proper methods of incubation, and an avoidance of the cheap, flimsy, 

 and faulty incubators of which there is a multitude on the market. 

 There is a certain close relationship between free range and the hatch- 

 ing power; then the breeding stock should, therefore, always be pro- 

 vided with free range when possible to do so. 



Never use an incubator thermometer until you have tested it by 

 the side of a physician's clinical thermometer by placing in warm 

 water. This saves spoiling many hatches. 



HATCHING AND REARING BABY CHICKS. 



Should we use hens or incubators? I would say that if you only 

 wish to raise two or three dozen chicks for your own use and do not 

 care to sell either eggs or poultry, then it may pay you to use hens 

 exclusively. But if you wish to hatch a few early pullets to supply 

 you with eggs during the winter, if you expect to grow poultry or 



.Dead germ 



Development oi air cell. 



produce eggs in paying quantities, incubators are an absolute neces- 

 sity. I believe every farmer should own an incubator, one of suffi- 

 rient si/e to meet his requirements. Whatever you do, do not waste 

 your time, your energy, your money and your eggs on a cheaply con- 

 structed machine, simply because it is cheap in price. It is sure to 

 prove a waste of money, and the most expensive after all, for you may 

 waste more than half your eggs, a waste of coal oil and of your time, 

 and the chicks die soon after hatching. If you do not know the good 

 from the bad, write and get tin 1 ml vice of some of your friends. 



SELECTING THE EGGS. 



As a general rule, an egg should not be set, even from your best 

 hen, if the egg is a very poor one; by which w- mean poorly shaped, 

 a poor shell, or otherwise defective. Many fanciers, simply because a 



