The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-01-23
Eggs and Chickens.

We have often wondered that no one has been
found to enter systematically into the business Of
keeping fowls for the supply Of our market with
eggs, as well as chickens for the table. As it Is, the
business is entirely in the hands Of the natives, and
owing to their unsystenatic modes Of carrying it on,
eggs are about the dearest article in the market,
averaging half a dollar q dozen the year round, and
not infrequently commanding seventy-fve cents for
weeks together; while . fair-sized chicken Saying
nothing about Its age) always brings a half a dollar.
In a climate like this, it would be wise, were it
practicable, to substitute more eggs for meat in our
daily diet. About one-third of an egg IS solid nutri-
ment, and this is more than can be said Of beef In
an egg there are no bones or tough pieces that have
to be laid aside. A good egg is made up (ssys the
Poultry Review of ten parts she'll, sixty parts white,
and thirty parts yolk. The white Of an egg contains
Sc per cent. water, the yolk 81 per cent. The aver
age weight of an egg is about two ounces Practi-
cally an egg is animal food, and yet there is none Of
the disagreeable work Of the butcher necessary to
obtain it. Eggs are best when cooked four minutes.
This takes away the animal taste that is offensive TO
some, but does not so harden the white or yolk as to
make them hard to digest. An egg if cooked very
hard is difficult Of digestion. except by those with
stout stomachs; such eggs should be eaten with
bread and masticated very finely. An excellent
sandwich can be made with eggs and brown bread.
An egg spread on toast is food fit for a king, if kings
deserve any better food than anybody else, which is
doubtful. Fried eggs are less wholesome than boiled
ones. An egg dropped into hot water is not only a
clean and handsome bat a delicious morsel. Most
people spoil the taste Of their eggs by adding pepper
and salt. A little sweet butter is the best dressing.
Eggs contain much phosphorus, which is supposed to
be useful to those who use their brains much.
The epidemic which prevailed here among fowls
during the last year has disappeared altogether, and
1t appears to US that there is no speculation that
promises better for a person with a small capital,
who will give his entire attention to the business,
than the establishment Of a chicken ranch" some
where in the neighborhood of the city. We remember
one individual, some years since, who had such a
ranch - on a small scale q mile or so from town on
the road to Msnoa valley, and whose eggs were
always sold in advance of delivery, at fifty cents the
dozen. 1t was believed, and with good reason, when
he sold out and went home to old Connecticut -
that he had accumulated a snug sum in the business.
And we see no reason why another, with the requisite
application and enterprise, may not be equally sue
cessful. At all events, there is, if not a fortune, a
good living to be made in the egg and chicken business.
Aud here let US give a hint as to how, at a moder-
ate expense, the business Of producing the chickens
may be vastly enlarged. 10 the colonies of Australia,
and more particularly in Sydney, Gas we learn from
the Empire, of that city, ncubators,-or steam egg
Matching machines, Shave recently been introduced.
These are of different sizes, capable Of containing
from fifty to two hundred eggs. They have the ad-
vantage of cheapness-one large enough to hatch
fifty eggs at a time costing only twenty dollars
of simplicity of construction, and a portable char
acter and neat appearance. Each machine is enclosed
in a polished wood frame, having the appearance of
an Office washstand, and about the same height and
dimensions. The smallest machine contains twenty
gallons of water, which is kept at a proper heat by
an ordinary kerosene lamp, which is burning under
meath. The water is enclosed in a tin cistern, on the
top of which are placed the eggs. 1t is also perfo-
rated, so as to allow the moist vapor to rise into the
chamber where the eggs are, which is the striking
feature of the machine. The great difficulty in all
past incubators has been to devise means whereby a
damp, moist Matching could be obtained instead Of
as was the Casa dry one. The chickens were
either sufocated from their inability to break the
shell; or, if assisted, they generally bled to death.
These machines. however, admit of the moist vapor
from the hot water, and a per centage of eighty-fve
chickens out of every hundred eggs is the result.
Over the eggs is placed q blanket and the wooden lid
of the machine, which is supplied with a thermom-
eter; and once the proper heat has been attained, the
machine requires little or no attention SO long as the
lamp is supplied with oil. The process of incubation
takes from nineteen to twenty days, during which
time the machine could stand almost unobserved in
the corner of q sitting-room, and be used as a side
table, or some such article of furniture.
Those who propose to go into the poultry raising
business are to try the incubator.
Hat the Woman's Congress held at Chicago, Julia
Ward Howe, one of the speakers, said Without
Knowing anything of the details of business and
Investment. L do know that this nation invests too
much of its mind and money in show. Extrava-
gance in dress and in housekeeping gives rank in
much of our society, and many is the business man
who invests in splendid outward appearances,
when he can hardly afford plain ones. Much of
our American life is as little like the wise,
solid life which builds up a nation as
butterfly hunting is like agriculture. This is not
croaking nor joking, but sober, bitter truth. And
this, more than anything else, makes me tremble
for our future. For other nations which Provi-
dence Sits in among us do understand and prac-
tice true economy. They do create more value
than they consume. l am not sure that we do.
In our financial crisis they stand firm. while we
are shaken, and their patient hands gather the
gold which cur hasty fingers scatter to the winds.
solvency, education, public works. the peace of
labor and the purity of capital. Let us prepare to
enrich, not to cripple. the generations that are to