ARTIFICIAL HATCHING USELESS. 51 



otherwise, there is no doubt but the artificial process 

 might be conducted here with sufficient success, 

 and to the immense multiplication of domestic fowls 

 of every description, an adequate expenditure in 

 houses and attendants being pre-supposed. On a 

 first consideration of the subject, indeed, a great 

 apparent difficulty may present, of obtaining a suffi- 

 cient quantity of eggs ; but the case is parallel, at 

 any rate, to a certain degree, in Egypt, where, not- 

 withstanding, such an obstacle has never impeded 

 the practice. This view is, in all likelihood, appro- 

 priate to France equally with England. No person, 

 then, will attempt artificial hatching, but from the 

 motive of mere curiosity, and that motive must in- 

 deed be powerful, to carry one through the endless 

 labour and attendance required. A lady, some 

 years since, obtained a premium often guineas from 

 one of the Societies, for the plan of multiplying 

 chickens, by causing the hens to sit CONSTANTLY, or 

 a great many times in the season, which we had 

 tried without success, many years before. It is, in 

 fact, to undertake the most difficult part of the arti- 

 ficial process, that of bringing up the chickens with- 

 out hens. Nor would the disappointments be few, 

 in procuring hens, which would sit beyond the usual 

 periods, and those so disposed, soon become con- 

 sumptive and useless from such hard duty. The 

 plan indeed, as a general one, is totally useless. On 

 this head, De Reaumur thus characterizes the hens 

 of his country : 



" So long as we shall depend entirely upon our 

 hens, we must not expect to see the multiplication 



