ARTIFICIAL HATCHING OF EGGS. 237 



been methods contrived from very early times, by which 

 a large supply of chickens may be obtained by artificial 

 means. These have been extensively carried on in 

 Egypt, where several hundred ovens are regularly em- 

 ployed in hatching eggs during the season. The Egyp- 

 tians are jealous of rivals in this art, and carefully keep 

 some part of the process secret, although they allow 

 strangers to examine the construction of the ovens, and 

 even to witness the curious operations going on within. 

 The great difficulty appears to be the regulation of the 

 heat, which is managed by a set of men regularly 

 trained, and licensed to this art. Of the total number 

 of eggs committed at one time to the oven, the manager 

 does not expect to hatch more than two-thirds : thus, 

 out of 45,000 eggs, he is not obliged to return to his 

 master more than 30,000 chickens. But if he succeeds 

 in hatching more than this number, the surplus is his 

 own perquisite, in addition to his wages of thirty or 

 forty crowns, besides his board, which is paid him for 

 his six months' work. 



The Egyptian hatching-oven is a brick building, about 

 nine feet high. A gallery extends from one end of the 

 building to the other, having on either side a double 

 row of rooms or ovens, one above the other, three feet 

 high, four or five broad, and fifteen long. Each of these 

 has a round hole for an entrance, wide enough for a 

 man to creep through, and into each of the lower rooms 

 are put four or five thousand eggs. The upper rooms 

 are used for warming the lower. For the sake of a 

 slow fire they burn the dung of cows and camels, mixed 

 with straw, and dried into cakes. These are laid in a 

 furrow or gutter, which runs along two sides of the 

 brick floor of the upper rooms, and are burned for an 

 hour morning and evening. The fumes escape through 

 the doors into the gallery, where they issue through 

 the roof. When the smoke has subsided, all openings 

 are stuffed with tow, to keep in the heat, except a large 

 opening in the floor of the heating-room, which allows 



