273 



Fecundity of Hens. 



Vol. IX. 



phere upon the whole surface of our globe. 

 J3y the action of its oxygen and its carbonic 

 acid, aided by water, rain, changes of tem- 

 perature, &c., certain elementary constitu- 

 ents of rocks, or of their ruins, which form 

 the soil capable of cultivation, are rendered 

 soluble in water, and consequently become 

 separable from all their insoluble parts. 



These chemical actions, poetically de- 

 nominated " the tooth of time," destroy all 

 the works of man, and gradually reduce the 

 hardest rocks to the condition of dust. By 

 their influence the necessary elements of 

 the soil become fitted for assimilation by 

 plants; and it is precisely the end which is 

 obtained by the mechanical operations of 

 farming. They accelerate the decomposi- 

 tion of the soil, in order to provide a new 

 generation of plants with the necessary ele- 

 ments in a condition favourable to their as- 

 similation. It is obvious that the rapidity of 

 the decomposition of a solid body must in- 

 crease with the extension of its surface; the 

 more points of contact we offer in a given 

 time to the external chemical agent, the 

 more rapid will be its action. 



The chemist, in order to prepare a mine 

 ral for analysis, to decompose it, or to in 

 crease the solubility of its elements, pro- 

 ceeds in the same way as the farmer deals 

 with his fields — he spares no labour in order 

 to reduce it to the finest powder; he sepa^ 

 rates the impalpable from the coarser parts 

 by washing, and repeats his mechanical 

 bruising and trituration, being assured his 

 whole process will fail if he is inattentive 

 to this essential and preliminary part of it. 



The influence which the increase of sur- 

 face exercises upon the disintegration of 

 rocks, and upon the chemical action of air 

 and moisture, is strikingly illustrated upon 

 a large scale in the operations pursued in 

 the gold mines of Yaquil, in Chili. These 

 are described in a very interesting manner 

 by Darwin. The rock containing the gold 

 ore is pounded by mills into the finest pow- 

 der; this is subjected to washing, which 

 separates the lighter particles from the me- 

 tallic; the gold sinks to the bottom, while a 

 stream of water carries away the lighter 

 earthy parts into ponds, where it subsides to 

 the bottom as mud. When this deposit has 

 gradually filled up the pond, this mud is 

 taken out and piled in heaps, and left e.x 

 posed to the action of the atmosphere and 

 moisture. The washing completely removes 

 all the soluble part of the disintegrated rock; 

 the insoluble part, moreover, cannot undergo 

 any further change while it is covered with 

 water, and so excluded from the influence of 

 the atmosphere at the bottom of the pond. 

 But being exposed at once to the air and 



moisture, a ppwerful chemical action takes 

 place in the whole masfe, which becomes in- 

 dicated by an etflorescence of salts covering 

 the whole surface of the heaps in consider- 

 able quantity. After being exposed for two 

 or three years, the mud is again subjected 

 to the same process of washing, and a con- 

 siderable quantity of gold is obtained, this 

 having been separated by the chemical pro- 

 cess of decomposition in the mass. The 

 exposure and washing of the same mud is 

 repeated six or seven times, and at every 

 washing it furnishes a new quantity of gold, 

 although its amount diminishes every time. 

 Precisely similar is the chemical action 

 which takes place in the soil of our fields; 

 and we accelerate and increase it by the 

 mechanical operations of agriculture. By 

 these we sever and extend the surface, and 

 endeavour to make every atom of the soil 

 accessible to the action of the carbonic acid 

 and oxygen of the atmosphere. We thus 

 produce a stock of soluble mineral sub- 

 stances, which serve as nourishment to a 

 new generation of plants, and which are in- 

 dispensable to their growth and prosperity. 



Fecundity of Hens. 



We take Ihe following from Bement's American 

 Poulterer's Companion, a work of which we have 

 heretofore spoken, and of which all our housewives who 

 would be successful with their poultry, should possess 

 themselves.— Ed. 



The question is often asked "why hens 

 cannot be made to lay as well in the winter 

 as in the summer?" They can, to a certain 

 extent; but they require as a condition, .that 

 they be well provided with warm and com- 

 fortable lodging, clean apartments, plenty of 

 food, in all its variety, consisting of grain, 

 vegetable and animal food, pure water, and 

 gravel, lime, and sand to roll and bask in. 



A writer in the Southern Agriculturist 

 says: "To make hens lay in winter, they 

 should be shut up in a warm place. Boiled 

 potatoes, turnips, carrots and parsnips, are 

 cheap and good food," &c. 



" The reason why hens do not lay in win- 

 ter," observes a writer in the New England 

 Farmer, "is becau.se the earth is covered 

 with snow so that they can find no ground or 

 other calcareous matter to tbrm the shells. 

 If the bones of meat or poultry be pound6d 

 and given to them, either mixed with their 

 food, or by itself, they will eat greedily, and 

 lay eggs as well as in warm weather. When 

 hens are fed on oats, they lay better than 

 v^hen fed on any other grain." 



Tliere seem naturally to be two seasons 

 of the year wht>n hens lay; early in the 

 spring, and afterwards in summer: indi- 



