332 FARM ANIMALS 
pure albumen, and 4% of salts and ash. It is formed in 
three layers, which can be plainly seen when a hard- 
boiled egg is cut in two. 
5. Yolk.—What is known as yolk is a strong solution 
of albumen, through which multitudes of globules of fat 
are suspended, the 
whole being inclosed 
in a sac that floats in 
the white. In 100 
parts, water composes 
53834, albumen 17% 
and fat or oil 2834 
SEVEN Days OF INCUBATION parts. The yolk is 
u, fresh egg; b, weak germ; and ec, strong lighter than the white 
ee and therefore rises to 
the upper side whichever way the egg is turned. The 
yolk serves as food while the chick is developing inside 
the shell and for the first days after hatching. This ex- 
plains why a chick requires no food for a short period 
after it leaves its shell. 
6. Germ.—Next to the shell, and fastened to the yolk, 
the germ or true egg is to be found. It is known as the 
blastodeim, the minute 
nucleus of what is after- 
ward to be the chick. 
This word means sprout- 
ing skin. The blasto- 
derm is present whether 
the egg is fertile or not, 
so that it is impos- 
; FOURTEEN DAYS OF INCUBATION 
sible to tell beforehand a, strong, live embryo; b, weak, live embryo; 
ec, dead embryo. 
Whether an egg will 
produce a chick. A fertile and infertile egg to the naked 
eye are the same in appearance. The application of a 
