THE GALLINACEOUS TRIBES 



225 



to take account of these elements in feeding Exportation from Russia is becoming very 



hens. If occasionally eggs are found without active of late, and this country is coming to 

 shells, it is a proof that the food was unsuit- be a formidable rival of Denmark in the Eng- 

 able or insufficient . The skin, which lies lish market. The Russian exportation of eggs 

 beneath and against the shell, is 

 composed of two extremely thin 

 membranes, which are slightly sepa- 

 rated from each other at the top of 

 the egg. In the space between is air 

 with much acid in it, for the use of 

 the chick, as it forms. It sometimes 

 happens that there are two )olks. 

 The white of the egg is connected 

 with the yolk by two threads, or con- 

 duits, which conduct nourishment 

 to the chick during the incubation 

 period. 



A young hen will begin to lay 

 when a year old. It is by that time 

 provided by Nature with an ovary 

 which contains the germs of no less 

 than six hundred eggs. The laying 

 diminishes after the fourth )ear. and 

 is almost entirely finished by the 

 sixth year ; the hen has then fulfilled her duty 

 to Nature. But this is nut quick enough for 

 breeders of the present day. Haste and hurry 

 prevail even here, and artificial culture has 

 enormously increased the number of chickens of supplanting Italy and Austria in supplying 

 hatched daily and thus the 

 production of eggs, the 



A PiiiAiiM \ 1 lr\ 



in igoi amounted in value to 353,920,000 

 rubles — in round numbers ^223,000,000, and 

 it increases every year. Russia is already so 

 strong in this particular that it is on the point 



trade in which appears to 



be illimitable. In reading 



the statistics of different 



countries we are astounded 



at the enormous demand 



for this product, and the 



supply does not keep pace 



with the demand. In the 



Netherlands, for instance, 



that small country which 



is by no means unsuited 



for the production of eggs, 



the deficit last year was 



seventy million. Denmark may serve as a model 



to the lesser countries in the raising of chickens. 



It exports yearly about four million dollars' 



worth ; and the husbandmen profit by it. 



other countries. 

 IV 



'RiT.A,' 



Lavincx and 



Brooding 



It goes without saying 

 that many of those who 

 keep fowls have no inten- 

 tion of venturing upon the 

 great markets of the world. 

 So long as they raise eggs 

 and chickens for their own 

 consumption they are 

 satisfied. Yet these small 

 breeders and owners of 

 poultry ought to be well 

 informed as to the best methods of managing 

 the inhabitants of their poultry yards. In the 

 first place, they ought to know that hens when 

 laying and brooding should, as far as possible. 



A Braekel Pullet Prize 

 Winner 



