THE INCUBATION OF THE EGG 219 



It is an excellent practice to pin two wicks together in 

 starting • the hatch as a precaution against the oil being 

 low and the wick getting short and putting out the lamp 

 toward the end of the hatch. 



Care should be taken in the beginning as throughout the 

 run to see that the flame is round, as in Fig. 107, and has no 

 points or corners, as in Fig. 108. This may be accomplished 

 in the beginning by cutting off the corners of the wick, as 

 shown in Fig. 107, and by wiping or scraping off the charring 

 thereafter rather than cutting it off with the scissors. Corners 

 or points on the side of a flame tend to deposit soot on the 

 side of the heater flue. If this continues unnoticed the 

 accumulations soon become sufficient to choke the draft 

 and cause a bad "smoke up" and even a fire. 



The burner and lamp must be kept absolutely free of oil 

 and clean of accumulations of any kind. The best lamps will 

 smoke and be dangerous if choked with charrings. 



Because of the tendency for a flame to "run up," as the 

 lamp and heater become warm, it is best to make a practice 

 of flUing and cleaning the lamp in the morning so that if the 

 flame needs further attention it will be noticed during the 

 day and be in good working order by night. It is also a good 

 plan to do all handling of the eggs before caring for the lamp, 

 so that there will be no kerosene on the hands to be brought 

 in contact with the eggs. 



Starting the Incubator. — In starting a new incubator, or 

 one with which the operator is unfamiliar, a medium to low 

 flame should be maintained and a half-inch play given on the 

 connecting rod by loosening the thumb-nut. This will 

 allow considerable expansion at the thermostat without 

 raising the damper disk. A high flame or too much play on 

 the connecting rod is likely to allow the temperature to run 

 high enough to ruin the thermometer. It is a safe precaution 

 to use an ordinary high registering thermometer until the 

 proper temperature has been reached, and so avoid this 

 diflBculty. 



When the play has been taken up and the damper raised, 

 the thtunb-nut should be cautiously loosened, the amount 

 being governed by the rise in temperature necessary to bring 



