The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-06-09

L
yIduaI VINO has performed the ma ~ -. ~
achievement herein chronlcled u MI =
Baker, OF the little place Of Cress klliroh-tAe
Hudson. in the state OF New Jersey Inc pro-
cess OF the artificial incubation OF fowls mas
been one I0ng-known and widely Praclced'
The variety Of artificial lncuoators y very
considerable. In France especlaIly LIS
method Of Matching and raising poultry mas
been extensively used. Il IS very largely IN
creasiug in this country One fowl can hatcu
Z a small number of eggs only To hatch eggs
bv the thousand necessitates so many mother
hens and is 50 slow AMI expensive a process
that the novel conception OF supersedIng the
natural mothers with an artificial enc adapted
for IS holesaIe incubation has been exhausJlVely
tested and finally so skIllfully executed that
al this time artificial poultry-ralsing Is be
coming a vast business, And Mr. BAKER, an
-uterprIsiug American, has the distinction OF
leading the buiuess in the world.
Mr.. Bakers poultry farm i situated on the
Hudson River, about two miles from the rail
road station Of Cresskill, y. j., and Is called
"CllffdaIe-
Mr. Baker endeavors to raise good many
eggs. He has Z.000 laying hens Of various
breeds, selected for superior laying qualities.
They are both thcrOughbreds and grades, and
principally Asiatics, Houdnas. Leghorns, col
ored Dor kings and Spanish. Sitting fowls are
not desired These hens are kept IN an lm 70
mense lay IN z-hOUse, which i the largest bulld
ing the place. This vast structure Is 4tU
feet long. divided into seyeuty-hye pens, each
pen divided Iuts three rooms or divisions. The
pens extend clear through from the front TO
the back, being SIX feet wide by twenty feet IL
depth The front Of the laying house IS glazed.
The floors are grayelled aud kept dry by un-
derIraiDIug. The front division OF each pen
is covered on top and outside with open mesh
wire, which ia fine weather IN the winter al
lows open AR and small run for the fowls.
The middle sections Of each pen have sash
that raise or lower at pleasure, and thus can
cur of and iucl0se the rear sections Of the pen.
In each pen Is kept an average Of twenty-five
TOWle laying eggs
The feeding Of the laying hens is done from
the rear Of the pens There Is a narrow tram
way running the fun length of the entire
building, and on his tramway two small truck
wagons are rolled. starting from each end and
meeting in the middle. The passage for these
trucks Is four feet wide. Each truck is tended
by keeper, who deposits the feed in little
h0uper- in each pen for the chickens. Small
pipes convey fresh water along the pens, and
he drinking vessels have loose gravel packed
under them to drain off any dampness. The
house is heated in winter by hOt-water pipes,
and kept ut Il continuous summer heat.
;-rmtH and stimulating food keep the hens
laying vigorously during cold weather. The
feed used Is varied. 1t has been found that
the fowls do best upon changing and nutri-
ti0us diet. Meats of every kind, scraps, grain,
bran, imperial egg food, ground bone, shells,
shorts, fresh meat, and green food, of all sorts
are given TO them IN pleuteou7 abundance.
But this army of hens cannot begin 10 pro-
duce She vast number Of eggs required by Mr..
Baker, and as the most brilliant invention bas
not yet been able to artIiclally produce these
snowy little germs of the luscious sprlu. chick
en-, he has 10 buy thousands of eggs. He pays
= a hundred for fresh and fertile eggs, and
viii lake them IN any quantity and at any time,
One Of the vast buildings on this farm Is
the iuCubating and brOOding house. 1t consists
tached to an immense glass house, lbs feet
long, thlTty-nlnc feet wide and sixteen feet
high, the g.ass building being the breeding
house, which Is divided into fifty apartments
ts- ,..vt s.t -Tt4 ~ al
half story building is a dwelling for the at
teudauts, besides containing Mr.. Baker S office,
dining hall and IncubarIHg rooms above, and
below in the basement heating apparatus
store rooms, electric battery apartment and
boiler room. The lucUbatIug rooms are two
in number, next to the battery chamber.
These iucubating chambers are twenty feet
square, with double windows, having three
ranges of large obloug iucubatOrs through the
center and a smaller range running around
the entire length OF he four sides OF the room.
