16 KAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 



periment was tried, with like success, in Poland. A French 

 prince attempted it at Chantilly, subsequently, without the 

 Bermean — but failed. And it was concluded that to do this 

 work as they did it — producing such va;st quantities of chick- 

 ens at a time — the Egyptian operator must be imported, who 

 knew how to build the " oven " first, and how to manage it 

 and the eggs deposited therein, rightfully — afterwards. 



We have only approached to this "art "in hatching chick- 

 ens through similar modes, by using the Incubatof, which is 

 heated artificially, and from which only a few score, or hun- 

 dreds at most, can be hatched at a time. And even this sj^s- 

 tem is but indifferently understood in this country as yet. 

 " Where do the eggs come from, in Egypt, to supply these enor- 

 mous hatching-ovens at the right time, of such freshness as to be 

 rendered at once available?" is a question naturally proposed. 



Through this method of successfully hatching such large 

 quantities of chickens every year by the Bermeans, under a 

 system that has been in vogue there for centuries, it is at once 

 apparent that " hens have been rendered infinitely more com- 

 mon in Egypt than in any other country known. This is of 

 course owing to the facility with which Egyptians are able to 

 multiply them," says Reaumur. And Father Sicard adds that 

 a thousand eggs are sold there for not above thirty to forty 

 medins — which is equal to but 36 to 40 cents in silver. There 

 is therefore no difficulty in procuring any quantity of eggs, 

 when they are wanted — since every peasant or poultry owner 

 knows when they are needed for the hatch ing-ovens, and pro- 

 vides his share from day to day through the season on the spot, 

 at Berme, where they are used and promptly paid for on de- 

 livery. 



The Egyptian mode of raising chickens is to this people a 

 very simple process, and it could perhaps be imitated in this 

 country, to some extent, in the hot season, at the extreme 

 south during seven or eight months in the year. " The first 

 thing, however, to do towards cooking your trout," says quaint 

 Izaak Walton, " is to catch him." And inteUigent Californiana 



