GARDEN IMPLEMENTS. 
175 
passed through some rice fields, the first crop of 
which had been just planted, and a five minutes’ 
walk brought me to the poor man’s cottage. He 
received me with Chinese politeness ; asked me to 
sit down, and offered me tea and his pipe, two 
things always at hand in a Chinese house, and per- 
fectly indispensable. Having civilly dec.ined his 
offer, I asked permission to examine his hatching 
house, to which he immediately led the way. 
The Chinese cottages generally, are wretched 
buildings of mud and stone, with damp earthen 
floors, scarcely fit for cattle to sleep in, and remind 
one of what Scottish cottages were a few years ago, 
but which now, happily, are among the things that 
were. My new friend’s cottage was no exception 
to the general rule—bad-fitting, loose, creaking 
doors, paper windows, dirty and torn; ducks, 
eese, fowls, dogs, and pigs in the house and at the 
oors, and apparently having equal rights with 
their masters. Then there were children, grand 
enildren, and, for aught that I know, great grand 
children, all together, forming a most motley group, 
which, with their shaved heads, long tails, and 
strange costume, would have made a capital sub¬ 
ject for the pencil of Cruikshank. 
The hatching house was built at the side of the 
cottage, and was a kind of long shed, with mud 
walls, and thickly thatched with straw. Along the 
ends and down one side of the building are a num¬ 
ber of round straw baskets, well plastered with 
mud, to prevent them from taking fire. In the bot¬ 
tom of each basket there is a tile placed, or rather 
the tile forms the bottom of the basket; upon this 
the fire acts, a small fire-place being below each 
basket. Upon the top of the basket there is a straw 
cover, which fits closely, and which is kept shut 
whilst the process is going on. In the centre of 
the shed are a number of large shelves placed one 
above another, upon which the eggs are laid at a 
certain stage of the process. 
When the eggs are brought, they are put into 
die baskets, the fire is lighted below them, and a 
uniform heat kept up, ranging, as nearly as I could 
ascertain by some observations which I made with 
a thermometer, from 95° to 102°, but the China¬ 
men regulate the heat by their own feelings, and 
therefore it will of course vary considerably. In 
four or five days after the eggs have been subjected 
to this temperature, they are carefully taken out, 
one by one, to a door, in which a number of holes 
has been bored nearly the size of the eggs; they 
are then held against these holes, and the China¬ 
men look through them, and are able to tell 
whether they are good or not. If good, they are 
taken back, and replaced in their former quarters; 
if bad, they are of course excluded. In nine or 
ten days after this, that is, about fourteen days 
from the commencement, the eggs are taken from 
the baskets, and spread out on the shelves. Here 
no fire heat is applied, but they are covered over 
with cotton, and a kind of blanket, under which 
they remain about fourteen days more, when the 
young ducks burst their shells, and the shed teems 
with life. These shelves are large, and capable of 
holding many thousands of eggs; and when the 
hatching takes place, the sight is not a little curi¬ 
ous. The natives who rear the young ducks, in 
the surrounding country, know exactly the day 
when they will be ready for removal, and in two 
days after the shell is burst, the whole of the little 
creatures are sold, and conveyed to their new quar¬ 
ters. 
GARDEN IMPLEMENTS. 
The following minor garden tools will be found 
particularly useful, the present season, to any one 
possessing a garden 
Fig. 40. 
Garden Trowels.— These implements, which 
are shown by fig. 40, are used to plant or take up 
for re-planting, herbaceous plants, very small trees, 
roots, &c. ; they are also used for stirring the soil 
among tender plants in confined situations and loos¬ 
ening the roots. Prices, from 50 to 75 cents. 
Fig. 41. Fig. 42. 
Garden Rakes —These vary in the length and 
strength of their teeth, as well as in their number ; 
they are used for covering seeds, raking weeds, or 
cut grass, smoothing and pulverizing surfaces, &e. 
Fig. 41—Prices, 25 cents to $1.25. 
Grass Edging Knives. —These are fitted to a 
straight handle, and used for paring the edges of 
grass bordering walks, &c. ; also, for cutting the 
outlines of sods, which may then be readily raised 
by the spade. Fig. 42—Price 75 cents. 
Fig. 43. Fig. 44. Fig. 45. 
Garden Hoes. —These are of various sizes and 
patterns, and are adapted for weeding out beds of 
different descriptions. Fig. 43 is a fork-backed 
hoe; fig. 44, a triangular hoe; fig. 45, a prong 
Fig. 46. Fig. 47. 
backed hoe ; fig. 46, a square hoe ; fig. 47, a half- 
round hoe, al. of which are made of cast steel. 
Prices, from 37 k cents to $1. 
