Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-07-08
A Few Interesting
Facts About the
Ideas Of Matching
A Bit Of History Concerning Egg
Matching in Days of the
Egyptians.

Edited by JUDGE =. J. MARSHALL.
WE TALK ABOUT OUR INVEN-
TONS TO CARE FOR POULTRY,
INCUBATORS AND so ON. BUT Is
THERE ANY NEW THING UNDER
THE SUN?
The poultry business has long since
identified itself with the rushing
throng and caught up new ideas and
put them to work. or in many in
stances some old idea is caught up
and heralded as an invention and the
eager throLg calls it great and but
few are the wiser. and so it goes.
What has been done can be done, the
saying goes. 1t might be twisted to
say that what has been done will be
done again in the generations to come.
Let US look back. BY so doing we
see the Egyptians Matching eggs in
countless numbers in the hot sand and
imprOvised ovens. The heat was
gagged by the feeling of the attend
ants nand as he thrust 1t into the
Matching place, much as an expe-
rienCed baker of old tested the heat of
his big oven. Artificial incubation is
said to be older than the Christian
era. We find that eggs were Matched
in countless numbers; yes, by the
thousands. by these people of whom
we speak as being thousands of years
behind the times. But were they? If
they were 1t took us a good long time
to get up to where they left of in
their behind the timeness When the
people of this country began to eX-
pertinent little along the line of ar
tifiCial incubation people held up their
hands in holy horror, and exclaimed,
What! trying to improve upon nature?
They could not understand that men
were simply trying to help nature
along with her work If we had our
way about It many of US would not
even be good lmitators of these early
Egyptians who did what we have not
attempted to do-hatch thousands of
eggs at a time without even Their
mOmeter or a regulator.
But the leaders of our time have
not halted in their desire to lead in
the matter of artificial incubation,
forging ahead until they had perfected
the most complete machines of which
we have any record. These machines
vary in size from so to $4,000 eggs
capacity, and are absolutely self-reg-
ulating from the time they are ready
for the eggs until the chicks are ready
to be taken from them and put in
the care of a foster mother.
Every new thing that comes up for
public recognition is viewed by skep-
teal eyes. However. one by one the
people fall in line and pronounce the
thing all right. The farmer has been
perhaps the most skeptical in regard
to incubators, and has held out
against it the longest, calling IL d
new-fangled thing and so on, but he
is now coming around all right and
thousands of them are being success
fully operated upon the farm at ali
seasons of the year, while the old hen
and her daughters are doing duty at
the nest box. 1t will not be very many
years until practically all of our poul-
try will be Matched artifcially. The
old way is too slow a process when we
stop to think how easily one man can
look after the Matching of 10000 to
$4,000 eggs and have time to care for
Just think Of II for a moment. This
is not an anticipation. for there are
plants, a good number of them, where
such work is going on right along
The business viii not be overdone
either. At least, 1t does not look that
way when we note that in most of the
big city markets eggs hold to about
the same average price year after
year. Increased flocks, however. re-
quire attention on the part of the
owner. Where few hens are kept
on nice range there is but little
trouble about the health of the crowd,
but increase that flock 100 times and
see what happens. Where large fOcks
are kept each one must have its al
lotted space and receive its share of
attention. To do this requires very
systematic work. 1t is essential to be
able to divide them into many small
hocks for the sake of health and thrift
So that if a sick hen appears it will
not be able to contaminate the whole
flock before it is removed. There is
no question that we are in a po-
sition to do great things in the poultry
business during the next few years.
We are just at the beginning of one Of
the greatest poultry producing times
in the worlds history. If you want to
share in the results that are sure to
come bptta fall In line and oct huSv