Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-10-24
lNFERTlLITY OF EGGS.


lNFERTlLITY OF EGGS.
thoughts on Subject That Bothers
About Every PouItryman.
The Matching season is a season of
complaints This year has been bad
one, and so was last year, the year be-
fore and years and years before that.
Expectations are not realized, disap-
pointments occur, and this state Of
facts will probably continue so long as
there are buyers and sellers of eggs.
Many buyers do not know whether
the eggs which fail to hatch are fertile
or not. They break the eggs, and If
there is not chicken in some stage Of
development in each egg they believe
the egg has never been fortified. Ev-
cry rotten egg is counted as an infertile
egg, whereas the fact that it is rotten
is pretty sure proof that the egg has
been fortified and the germ has died.
Eggs subjected to the heat necessary
for incubation will, unless they have
been fortified, at the end of the three
weeks be clear and sweet, though the
yolk may lose some Of its consistency
and have tendency to run. Rotten
eggs therefore are always to be reckon
ed as fertile eggs.
But I am profoundly of the opinion
that many of the clear eggs also have
been fortified and that in some way
the vitality of the germ has been de-
stroyed before the heat of incubation
has been applied. I have been led to
this opinion through many observa-
tons extending over a series of years.
l have received reports repeatedly,
from buyers whose honesty 1 had no
reason to suspect that the eggs shipped
to them were properly sat upon and
that at the end of three weeks some
and not infrequently many of them
were clear and sweet, and have had
hens bring off full broods from eggs
gathered from the same yards at about
the same time as those which proved
failure in the hands of customers.
True, as this Is q single case little i'm
portance could be attached to 1t, but
when it has occurred ten times or
hundred times 1t is sufficient to prove
that after making due allowance for
imperfect sitting of hens and possible
dishonesty of buyers there Is differ
ence in results not to be accounted for
on the theory of difference in the fer
tility of eggs or in the method of their
incubation, and one is compelled to
search for some reason for this vari-
ance. And not only as seller but also
~ hr1y- Of q I
difference. The only theory which
have been able to form which will rec
oncile the difference in results secured
by different persons from eggs laid at
about the same time by the same hens
is that many eggs supposed to be abso-
lutely infertile are really fortified and
that in some manner the vitality Of the
germ was destroyed before incubation
began.
This vitality might have been de-
stroyed by the Earring incident to trans
portation OF by climatic changes or In
some other way. The first supposition
seems to me the most reasonable, be-
cause the difference is found more fire.
quently with travelled eggs than with
others. But if transportation destroys
the germs in some transported eggs
why doesn't it destroy the germs in all
such? That is no more difficult to an
swer than would be the question, if one
child sick with the scarlet fever dies
why do not all children attacked by
this disease die? There are probably
great differences In the vitality of
fhor In, wiz
or of human constitutions The child
who dies of scarlet fever might have
grown to manhood If he had not taken
the fever, but his constitution was not
strong enough to resist the particular
attack, and SO the germ which perished
by the way might have developed into
a reasonably vigorous chicken If the
egg had never been shipped from the
premises of the poultry breeder. But
while the first supposition appears
more reasonable-and be it added the
one most commonly efficacious-it is
not to be understood that single
cause only is capable of destroying the
vitality of the germs In eggs. Probably
many causes are efficient for this re-
suit.
Perhaps the many nonhatchable eggs
in the early spring are so because of
climatic changes. The uncertainty of
the weather, the slight chills to which
the eggs are subjected, may be suffi-
cient In the case of weak germs to de-
stroy their vitality At any rate, hens
which are laying eggs out of the natu-
raj breeding season do not seem to pro-
duce many strong germs or at least do
not produce many eggs which hatch.
Yet the male and female elements are
probably present for all of the eggs as
well as for the few which do hatch.
The act of COTTON is regularly perform
ed, the female is in a condition to re-
ceive the male element, for the ovaries
are dropping the eggs regularly, and
yet for Matching many of the eggs are
valueless. If climatic changes could de-
stroy the vitality of weak germs, we
might then have an explanation of the
unhatchability of these early eggs. Be
this as it may, am firmly of the opin-
ion that many eggs clear after incuba-
ton have been fertillzed, and the germ
has lost its vitality, so that 1t has never
started to grow.-H. S. Babeock In
Country Gentleman.
New Method of Preserving Eggs.
A system now adopted In Italy is to
get rid of the shell and pack the interi-