1 Ava., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 117 
I am sure, if you run your incubators as I say, you cannot help having good 
hatches. But, mind you, do not open your machine every now and again to 
see how things are going on inside—he satisfied to look through the glass. Do 
not open your machine to satisfy curious friends and let them feel how warm 
the eggs are ; do not open incubator at hatching time to show your Aunt the 
little chicks, but just let things alone and be satisfied at looking only at proper 
time. Another thing I want to impress on you is: Do not be in a hurry to feed 
your chicks or ducklings as soon as they leave the shell, as Nature supplies 
food enough for twelve to forty hours after the chicks leave the shell; if they 
ge out, say this morning, you need not feed them until next day, any time. 
When the eggs chip, close your machine, stop the temperature at 103 degrees 
and wait till you think the hatch is finished; then remove the lot; don’t move 
_ two or three at a time, as it spoils the chance of others. I have shut my 
machine up.for three days, and would not open it for anyone while hatching. 
You do t! same. I enclose diagram of egg and how it should appear at 
different pe.iods of incubation. 
STERILISING EGGS. 
The Dairyman says that the process for sterilising eggs discovered by Mr. 
W. E. Ellis, of Wellington (N.Z.), has been thoroughly tested, with gratifying 
results. Nine months ago Mr. Ellis, who was then in business at Stratford, 
treated a number of eggs by his system, and stored them in an ordinary iron- 
roofed building at Stratford, after getting them stamped with the date by the 
local manager of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. 
‘The eggs were taken to Wellington and found to be as wholesome as the day 
‘they were laid. One of them was cooked and opened up at the Agricultural 
Department, and was as good as any new-laid egg. The poultry expert pro- 
nounced the test to have been thoroughly successful. 
PINK EGGS. 
A correspondent writes that a gentleman at Gladstone one day discovered 
that his fowls were laying pink eggs. On giving attention to this, he found 
that five or six hens out of the flock were laying pink eggs, varying in shade 
from deep rose pink to very pale. These eggs were fertile, as was proved by 
eight chicks being hatched from a setting. ‘The colour runs right through the 
shell, which is otherwise like an ordinary shell. ‘The hens that laid them were 
apparently of the same class as the others of the flock, and were fed on the 
same food on the same grass run. 
Our correspondent vouches for the truth of this freak of nature, and 
would be glad to hear if anyone else has had a like experience. 
GREVILLEAS DOOMED. 
It is stated by the Tropical Agriculturist, Ceylon, that the grevillea trees 
_ (silky oaks) are all dying out in the Uva district in that island, owing to a 
fungus attacking the roots. It has been recommended that the trees on all the 
affected estates be uprooted and destroyed. The editor of the journal named 
asks: Who can tell us if the silky oak is affected in this way in its native home 
of Queensland? We can assure the editor that no disease of any kind has 
ever been known to attack the grevilleas in Queensland, except one that many 
human beings are subject to—extreme old age. After forty or fifty years, some 
trees may decay from this cause, but there is no healthier or hardier tree in the 
Queensland scrubs. It grows almost as well when transplanted into the forest 
country or into parks and gardens, and exhibits no form of disease in any 
portion of its structure. 
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