208 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 1G. 
ovary is lined by longitudinal folds, but that at the other 
extremity it presents a velvety appearance. The outer end 
! of the tube joins the termination of the bowels, just before 
the external aperture, both together forming a short, but 
large, passage termed the Cloaca, which is not shown in the 
engraving. 
The action of these parts may now claim our attention. 
When a yolk has attained its full size in the ovary, the 
> membrane covering it, and which has before been stated to 
i be furnished with a network of blood-vessels, becomes ex- 
! ceedingly thin at one part, and the whole being grasped by 
the open funnel-shaped end of the egg-passage, the thin 
part gives way, and the yolk passes into the tube. The office 
of the egg passage is to form in succession the various parts 
covering the yolk. The upper part of the tube that is lined 
with longitudinal folds secretes or forms the white of the 
egg, one portion of which is formed of a much more solid 
consistence than the remainder. This more solid portion 
is, as the yolk slides down the tube, twisted into two delicate 
spiral cords, the use of which is to keep the yolk in a proper 
position in the future egg; these cords, which are termed 
in scientific works the chalaza, are popularly called “ the 
tread,” and are erroneously supposed to be present only in 
an impregnated egg. 
The yolk, being thus surrounded with the white, passes 
on towards the middle of the tube, and here it is retained, 
whilst a tough, parchment-like membrane, the skin lining 
the shell of the egg, is formed around it. This process 
having been completed, the whole egg passes into that part 
of the tube with the velvet-like lining, and there receives its 
last covering, which is formed chiefly of chalk, or carbonate 
of lime, and which constitutes the shell. This process 
performed, the egg is ready for expulsion. In the engraving, 
the egg-passage is represented as distended by an egg at 
the place where the shell is formed. Such is a brief out¬ 
line of the structure of these important organs. Let us now 
apply the information to the understanding of some varia¬ 
tions which unfortunately occur but too frequently among 
our laying hens. 
If two yolks are equally developed in the ovary, and both 
received at the same time by the funnel-shaped end of the 
egg-passage, then both will be surrounded by the same 
white, shell, &c., and a double-yolked egg will result. 
If, from being excited in any way, as by being driven 
about, or by over stimulating food, the egg-passage is 
roused to too rapid action, the egg may not be retained 
sufficiently long for the shell to be formed, and a soft, but 
otherwise perfect, egg results. 
If the irritation extends to the middle of the tube, the 
membrane is malformed, and soft-eggs, shaped like hour¬ 
glasses, or perhaps not closed at the end, are produced. I 
have in my possession the skin of a soft egg, fourteen inches 
long, which was laid in my presence by a hen suffering from 
irritation of the passage. 
If the irritation extends still farther, the yolks may be 
passed away without any covering whatever. 
With regard to the statement respecting hens laying two 
perfect eggs in one day, I believe the only mode in which it 
can happen is by one being laid very early in the morning 
and the other late in the afternoon; that portion of the 
tube which forms the shell is only of sufficient length to 
contain one egg at once, two eggs, therefore, cannot be in 
j the process of being shelled at the same time. 
It not unfrcquently happens that the outlet of the egg- 
passage becomes closed. This may happen from several 
causes : sometimes, by straining in laying, the cloaca passes 
out, and the derangement of the part closes the egg-pas¬ 
sage ; at other times, a soft, malformed egg may lose its 
contents, when the skin puckers up, and forms a thin, irre¬ 
gularly-shaped body, which the egg-passage cannot contract 
upon so as to expel. In these cases, I have noticed that the 
contents of the passage above the obstruction have, by a 
reverse action of the organ, been sent in the opposite 
direction; and I have found the white, or even an imperfect 
egg, loose in the cavity of the body, giving rise to a degree 
1 of inflammation which is necessarily fatal. This reverse 
i action must also take place, to some extent, when one egg 
is found to be contained within another. 
The expulsive efforts required in laying, are, in over-J'ed 
hens, the constant cause of apoplexy ; all the sudden deaths 
that occur in laying hens are to be attributed to this cause. 
