22 EAISING rO"WLS AND EGGS 



cultivate, honestly and advisedly. The " humbiigs in the hen 

 trade " are not aU dead, yet — even in this year of grace 1877. 



Apply to a good man, and enjoin it upon him to ship you the 

 freshest eggs he has, from fowls that have been properly mated 

 for breeding. Pay him his price — get them at as reasonable a 

 figure as you ought to for the kind it may be — and do not 

 send your order for them until you have procured a hen, or 

 have one at hand ready, to set. 



The safest way to set a hen, is to place her at first for a 

 few days, say, upon glass or common eggs. When she is 

 firmly attached to the nest, then give her those you have pur- 

 chased, or set aside for breeding from. She will remain steady 

 after the third day, if she is in earnest. And all you need to 

 do is to see that she comes off, daily, or is taken off the nest 

 for food, bathing in the sulphur-dust and ash box, and returns 

 to her duty before the eggs chill, if the weather* is cold. 



In the earliest weeks of spring, I have found nine Cochin or 

 Brahma eggs as many as a hen will then cover to advantage, 

 in 'the sitting-nest. Eleven or thirteen are used, frequently. 

 But there will rarely be hatched of these over seven or eight 

 chicks, in the coldest months of spring-time. Of the smaller 

 varieties, such as the Leghorns, Plymoftth Rocks, Spanish, 

 Hamburgs, etc., the greater number of eggs may be used.* 



Make it a point to place the sitting ben upon .her nest in the 

 evening, always. She wiU through this method be more stead- 

 fast in her brooding. Prepare the nest in a quiet portion of 

 the house, or furnish her with a covered box, or coop, by her- 

 self in an out-of-the-way corner, where she will remain undis- 

 turbed by other hens, and especially by the cocks in your runs. 



The bottom of the sitting-nest is well made by placing a 

 grass-sod first in the box, with the roots upward. Upon this 

 fresh damp earth lay short straw or hay, mingled with tobacco 

 leaves, if you can procure them handily. Sprinkle over all a 

 little fine powder of sulphur — and, the last thing before you 

 put the hen upon the eggs, rub sulphur-dust, or carbolic pow- 

 der through her feathers, thoroughly. By this means you 



• These and the Houdan, Dorking, or Game Cocks, make a good crosa with common 

 fowls. 



