The Portland daily press., 1876-02-21
Artificial PouIry Kaising.

with the means of predicting them, principally b.
their embodiments, the clouds.'' By VIM. Blassius
Philadelphia: Porter & Coates.
Artificial Poultry Raising.
Corbett's Gallinocuiture Institute, or Poul
try Breeding Farm, on Long Island, covers
100 acres, considerable portion of this ares
being devoted to raising corn, buckwheat
ETC., or supplying the chickens with food
The buildings on the estate are very extern
sive, covering no less than 5000 square feet
and, being erected according to the Profes
sors plans, they are naturally adapted to the
objects in view. The principal edifice is (;
two-story frame-house, 200 feet long by q
feet wide, thoroughly lit and ventilated by 1O(
windows and forty chimneys. Here on the
ground-foor are placed the incubators ant
artificial mothers, the upper story being the
home OF the pullets as soon as they have
sense enough to take to roosting. At some
distance from this building is handsome
three-story gable structure, also of wood, the
different floors of which are given up to the
grown fowls, and contains many scores Of
NESTS. The entire length is 100 by IA feet in
width, and balconies with varandahs run
around the upper stories, thus enabling the
feathered dodgers of the establishment to en-.
joy the fresh air in rainy weather. Inclined
planes run from each floor to the fields below,
forming a well frequeuted highway for the
poultry TO the surrounding pasturage. Con.
tiguous to this hennery is a rustic duck-house
go by 25 feet, with large pond in front
whilst many other buildings,-such as gran
aries, threshing- foors, stables, etc., make the
Gallinoculture Institute like good-siZed
village.
Although the various lighthouses on this
farm are constructed of wood externally, they
are all lined inside with brckwork, the latter
being plastered over and frequently white.
washed. This insures an absence of vermin,
as well as afiording warmth to the poultry.
The perches are all placed at an equal height,
thus preventing the nightly quarreling
amongst the fowls when they retire to roost;
and the different floors are swept every day,
the manure accruing being carefully saved az
a valuable fertilizer of land for buckwheat
and other grain. The supply of fresh water
is ample, and scores of reservoirs, in iron and
earthenware, are placed throughout the
grounds for the benefit of the animals, as well
as in the buildings themselves.
The incubators are of various sizes, being
made TO hatch 100 eggs simultaneously, or
200, 800, 400, 500, or 1000, as the breeder
may desire. They resemble in appearance
straight sided casks, or barrels, the movable
cover being furnished with chimney, or
ventilator, through which any noxcious gases
are carried off from the interior, whilst the
attendant is also enabled by its means to reg
ulate the temperature within at the required
lO4 deg. Fahrenheit. A bed of pressed horse
manure, one foot in thickness, having been
prepared, the incumbator is set upon it, and
after the eggs are placed in their proper re-
cepticle it is then surrounded with manure
from base upward, leaving only the top and
ventilator upward. On the twenty-tirst day,
the same as with living hen,-the chicks
declare their independence of the shells; but
it must not be forgotten that, in this process,
the manureof granted horses should be used,
so as to insure the necessary amount of heat.
The process of Matching eggs by the simple
use Of horse-manure, without the aid of hens,
ovens, steam, lamps, lime, etc., was original
ly suggested by the famous French philoso-
pher, Reaumur, in the middle of the last CEN
tury; but Prof. Corbett appears to be the
first poultry breeder to carry out that sug-
artificial mothers are his invention alone.
Matching eggs without the help of the hen is
the easiest thing possible, and in no sense
whatever contrary to nature. Ostriches nev-
er hatch theirs, nor do alligators, crocodiles,
snakes, the world-of insects, or the teeming
denizens of tine waters. Where the hen
really becomes, what is thought to be, neces.
sary is when she "gathers her chickens uu-
der her WINGS" so as to warm and succor
them. Corbett's artificial mothers effect this
result not merely as well as the hen, but in
some respects far better; for they never tram
pie upon, lame, nor kill the chicks, nor do
they lose them in the fields, or give them
rheumatism by leading them over wet
ground, The vast crowds of young chickens
TO be seen, from time to time, at the Hick-
vile Institute practically prove that the sys-
tenn there adopted is correct one; for the
youngsters are as bright in plumage, rave
nous, and active as any to be found else
where, whilst the mortality amongst them is
incomparably less. The artificial mother is
wooden box with a movable top. the latter
being covered on its under side with a soft
substance which insures necessary warmth to
the backs of the chickens. That is the local.
ity where they mainly require it, All angles
have been avoided in the construction of this
apparatus, so as to prevent the young ones
crowding into corners and mounting on each
others backs, as they are so prone to do nat
urally; and the movable top is made to de-
scend or rise at the operators will, so that it
always rests, without weight, on the chick
ems backs. The box is set upon and sur
rounded with horse-manure, the temperature
within being kept by ventilators at the same
heat as that impaired by hens body under
like circumstances, that is, from so deg. to
70 deg. 1t is surprising how quickly the
young chicks take to to these artificial moth
ers after leaving the shell, thus proving con-
clusively that the hen is not needed in the
poultry-yard for any purpose beyond laying
her eggs.
At the expiration OF from fifteen to twenty
days the chickens have grown sufficiently
strong to relinquish all further use of the
mother. They have previously learnt the
use of the little perches placed for their bene-
fit in gront of the apparatus, and they can
then lbe transferred to another building or
story, where they pass through the era of
nullnfdou