I have examined scores of cases, and, in every instance, 
found rupture of the vessels of the brain. 
As I have repeatedly observed, nine-tenths of the deaths 
in well-kept poultry arise from overfeeding, and from the 
use of food of too stimulating a character. Only last month 
my attention was called to a magnificent Spanish hen, which 
had died suddenly, as had four others in the same yard. 
The case was irritation of the egg-passage, which had pro¬ 
duced imperfect eggs; the efforts to expel the latter had 
caused apoplexy. The cause was easy of removal—the 
fowls had been fed with a mixture containing hemp-seed, 
peas, &c., &c., and the over-exciting diet has produced its 
usual effects. The same day brought another corpse, that ■ 
of a Pencilled Hamburgh. On examining her, I found a 
ruptured vessel in the brain: the crop containing some 
refuse meat and fat. 
Grain, meal, pollard, cooked vegetables, as potatoes, 
parsnips, &c., and the insect food they obtain by scratching, 
form the wholesome food of poultry. Hempseed, peas, 
beans, tares, and such animal food, as liver, &c., and, 
above all, greaves—the refuse of the tallow-chandler, col¬ 
lected in a putrid state from the butcher and the marine- 
store shop—are, by far, too stimulating to constitute a whole¬ 
some diet. These truths have been insisted on in these 
pages, by myself and others repeatedly, but, to judge by the 
dead birds I am constantly receiving, with but little eflect; 
so that I feel inclined to exclaim with Crabbe— 
* * * * “refrain, refrain; 
Or must I ever preach and preach in vain.” 
In connection with this subject, I may mention, that 
although I have never yet been fortunate enough to observe 
a diseased ovary, I believe that such exist. IN hen a hen 
takes suddenly to crowing, and assumes the plumage of the 
cock, the ovary is usually diseased. 1 expect that this is 
sometimes the case in the birds termed “ hen-cocks.” By 
the kindness of one of our subscribers, I have one of these 
now in my possession, which was, last Christmas, bought of 
a well-known dealer, as a Dorking pullet; it now presents 
the appearance of a cock’s-head, including a splendid comb 
and wattles, joined on to the body and plumage of a hen. 
I am anxious to keep it until next moulting-time, to observe 
any change that may occur in its plumage, and then to 
examine its internal structure, should I be so fortunate as 
to obtain the permission of its owner. 
On looking over this article, I find that I have omitted to 
notice one very interesting circumstance. In the anatomy 
of these organs, I have stated that the ovary is on the left 
side only. In the young chick, however, the rudiments of 
two ovaries and two egg-passages are to be noticed, but, by 
one of those inscrutable arrangements which are constantly 
to be observed in the animal kingdom, the organs on one 
side, usually the right, cease to grow, and soon disappear. 
In some few birds of the Hawk tribe—the Goshawks and 
Harriers—both are developed; and, in that case only, are 
we correct, when we speak of the ovaries of a bird. 
Should this paper be found more useful than tedious, I 
shall be happy to furnish, at some future period, a descrip¬ 
tion of the digestive and other structures of the bird, in¬ 
cluding an account of the development of the chick in the 
egg.—IV. B. Tegetmeieb, Tottenham, Middlesex. 
ON THE MANAGEMENT OF SILKWORMS. 
WITH COMMENTS AND ADDITIONS. 
Btj the Prior Jacopo Midi. 
( Continued from page 189. ) 
Section II. 
When the eggs assume a whitish appearance they are 
about to hatch, and then some pieces of muslin, or paper, 
perforated with holes, must be placed on the boxes, and 
upon this muslin or paper the tender shoots of the mul¬ 
berry. As soon as the worms are hatched they will ascend 
through the holes to the leaves, and may thus be removed, 
without being touched, to a little table, and thence to osier 
hurdles, covered with paper, taking care to place the twigs 
covered with worms at a distance of three or four inches 
from each other. 
