JULY 8 
iTHE RURAL NEW-YORKER.! 
453 
fashion. In the primitive heavy work em 
ployed in raiding these field crops, the buffalo 
is of great assistance. 
This animal, however, must not be con- 
founded with its shaggy namesake of our 
Western plains (Bos Americanus), which has 
no valid right to the name, being in reality 
the bison. Of the true buffalo there are two 
species, the Bos Caffer of South Africa, and 
the Bos bubalus Of India, Bunnah and the 
islands of the Malay Archipelago. The latter 
species is again subdivided into Ihe tame and 
the wild varieties—the latter known by the 
name of Arna. The wild buffalo is found in 
great herds throughout India and the adjacent 
countries, frequenting the margins of prime¬ 
val forests and delighting in swampy grounds, 
where it loves above all things to roll in the 
mire or plunge up to the ears in a stream or 
pool of water. This fondness for moisture is 
also characteristic of the tame buffalo, which 
often, when laden with goods, yields to its 
instinct and wallows in any stream that may 
cross its path. The wild buffalo is fully a 
third larger th in the largest of the tame sort, 
measuring 10 ’ £ feet from snout to vent, and 6 
to 6 % feet in lu^ht at the shoulder, and is of 
such vigor that its wild charge often over¬ 
throws an elephant, and the fiercest male tiger 
dare not attack it unless impelled by savage 
hunger The Indian (Stiver of even tame buffa¬ 
loes does not shruk from entering a tiger-fre¬ 
quented jungle, his cattle with tneir massive 
horns making short work of any tiger that may 
come in their way. 
From its original home in the East the 
domestic buffalo has spread over the greater 
part of Southern Asia and of North Africa, 
and was introduced towards the close of the 
sixth century into Greece and Italy, formiug 
an invaluable beast of burthen in marshy dis¬ 
tricts, where the great breadth of its feet, 
somewhat resembling those of the reindeer in 
this respect give it a decided advantage over 
the horse and the ox. In Italy we have seen 
it grazing in herds in the Pontine marshes 
where for hours it will lie submerged almost 
to the muzzle in the slimy water. The milk of 
the buffalo is plentiful and of excellent qual¬ 
ity. The Hindoos make of it a kind of butter 
called ghee. The skin of the animal is highly 
prized; but the flesh is inferior even to that 
of a grass-fed Texan steer. 
Poitllnj JDanX 
ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 
Experiment No. 1. 
Artificial incubation is no longer a matter 
of experiment, but really a matter of fact 
which caa be accomplished with any good in¬ 
cubator, by anyoue Laving experience in its 
management, patience and a watchful care 
continually duriug the entire process. Several 
years ago I bought a machine said to be the 
best in me, set it in operation, gave it my 
strict attention'and succeeded in hatching the 
eggs so far that 1 concluded to put “ biddy’ 
aside altogether for hatching purposes. Un. 
fortunately, however, about the 18th day of 
incubation in removing the egg drawer, 
having forgotten to raise the thermometer, I 
broke off the mercury bowl, consequently the 
mercury ran out over my eggs, aud left me in 
the position of a ship at sea without chart or 
compass. I hastened to New York next day, 
leaving the incubator mas favorable condition 
as possible, searched for one of the same kind 
of thermometers, but could fiud none; took 
the next best ehauce—bought a new one and 
returned home as speedily us possible, adjusted 
it properly aud rested in peace for a short 
time Presently 1 examined the egg drawer 
and found the heat too low by 13 degrees, I 
turned on more light,, and after a short time 
made one mure examination, found the heat 
gradually rising and felt secure. In about 
half an hour thereafter I made another in¬ 
spection aud heard ihe little chicks peeping in 
the eggs. 
My expectations then were great, but I 
found the heat much higher, according to my 
judgment, than at any previous period. I 
exanii' ed the thermometer and found it to 
mark 104 degrees. 1 trimmed the lamp and 
filled it with oil, retired for the night and 
rested at ease until the next morning. With 
the rising sun I was again at my post of duty. 
I opened the egg drawer and noticed the beat 
to be more than usual, Hml ag^in examining 
my guide, 1 found that it registered 104 
degrees, and felt satisfied that my conjectures 
of over-beat were only imagination. There 
was no peeprng c f chicks in the eggs then, for, 
ignorantly. 1 k^pt the heat steadily at 104 
degrees until the afteruc on of the 22d day; no 
chicks came forth: there was no mu-ic within 
the eggs, or.d with a heavy heart 1 drew forth 
egg alter egg, broke the shells, and found every 
chick dead—roasted almost ready for the 
table. I could not account for such a failure. 
