1920.] Education and Eesearch in Poultry Keeping. 853 



sid-es of the egg tray, is in some machines as much as 4*^ to 6° 

 Fahrenheit. Covalt found that the inside temperature of ep^gs 

 under a hen at three, six, and twenty-four hours was 100° F., 

 and the end of a week 101° F. When a thermometer was 

 hanging on a hook in the incubator the inside temperature of 

 - the egg was only 97°, or 3° less than under the hen. 



It would appear from this that the best temperature wouM 

 be 102° F. during the first week with the thermometer lying 

 on the egg, and from then 103° F. until the eggs begin to hatch. 



With regard to turning eggs, frequent turnings seem to give 

 the best results. 



Correct ventilation is of great importance. In an incubator 

 the carbon-dioxide must be removed or kept below a certain 

 maximum. The carbon-dioxide thrown off varies with the vigour 

 of the embryos. The amount present is important, as if exces- 

 sive it interferes with the proper intake of oxygen ; on the other 

 hand, if the incubators are over-ventilated the membranes of 

 the egg dry down too rapidly, the carbon-dioxide evolved by the 

 embryo does not escape, and the egg is smothered.* This explains 

 the greater difficulty in hatching brown eggs in incubators. Under 

 a hen there is a very much greater quantity of this gas than in 

 an incubator, but the gas is largely given off by the hen herself. 

 The ideal seems to be to keep the air in the incubator as pure as 

 possible without allowing it to become too dry. It has been, 

 suggested that slacked lime might be kept in the moisture tray 

 instead of water. In this case the hme should be kept fairly wet, 

 as it would have a greater evaporation surface than water. If 

 we can obtain a pure atmosphere without excessive ventilation 

 the big loss occurring from the eighteenth to the twentieth day 

 might be avoided. Deaths during this period are probably due 

 to the fact that insufficient carbon-dioxide is evolved, owing to 

 the drying down of the membranes in the efforts to obtain extra 

 ventilation. 



Experiments have shown that better results are obtained 

 where no cooling is practised. Storage of eggs for incubation 

 is also a matter of importance. 



The Universities and the Poultry Industry. — A paper on the 

 Universities and the Poultry Industry was contributed by Mr. 

 F. W. Parton, Lecturer in Poultry Husbandry at the Leeds 

 University. The view of Mr. Parton was that the Universities 

 should be the centres to which all living within their area could 

 apply in respect to all questions of difficulty. On the scientific 

 staffs there should be men who could undertake investigational 

 work in all poultry problems, as required. e 



