IHCUBATIOH. 85 



pact nest of eggs n^uch better, and they aU get an equal share of 

 heat. 



All the eggs placed under the hen should bo marked with 

 theirproper dates. Have the eggs as near as possible ia4ate, so 

 that the chicks may hatch out close together. A great advan- 

 tage of marking the eggs is, that should flie hen lay any when 

 first beginning to sit, or should other hens gain access to the nest, 

 the fresh eggs laid can be removed. Mr. James Long, a great 

 authority on poultry, advises that at the end often days the eggs 

 should be tested. This should be done in the evening by the 

 light of a lamp, holding the egg betwixt the thumb and forefin- 

 ger of the right hand in front of the flame, and shading the large 

 end with the base of the left hand, the air-chamber is discovered; 

 this is apparedtly opaque, the rest of the egg being dark and 

 heavy, the two portions being divided by a clear black line — that is, 

 if the egg is fertile. If, on the other hand, the egg is light and 

 opaque throughout, or, in other words, exactly like a new-laid 

 egg when held before the same light, it is not fertile. This li^^tle 

 test is so simple that every one shotQd adopt it, and use the eggs 

 found unfertile, not returning them to the nest. They are just 

 as edible and as wholesome as eggs laid on the same day but not 

 placed under a hen, and can ^ways be used in the kitchen, being 

 quite as good if not better than the so-called "cooking eggs." 

 Sometimes, however, these unfertile eggs are not clear and edibl^ 

 but rotten; this can generally be detected. If the egg, on being 

 tested in the manner described, is found neither clean nor fertile 

 with the dark line at the top, but without the dark line and dull 

 throughout, especially in the centre, the whole mass within the 

 shell being in a movable state, its condition may be reasonably 

 suspected and it can be thrown away. This state may arise from 

 one or more crises; it is fitncied that it arises from the fertiliza- 

 tion being incomplete or weak, wanting sufScient strength to 

 break into positive life, but yet enough to afliect the rest of the 



