ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 193 



two feet two inches wide, nineteen inches high on one side, and eighteen 

 inches on the other, in the clear; back end closed, and made entire of 

 inch boards ; lined with tin, soldered water-tight, with shutters in two 

 equal parts, hung to the bottom and in the middle with hinges, and 

 buttons to close the front end. In the upper part of the shutter there 

 are two sliding valves, each four inches by six, to give air, and regu- 

 late the heat. The outside of the ovens, and the partitions, should be 

 well coated over with pitch, to exclude moisture, and preserve the 

 wood from dec-ay. The ovens should be placed eighteen inches above 

 the ground, supported with posts at the back end, and four feet apart, 

 with an open board partition, the boards running up and down, ten 

 inches apart, to divide the dung between the ovens, and yet not 

 entirely separate, so that in renewjn-g the dug of one oven, the other 

 may not be chilled. There should be a window in the back, to give 

 air, and to receive the dung through. The dung should be such as is 

 made in a well littered horse stable, and used, straw and dung mixed, 

 and well watered while being thrown into a pile, where it is to 

 remain twenty-four hours to soak, and admit the redundant water to 

 pass off. It should be placed loosely around the ovens, which will 

 not require renewing for two weeks; then only renew half the length 

 of the oven at a time, judging from the heat when more of it is to be 

 renewed, which will be required about every week. Tan will make 

 a better bed under the oven than dung; the heat will last longer. 

 The egg box, four feet long, two feet wide, three inches deep, lined 

 with baize, ten inches of one end covered with wire, to keep in the 

 chickens that are just hatched ; the other part of the box should have 

 a light frame, with twine placed between the eggs, and attached to 

 the frame, to turn all the eggs at one time. The egg box rests on a 

 carriage which runs on rails laid on the bottom of the oven, with a 

 moveable attachment, to run the carriage entirely out of the oven. 

 The egg box turns on a centre, to reverse the ends in the oven. The 

 carriage is made in two parts ; the lower part has sash pullies let 

 into it, to roll on the rails ; the upper part is connected to the lower 

 with four small bars of iron, about eight inches long, with holes for a 

 wood screw in each end, and the screws put into the top and bottom, 

 when they lie together, (which moves like a parallel ruler,) and con- 

 fined to different heights by a hook about ten inches long, fast to the 

 upper part, and hooking into staples driven into a piece of wood 

 running along, and fastened to the lower part. This arrangement is 

 to sustain the egg box at different heights, to suit the required degree 

 of heat, which I have found to be as near as it can be kept, to one 

 hundred and four degrees, from the first to the last stage of successful 

 hatching. My feed room can be made perfectly dark. Through one 

 of the doors is a hole one and one-fourth inch in diameter, over which 

 is a piece of cloth tacked, (an inch hole in it,) that will exclude all the 

 light, except what passes through it, where can be seen the first 

 progress of the chick, and in four days, if there is no appearance of a 

 chicken, boil it for the young brood. 



Next in order is the rearing of chickens without the aid of a mother. 

 In the basement of the first named building, on a level with the top 

 of the Eccaleobion, is a platform four feet by seven, with a elide to 

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