1870.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
4rl7 
to go along the fence and remove the pins before 
the flood had reached too high a stage. From 
the engraving it will he understood that the 
posts stand upon the up-stream side of the 
fence, and as every thing must have its weak- 
Fig. 5. — FENCE rANELS FLOATING. 
est point, it would be well to see to it that the 
parts which would break first in case of a 
sudden rise of water would be the cleats or 
buttons which hold the fence to the posts. 
Look to the Winter Wheat. — It is rare 
to find a field of winter wheat on which there 
are not low spots where the water lies on the 
surface. Much might have been done to pre- 
vent this by "furrowing out" as soon as the 
grain was sown. Now it must be done with 
t be hoe and spade. Some wheat may be de- 
stroyed by the operation, but not one-tenth of 
what will be "winter-killed" if the water is 
allowed to remain on the land. Let not a mo- 
ment 1)0 lost in attending to this matter. It is 
by no means a substitute for underd raining, but 
it is far better than nothing. If the land is low, 
commence to dig where there is an outlet and 
make the water follow you up into the land. 
You will be astonished to find how much fall 
there is, even on land that is apparently on a 
dead level. Try it and you will save wheat 
enough to buy a first-class agricultural library. 
A Family Filter— Home-made. 
Pure water for family use is almost beyond 
value. The past two summers have tried wells 
sorely, and many have been found wanting. 
Some have been so low that the water became 
sV^nant, and multitudes of farmers would 
willingly have used 
swamp water if they 
had known how to 
filter and purify it. 
Filtering, as general- 
ly viewed, is a pure- 
ly mechanical opera- 
tion, but it is not so of 
necessity. When fine- 
ly-broken up charcoal 
is used in the filter, 
marked chemical ef- 
fects follow; color is 
discharged, odors re- 
moved, and a tenden- 
cy of substances in the water to decompose is ar- 
rested. For tliis reason charcoal is a very import- 
ant ingredient in filters for drinking-water. Then- 
are many ways of arranging a filter, and the 
accompanying plan is suggested as of very tron- 
eral application. A water-tight barrel, or half- 
barrel, is obtained, and one head taken out un- 
I'A.Mll.Y FILTER. 
injured. Two tinned iron pipes are fitted into 
the head which remains, each extending a few 
inches above the lop of the head ; one enters 
the barrel a few inches, and one of them goes 
nearly through it. Caps of tinned wire gauze 
are made to go over the ends 
of the pipes which are inside 
the barrel, and these are 
bound on with wire. The 
keg is then set with the open 
endup, and filled thus: 1st, 
several inches of clean grav- 
el ; 2d, 4 or 5 inches of well- 
washed, fine sand ; 3d, about 
12 inches of freshly heated 
and pounded charcoal, sifted, 
and in about as large pieces 
as grains of wheat; 4th, 4 or 
5 inches of sand like that 
before used, and finally sev- 
eral inches of gravel — the 
whole well packed and set- 
tled by water, layer by layer, 
to fill the keg full. Then put 
in the head and make all 
tight. The exterior ends of the pipes should have 
screws cut upon them; then a coupling with a 
faucet may be attached to one, and a bigger 
piece of pipe, in which a funnel wiil go, to the 
other. Pour in water until the 
barrel is full; then, for every , 
quart poured in, an equal quan- , 
tity will run out, perfectly filter- 
ed. When an accumulation of 
dirt is suspected near the end 
of the pipe into which the water 
is poured, the faucet and funnel 
pipe maybe shifted each to the 
other pipe, and most of the dirt 
will be washed out ; after which the original ar- 
rangement may be restored. Such a filter will 
be efficient in constant use four to six months. 
from her dust bath, and the duck from the pond. 
The eggs are quite cool but not cold ; she re- 
arranges her eggs more or less, settles herseli 
with her wet feathers upon them, and warms 
them up again. Then the eggs receive moisture 
from the earth, for the soil is always somewhat 
moist, and from the cause described. They are 
besides shifted, rolled over, somet'ines warm 
and sometimes cool ; in fact the}- may become 
Fig. 2. — SECTION ON LINE A — B. 
stone cold without losing their vitality. The 
writer has known duck eggs to hatch in com- 
mon summer weather, when deserted the third 
week, for not less then 12 and perhaps 24 hours. 
The yolk of an egg is enclosed in a membrane 
attached to which, towards each end of the egg, 
are masses of twisted membranous albumen 
which are commonly called the "tread" under 
an entirely mistaken notion. Physiologists term 
them cJtalaztv which is the only name we know. 
They serve the important purpose of keeping 
fr 
J_ 
J L 
Artificial Egg-Hatching. 
One of our subscribers on the Pacific Slope 
wants to make an incubator. We believe these 
things may be very useful for some people, but 
we hold also that no incubator will do the work 
of egg-hatching nearly so well as a good old 
hen. For this reason we counsel our " subscri- 
ber" to take with us a lesson from Biddy. When 
she hasher own way she " steals" her nest, and 
with barely the thickness of a dry leaf or two 
for the eggs to rest upon, lays her eggs upon the 
ground. Ducks lay directly on the ground 
and cover the nests witli leaves. When brooded 
of course the eggs are warmed from above, hav- 
ing the upper surfaces iu contact, or nearly in 
contact, with the bare body of the hen ; and in 
the case of the duck, imbedded in her downy 
feathers but not in contact with her body. The 
Fig. 4. — INCUBATOR. 
Fig. 1. 
-FRONT VIEW OF 1NCUD.VTOR. 
eggs are subjected to different degrees of tem- 
perature according to their situation in the nest; 
those near the outside not being nearly so warm 
as those in closer contact with t lie source of 
heat. The old bird when she leaves the nest 
conies home wet with dew; the hen is fresh 
Fig. 3. — SECTION ON LINE C—D. 
the yolk from floating too close to the shell, and 
of keeping the same part of the yolk uppermost. 
This part of the yolk (see fig. 5) if examined 
will be found to contain a small round spot 
differing in color from the surrounding portion. 
This is the seat of vitality, and from this point 
that little net-work of arteries goes out which 
is so conspicuous after the first week of brood- 
ing. (Fig. 6.) It is the 
"germinative vesicle," 
and within it is the 
" germinative spot." In 
natural incubation this 
is always exposed to 
the most direct action 
of the heat ; it is al- 
ways uppermost, which 
ever way the egg is 
laid, and the heat comes from above. There is 
a difference of several degrees in the tempera- 
ture between the upper and under part of the 
egg. The more closely we imitate these con- 
ditions, the greater success we may hope for in 
artificial incubation. The talk about the dif- 
ferent effects produced by animal heat and by 
the heat of combustion is all nonsense. There 
is, of course, a difference between the influence 
of heated, moist air and heated, dry air; be- 
tween heat applied above and that below the 
egg; between a continuous heat for three week 
and a temperature subject to daily variation. 
Those who have made incubators have kepi 
these principles more or less in view. It has 
been found that, though the heat he continu- 
ous, the eggs will some of them hatch; though 
applied below, the same result, follows; that a 
dry heat is not fatal to all ; and that the heat 
may be several degrees higher and lower than 
the desirable point (102") without being fatal 
to all ; but the statement made above has also 
