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THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



these apartments are covered with flannel, on 

 which the eggs are laid. The divisions inside 

 are tin, probably hollow, to contain hot water 

 or steam, which is generated in a small cylinder 

 standing in the centre of the machine, and ex- 

 tending through the top of the box, and a small 

 pipe conducts off the smoke. In one end of 

 the machine hangs a thermometer, apparently 

 partly immersed in the water, by which the 

 temperature is noted. 



In one of the apartments we noticed some of 

 the chickens busily employed liberating them- 

 selves from their imprisonment, coming forth 

 into light and existence, rolling and tumbling 

 about in all directions, and all through the agen- 

 cy of artificial means. 



The wonderful and interesting phenomenon 

 of producing animal life by machinery, presents 

 a sight truly curious, beautiful, and interesting. 

 We were informed that the chickens come forth 

 from this machine strong, active, and healthy. 



The warmth imparted by this apparatus, it is 

 said, is uniform, continued, and so completely 

 under control, that it does not, as is often the 

 case with eggs when sat upon by the hen, ever 

 addle them. 



On one side of the machine a large box, the 

 same length as the machine, four feet wide, 

 with one side oif, was placed close up, in which 

 the chickens were put twenty or twenty-four 

 hours after they were hatched. Arched holes 

 were open at the bottom of the apparatus, through 

 which the chickens passed to and fro to warm 

 themselves, and did not seem to require or feel 

 the loss of their maternal parent. They are 

 constantly busy, either running about their 

 apartment, or scratching the sand with their 

 feet, and picking up the smallest particle of 

 food which they discover. It would seem that 

 there is no difficulty in teaching them to eat 

 and drink; for they appear to perform these 

 operations spontaneously, or from observation, 

 as they are prompted by hunger. 



Our interest was greatly increased and much 

 excited on noticing with what certainty they 

 would recognize the footsteps of the person who 

 feeds and attends them. When he crosses the 

 room to get their food, they would huddle to 

 one side of the box and then to the other, and 



apparently listen for his return. When he 

 scratched on the bottom or side of the box they 

 would rush there with great rapidity. 



Beautiful as a brood of chickens always are 

 under any circumstances, the interest excited 

 is greatly increased by the artificial system of 

 hatching and rearing. 



M. Reaumur, in the course of his very inter- 

 esting experiments, tried several plans for the 

 substitution of what he aptly denominated an 

 artificial mother. By bringing the chickens up 

 in a hot-bed, indeed, it would be easy to make 

 them enjoy a perpetual summer, exempt from 

 all exposure to rain or to cold nights. For the 

 first fortnight or three weeks, they may be ad- 

 vantageously reared in the oven where they 

 have been hatched, taking them out five or six 

 times a day to give them food and water ; but 

 this is much more troublesome than there is any 

 occasion for, and some of the ingenious devices 

 of Reaumur or Bonnemain may be adopted. 



KEAUMTJK'S ARTIFICIAL MOTHER. 



The former says : " My apparatus did not at 

 first appear to be sufficiently perfect, because, 

 though the chickens were kept in warm air, 

 they had no equivalent for the gentle pressure 

 of the belly of the mother upon their backs, 

 when she sits over them. Their back is, in fact, 

 necessarily more warmed than the other parts 



