1884.] 
AMERIOA^T AGRICULTURIST. 
169 
at home,” laughed Dick ; and at length Harry vol¬ 
unteered to run around and see what was the mat¬ 
ter.—He returned with his face as broad as a full 
moon, and between bursts of merriment chuckled 
out, “ I guess Tommy has been caught in his own 
trap this time, for his aunt just told me he was very 
ill indeed, in bed, and she should’nt think of al¬ 
lowing him to go out after receiving such a blow.” 
—Poor Tomm}-, meanwhile, was repenting his fool¬ 
ishness and watering his pillow with great briny 
tears, and when, at ten o’clock, Aunt Selena came 
in to inquire how he felt, he threw his arms about 
her neck, begged her pardon for his disobedience, 
and promised never to play such a practical joke 
again. Need 1 say that Aunt Selena kissed the for¬ 
lorn little culprit and granted full forgiveness.— 
“But was it for a punishment,” asked Tommy, 
“ that you pretended not to believe me, and plas¬ 
tered me up ill this style ?”—“ Partly, my dear,” 
replied his aunt, with a sly twinkle in hereye, “and 
also as our April fool.”—The ne.vt day, Tom, look¬ 
ing very sheepish, said to Dick and Harry that 
“it wasn’t easy to catch old birds with chaff.” 
lines worth a careful reading by old and young. 
The Doctor’s Talks. 
THE HATCHING OP EGGS. 
This is one of the interesting things that come 
with spring. The awakening of life, in what appears 
to have no life at all, is wonderful to trace, tut it is 
difficult to observe, and somewhat expensive, es¬ 
pecially if spring chickens are marketed. Still 
something that takes place within the egg, can be 
shown by engravings, as we shall see presently. 
Almost as wonderful as the coming of a chick 
from the egg, is that of the coming of a plant from 
the seed. I say “ almost,” because in many seeds 
you can see a very tiny plant—the beginning of 
one, while an egg gives no hint that a chick would 
come out of it. In spring you will find much to 
interest you in watching the sprouting seeds, and 
ALSO LEAKN MUCH ABOUT PLANTS, 
by observing the different young seedlings and how 
they appear. When we think of it, what a won¬ 
derful thing is a seed! Dry, apparently dead, it 
may remain iifeless for years, yet treat it properly, 
give it air, moisture and heat, and in time there 
will appear a green, living plant! There is noth¬ 
ing in the wonder books to equal it. In observing 
the different ways in which plants appear from the 
seeds, you can take up some where the seeds are 
too thick, or you can sow seeds in a box. Observe 
how different the little pea is, from its relative the 
bean. How different the corn from the pumpkin, 
often planted with it. Also notice, when very small 
seeds are sown thickly and too deeply, what a 
weight of soil the tiny plants will break through 
and often lift, in order to make their way above 
the surface. But all of the awakening of plant- 
life in the spring, is not to be noticed in seeds. 
OBSEKVE THE BUDS ON THE TREES AND SHRUBS. 
How lifeless they seemed all winter. Now, as 
soon as the warmer days come, they show that they 
are alive. See how they swell, and soon after 
throw off'the blankets that covered them in their 
winter’s sleep, and the plant that was within them 
rapidly pushes forth, or it may be a bouquet of 
fiowers appears in full beauty. The shoot that 
comes from most buds is really a young plant, but 
growing on a branch instead of in the soil. Notice 
the different kinds of bud-scales, as the blankets 
that covered them are called; see how some of 
these are covered with varnish to keep out the wa¬ 
ter, and how in some buds a kind of cotton or wool 
was packed around the little plant to keep it warm. 
Many other things about the spring life of plants 
will reward close observation. 
“ KUT-KUT-KER-DA-A-R-KUT. ” 
from the poultry yard, tells that there is a spring 
awakening there also. The laying of eggs and the 
hatching of them is well known by every boy and 
girl, to be the spring occupation of the hens. But 
poor Biddy is likely to be reduced to a mere layer 
of eggs. She will be deprived of her three weeks 
of leisure in which she could sit and do nothing 
but meditate upon the probable number of chicks 
she would bring off, and be deprived of the pleas¬ 
ures and troubles belonging to her as a mother. 