No improvements suggested themselvps, so I 
emptied the drawer, put in 50 more valuable 
eggs, closed it up and in les^ than two hours 
killed the germ of every egg by the extra 
heat; i kept the register at 103 degrees very 
regularly for eight days. I then examined the 
eggs with the tester, but not one had started 
to hatch. 1 thought there must be too much 
heat, but, no! the thermometer marked 103 
degrees. I sat down perfectly perplexed. 
Presently my eye rested upon an old common 
thermometer hanging against the wall. I 
seized it and placed it in the egg drawer, and 
the mercury soon ran up to lit! degrees. On 
gave my whole attention to running it between 
5 A. M. and 9 P. M., turning the eggs twice, 
and sprinkling them with teDid water once 
each day. With every precaution, the drop 
would set fast at times and not shut off the 
light, causing the thermometer, which regis¬ 
tered 110 degrees, to burst. I still persevered, 
spoiled at least 300 valuable eggs, burned half 
a barrel of oil, and hatched three sickly chicks 
that died within three days after their re¬ 
moval from the incubator. Having accom¬ 
plished my purpose, I turned off the light, 
drew off the water, determining never to run 
that incubator again. 
Tue next season a friend requested me to 
loan it to him; I tried to discourage him in 
close inspection of the new thermometer I 
found the paper inside marking the degrees 
had lowered in some unaccountable way to 
make the difference; certainly another batch 
of 50 valuable eggs was spoiled. 
The incubator was very poorly made, some¬ 
thing was always getting out of order; first, 
the tank began to leak; then the regulating 
bar would lower daily, and I as compelled to 
examine it continually, screw it up to prevent 
it from dragging in the slot, and stopping its 
action, until finally it was set up to its utmost 
capacity and then only just cleared itself in 
working. Another defect was in soldering on 
the hinges of the door of the egg trays. In 
about three weeks’ use one of the hinges let 
loose, owing to the insufficient quantity of 
solder used. The top of tbescrewbix holding 
the lamp was not soldered at all. In my per¬ 
plexity I wrote to the manufacturer, asking 
advice in its management, aud after a lapse 
of time I received a letter from him saying; 
“I cannot fiud your name on my book as the 
purchaser of an incubator; you must have 
bought it from an agent; but, if you will call 
at my residence (50 miles away) I will explain 
everything satisfactorily.” 1 wrote him im¬ 
the attempt of running it, but being a man of 
nerve he would take no advice from me, so he 
had it repaired and put it in operation. In a 
short time he returned it as worthless, and I 
set it aside as 50 dollars’ worth of rubbish, 
though I afterwards disposed of it for $25. 
Schraalenburgh, N. J. C. S. Cooper. 
-» ♦ » 
Poultry in the West. 
We have a Western way of keeping fowls. 
They run at large about as they please and are 
not fei regularly except during the Winter. 
In Summer if thick, sour milk is plenty, we 
put that out for them; if not, they get a sup- j 
ply of fresh water. Our fowls are natives 
mixed with Dorkings and Black Spanish, and 
they are exceedingly good layers. They hide 
their nests, sit of their own accord at leisure, 
and raise their broods in their own way. I 
This seems a slip-shod way of keeping poultry, ' 
but it brings an abundance of eggs and plenty 
of fowls for the table. Early in the Fall any 
surplus is sold alive. But no dependence is 
put on fowls for a revenue, because on a large 
farm a speciality cannot be made of very 
A Buffalo Cow.—Fig. 214. 
mediately I would call on a certain day, and 
in due time found his residence. We pro¬ 
ceeded to the hatchery and saw three machines 
in operation. We walked outside the building 
where be exhibited 35 small chicks which he 
said had been hatched artificially; that is about 
all the information l received for the trouble 
and expense. Nothing daunted, 1 returned 
home determined never to surrender until I 
hatched a Living chick with my machine. I 
many things, and any income from fowls, 
over and above plenty' for use in the family 
is considered so much extra. One of my dis¬ 
tant neighbors tells me that he has found the 
White Leghorns the most profitable, as they 
will lay all Winter. Bat many believe that 
the pure Asiatic breeds are more liable to the 
chicken cholera than the less pretending 
natives. A Volunteer. 
Southern Wisconsin. 
A Couple of Queer Fgers. 
One of ray hens has laid two remarkable 
eggs. The first one is 9}^ iaches around, 
lengthwise, 7 % the other way, and weighs 
ounces. The second is a trifle smaller, 
weighing five ounces. 
Inside each of these large eggs I found an 
ordinary sized egg, with shell hard and com¬ 
plete. I have read of such eggs, but never 
saw one like theso before. I exhibited them 
at the Onondaga County Farmers’ Club, and 
only one member present had ever seen any 
like them. Among the many thousand dozens 
that I have handled, the=e are the largest 
hen’s eggs I ever saw, weighing, as they do, 
nearly three times as much as ordinary ones. 
