ON 



Mr. C, R. Belcher, of East Randolph, Mass., gives in Miner's Do- 

 mestic Poultry, the following description of his China geese : " The 

 bill is black, with a black or dark-colored protuberance surmount- 

 ing the base of the upper mandible. A feathered wattle hangs 

 under the throat ; a dark brown stripe proceeds from the back of 

 the head down the neck, until it reaches the upper part of the body 

 between the wings ; the fronts of the neck and the breast are yellow- 

 ish gray; the abdomen is white; the back and all the upper parts 

 of the body are of a dark, grayish color, and the legs dark, with 

 black feet. 



At two years of age, or when mature, they weigh twenty or 

 twenty-five pounds. They are more prolific than any other variety, 

 laying from early spring until late in the summer. It is claimed 

 that they will hatch three broods in a year. 



TKere is also a white variety of the Chinese geese which possess 

 the general characteristics and qualities of the dark breed, the prin- 

 cipal difference being found in the fact that these have pure white 

 plumage. The other principal varieties are the Bremen, African 

 or Guinea, Indian Mountain, Poland and Common any of which 

 may be made profitable under proper management and surround- 

 ings, but no one should attempt to breed geese unless provided with 

 pasturage for them in an enclosure separate from that occupied by 

 other domestic poultry. 



ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 



This subject has attracted a great deal of attention for the last 

 ten years. The incubators and artificial mothers have been so far 

 improved that both are now an assured success under intelligent 

 manipulation. There are several patents which have given very 

 general satisfaction. 



The heat is applied by an ordinary lamp, by means of which a 

 chamber, in which the eggs are placed on drawers, is heated to 102 

 or 303 F.,and so constructed with valves as to regulate the temper- 

 ature within a limit of two or three degrees above or below 102 F. 



Some use dry air chambers, while others transmit the heat through 

 water tanks. All of the more modern machines apply the heat 

 from above the eggs, and supply the necessary conditions of moist- 



