AMERICAN POULTRY CULTURE 
never will, aside from the fact that machines are 
always ready for business and are not inclined to 
any sudden flights of fancy like an old hen, and 
consequently do not refuse to sit at a critical time 
nor do they trample and kill the little chicks. 
The expense of operating an incubator is slight, 
and the time and labor required are of no great 
consequence, and certainly are much less than that 
which would be required to look after broody hens 
attending to the same number of eggs. Our expe- 
rience has been that, on the average, it requires 
four or five gallons of oil to run a 240-egg capacity 
machine one hatch, and three or four gallons for a 
120-egg machine in moderately cold weather; in 
warm weather it takes much less. 
There is nothing tedious or irksome connected 
with the operating of a good incubator. The only 
care a good machine requires is keeping the lamp 
filled and the wick trimmed, turning the eggs morn- 
ing and evening, and looking at the thermometer 
two or three times a day to see that the correct heat 
is being maintained, which is 103°. To be sure, 
some of the machines on the market, that are more 
cheaply constructed, require more close and con- 
stant attention than this; but this is not the kind of 
machine to buy, because with incubators, as with 
everything else, ‘‘ the best is always the cheapest.” 
We never allow our incubators to interfere with 
our sleep, or to prevent us from going visiting of 
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