Hon. Geo. Ge ides wished them, but I pro¬ 
pose to keep them as a sample of the freaks 
of nature. Nelson Ritter. 
Onondaga County, N. Y. 
3mylmmxi5, & jc . 
THE LOCKPORT PLOW TRIAL. 
(Rural Special Report) 
A trial of plows (hand and sulky) took 
place at L ickport, N. Y., Saturday, June 19th, 
under the auspices of the Niagara County 
Agricultural Society. The weather was as 
favorable as the managers could have wished 
for, and there was a very good attendance of 
visitors. Twelve plots of ground were staked 
out for the hand plows and six for the sulkies, 
corresponding with the number of entries. 
The ground was an old sod that had been in 
use for a fair ground for the past twenty years, 
and gave the plows a very fair test. 
The award was made on quality of work 
and dynamometer test. The draft test on the 
hand plows, numbering as per lots, was as 
follows: 
Draft In Square of Draft to 100 
1U0 feet. furrow. Inches turned. 
No. lbs. inches. lhs. 
1. —Hilt’s Scotch.547 7:1.1 Til 
2. —Wiard. So. 11... .*53 116.9 559 
3. —Niles, No. 5.623 96.1 643 
4. —Canada, Scotch .661 79.2 840 
5. —Syracuse. No 19 800 110 9 775 
6. —Roblmon. N *. B.3.S7 80.9 787 
7. -Wiard D. So. 1 .608 79.1 763 
8 -Gale, No. 26..650 98.7 658 
9.—Ga'e, NCI 27, A,..R1'2 91.9 621 
10. -Gale. Vo. 31 .. ..575 97.2 591 
11. —Syracuse, So. 9..623 115 6 538 
12. —Syracuse, No 7. 740 95.9 771 
And the awards: l3t, to entry No. 8, Gale 
No. 2G; 21, to entry No. 12, Syracuse No 7; 
aud 31, to entry No. 9, Gale No. 27, A. The 
Committee also make favorable mention of 
entries Nos. I and 4. All, axcepting Nos. 1 
ani 4, used j nnters; the other two c miters. 
As far as work was concerned, No. 12 made 
the best looking worit, and cleaned up the 
dead fuirows in the best manner, closely fol¬ 
lowed by Nos. 9. 10, 4 and 2, 
If the committees and managers of these 
trials would make their rules plainer and then 
stick to them, it would make these trials much 
more thorough. In calling for quality of 
work they say nothing about coulter or joint¬ 
ers, when those shouoi be kept separate in 
stiff sod, and they also allow the manufactur¬ 
ers and their agents to have too much to say 
and, to a certain extent, let them run the 
trials in their own interest. 
The tests in ihe sulky plow trial showed the 
following drafts: 
1. Ndes; Draft in 100 feet, 635 pounds; 
square of furrow turned, 85.4 inches; draft 
to 1€0 inches turned, 743 pouads. 
2. Casady: Draft not taken, on account of 
being unable to attach the dynamometer. 
3. Buckeye: Draft in 10U fe.t, 730 pounds; 
square of furrow, 80.8 inches; draft to 100 
iuches turned, 905 pouuds. 
4. Gilpin; Draft in 100 feet, 705 pounds; 
square of furrow turned, 93.2 inches; draft 
to 100 inches turned, 756 lbs. 
5. Wiard: Draft iu 100 feet, 735 pounds; 
square of furrow turned. 95.5 inches; draft to 
1UU inches turned, 859 pouuds. 
6. Uuiversal; Draf t iu 100 feet, 690 pounds; 
square of furrows turned, 71.1 iiichea; draft 
to 100 inches lurned, 97 L pouuds. 
The awards have not, as yet, been made on 
the sulkies. The Committee were all from 
Canada and took their uotes borne with them, 
reserving their decision. The tough sod was 
a very severe test for the sulkies, aud they did 
not do as good work as was expected. The 
Buckeye and Universal are sulkies to which 
any plow can be attached. The others are all 
full-rigged sulky plows. The Niles is on a 
new principle that as yet Is not fully developed, 
and l thiuk that it will yet make its mark. 
The Casady did excellent work, taking into 
consideration the nature of the ground, as did 
also the Gilpin and new Wiard. 
In the draft test on the hand plows Nos. 11, 
S, 4 and 1, were tested on ground that was 
slightly more favorable to ease of draft than 
that on which the others were tested. 
On the whole, the tests would have been 
more satisfactory if the owners of the imple¬ 
ments had less to do with them. w. h. k. 
