IN QUANTITY B"OE MARKET. 41 



in Mr. Baker's verified experience, precisely as the hen performs 

 her duty in the natural way, so must the incubator perform its 

 duty to be successful in the hatching. (See cut on page 50). 



The incubating-apartment is watched over by two or threa 

 females, Mr. Baker believing that this delicate process can be 

 more aptly and appropriately managed by woman's hands, than 

 by those of the rougher and sterner sex. The eggs in the trays 

 are turned regularly once in a day, by these attendants. The 

 heat conveyed to the interior of the incubators, as we have de- 

 scribed, is controlled automatically. An electric battery in the 

 adjoining room communicates with the hot-water chambers over 

 the eggs, and also with the gas-jets ; and when the temperature 

 becomes too hot or too cold for the healthy and rightful progress 

 of the hatchings, the undue variation of heat is instantly an- 

 nounced, through indicators governed by the electrical current 

 and apparatus contrived for this special purpose. The atmo- 

 sphere in the incubating department is kept moist and humid 

 — like the warm spring air — by placing open, shallow pans of 

 water around, upon which the heated air acts advantageously, 

 evaporating it evenly and admirably. 



The numberless eggs produced and procured by Mr. Baker 

 for his immense incubators are each and all tested before setting 

 in the trays, and afterwards, at stated times, to ascertain if they 

 are stale, clear or fresh, and vitalized. And all day long, and 

 every day in the week, hundreds of chickens are now forthcoming 

 from the drawers of the incubators, as we can af&rm from per- 

 sonal observation. 



The young birds remain in the trays (where they first see day- 

 light after breaking their shells) for two or three hours, when 

 they become dry and lively, and are soon transferred to what 

 Mr. Baker calls his " brooding-house " — delineated on page 42. 

 This glass house is thirty feet in width, and one hundred and 

 fifty-eight feet in length. It is sixteen feet high to the central 

 peak inside, and it is divided off into fifty separate compart- 

 ments (twenty-five on either side), in each of which are kept 

 and " brooded," artificially, one hundred chicks from the second 

 day of their birth to two or three months old; the accommoda- 

 tions within this large conservatory being ample for five thou- 

 sand chicks at a time, of all ages. 



Here may bet seen chickens of every hue and stripe, from the 

 size of a half-grown robin to that of a pigeon or partridge, all 

 in high health, active, sprightly, and evidently happy in the con- 

 stant " summer atmosphere " that is kept up in this building 



