396 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
when tlie chicks are incapable of caring for them¬ 
selves, and that when they only need shelter at 
night and during cold spells. Various devices have 
been proposed for this purpose, but the majority 
have failed for want of perfect adaptation to the 
helplessness and weakness of the chicks. In some 
the chicks have become entangled in the woolly 
covering, and have 
died in the efforts 
to extricate them¬ 
selves ; in others 
Fig. 1.— first mother. the impossibility 
of keeping them 
free from filth and vermin have caused their 
failure, and in others the heating process has been 
ineffective or irregular. An artificial “mother” 
that would meet all the requirements of the chicks, 
Fig. 2.— COMPLETE MOTHER WITH RUNW r AY. 
that would be cleanly in use, easy to take apart for 
cleaning, and that would give ample liberty and 
safety of movement to the chicks, has long been 
sought by poultry fanciers. -A mother which is said 
to meet these necessities of the case is used by a 
correspondent of “The Country” (Eng-.), and is 
described in that journal with the illustrations here 
given. It is intended to be used not only in con¬ 
junction with an artificial incubator, but also as a 
protector for chickens hatched in the usual way, 
and which may be transferred to it instead of being 
brooded by the hen, the hen being discharged from 
this duty and set to laying again. For this purpose 
it has been employed in England by those who raise 
poultry for the market, with much success. The 
apparatus consists of the “first mother,” shown at 
figure 1. This is a wooden frame about 12x16 
inches, covered with a piece of canvass, which has 
strips of flannel sewn to it by one of their edges. 
These strips are about three-quarters of an inch 
apart, and after having been sewn to the canvass, 
are cut through with a pair of scissors in such a 
manner that they hang down loosely near to the 
ground, and permit the chicks to pass amongst them 
with ease and safety from entanglement. This is 
probably as near an approach to the feathers of the 
brooding hen as may be made. At one end of the 
box the cover reaches to within two inches of the 
ground, and at the other end to within four inches. 
The covering and the flannel strips can be removed 
from the frame and scalded and washed when ne¬ 
cessary. Dry earth or sand is scattered beneath 
the frame to a depth of half an inch, and is fre¬ 
quently renewed. The needed warmth may be 
supplied either by means of an india-rubber bag or 
two or three quart bottles filled with hot water and 
laid upon the cover. A piece of flannel or blanket, 
thickly folded, may be laid upon the water bag or 
bottles to retain the heat for several hours. The 
chicks nestling closely beneath the flannel strips, 
will maintain their heat during a whole night when 
thus protected. For the protection of very early 
chickens, or of those hatched in the fall or winter, 
this “mother” would be better than the lien her¬ 
self, as she is apt to lead her brood forth from 
shelter regardless of the weather, or if confined, to 
trample them to death in her efforts to escape. 
Chicks thus protected may be safely taken from the 
nest as soon as hatched. They may be fed at first 
with chopped hard boiled egg or stale bread crumb 
soaked in ivater (but never in milk until they are 
older). If needed, a runway of wire netting as 
shown at G, II. I, A', figure 2, may be attached to 
the mother by a hook seen at F. When a large 
number of chicks are reared, this “ first mother ” 
will be used only as a temporary one, and as the 
chicks acquire strength, and become used to feed¬ 
ing and finding shelter, they are removed to the 
final mother, figure 2. This is three feet long and 
16 inches wide, holds 50 chicks at once, and will 
serve for 120 chicks or more through a season of 
several weeks. The warming apparatus in this is a 
metal tank (F, 6, fig. 3), which is made to divide 
at the lower part, K, to receive the lamp, i. There 
is a division in this tank at II, by which a current 
is established from the warmer point near the 
lamp to the cooler point furthest from it. 
This is shown by the arrows seen in figure 4. 
