INCUBATION 
As proof of my contention I may give results of a series 
of full season hatches for 1908, each involving several thou- 
sand eggs. 
First, a state experiment station, the name of which I do 
not care to publish. Incubators kept in a cement basement 
which has flues in which fires were built to secure “ample 
ventilation.” This caused a strong draft of cold, dry air, mak- 
ing the worst possible condition for incubation. The hatch for 
the season averaged 25 per cent. and was explained by lack of 
vitality in the stock. 
Second, Ontario Agricultural College. A room above ground, 
moisture used in most machines and various other efforts be- 
ing made to improve the hatches by a staff of half a dozen 
scientists. Results: Hatch 48 per cent.—incubator manufac- 
turers call the experimenters names and say they are ignorant 
and prejudiced. 
Third, Cornell University: dry ventilated basement repre- 
senting typical conditions of common incubator practice of the 
country. Results: Hatch 52 per cent., results when given out 
commonly based on fertile eggs and every one generally 
pleased. 
Fourth: One of the most successful poultrymen in New 
York State, who has, without knowing why, hit upon the plan 
of using a no-moisture type of incubator in a basement which 
is heated with steam pipes, which maintains temperature at 
70 degrees and has a cement floor which is kept covered with 
water. Results: Hatch 59 per cent. 
Fifth: As a fifth in such a series I might mention again 
the Egyptian machine with the uniform vapor pressure of the 
climate and the three chicks exchanged for four eggs. 
While an official in the United States Department of Agri- 
culture, I gathered data from original records of private plants 
covering the incubation of several hundred thousand eggs. 
Such information was furnished me in confidence as a public 
official and as a private citizen I have no right to publish that 
which would mean financial profit or loss to those concerned. 
Of records where there were ten thousand or more eggs in- 
volved, the lowest I found was 44 per cent. and the highest, 
that mentioned as the fourth case above, or 59 per cent. The 
great majority of these records hung very closely around the 
50 per cent. mark. 
The following is a fair sample of such data. It is the record 
of hatching hen eggs for the first six months of 1908, at one 
of the largest poultry plants in America: 
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