ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 191 



WEST PHILADELPHIA, Pa., March 8d, 1853. 



T. B. Miner, Esq. Dear Sir: In November, 1851, not enjoying 

 good health, I was induced to direct my mind to the raising of poul- 

 try, as an amusing employment, attended with a moderate degree of 

 exercise, which would in all probability prolong my time with my 

 family. I purchased three pairs of young Cochin China fowls, Vic- 

 toria stock three cocks and three pullets. I soon found (with proper 

 attention,) that their precocity and prolific character, combined with 

 hardiness, would require more extensive accommodations, one of the 

 pullets being the mother of eighty chicks, before she was a year old. 

 Of course, she did not hatch them all, though she laid forty-four eggs 

 in daily succession. 



I became convinced that there had not been sufficient attention 

 given by the farmers to that branch of their business, or our country 

 would have been much better supplied with poultry. 



MV success has induced several gentlemen to solicit me to give you 

 a description, in detail, of my chicken establishment; also the result 

 of my different experiments in hatching and rearing chickens by 

 artificial means. 



I will commence with my chicken houses. The west building is 

 eleven feet square, sixteen feet high on the south side, and twelve feet 

 on the north, with a cellar four feet deep ; the whole divided into 

 three stories ; the basement, eight feet high ; the next story, seven feet 

 high, with a slanting ceiling, parallel to, and four feet below the roof; 

 a passage four feet wide, partitioned off on the north side, with steps 

 for the fowls to pass to the roosts, and also to the nests, which are 

 situated (eighteen in number,) near the middle of the building the 

 best location to protect them from excessive heat or cold the hens 

 entering through holes in this partition, to the nests, the eggs being 

 taken out from a passage on the other side, where there are small 

 panes of glass set in each shutter that opens into the nests. This 

 building is lighted and aired with windows in each story, on the 

 south side ; one window on the west, lighting the passage to the 

 roosts, and one in the east end, near the ceiling, with a trap-door in 

 the roof, for ventilation ; which door is only partly lifted by means 

 of a cord and pully attached to a covering over it. All the windows 

 have glass, and open to give air, which is essential to the health of 

 the fowls. Adjoining this, on the east, is a room for feed, five feet by 

 eleven. Next to this is a building twenty-four feet by eleven, glass on. 

 the south, front, and east end, with glass roof, pitching to the south, 

 with a passage way, two feet wide by three feet high, for the older 

 fowls to go to the roosts and nests from an open shed east of this 

 building. Next in order is a chicken house ten feet square, with 

 roosts and nests, and a passage to take the eggs ; one window in the 

 south, with glass, one in the west, and one in the east side, for venti- 

 lation, with an open shed attached on the east side. Adjoining this 

 on the east, is another chicken house, ten feet square, one window in 

 the south, and one in the east, with glass, and one in the west, for 

 ventilation. This house is divided into two apartments, one for the 

 young cocks, the other for the young pullets, with an open shed 