There are two chimneys for the escape of the super¬ 
fluous heat from the lamp, seen at A, It, figure 2, in 
which is also shown the lamp, E , with the long pipe 
which supplies the burner, and which enables the 
heat to be applied either to one end or to the center 
of the tank—one chimney being closed—when 
cooler or warmer weather makes it desirable to in¬ 
crease or lower the heat of the mother. The tube 
W, figure 3, is used to fill the tank or to test the 
Fig. 4.— TOP VIEW OF FIGURE 2. 
temperature of the water. The frame of the mother 
is shown at A , A, S, T, figure 3; at S and T are 
cleats which hold in place the cover of the frame, 
which is lined with felt to retain the heat. The 
strips of flannel (1, 2, 3, 4), are sewn to a canvass- 
covered frame which is movable, and may be slip¬ 
ped out and in when necessary ; the corners of the 
frame are shown atZ>, F. A piece of board is fitted 
against the lower side of the tank to moderate the 
heat. The chicks pass in and amongst the flannel 
strips as shown in this engraving. At figure 4 is 
shown a top view of the mother, with the two 
chimneys, the supply tube, and the mode of circu¬ 
lation of the water around the partition, A, B. 
Handles are fixed to the frame of the mother (see 
fig. 2), by which it may be moved when necessary. 
A Filter for Cisterns or Tanks. 
Rain water collected from roofs is always more 
or less impure from dust, soot, leaves, or the drop¬ 
pings of birds, and in 
time these collect in the 
tank and render the 
water undesirable even 
for washing. We have 
given several methods 
of filtering such water, 
and now present one 
which has been de¬ 
scribed iu a recent 
Agricultural Gazette. It 
is called the “ nose¬ 
bag filter,” and is 
shown in the accom¬ 
panying engravings, 
which render much de¬ 
scription unnecessary. 
The filter may be made 
of earthenware, ce¬ 
ment, or of soft brick. 
There is an outer 
cylinder and an inner core, both of which are 
perforated, but the perforations of the outer cylin¬ 
der do not reach the bottom, lienee the sediment 
iu the cistern is excluded, and those of the core are 
only at the bottom, so that the water is forced to 
pass through the filtering material—sand, gravel, 
L 
Fig.2. SECTION OF FILTER. Fig 3. COVER OF FILTER. 
and charcoal—before it can be pumped up. The 
suction pipe needs to be well packed into the core, 
and a rubber or leather ring should be closely fit¬ 
ted, to exclude all water that has not passed 
through the filter. The 
cistern and pump are 
shown at figure 1; a ver¬ 
tical section of thefilterat 
figure 2, the dark shading 
represents a layer of char¬ 
coal; the lighter shade, 
coarse gravel; and the 
lightest, which is next to 
the inner cylinder, fine 
gravel. At figure 3 is the Fig. 4.— gross-section. 
perforated outer cylinder, 
and the collar around the pipe ; and at figure 4 a 
horizontal section of the filter is shown. 
Dry Cellars. 
No house that is built above a wet cellar can be 
healthful, and no damp cellar is a fit place for keep¬ 
ing milk, butter, vegetables, or any articles of food. 
Localities where the soil is not naturally drained, 
or is retentive of water, and where the surface is 
level, should not be chosen for building sites. In 
cases where the house is already built, and the cel¬ 
lar is damp or wet in consequence of an unfortu¬ 
nate selection of ground, some method should be 
found for draining the soil and removing the water. 
This is very easily done when the surface is rolling 
and a drain can be dug from the bottom of the 
cellar, and made to discharge at a lower level; but 
where the surface is level, it is not possible to do 
this. Several correspondents who are in this pre¬ 
dicament have applied to us for some remedy, and 
we suggest the following plan. As nothing can be 
done outside of the cellar, a drain should be dug- 
all around the cellar, inside, as near the foundation 
wall as possible, and at least two feet deeper than 
the bottom of the wall. At the bottom of the drain 
two-iucli round tiles should be laid so carefully that 
they cannot be displaced in covering them. These 
may be covered and the drain filled to the top with 
Fig. 1.— SECTION ACROSS CELLAR. 
gravel. The tiles should be carefully joined at the 
corners of the cellar, and at the most convenient 
part of the cellar a well or cistern should be dug, 
