FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 
565 
the egg wilt keep for culinary purposes several months. I 
once dipped a basket of eggs in boiling water, holding them 
in four seconds, then placed them on a shelf near a stove- 
pipe in a warm room, where they remained for three months 
during hot weather, at the end of which time every egg was 
good. J. Y. B. 
IMPREGNATION OF EGGS. 
Mr. Editor : Is it not about time this nonsense about, 
the “ tread ” in the egg was disposed of? A very rudimen- 
tary knowledge of physiology will show that this whole 
discussion is the merest moonshine. That which has been 
regarded as the “ tread ” by the henologists is nothing more 
nor less than an appendage of egg itself, and is independent 
of the influence of the cock. 
The ejaculated spermatic liquid or semen is a whitish, 
viscid matter, mainly consisting of colorless liquid contain- 
ing immense numbers of minute bodies named spermatozoids 
These are the essential constituents of the spermatic liquid 
of animals — the real seed upon which its fecundating power 
depends. These spermatozoa vary in form and size in the 
different animals, but are microscopic in all. In fowls they 
are about of an inch, or less, in length, and to be seen, 
must be viewed through a magnifying lens of considerable 
power. When these exceedingly minute bodies are injected 
into the oviduct of the hen it seems to me they would be 
difficult to trace, and be still more difficult to discover in 
the egg. One of these spermatozoids magnified 350 diame- 
ters (about 1000 times its natural size) would look about 
like this These little bodies are endowed with 
inherent power of movement. They consist of an ovoidal 
head, and a long filamentary appendage or tail, which vi- 
brates with wonderful rapidity. 
The oviduct of the hen is lined with a mucous membrane, 
on the free surface of which immense numbers of minute 
ciliary or hair-like appendages are found. These are in 
constant motion, and assist the spermatozoids in ascending 
the canal to come into contact with the ova or egg. When 
this is reached the spermatozoid pierces the cellular wall of 
the ovum and is entirely lost to view. It finally comes into 
contact with what is called the germinative clot or vesicle, 
and the egg is impregnated. This impregnation can only 
be determined in the fresh egg by a careful dissection and 
examination under the microscope. Perhaps some of your 
correspondents will not be able to understand this, but it is 
the real physiology of impregnation. A. M. D. 
Doylestown, Fa. 
(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
BICKNELL v. PYLE. 
Dear Editor: No doubt Mr. Pyle is a firm believer in 
his theory, and “gives it to us ” in the “ honesty of his 
heart.” As such we digest it without the aid of a physician, 
i. e., if we ever find any that we can swallow. My stomach, 
however, is a little dyspeptic, and I cannot make the doses 
go down. I have the best of feelings, however, towards Mr. 
Pyle, and hope to have the good fortune to meet him some 
time not far distant. His reply to my article, page 533, No. 
34, Fanciers' Journal , would need no answer if it should 
only reach the eyes of experienced breeders ; yet his mistakes 
might some time prove fatal to the success of a novice. I 
will, therefore, now take up his different points. 
No. 1. “ More than one good cock to twenty-five hens is 
a nuisance.” 
2. “ They should be put together in the fall, and by the 
time spring comes they will all be impregnated, and the act 
once performed is sufficient.” 
3. “ At the small end, &c., .... which is the life prin- 
ciple of the hen; but there will be none at the other end 
which would be the cock’s.” 
4. “This would account for one of Mr. B.’s hens hatching 
so badly.” 
5. “If the hen is not set until well ready she will not 
leave her nest for a week.” 
6. “ She will not turn the eggs during this time, as she 
will know they will not need it." (The italics are my own.) 
7. “ One tread is sufficient for a sitting.” 
No. 1. Some good cocks are able to serve twenty-five and 
even forty hens, but from ten to fifteen are as many as should 
ordinarily be allowed. No general rule can be relied on in 
this case. Some birds should be used as long as they are 
able to serve two hens, on account of their progeny. As 
good a B. B. R. gamecock as I ever owned faithfully served 
from twenty-five to thirty hens for three years. At the age 
of five only fifteen were given him, and at the age of eight 
years the eggs from four hens running with him all failed 
to hatch, but when two were removed, eggs from the remain- 
ing two hatched well. Without the exercise of judgment 
in these things we will oft fail. 
No. 2 and No. 7 can be soon disposed of under one head. 
There is only one objectionable point in them, viz., they are 
not true , as the author will know whenever he tests them by 
actual experiment. His “ Tester” will not be admitted au- 
thority on this question, but take the cock from the hens 
and set the eggs. The result will be, eggs laid within five 
days thereafter will hatch nearly or quite as well as before ; 
after that but a very small per cent, will hatch, and after 
ten or twelve days not one egg in fifty will hatch.* 
No. 3. These white substances formerly called “ treads ” 
he now terms “ life principles.” What they are I do not 
know, but I do know that they are not “life principles.” 
The cock has no more to do with supplying either of them 
than he has with supplying the shell. Their presence or 
absence is no proof of impregnation or unimpregnation. 
The yolk of every perfect egg contains a small circular 
speck, which may be seen by carefully breaking it into a 
cup. This speck is the “life principle” or germ, and the 
egg is constructed in such wisdom that this germ always re- 
mains uppermost, no matter how many times the egg may 
be turned, thus receiving the warmth from the hen directly. 
The life of the chicken centres at this minute point through- 
out the whole period of incubation. This season I have ex- 
perimented with four hens that have been separated from 
the cock from six to twelve weeks each, during which 
time each has hatched a brood of chickens. I have broken 
and examined nearly all their eggs, and in every case this 
white substance appeared at each end of the yolk. 
No. 4. His reason for one of my hens not hatching well is 
not correct, for each attended to her duty well. 
No. 5. No hen should be set till she thoroughly attends 
to business for two or three days, yet very few will remain 
on the nest for a week without leaving it. Some hens never 
seem inclined to leave the nest while sitting, but such are 
more inclined to hang to their nest during the second or 
third week than the first. 
No. 6 is another old “time honored whim.” The idea 
* I know one service of a turkey cock is enough for a whole brood, but 
this rule fails with chickens. 
