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airing at all, and certainly did not need and could not stand the cool- 

 ing, for out of 8 fertile eggs tested on the seventh day there was but 

 one live germ, and out of several hatches of 30 dozen eggs each he got 

 less than 1 dozen chicks per hatch. Through my ad\'ice he stopped 

 the airing scheme, and out of the next hatch he got 108 chicks from 

 180 eggs, and 43 from the other 180 eggs, and from this experiment he 

 also learned that there was trouble in the flocks that the 43 chicks came 

 from. Now, there is another who has derived more or less benefit 

 since he began to air the eggs, and a comparison of the conditions 

 will easily show why. In the first place, the ventilation is not near as 

 good as that of the first party, and then if the room is too cold he has 

 a little stove to warm it up. This is all now on the cooling practice, 

 but when we come to the brooding and rearing of the chicks I will 

 refer to it again. 



To illustrate the difference in conditions, I will quote from one more 

 of my visits, where the party was not satisfied with his hatches. He 

 had an incubator cellar, stoned up to the roof, with three small win- 

 dows, about 10 by 20 inches on each side, but those on the lee side were 

 the only ones that were ever opened, and those only a little at the top, 

 and this was all the ventilation there was; there was also a cement 

 floor, which made it very dry. In this room there were some 18 in- 

 cubators, and, while everything was kept nice and clean, one was very 

 glad to get out and get a good breath of fresh air. The same party had 

 6 incubators in a very damp cellar, with not much provision for venti- 

 lation, but it was very large and roomy, and he had not taken off any 

 hatches from these machines; but the writer told him at once that 

 this was the place to hatch chickens, the other place was too close, 

 too chockey and too dry, and it proved just so. So it is very plain that 

 one must learn just what is best to do under his own conditions. This 

 is not to be construed that one is not to get other people's ideas, 

 either verbally or through the papers, — do so by all means; but 

 also learn what their cotiditions are, then take them home and apply 

 them if necessary. 



In the artificial rearing of chickens by the amateur there are many 

 obstacles if he undertakes to work them all out himself; but if he so 

 elects, he has many advantages over the beginner of fifteen or twenty 

 years ago, because where he has a chance to imitate, the other had to 

 feel his way in the dark and make many costly experiments; and 

 even now, while there are plent}^ of parties that are successful in this 

 business, making a good thing out of it, it is very doubtful if there is 

 one single party that is all tlirough experimenting and trying to do 

 better, which simply shows that there is still chance for improvement. 



The first requisite in the artificial raising of chickens is the brooder; 

 and when one considers that the most important factor that brought 

 the chicken into this world as a living being was heat, and that that 

 heat had to be about right in order to produce a strong, healthy chick, 

 it will be eas}^ to understand that the temperature in the brooder 

 must be about right to have the chicks live and do well, because that 

 important factor does not cease as soon as the chick gets out of the 

 shell but remains in full force for several weeks. No one would think 

 of taking a little chick out of an incubator, where the temperature is 

 above 100°, and turning it loose to shirk for itself with no old hen to 

 cuddle up to, to warm itself; so it was necessary that some way be 

 devised to supply the proper heat. But the next question is, What is 

 the proper temperature, and how shall we provide it? The writer 

 works on the plan that, if there is a suitable place provided that is a 

 little too warm, and if the temperature is gradually and continuously 



