The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-07-19
gntelli9e1eeey.
IIlcubatOrS.

Never before was there SO much said
and written about artificial incubation,
and yet in spite Of all that has been said
and written, the ignorance of the public
concerning it is still profound. Very
much earnest thought has been given the
subject of Matching eggs by applying
artificial heat, and the experiments
which led to the periccting Of the process
must have been tedious and disheartcn.
ing. Several inventors who have been
giving the subject their best thought for
years have completed what they call per-
feet hatchers. 70 our certain knowledge
there are not less than twenty differ
e kinds of patented incubators, made
in this country, not to count the wise
heads who are willing to tell you how
to make one yourself az cost OF very
few dollars. OF course the patentce of
each claims for his invention more good
points that than can be found in any
other. While we do not mean to say
that We know all about incubators, we
do wish to warn the people against send
ing money to any person or persons for
instructions TO make home made incuba.
tors. Our intention is not to praise any
particular make of incubatOrs, but to tell
our readers in Il friendly way the kind
we use and the care it receives and The
results we have obtained.
Our attention was first directed to this
subject by breeding pure Lcghorn Iowls,
and as they would not set II was ncces-
sary to keep some other breed i'll order 10
raise the young. a year ago this spring
we opened up correspondence with the
leading poultry breeders in the United
States and Canada, with view cleaning
information upon the practicability of
artificial incubation in general, and, if
possible, to get from them such advice Us
would enable US 10 select the very best
make Of incnhainrs Nearly all agreed
that it was practicable beyond the shadow
of doubt, but when asked to name tho
best incubator there was diversity of
opinions; so much so that we decided to
wait {. year before investing in enc. Dur.
ing the year we made repeated inquiries
AMI this spring we had settled upon the
AFFORD, manufactured by AxfOrd &
Brother, Chicago ILL.,, as our choice.
We still had some doubts about the mat
ter and wrote to AFFORD and Brother to
send us one on trial to be paid for if it
proved satisfactory, and to he returned
free of charge if it would not work.
They replied that they did not care
to send them out on trial. They had
been thoroughly tested and their merit
had been fully established in the hands
Of their customers They could find
them out on trial" The tone of their
letter convinced us that they had no con.
fideuce whatever in their own invention
and were afraid to send out one on
trial rs they knew it was sure to be re.
turned. We finally decided to buy one,
feeling rs we did that this was one Of the
very best made and should this fail to
work, the whole subject of artificial incu-
baton would be fraud and failure.
When the incubator came we did not
feel like employing an expert to run it,
but preferred to place it in the care of q
hired man who had no knowledge Of the
business and did not even understand
the nature and workings Of galvanic
battery. We thought it would be bes
to give it no skilled attention but place
it in such care as any good faithful mar
could give it; and if with this attention
it was failure, we would fearlessly pro
nounce it to be impracticable for thu
farmer. Mention was made in the 4iy
ricuiturist when the machine arrived aht
from that day to this stream of irqui
ries has poured in upon US.
Many Of the inquiries we have beer
unable to answer, and we hope all wht
have written US on the subject viii
remember that our time is fully occupied
and that we cannot answer 40 man,
questions, although it would be pleas
ure to do 80 five had the time to spare
The room in which we placed the ma
chine was : very temporary, che6l
granaTy, in which the temperature Tarict
fiffu 1anroua f1pr,pn OH hl
March weather. During hard winds the
dust and rain would beat into the room
which made it exceedingly unpleasant
Once during the period the attendan
forgot to clean the zines at the prope
time, and this weakened the battery 81
much that it refused to control the hea
guage, and for nenrly q whole day tn,
temperature Of the ovens was six degree
too high. The machine is n self.regula
tor, and when kept in order, which il
very easily done, it will keep the heat
the required degree.
Our machine holds eight hundred eggs
which are placed in two separate cvenl
Of four hundred each, one oven beine
directly above The other. We filed tht
upper oven first, and at this writing we
have three hundred aud fifty nice chick,
three days old from the four hundred
eggs in the upper oven. There wers
three hundred and sixty hatched, but We
lost ten. They are the liveliest, clean
est and beat lot Of chicks we ever saw o.
their age. We do not wish to say thai
no other incubator will do US we'll. but
we know what this has done, and we are
80 well satisfied that we have purchased
another of the same make and eize. We
have no hesitation whatever in saying
that any one who purchases one of the
AFFORD incubators and gives it good care
will be abundantly satisfied with the re.
suit. We shall now fill both incubntors
to their full capacity, and shall place the
results obtained in the future before ouI
readers.-Ransas AgricuHurist