Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-01-22
FOWL FAIRY STORIES.

Chicken - Raising anu A"'sh.
In its fowl reports of the fat stock
show in that city The Tribune, of Chi
cago. tells the following fairy stories,
Another plucky girl Was typewriter
in New York until her hhealth broke
down and her nerves refused any longer
10 bear the clatter of her machine SNs
was not of the kind who despair. and so
promptly exchanged her Remington"
for an incubator-there are usually peo-
ple who have incubators and want type
writers instead ready waiting for the
people who, having typewriters, long
for incubators-hired sandy patch OF
a farm out on Long Island, and went to
work at all the different branches of the
..chicken business. 1t is far better, if
one can do so, to choose one of those
paths and keep to il, but she had little
capital and was obliged at first to earn
money in any way that offered itself.
She bought eggs which she knew were
fresh from less canny farmers in her
neighborhood, scouredi them stamped
them with the name of her farm and
sold them in New York at Christmas for
80 cents dozen, and all the year for
prices which well rewarded her. She
bought scraggy young chickens at Is
cents and sold them, ''fat and fair for
rs. She raised Pekin ducks. which are
profitable creatures. She raised pug
puppies. too, keeping them and her
brooders of chicklings and duclflings all
in the same big warm room. where the
latter were protected by wire rims"
from being devoured by the former
As time went on she gave her atten-
ton more especially to the ducks, send
ing green peas" dlcklings to the insa-
table New York restaurants They
were the drollest little Things during
their short lives. coming into the world
ON "A broad grin. and keeping it up
through infancy. as if laughing at the
thought of how queerly they once were
rolled up in their shells like so many
balls of tape. That farmer forgot her
nerves. and grew rosy and serene at her
work, which. though hard enough. she
found full of interest.
Incubators are almost essential to
chicken farmers nowadays. Even if one
is not going to do anything on grand
scale. it is a much simpler way to start
ones machine at its winter work chan
to wait impatiently till willful ''hiddies"
decide to sit, and then to induce them
to take the nests one has made ready for
them. and then, too. too often TO weep
over the precious eggs which they have
deserted.
Still. though better than hens, incuba-
tors are 'kittle cattle" The number Of
dreadful things that may happen to
them is amazing. The Thermometers ia
most of them are marked across the de-
gree at which the temperature must be
kept. and the damage that will be done
by a rise or fall depends ON how far the
mercury wanders from that magical
mark. self regulators" only regulate
themselves when everything is made
easy for them. Unless the machinery is
in perfect order the ventilators viii not
act. and then the eggs are chilled OF
baked, as the case may be. That is bad
enough if they have been lately put in
but is more deeply depressing il they
have been tested" - that is. looked
through, and have been found TO contain
living embryos, various compounds Of
spider and cuttlefish. waving hideO1s
arms as they dance about in the egg
A business man in town who took de
light in caring for the chickens on his
country place went to his train one
morning. leaving 500 eggs in an incubs
tor in his cellar. 1t was the day they
were due to hatch. and most Of the shells
were starred. That technical term
means Clipped in star shape. and that
is a sign of a small beak having broken
through ms the chick uncoils itself All
day that business man had dreams Of
of dear little puff balls which
he would see at night But his cook took
a fancy to sweep the cellar that morn
ing. Her apron string caught On lig
ger" she said. land it slipped of another
jigger.- In short. the thermostatic oai
was disconnected from the ventilatms
valves. the therIpometer rose to unknown
heights. and the puffballs never aP
peared
A poultry farmer whom the wntei
knows in the most intimate way had
once upon time, clumsy old ineuOa
tor. There was reel on it. which wa
to be wound with great deal Of sewing
silk every alternate day Il is easy
forget what is only to be done eees r
other day. and one morning that iarne'
found the reel all unwound, lis leaiea
weight lying on the floor and the rher
not quite 200 degs And %,
cooked eggs in the machine were ~
Houdan eggs. not only from pnre p'r'
Houdans. but from the biggest crested
the darkest. the most fashionable hou
dams of all she had