20 



THM COMPLETE POULTRY BOOK. 



gre jse sliould be used, as it will get upon the eggs and prevent them from hatch 

 ing by closing the pores. The placing of tobacco stems among the litter with 

 which the nest is made has been found beneficial. Flowers of sulphur is also 

 used in the same manner. 



The disinclination of the hen to sit anywhere but in the nest which she has 

 first chosen may be overcome, and the visits of 'intruders prevented, by the use 

 of a door of coarse wire netting, which will be found serviceable for many pur- 

 poses in the poultry-yard. If the hen cannot be permitted to forage at will, 



FiGi 5. 



food and water should be placed within reach,- and her eggs should be occnsi^n- 

 iiUy sprinkled with water. The turning of the eggs to cause them to be evenly 

 heated is entirely unnecessary, but if any should by any accident be broken, 

 those remaining should be washed in tepid water, to prevent the clogging of 

 the pores of the shells. 



On the eighth or ninth day of incubation, the fertility of the eggs may be 

 tested by holding them between the eye and a bright light, or more certainly by 

 means of the "egg tester" shown in Fig. 6, which represents a tin cup three 

 inches high and two and a half in diameter, narrowed at the top so as to leave a 

 round opening of such size as to admit the end of an egg, and having an oval 

 mirror fastened at an angle of forty-five degrees with the axis of the instrument, as 



