CHAP. IX.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 207 



first brood a fortnight earlier than if all the 

 eggs were kept for the same hatching. 



Notwithstanding the increased length of 

 time thus required by common hens when 

 employed to hatch turkey eggs, they yet 

 sit patiently till the full period of its com- 

 pletion. They are, indeed, found to be more 

 careful mothers than the real parent, as 

 treating the chicks with greater tenderness, 

 not exposing them to wet, and teaching them 

 more quiet habits than those of their wild 

 nature. Turkey hens are also sometimes em- 

 ployed to hatch the chicks of common poul- 

 try, of which they will cover full one-and- 

 twenty eggs ; but such experiments, though 

 occasionally vaunted by theorists, are seldom 

 successful, and Nature, when not controlled 

 by circumstances, should be left to herself. 



The advice given in respect to the manage- 

 ment of hatching the chickens of fowls will 

 apply in every particular to those of turkeys ; 

 the mother helps them from the shell, and, 

 when brought forth, shelters them closely 

 under the warm coverture of her wings, to 

 which they instinctively repair in equal divi- 

 sions. Should they be unusually feeble on 



