EGO-BrrTIXG.J 



POULTRY. 



[E&a-BUTINO. 



Those who sell eggs for incubation, unless 

 they are usually tJiemselves on the spot, to see 

 that every circumstance connected with the 

 transaction is properly conducted, had better 

 keep but one kind of fowl in one locality. As 

 the eggs are laid they should be put by in a 

 box of chaff or bran, with memoranda to state 

 the date when each was laid, the kind of fowl, 

 if different varieties are kept, and the particu- 

 lar hen that laid each separate egg. Eggs 

 more than three weeks old should not travel, 

 as the fresher they are the better. When 

 amateurs have eggs to dispose of, we think it 

 is best to advertise them ; and we decidedly 

 recommend pre-payment to be made a condi- 

 tion. To pay for a dozen of eggs which were 

 set weeks ago, is a trifle which may escape a 

 person's recollection; although, perhaps, it 

 ought not to do so ; and, therefore, we recom- 

 mend pre-payment to be made a condition in 

 all such sales. Eggs are sold now at more 

 moderate prices than they fetched some years 

 ago; and numerous letters, to jog the me- 

 mories of backward payers, become a discount 

 rather more than should be allowed on each 

 sale. Many persons who forget to settle 

 trifles of this kind, do so quite unintentionally. 

 If, therefore, amateurs generally made pre-pay- 

 ment imperative, we believe it would prove an 

 advantage both ways. Dealers cannot do this : 

 those who run long accounts with them, and 

 other tradesmen, neglect to calculate the mag- 

 nitude of the spreading evil they create by 

 doing so; but amateurs, to whom we may 

 reckon selling a matter of less importance, can 

 take the law into their own hands. No one 

 ever yet sold eggs for hatching, without having 

 some complaints, and demands for more eggs, 

 in place of those that have proved unproduc- 

 tive. "Whether these demands should be ac- 

 ceded to, must, of course, depend on their 

 apparent fairness. AVe think those who sell 

 eggs should never promise to make up loss 

 or failure ; but many would wish to do so 

 under certain circumstances. 



Having spoken of selling, we may say a few 

 words upon buying eggs. In this case we 

 can only depend on the known character of 

 the amateur, or the dealer, from whom we pur- 

 chase. By holding the eggs in a strong light, 

 we may ascertain, by the size of the air-bladder 

 at the large end, whether the egg is fresh ; and 

 852 



this is about all we can do beyond placing 

 reliance upon the seller. In fairness, we must 

 give the eggs a good chance, by having them 

 immediately placed under a good hen, in a 

 place where her sitting cannot be disturbed by 

 other fowls, or entities still more mischievous. 

 If the chickens are in the proportion of two to 

 three, or even to four eggs, we may reckon 

 that we have been well treated, and lucky into 

 the bargain. If it were intended to establish 

 a stock by purchasing eggs, the best plan 

 would be, to buy sittings from difterent 

 breeders ; to bring the chickens up apart ; or to 

 place such marks upon them as should distin- 

 guish them as they grow older, and then to 

 mate the cocks from one stock with the hens 

 of another. The objection to this plan is, that 

 the fowls, the next year, when their owner 

 would wish to breed from them, would be all 

 young alike. A better plan would, therefore, 

 be, to rear pullets in this manner, and in the 

 autumn, or following spring, to purchase a good 

 mature cock. Then, the owner would at once 

 be in a position to breed fine chickens. 



" Caution," says Mr. Eichardson, " is neces- 

 sary in the purchase of eggs for sitting, espe- 

 cially from strangers and from a distance. 

 Mr, Puuchard has demonstrated, that skill in 

 the packing of eggs is well bestowed, and 

 that the average amount of productiveness of 

 travelled eggs, may be greatly increased by the 

 way in which they are sent out upon their 

 journey. Much, however, must always depend 

 on the manner in which they are treated in their 

 transit by railway porters and other officials. 

 In the county court of Lynn, Norfolk, an 

 action was, on one occasion, brought to recover 

 the sum of £4 10s, Qd., the value of thirty-six 

 Cochin eggs which had been sent by the plain- 

 tiff from Penzance, Cornwall. The box not 

 arriving at the time it was due, he sent to the 

 station to enquire, and was told by one of the 

 clerks that it had not arrived ; but on a search 

 being instituted, the box was found in an open 

 shed, exposed to frosty weather. Hens, and 

 Cantelo's incubator, failed in producing from 

 them a single chicken. Eor the defendants — 

 namely, the East Anglican Eailway Company- 

 it was argued that the action had been brought 

 against the wrong parties. In order to recover 

 damages for loss, the plaintiff was bound to 

 show that vitality existed in the eggs when they 



