62 EAISESTG FOWLS AND EGGS 



his place. He has already hatched out this year several thou- 

 sand chicks in his immense incubators, which are now doing 

 finely, in the large brooding-house. He has growing, in a i-ange 

 of boxes hung around the entire length of the brooding-house, 

 beds of lettuce, which he has cut with long shears, to distribute 

 daily among the young birds — a luxury they enjoy intensely. 



After a careful survey of the premises, and noting what has 

 been done and what is still in prospect at Cresskill, we conclude 

 that Mr. AVilliam C. Baker stands head and shoulders above us 

 all in America as a poultry-raiser, and that his enormous chicken- 

 farm is the largest and most perfect institution of its kind ever 

 attempted, or ever yet consummated successfully, on either side 

 of the Atlantic. 



The above account is both interesting and curious. The 

 poultry fraternity of this country will be surprised alike at the 

 magnitude of this undertaking of Mr. Baker, and at its success. 

 Nothing like it exists elsewhere on earth, to-day. And the as- 

 tonishment is enhanced, that so enormous an establishment for 

 the raising of chickens is found in America ! 



A few years ago, it will be remembered that the agricultural 

 journals of this country published a long detailed account of 

 the immense fowl-houses and incubating arrangements for the 

 production of chickens and eggs in countless numbers, artifi- 

 cially, of one Monsieur De Sora near Paris, France. 



After this fabulous account had had its run through the print- 

 ed journals, and the curiosity of the public had been vastly 

 excited over so curious and astounding a record, it turned out 

 that this thrice magnified tale, " a thousand times o'er-told," • 

 had no real foundation at all, in fact! There was no such 

 poultry-establishment in existence, as " De Sora's." There was 

 no such fowl-hatching estate in France. There was no such 

 individual as De Sora. The whole story, from beginnino- to 

 ending, was a canard. 



But in the record now made, which is taken from the pages 

 of the Hartford, Conn., " Poultry World " for May, 1877, there 

 is accuracy and verity. We have examined Mr. Baker's great 

 estate, and we have been gratified and surprised — as others in- 

 terested in fowl-breeding matters have been — at its vastness, 

 its economy, its feasibihty, and its entire success. 



In a foot-note to page 46 of this book, we have recorded for 

 the benefit of our readers a method for preserving eggs, all the 

 year round, where they are used from time to time, for family 



