Proceedings of the Farmer^ Club. 541 



I^Ir. N. C. Meeker. — There is a good reason for that. The labor 

 of one of those Copts or Arabs is not "worth much more than the 

 time of a setting hen. 



Mr. Solon Eobinson. — The thing has been tried again and again. 

 Bring me the first man who will say that he has made anything by 

 it, and I will believe in it. 



Dr. Adolph Preterre said he had been making experiments for 

 many years, and was perfectly satisfied that artificial hatching could 

 be made profitable. He has two sets, one of one hundred and thirty, 

 and another of one hundred and sixty eggs, now hatching. He 

 gets generally eight chickens from every dozen eggs. The process 

 has been much improved by the use of kerosene for heating, as its 

 warmth was more uniform than that of any oil lamp. There is a 

 French apparatus so adjusted that the falling of the mercury rings 

 a bell, as also its rising, thus giving a note of alarm the moment 

 the heat becomes insufficient or excessive. "When my chicks 

 appear, I give them nothing for twenty-four hours. Then I feed 

 with boiled egg, chopped fine, and Indian meal, cracked corn, 

 millet, wheat, &c., as others do. Next week I will bring my appa- 

 ratus before the Club. 



Prof. S. D. Tillman. — The question is not one of scientific curi- 

 osity, but a matter of dollars and cents. Does it, in any case, pay 

 better than the usual mode of obtaining chickens? Eccaleobions 

 have often been tried in Europe, but do not seem to be successful. 

 They requh'e some care and oversight by intelligent beings, and 

 perhaps on this account the artificial plan is found the most 

 exjjensive. 



Mr. S. E. Todd. — The time of a setting hen has been spoken of 

 as little worth. Now, if the eggs are taken from her, a hen will 

 keep on laying, and give her owner four or five dozen eggs in the 

 time required to hatch and raise a'brood. 



Mr. Wm. Lawton. — One hen for setting in every five is a good 

 rule. I see no use in resorting to an expensive and curious machine 

 for enabling me to dispense with the summer labor and productive- 

 ness of four hens. 



SEED POTATOES. 



Mr, Wm. S. Carpenter showed a few fine tubers of the Harison 

 and the Early Goodrich. 



Mr. J. C. Thompson, Tompkiusville, Staten Island, said a few 

 good things about cutting up potatoes for seed. The planter 

 chould begin at the stem end, and cut so as to give a piece of the 



