112 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 



there in terror, and give up all thoughts of sitting. 

 The wisest way is to guide, instead of thwarting the 

 impulses of nature. Let your good hen indulge the 

 instinct implanted in her by a "Wiser Being than you ; 

 give her a sitting of duck's eggs, and unless the winter 

 or spring be extraordinarily severe, you must be a 

 bungler if you do not rear them by the aid of bread 

 crumbs, Indian meal, and a kitchen fire. 



ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 



The process of bringing the vitalised embryo of the 

 egg through all its stages of development until the 

 chick makes its exit from the shell, by the judicious 

 administration and management of artificial heat, has 

 long been practised in China and Egypt, nor have ex- 

 periments both in our own country'and France been 

 unsuccessful ; but whether the plan will ever become 

 general, so that a supply of apparatus-hatched chick- 

 ens may be in constant readiness to meet the public 

 demand, is very questionable. Our changeable climate 

 is not favorable for the process on a large scale ; the 

 least change of temperature is fatal ; for it is indispens- 

 able that an equable temperature of from 95° to 

 106° F. be maintained. At a higher or a lower tem- 

 perature the development of the embryo cannot be per- 

 fected. Hence, although in Egypt, which enjoys a 

 favorable atmospheric state for the accomplishment of 

 the experiment, success in our climate is far from 

 certain. 



Let us be content, then, with our poultry yards and 

 their feathered inmates as they are, and be grateful to 

 Providence for the fowls of the air, which are peculiarly 

 the pensioners upon our bounty. 



The apparatus, latterly employed for this purpose, 

 has been described under the names of eccaleooion, 

 (literally the invoker of life,) polotokian, and hydro- 

 incubator. The former was an ingenious contrivance, 

 for hatching chickens by means of heated air. It pre- 

 sented the appearance of an oblong box, nine feet in 



