INCUBATION. 



INDIA, AGRICULTURE OF. 



It is effected either by means of an oven, 

 stove, or steam, and it has been calculated that 

 the ovens of Egypt every year communicate 

 life to about 93,000,000 chickens. This por- 

 cess has received considerable attention from 

 the French philosophers ; but perhaps the best 

 exemplification of its results, that has been 

 witnessed in Europe, was given by the pro- 

 prietor of the Eccaleobion, which was lately ex- 

 hibited in Pall Mall, London. 



The mean temperature of incubation is 100 

 Fahr. ; it may vary from 95 to 105, and to- 

 wards the close of the process may be sus- 

 pended for one or two hours, or for a longer 

 period, according to the degree of extraneous 

 heat which the eggs may derive from their 

 situation, without fatal consequences to the 

 embryo. The power of communicating the 

 requisite degree of warmth to their eggs arises 

 out of the unusual developement of, and deter- 

 mination of blood to, a peculiar plexus of ves- 

 sels, distributed over the skin of the abdomen, 

 and which, in most birds, is connected with a 

 derivation of blood from the internal organs of 

 generation after the subsidence of the func- 

 tional activity of the ovarium and oviduct to 

 the external integuments. The vascular, hot, 

 and sensitive condition of the skin of the ab- 

 domen is the exciting cause of that uncontrol- 

 lable propensity to incubate, which the Greeks 

 denominated " storage," and which, with its 

 associated phenomena of patience, abstinence, 

 and self-denial, forms so remarkable a feature 

 in the economy of birds. The eggs of the bird 

 present several peculiarities in relation to the 

 circumstances under which the foetus is to be 

 developed ; their oval form permits a greater 

 proportion of their surface to be in contact 

 with the heat-communicating skin of the pa- 

 rent, than if they had been a spherical body ; 

 while the shell, by virtue of its hard, calcareous 

 texture, and its arched disposition about the 

 soft contents, sufficiently defends them from 

 the superincumbent pressure. As warmth is 

 the only essential influence which the egg de- 

 lives from the parent, the shell is porous and 

 permeable to air, and the germ is surrounded by 

 an adequate store of nutritious matter. See EGG. 



The period of incubation is generally di- 

 rectly as the size of the bird, but the degree 

 of developement which the chick attains prior 

 to exclusion varies. As a general rule, it is 

 inferior in birds of flight, as the Accipitrine 

 and Passerine orders, than in the terrestrial, 

 wading, and swimming birds ; and the warmth 

 and complexity of the nest bears relation to 

 this difference of developement. If the thrush 

 had been forewarned that her young would be 

 excluded from the egg naked and helpless, sshe 

 could not have prepared beforehand a warmer 

 and more comfortable abode than her instinct 

 had led her to construct for their accommoda- 

 tion; and if with such a nest we contrast the 

 rude mass of straw in which the hen deposits 

 and incubates her eggs, it might be imagined 

 that she knew beforehand that her chickens 

 would come into the world well clothed and 

 strong enough at once to run about and pick 

 up their own food. In this case, therefore, the 

 nest relates only to incubation; in the other, 

 to incubatiop and subsequent rearing of the 

 656 



' young; and according to the degrees of deve- 

 j lopement attained during incubation, and the 

 associated condition of the nest and habits 

 of the parent, birds have been divided into two 

 great groups, the dves altrices and Jives pracocct. 

 See GESTATION. 



INDIA, THE AGRICULTURE OF. The 

 British farmer will, I am afraid, not derive 

 many useful hints from the most careful study 

 of the agriculture of the eastern portions of 

 Asia. In Hindostan, for instance, too many 

 causes have contributed to retard the march 

 of agricultural improvement. The innate dis- 

 like of the natives to innovations of all kinds, 

 the nature of their region, their indolence, and 

 the political oppressions under which they 

 have long been labouring, are amongst the 

 many causes of the degraded state ^of Indian 

 agriculture. I am indebted to my brother, Mr. 

 George Johnson, of the Supreme Court of Cal- 

 cutta, for most of the following sketches of 

 Indian modes of cultivation. He says, in de- 

 scribing the residences of the Indian ryots or 

 farmers, "When I speak of an Indian farm, 

 the image must not rise to the mind of the Eu- 

 ropean reader of a substantial dwelling-house, 

 surrounded by commodious outbuildings, and 

 conveniently placed amongst its compactly en- 

 closed fields; such an agricultural establish- 

 ment bespeaks a far advance in the art of cul- 

 tivation, the employment of large capitals, and 

 remunerating prices to the cultivator. Now, 

 none of these contingencies occur in Hindos- 

 tan; but, on the contrary, the operations of 

 agriculture are rudely executed; the cultiva- 

 tors are poor, the profits are small, the results 

 correspondent. The dwellings of the ryot? 

 throughout India are in no degree superior te 

 the other mean huts with which they are asso- 

 ciated in the village. No barn is attached to 

 the residence of the poorer cultivators, for the 

 pittance of grain annually raised is imme- 

 diately beaten out the major part sold at once 

 to the merchant, and the small residue for seed 

 and sustenance is stored in baskets or jars, and 

 these are usually placed in the room where the 

 family dwells. The outbuildings rarely ex- 

 tend beyond an enclosure in which to secure 

 the cattle at night. By far the greatest num 

 ber of farms do not exceed a size requiring a 

 single yoke of oxen, for the occupier is the 

 only ploughman." 



The various imposts to which these little 

 farmers are exposed, sound strange to Eng- 

 lish agriculturists; they are enumerated by 

 Dr. Buchanan. (Ind. Rech. vol. ii. p. 200.) The 

 ryot's heap of grain is usually about 3000 

 seers : of this is first set apart 



For the gods, or rather for the priests - 



F..r charity to the brahmins and other mendicants 

 I For the astrologer ------. 



i For the hereditary brahmin of the village 



For the barber - 



For the potter - 



For the carpenter and blacksmith - 



For the measurer - 



For the wa&herwoman - 



For the beadle . _ . 



For the chief of the village 



For the accountant ... 



For the watchman 



For the conductor of the water 



Seers. 



5 



5 

 1 

 1 

 2 

 2 

 2 

 4 

 3 

 7 



53 



200 



10 



314 



