The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1908-07-18
(By Dorothy Richardson.)

10Y bOIOCuy $Il1CudiuSOu.J
Metuchen, N. j., for years famed as
the home Of Mary E. Wilkins-Free-
man, is destined to still another dis
tinction, which distinction is nothing
more nor less than the fact that here
Of all places on the face of the earth
there should be discovered and proved
beyond the peradventure of doubt a
nost remarkable circumstance regard
ing the hen.
At first blush this statement might.
be construed as meaning that Metu-
chen, N. j. were laying claim to be-
ing the original habitat of the hen.
But it is, nothing of the sort.
What Metuchen does claim howev-
er, and what she has a right most
Justly to claim, is the discovery of the
fact that hen has a soul-a hen:
For this important discovery in
natural history, thanks are due solely
to the master Of Alinsawk Alinsawk
is one of the largest and probobly the
best equipped chicken farms in New
Jersey. Here, as probably nowhere
else, is science applied in as many d.
rections toward the breeding and
raising Of chickens with the result of
number Of discoveries hitherto I'M
dreamed. For instance, whoever
dared to conceive Of the possibility of
a chicken being taught numerical val
ues? Who had the hardihood to sup
pose a chicken might be able to diff
ferentuate musical notes? that it
might have an ear for languages, as
well as fairly we'll developed system
of articulate sounds of it's own? What
most gentle lover Of birds and beasts
might have predicted of this latest ro-
mantle and most practical bird the I'M
mistakable evidences Of a self-sacri-
flee and a heroism almost human in
their purpose?
And yet all these things have taken
place and are to-day taking place at
Alinswack. The results of investiga.
ton and experiment in the incubator
cellars and brooder houses, as we'll
as, in the up-to-date quarters of the
laying hens maintained in this estab-
lishment, go a long way toward plac-
ing this erstwhile prosaic and unin.
teresting fowl upon a pinnacle of alb
sorbing fascination rivaling that Of
the more poetic bee.
To obtain the best results and the
greatest profits from chickens they
must be talked to and reasoned with"
declares the master of Alinsawk.
The chickens on my farm are all
treated not as dumb creatures, but as
Intelligent, reasoning entities and nv
experience proves to me that YOU can
not begin this system of discipline too
soon."
In accordance with this theory,
therefore, the man who "sets' the IN
cubator repeats over and over again.
as ne arranges the eggs therein an
abracadabra that runs something like
this:
In twenty-one days each and every
one of you will emerge from your
Shells strong and healthy chick.
Each and every one of you even now
represents a spark of life Nothing
can prevent your development. No
harm can come to you'''
During the twenty-one days reouir-
ed for incubation the attendant never
fails to talk quietly to the eggs durine
such time as he is engaged in the
various processes of turning" cook
Ing" ETC., the gist of his remarks be-
Ing always the thought that nothing
can prevent or hinder the develop
ment of the embryo chicken with each
shell The result is that when finally
on the twenty-frst day, the 424 DOWN
little chicks break through their
shells which they do simultaneously
they seem actually to be acquainted
with the particular attendant who for
three weeks has been addressing
them over the great gulf of the in
finite.
This remarkable phenomenon has
been observed over and over again."