INCUBATION. 



187 



chine, during the process of incubation, than 

 formerly. This was the great objection to all 

 previously constructed hatching-machines. It 

 may now go three days without attention ; for- 

 merly it could scarcely be left three hours. 



This new machine is a very simple contriv- 

 ance, and can, consequently, be constructed at 

 about one-fourth of the expense formerly re- 

 quired. The practical results are equally sat- 

 isfactory, for he states that the average number 

 of birds produced is 80 out of every 100 eggs. 

 The necessary heat is obtained from a naptha 

 lamp, without a wick, which is so arranged that 

 it may be left to itself for two or three days to- 

 gether, and yet the process of hatching goes on 

 with due regularity and certainty. 



The eggs are placed on a series of tubes, 

 through which a stream of hot water is, by 

 means of the naptha lamp, kept constantly 

 flowing; and when the chicken comes out of 

 the shell, it is placed beneath the same tubes, 

 which now perform the second duty of the arti- 

 ficial parent. After being kept there the pro- 

 per time, it is removed to a compartment more 

 suited to its increasing strength, and is ulti- 

 mately placed in a pen in the open air. 



The naptha consumed, during the three weeks 

 of incubation, about one gallon, which may be 

 purchased at 78 cents per gallon. 



A SCIENTIFIC HATCHING MACHINE. 



A hatching machine has been invented in 

 France, by M. Vallee, which is described by the 

 Paris Correspondent of the Intelligencer. A 

 drum, inclosing a warming cylinder, forms the 

 basis of his system. He introduces air into the 

 drum in which the eggs are deposited, and by 



circular openings, gives access to currents of 

 cold air. It is by the distribution and vigorous- 

 ly rational combination of warm and cold air 

 that he obtains that dampish temperature in 

 which lies the secret of incubation, from which 

 results the development of the embryo in the 

 e gg- By this instrument artificial hatching is 

 necessarily carried on in every state of the at- 

 mosphere, and at all seasons. But after the 

 burst of the shell, a mother must be provided 

 for the young. M. Vallee's ingenuity thus pro- 

 vides for this emergency. A lamb-skin is fas- 

 tened by one extremity to a plank, and made 

 to open at the other end like a pair of bellows. 

 This affords a cover for the little ones, and 

 keeps them as warm as would a veritable moth- 

 er hen. The result of M. Vallee's experience, 

 touching the period of incubation necessary for 

 the various species of eggSj is curious, and wor- 

 thy of record. Here it is: Chickens, 21 days; 

 partridges, 24 days ; pheasants, 25 days ; Guinea- 

 hen, 25 days ; common duck, 28 days; pea fowl, 

 28 days ; Barbary ducks, 30 days; geese, 30 days. 

 The degree of heat required is from 104 to 122 

 Fahrenheit. A small lamp of the Locatelli sys- 

 tem suffices to raise the temperature of the ap- 

 paratus to the proper elevation. With such a 

 machine every farmer could have a fine supply 

 of fowls. 



Notwithstanding the ease and certainty in 

 which birds can be hatched with artificial heat, 

 somehow or other they do not seem to be re- 

 garded with favor. Let us be content, then, 

 with our feathered tenants of the poultry-yards 

 as they are, and be grateful to a kind Provi- 

 dence for the fowls we have, which are pension- 

 ers on our bounty. 



