MOWING MACHINE — DIRECTIONS FOR HATCHING CHICKENS. 
47 
hydrophobia, and it cured them. The plant 
grows in the low, warm, and sandy loams of that 
country. 
MOWING- MACHINE. 
We know of no machine more likely to 
ensure a fortune to its inventor, than a per- 
fect mowing machine. One was invented 
and put into operation by Mr. Ketchum, of 
Buffalo, some two years since, wdiich did not at 
first work well, but which, we understood, with 
a subsequent improvement, received the approval 
of several intelligent and practical men at the 
state fair a year since. 
We have had numerous inquiries for a mow- 
ing machine, and have referred to this as the 
only one within our knowledge ; and yet this 
does not seem to be working into favor nor use. 
Will not some of our ingenious mechanics un- 
dertake this subject and invent one ? 
Messrs. Hussey and McCormick, both inventors 
of successful reaping machines, claim the ap- 
plicability of their reapers to mowing. Let 
them or any person demonstrate the practica- 
bility of mowing economically and rapidly by 
machinery, and we will guarantee the sale of 
hundreds annually, at fair prices. 
-•- 
DIRECTIONS FOR HATCHING- CHICKENS. 
The following extract from Browne's "American 
Poultry Yard," lately published by C. M. Saxton, 
we trust will be acceptable to our readers, par- 
ticularly as the season for hatching chickens is 
close at hand : — 
A hen prompted by instinct to the task of 
incubation, asks only for eggs suited to her size, 
be they those of her own production or not, 
(those even of a duck will be accepted,) a nest, 
and undisturbed solitude. At this juncture, she 
utturs an instinctive cluck, ruffles her feathers, 
wanders about, searches obscure corners and 
recesses, and is evidently ill at ease. She is 
feverishly hot, impatient, and anxiously restless. 
In high-fed hens, this instinctive desire comes on 
sooner than in such as are not supplied with 
food in abundance, and it may be induced by 
stimulating diet, a little raw liver or fresh meat, 
chopped small, potatoes mashed warm, with 
milk and Indian meal. Some farmers recom- 
mend a fomentation of vinegar in which pepper 
has been steeped, to be applied to the under 
parts, as a means of inducing this desire ; and 
others even advise that some of the feathers of 
the abdomen be plucked off and the skin stung 
with nettles ! Such means may induce fever, 
and a desire to cool the inflamed skin by apply- 
ing it to cool substances, but not a genuine 
natural impulse to fulfil the great law of nature. 
Let them never be put into practice. They are 
barbarous and contemptible. By high feeding, 
some hens, especially of the Dorking breed, 
which, as sitters, take the pre-eminence over all 
other breeds, may be induced to sit in October, 
especially if they have moulted early. Advan- 
tage may be taken of this circumstance, at the 
south, and chickens may be obtained fit for the 
table by Christmas — not, however, without great 
care and trouble. The incubation must take 
place, and the chickens be reared and fed, in a 
warm room, if necessary, kept at an equal tem- 
perature. Generally speaking, spring chickens 
are more desirable, which should be hatched in 
January, so as to be ready for the market in the 
latter part of March, and through the months of 
April, May, and June. They require great care, 
but they return an ample profit. 
The most usual time in which hens manifest 
a desire to incubate, extends from March to May 
or June, and at this season chickens may be 
reared without any extraordinary precautions. 
When the determination to sit becomes fixed, 
— there is no need to indulge the first faint indi- 
cations immediately — let her have the nest she 
has selected well cleaned and filled with fresh 
straw. The number of eggs to be given to her will 
depend upon the season, and upon their and her 
own size. The wisest plan is not to be too 
greedy. The number of chickens hatched is 
often in inverse proportion to the number of 
eggs sat. I have known only three to be obtained 
from eighteen. Hens will, in general, well cover 
from eleven to thirteen eggs laid by themselves. 
A Bantam may be trusted with about half a 
dozen eggs of a large breed, such as the Spanish. 
A hen of the largest size, as a Dorking, will suc- 
cessfully hatch, at the most, five goose eggs. 
But if a hen is really determined to sit, it is 
useless, as well as cruel, to attempt to divert her 
from her object. The means usually prescribed 
are such as no humane person would willingly 
put in practice. If the season is too early to 
give a hope of rearing gallinaceous birds, the 
eggs of ducks or geese may generally be had ; 
and the young may be brought up with a little 
pains-taking, as well as by their natural parent. 
And if it be required to retain the services of a 
hen for expected valuable eggs, she may be 
beguiled for a week or ten days with four or 
five old addled ones till the choicer sort arrive. 
Three weeks is the period of incubation of the 
common hen. Sometimes, however, when she 
does not sit close for the first day or two, or in 
early spring, it will be some hours longer ; more 
frequently in our southern climate, when the hen 
is assiduous and the weather hot, the time will be 
a trifle shorter. But in cases of artificial incu- 
bation where the eggs are uniformly kept at a 
temperature of from 101° to 102° F., the period 
is sometimes hastened forty-eight hours. The 
range of temperature, within which the eggs 
will hatch, varies from 95° to 106° F. Towards 
the close of incubation, the process may be sus- 
pended for one or two hours, or even for a longer 
period, according to the degree of extraneous 
heat which the eggs may derive from their situa- 
tion, without fatal consequences to the embryo 
chick. 
The growth of the chick in the egg has been 
so fully and so well described by many writers, 
from Aristotle down to Reaumur, that I need 
merely refer the reader to them. The observa- 
tions of the latter, particularly, have appeared 
in almost every compilation that has been pub- 
lished on the subject ; and I think it much better 