These inCubatOrs have each eight tiers OF shall
low drawers, one above the other, for the eggs
We thus have in each room | 100 feet of these
shallow egg-drawers, capable Of holding 5000
eggs AZ one time and turning out I4OUOu chlck-
ems year
Theincubators are heated by gas manufac-
tureI on the place. Under each machine
single gas-iet is kent burning which heats the
water that Is carried through pipes 10 the open
and narrow vacant places over the surface Of
the eggs resting in the trays for Matching.
the natural warmth of the mother hens body
upon the eggs, and produces the uniform,
steady heat that matches the eggs. There Is IN
the adjoining room an electric battery that j.
kept in constant communication with the hot
water chambers above the eggs, as well as with
the gas-iets, and when the temperature be
comes wrong, eithertO0 cold or too hot for the
regular process of natural lucu baton OF the
egg automatic Indicators tell the variation
through the electrical current, and the heat Is
controlled by unerrlng apparatus made Tor the
purpose.
Several women are placed in charge of the
iucubatiug room, among whose duties are to
turn every egg daily. In this room there Is
kept constantly warm, moist atmosphere,
like soft spring air, through another very sim
pie and clever arrangement of having shallow
open pans of water around the room, upon
which the heated air plays continuously, pro-
ducing uniform gentle evaporation. The
eggs are tested before they are pa! IN the
drawers TO see whether they are fertile, and
also tested at Intervals along TO if they
continue live and are fertile.
Daily the wonderful and animated sight
IS seen of the bursting of the shells and birth
OF the cunning, sprightly little chicks. Hun
dreds are Matched every day.
The next step in this interesting wholesale
usurpation of narures powers in the breeding
of feathered dainties Is the transfer of the
newborn chicks TO the great "broOding-house'
before referred TO being attached to the
main building. The infant birds stay in the
travs where they are hate ed several hours
then they are removed at the rate of 100 chicks
to each one of the fifty apartments in the
brooding-bouse. This house viii hold 5000
chickens at time, and here they are kept I'M
til about three weeks old. Each of the fifty
uens has patent broodcr or hen-mother
made of zinc hollow and filled with hot water
lined underneath with blanketing, AMI placed
close to the ground Tor the little birds to creep
under, as :hey would under ben, when they
wish TO sleep rest. The chickens in the
dollhouse presents lively spectacle. Vary
ing in size from day TO three weeks old. of
all cOlors and breeds, lively as crlckets, chIrp-
ing, and hearty and irving, they grow apace.
un1lstuTbed by the vermIn that so often annoy
the natural mother hen.
At the age OF three weeks the lusty chick
no longer needing the brood under mother
is either transferred to the great laying-house
with the laying hens or carried to the cram
ming house near by-another large building
that Is used for the funniest process of all in
this novel method of successfully conterfeit-
ing nature in the prOcreation of her living
creatures. This examining house is 125 feet
long by p feet wide. Ii has within ii eight
round feeding machines of upright wood, each
one with five tiers of little boxes fashioned
like pigeon-hOles, and accomdatng a single
fowl in the box. Each machine holds go fowls
at a time in the five tiers OF boxes encircliug
the upright drum
The time needed to fatten chicken by the
forcing process is about eighteen days or two
weeks and a half, and theT can be brought
from an ordinary state to the very finest con-
dition in this time. Nor is the flesh put on
them soft fat, but good sound, solid meat, rich,
nutritious and palatable. In this building
Mr.. Baker forces 10000 chickens year, keep
ing the room dark and cool. The French
method of forcing Is used. single bird is
confined in each box, his legs being strapped
to the sides, his head and neck sticking ont
from the hole. The feeder has his mes stub of
boiled food well mashed, from which he runs
a flexible tube to the chickens mouth. He
seizes the chicken by the head, puts the pipe
in his gullet, and forces The soft food into the
crop, which is filed by the single movement.
Each bird is served in turn. The chickens are
never released until taken out to be slaugh-
tered and sold. They like this curious method
of feeding. The food that IS given to them is
nutritious and delicate and always mixed
with milk instead of water. Thus artifcially
Matched and fattened, the tender, delightful
young bird weighing from one and a half to
two and half pounds, goes to the New York
market finding ready sale sometimes as high