AkTIFiaiAL INCUBATION. 43 



"With auoh an apparatus as this, the principles of incubation may be thor- 

 oughly learned, and protably the combination o£ such an apparatus with the use 

 of a room heated by a furnace or a good stove, or of a cellar of even tempera- 

 ture, will give quite as satisfactory results as may be obtained from the high 

 priced and complicated patent incubators. 



Another form of incubator is said to be used in France, and that is, live 

 turkeys. The following account of this process is given by Mr. Geyelin, form- 

 erly manager of the National Poultry Establishment, at Bromley, Kent, England, 

 ■who was, at the time he discovered it, traveling in France in search of the 

 mythical establishment of M. de Sora, previously referred to. The account savors 

 to us very much of fish, but as it is seriously quoted by Tegetmeier, we give it for 

 what it is worth: 



"Amongst some places I visited may be mentioned the farm of Madame La 

 Marquise de la Briife, Chateau de Neuville, Gambais, near Houdan, where we 

 observed twelve turkeys hatching at the same time ; in another place, that of 

 M. Anche, of Gambais, a hatcher-by trade, we observed some sixty turkeys hatch- 

 ing at the same time; and we were informed that during winter and early spring 

 he had sometimes upwards of one hundred hatching at the same time, and that 

 each turkey continued hatching for at least three months. At the farm of M. 

 Liouis Mary, at St. Julien de Fancon, near Lizienx, in Calvados, I saw a turkey 



Fig. 27.— Jbrm of Tank. 



that was then sitting that had been so upwards of six months, and, considering 

 it rather crueli the hatcher, to prove the contrary, took her off the nest and put 

 her in the meado^, and also removed the eggs ; the turkey however, to my sur- 

 prise, returned immediately to her nest, and called in a most plaintive voice for 

 her eggs. Then some eggs were placedin the corner of a box, which she instantly 

 drew under her with her beak, and seemed quite delighted. Moreover, I was 

 informed that it was of great econoinical advantage to employ turkeys to hatch, 

 as they eat very little and get very fat in their state of confinement, and there- 

 fore fit for the martet any day. * 



"The hatehing-room is kept dark, and at an even temperature In summer 

 and wiflter. In this room a number of boxes, two feet long, one foot wide and 

 one foot six inches deep, are ranged alohg the walls. These boxes are covered 

 in with lattice or wire-work, and serve for turkeys to hatch any kind of eggs. 

 Similar boxes, but of smaller dimensions, are prepared for broody fowls. The 

 bed of the boxes is formed of heather, straw, hay or cocoa fibres; and the num- 

 ber of eggs for turkeys to hatch is two dozen, and one dozen for hens. 



"At any time of the year turkeys, whether broody or not, are taught to hatch 

 in the following manner; Some addled eggs are emptied, then filled with plaster 

 of Paris, then placed in a nest; after which a turkey is fetched from the yard 

 and placed on the eggs, and covered over with lattice. For the first forty-eight 



