper for the ex- 

 tra diet they have shared with the little Turkeys. 



Some ladies believe it necessary to turn the Eggs once a 

 day ; but the Hen does that herself many times a day. If the 

 Eggs are marked, and you notice their position when she leaves 

 the nest, you will never find them arranged in the same order. 

 A person who obtained ninety-nine Chicks from an hundred 

 Eggs, took the great trouble to turn each Egg every day with 

 her own hand, during the whole time of incubation. The re- 

 sult appears favourable j but, in fact, only amounts to this, 

 that such officiousness did no harm with a good, patient, quiet 

 creature like the sitting Turkey, but it would probably have 

 worried and annoyed any other bird into addling her whole 

 clutch. We will at once reject, as utterly absurd and un- 

 natural, all directions to immerse or " try" the Eggs in a pail 

 of water, hot or cold. 



In four weeks the little birds will be hatched ; and then, 

 how are they to be reared ? Some books tell you to plunge 

 them in cold water, to strengthen them: those that survive 

 will certainly be hardy birds.* Others say, " Make them 



* Sir J. S. Sebright exposes the folly of endeavouring to make 

 young creatures robust by undue exposure to cold and hardship, an 

 experiment which some men and women are cruel enough to try upon 

 their own offspring. Air and exercise increase the strength of any 



