Proceedings of tee Farmers' Club. 649 



cabbages as fast as a coav, pretty near. I get my eggs from little, 

 neat Dominique pullets, as trim as a partridge, and speckled like a 

 hawk. 



Mr. P. T. Quinn. — The views advanced by the committee are, 

 according to my experience, sound, and can be safely recommended 

 by the club as a sunmiary of what is known about breeds of poultry. 

 Many a poultry book of 150 pages does not contain so much that is 

 really valuable and conclusive as this well considered and condensed 

 report. 



Dr. Isaac P. Trimble. — The report is silent on the virtue of the 

 black Hamburg or the penciled Ilamburgs. 



Mr. P. T. Quinn. — Properly so. The Hamburg is unfit for the 

 table, and, much like the black Spanish, is not hardy. It is a showy 

 chicken, and of some importance for mere fanciers. The mass of the 

 farming community will not find profit in them. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — I see w^e have with us to-day, and he is a 

 regular attendant here, Dr. A. Preterre, to whom the gold medal 

 was awarded for the best device for hatching by artificial heat. We 

 would like to hear from him. 



Dr. A. Preterre. — My apparatus consists of a small case of draw- 

 ers, where the eggs are laid on cotton. Under the drawers is a vessel 

 of water, which is kept at the right temperature by a lamp. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — What is the right temperature ? 



Dr. A. Preterre. — 102 degrees. I have known the mercury to go 

 as high as 105 degrees without mischief, and to fall to ninety -five 

 degrees without spoiling the eggs. I have a little arrangement by 

 which the expansion of a small bar of metal completes the connec- 

 tion, and allows a current of electricity to ring a bell. Its contrac- 

 tion, also, rings a bell. Thus I have an alarm from the incubator 

 the moment the heat is wrong. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — How many of a dozen can you hatch ? 



Dr. A. Preterre. — Of good fresh eggs I have hatched every one. 

 Generally there are three or four in a dozen that, for some reason, 

 fail. But I think I can hatch out eight or nine from each of a hund- 

 red dozen eggs. Generally it takes three weeks, but some have come 

 out in a little less than twenty days. I shall be pleased to show this 

 device of mine to any member of the club who has the curiosity to 

 look further into the business of artificial hatching, which I find both 

 practicable and profitable. 