THE INCLTBATOR OR ARTIFICIAL HATCHER, 
has done this. Artificial hatching has long been 
practised, but of late, “brooders,” or “artificial 
mothers,” have come into use. These are heated 
by hot-water tanks of galvanized iron, and so use¬ 
ful are they, that one of my friends who hatches 
his chicks under the hens, as soon as they are ready 
to leave the nest, takes them from the care of their 
real mother, and places them under this galvanized 
iron hen, and finds that they are brought up w ith 
much less loss, than by a fussy old hen. Last 
spring, I amused myself by 
PLATING THE OLD HEN. 
That is, I ran an incubator, and hatched out several 
broods. I did this in order that I might learn the 
difficulties in hatching by artificial means. But be¬ 
fore I talk about the hatching of chicks. Jet me say 
that you will find it less difficult, and nearly as in¬ 
teresting, to watch the hatching in eggs of another 
kind—those of the frog or toad. In shallow ponds 
and puddles, you will readily find in early spring 
frog’s spawn, or as it is often called, frog’s spittle. 
This is at first in threads, and afterwards in a mass 
—a clear jelly-like substance, with dark spots all 
through it, which is the eggs of frogs or toads, for 
they can not be told apart. If you can find some 
of the threads or strings, prefer that to the mass, 
but take home a little, a spoonful of either, and 
place it it in a dish of rain or river water. If you 
have the American Agriculturist microscope, or a 
magnifier of any kind, you can see what changes 
take place in the eggs, better than without this 
help. The mass is a great number of transparent 
eggs, surrounded by a clear jelly-like substance. 
The dark spots are the yolks of the eggs, and these 
are the parts to be observed. Keep the dish, 
either a saucer or something deeper, in a warm 
room,and as the water evaporates add more. If you 
have a microscope, take out an egg or two each 
day, and examine what takes place in it. You will 
find that the yolk divides up, first into two parts, 
then into four, which change their form and size; 
after a while you can see an imperfect form, some¬ 
thing like a tadpole, but all head and little tail. 
This will increase in size, and eyes will in time ap¬ 
pear. Some morning you will find in your dish, 
SOME LITTLE SWTMMING THINGS, 
which do not look at all like tadpoles, for they are 
long and narrow, and have some curious things on 
each side of their heads. But they really are 
newly hatched tadpoles, and the appendages of the 
head are gills. Very few persons know that for a 
short time after hatching the tadpole has gills, 
and breathes water like a fish. It soon loses the 
Fig. 1.— SECTION OP EGG, BEGINNING OP CHICK, 
gills, and ever after breathes air, and must from 
time to time come to the surface for it. The tad¬ 
poles will continue to grow, and if you wish to 
watch their final changes, in which they lose their 
tails, and gain their legs, you must keep them in a 
large vessel of water. If there is a pool near by, 
you may see these last changes in “ wild” tadpoles. 
THE HATCHING OF CHICKS. 
An incubator, if one can spare the eggs, will 
allow the progress of hatching to be watched from 
day to day. An incubator should be so contrived 
that the temperature can be kept steadily at one 
hundred and two degrees, and the eggs must have 
the needed air and moisture. If this heat, and 
air and moisture are provided, the eggs will have 
all that the old hen can give them. After the eggs 
have been in the incubator, or under the hen, for 
four or five days, it can be told whether they are 
good or bad, and whether they will hatch or not. 
If any egg is held up to the light, or better still, if 
an “ Egg-tester” (an affair to allow the eggs to be 
held up before a caudle) is used, and it is perfectly 
clear, that egg will not hatch. If, on the other 
hand, a dark spot is seen in the egg, it shows that 
a chick has been begun. When the contents of a 
fresh egg are turned out into a saucer you know 
that there are two distinct parts, the yolk, which 
is opaque and yellow, and the white, which is 
transparent. If you look carefully at the yolk you 
Fig. 2.— EGG WITH CHICK FARTHER DEVELOPED, 
will SCO a lighter place on it; as the scientific name 
forth is placeisahard one,we will call it “the spot.” 
THE FIRST SIGNS OP LIFE APPEAR 
at this spot. When the eggs have been in the in¬ 
cubator a few days, an artery or two, with blood 
rushing though it, may be seen, and after awhile a 
whole network of arteries will appear at the spot, 
as in figure 1. Some days after the circulation of 
blood is seen, the beginning of what will become 
the chick can be made out. It does not (figure 2) 
look much like a chick at first, but it will take its 
proper shape in time. A sort of membrane in 
which the blood vessels first appeared, is spread 
out over this tiny chick and helps nourish it. The 
chick has hanging to its lower side a bag, filled 
with what was a part of the yolk. But we must 
now leave this chick to grow, and talk more about 
this matter at another time. The Doctor. 
