54 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



The machine, the egg, and the handler are the three 

 great factors to a successful machine hatch. Inasmuch 

 as the handler furnishes both the eggs and the machine, 

 it looks as though he were the most important of all. 

 The greatest temptation a modern business man has, it 

 may be, is to press the button before he is ready. So, 

 the Beginner with artificial hatching and brooding. 



To send for the catalogues of six or eight of the best 

 machines, to study them carefully zvith reference to their 

 weakest points, and to attend some show where they are 

 on exhibition, and where he can question the agent, 

 should be possible to almost any Beginner. 



The mistake he makes most frequently, is to buy be- 

 fore he has digested this information ; to buy, perhaps, 

 from a silver-tongued agent of number one or number 

 two, before he has heard the silver words of numbers 

 three, six, and as many more as he can capture ; or, as 

 can capture him ! 



A book like this can scarcely recommend any one 

 machine. I will say, only, that, personally, I prefer a 

 well-made, copper-tanked, hot-water machine ; but that 

 the hot-air machine is at present more popular. Also, 

 that the trend is more and more toward the sand-tray 

 machines, as events seem to point to the fact that non- 

 moisture has been the cause of many failures in the past. 



The manufacturers of the older machines are, in the 

 large, more conservative in statement than the newest 

 claimants of the Beginner's money. Whether a Begin- 

 ner is wise to trust himself to other Beginners in such a 

 fundamental matter, let the good sense of the buyer 

 decide for him. 



One of the Bright Ones has recently said : " The 



