556 Transactions of the American Institute. 



black rings of the abdomen, then remove and use it in cell-build« 

 ing, as they require room for honey. 



SUPERIOR WINTER APPLES. 



Mr. D. Odell, of Wayne county, on Liake Ontario, exhibited and 

 presented to the Club some apples of fine flavor, and in admirable 

 preservation. The varieties which he thinks most of for winter are 

 Northern Spy, Peck's Pleasant and Baldmn. 



THE CHICKEN-HATCHER. 



Dr. A. Preterre brought before the Club his apparatus for artifi- 

 cial egg-hatching, spoken of at the last meeting. He says most of 

 the difficulties of former arrangements have been overcome. His 

 lamp is fed from a reservoir of oil, so that a heat very uniform is 

 applied to the water, over which a sheepsldn, with the wool on, is 

 laid, the eggs on the wool. The first week the heat should be 

 about one hundred and four degrees; the second week about ninety- 

 six degrees. He has attached to his lamp a metallic thermometer, 

 §0 connected with a small batter}' that when the heat rises too high 

 a bell is constantly rung to give alarm. So, also, when the cold is 

 <X)o great for the eggs, the bell rings. In this way the process 

 gives him little trouble. He hatches eight out of twelve eggs 

 on an average, and finds it profitable to raise all his own poultry in 

 this way. Dr. P. invites all persons who would know more of this 

 process, and see it in constant use, to call at his office. No. 159 

 Bowery. He thinks the alarm thennometer, which makes the pro- 

 cess so much easier, can be applied for about five dollars. He 

 invented and made the arrangement he showed. Quite a brood 

 of chicks, some two weeks old, and others just hatched, were taken 

 from his basket, and ran about the Club room, picking up apple 

 seeds, to the great amusement of the ladies and children. 



SOLON ROBINSON ON FLORIDA. 



This veteran of the agricultural press has of late retunied from 

 Florida, where he passed the winter. He took the stand, and gave 

 us, in an informal way, his impressions about that distant and much 

 talked of State. As to climate, nothing can be more agreeable 

 than a Florida winter. It snows never, and rains seldom. He has 

 been out hunting and exploring all winter, has slept on the ground 

 without a tent, and been well all the time. It is the first winter 

 for many years that he has been able to pass without two or more 

 attacks of bronchitis. The general look of the country is that of 

 a sandy desert, overgrown with pines. But the soil is by no means 



