Arizona citizen., 1875-10-23
LOCAL MA TIERS.
An Invention.

We took a walk out to Gen. J. B. Aliens
 place one day this week and were surprls- ed at the comfortable and cosy quarters
 this gentleman has built for permanent
 home. The main building is arranged with much taste and with a view to ac- lcOmmodation and coolness, and in addi- ton he has added rather unusual fea- ture in these parts,-tasteful and conve-
 nienl outhouses. These latter are com posed Of two buildings; one is his stable
 and appurtanceS, arranged with the most perfect ventilation. The other building
 has several compartments; one Is for ltOol-house, etc., and In another part of this same building is a hennery, and Mir.
 Allen proposes to give some attention 10
 keeping this hennery well-stocked. It
 was in connection with this that We were
 shown the invention Of which we speak.
 Taking us to the rear Of the hennery. the General showed us a small square room and said that was his calabOose. We were
 somewhat surprised at so mild and peace
 able a gentleman having a calaboose at-
 tached to his premises and we were 10th to Lelieve that a perverted taste on bis
 part had induced him to revive the feudal
 ages when every castle had its dungeon.
 But we were soon relieved by being told
 that he designed 1t for the incarceration Of his hens. He said that in keeping fowls
 he had always experienced trouble from
 the breeding propensity innate in the best
 Of hens. We can't give his words but give
 that a ben enjoys, it Is setting, and setting
 at the most unreasonable and preposter-
 ous times; and if there Is anything hen
 won't do, It is to stop setting after she has first yielded to the temptation. She makes it the chef end Of existence. She is not
 at all particular as to the material upon
 which she sets; it may be porcelain door
 knobs or rat tail files or glass eyes; it is all the same to her. But she must set and in the language Of Jefferson Davis all she
 asks is 10 be let alone. She looses sight Of everything else in her absorbing passion.
 What To her is the condition of the egg
 market? Restaurant keepers may be ru- ined and eggs become priceless and she
 will sit there brooding, and breeding, and counting her chickens before they are
 matched, and speculatng on the propor- tion of roosters to hens in the outcome.
 Tie her up standing and smile Of con- temptuous pity suffuses her meditative lcountenance, while she shows the supe. I,r- mentally, and thereby illustrating thai well known feature in scientific attain ments called setting standing" Every man who has kept hens knows of this un- .conQuerable propensity in hens and con sequent loss Of produce in eggs, and no sure remedy had ever been found. After
 trying every device that human ingenuity
 can devise most men give it up. The con
 stant and sleepless affort tO counteract
 this propensity has not unfrequently pro-
 duced disastrous results on the owners Of the fowls, and there have even been well established cases of resultant insanity and suicide. but more frequently Of perfect dis gust with the world and loss Of faith in everything. But, continues the speaker, l have at last found a very simple and efiec- tive remedy and that is my calaboose. ! When a hen shows the first symptoms Of a desire 10 set, put her into the calaboose Immediately and treat her to solitary con hnement for two or three days. Strange to say, this simple process effects a radical cure, and rarely needs repeating W.e;h- .
 Et, a ly touches upon some peculiar mental sens.- tiveness Of the fowl aud shows her the vanity and selhshness Of setting l cant say. I only know it is almost iniallible l as a cure. The hen comes from her con ' dnement with entirely new views Of the responsibilities or her existence. She de- I velops an utter scorn for the very idea Of setting, and the only trouble is to prevent her from injuring herself in her constant | desire to lay eggs. There is one danger, l though, which should be guarded against and which Is likely Co occur in injudi' | cious hands, and that IS too long coufine- ment. I had a setting disposed hen once ! which I carelessly kept confined in the calaboose four days, and when she came out she surprised me with her tireless in- dustry in laying eggs. She carried the thing so far as to on one occasion lay three eggs in two days. I determined to save some of her eggs for brood, and set hen on a number Of them. If you will believe me. not an egg would hatch. After re- heated trials and failure I gave 1t up, sat isfied that my remedy in curing the orig inaI hen from setting had gone so far as 10 extend to her eggs and rendered them non matching.
 At this point in the narrative we were compelled 10 take our departure through A pressure for time. But We have done the public a great service We think bv re- porting this great discovery and invention. We know that last Summer there was setting strike among the fowls and eggs became very scarce. MT. Justice Neugass will bear Us out in stating that eggs were eggs in July. We know personally that on a few occasions he had to reduce the allowance Of most Of his ooarderS to one eog for breakfast, and we even gave him permissron to scramble our eggs for a few days and so work off some that could hardly have passed in any other guise.
 Tn view of these things we have given valuable time and space to our above no- tice of A great patent hen setting pre- venter.
 N.B. APPEL's train left for the San Car