The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1904-12-08
WHERE HONOR BELONGS.

Inventions for Compelling Hens to Lay.
Emerson Dodge of Belfast, stu
dent in agriculture at the University
of Maine, has invented a new kind of
trap nest which he contends will com
pei reluctant hens to lay two or more
eggs a day. says the Lewiston Jour
nal Then follows a description of
the nest, whereby it appears that be-
fore introducing the new nest to the
poultry they must have become familiar
with the ordinary trap nest. This is a
box with two rooms SO arranged that
when the hen enters the first and passes
through door into the second she
touches spring which closes the mid
die door behind her. Here she remains
in solitary confinement until the man
who gathers the eggs sets her at liberty.
Mr.. Dodge's invention is in the form of
an extra compartment attached to the
second chamber of a common trap nest.
Having laid an egg in the usual nest
the hen waits until the attendant comes
along to set her free. In the Dodge
patent she goes into second trap nest,
from which she cannot escape until she
has laid once more. Thus it appears
that hen no. familiar with the Dodge
nest may not get the hang of the con-
trivance until she has suffered from
close confinement for few days, but
the inventor asserts that after she has
learned that there is no means of escape
until she has produced a second egg,
her natural desire for freedom over
comes her scruples and an additional
egg is forthcoming. This nest, while it
may be an improvement over the one
familiar to old-time farmers boys who
gathered the egg crop in all manner
of out-of-the-way places, seems to be
hardly more than a variation on a nest
invented several years ago by Holman
F. Day, it memory serves. The opera
ton of Days nest was on the principle
of deception rather than compulsion.
This nest was SO arranged that when
an egg was laid spring operated a
trap and the egg disappeared from sight.
The hen was naturally surprised when
her cackle Of rejoicing was interrupted
by the discovery that apparently no egg
had been laid ard she returned to her
duty as became a conscientious hen
The only trouble with Days nest was
that it would work to death a hen
which really felt the material weight
of her responsibility, and it may be for
this reason that it never became popu-
lar with egg producers. An advantage
of this nest over that of the Belfast
inventor was that it had an attachment,
operated by clockwork, whereby each
egg was stamped in indelible ink with
day of the month and hour when it was
deposited in the nest. We have al
ways felt that if Mr.. Day had remained
mere newspaper man, instead OF de-
veloping into an all-round lit'rary
gent" he might have found the time
necessary for the perfection of an in
vention which, in the preliminary
stages, seemed to promise SO much
Biddeford Journal.
To SUBSCRIBERS. Every copy of The
Republican journal has attached to it a
yellow slip which gives the date on which
the subscription expires. If the date has
passed, you are in arrears, and your atten-
tiOn is solicited to the matter. In this con-
nection we would say that our subscription
lists are undergoing revision, with view
to settling all accounts of long standing.
Settlement may be made with the office up
to January l, 1905. and before that time we
hope to hear from all who are in arrears
J Ia h a. 49,