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Show INCUBATORS. Are Homciiiado AOiurs I'rolilaMe. o.-M ill It Pkv to Bit la-torv U..ill Mut-liinv.' One reads in the variousnufi-ici'dtm-al exchanges of the successes ma.de witii homemade incubators, but trot of ten does the amateur mauiuacturer ol a machine inr his failures m print, t ollowing is a communication from a i'assachusetts poulterer to Conntrv OfeniJeinan, who recounts his lack of success with an incubator in-cubator constructed with gfeat care and operated with patient watc"sfnlness. His machine, like other homemade ones, was not.self regulating a feat-ire he soon discovered was highly important. A hot water tank supplied the heat; below this tank was placed the egg drawer, and. below this was a drawer containing wateV pans for the supply tit moisture. The machine was made double, with packing between the two cases, so that the heat could not readily escape from the interior. Tho inner door to tho egg chamber was of double glass, while the outer was of solid wood with woolen cloth bearings, where it touched the casing to insure- perfect tightness. A tested thermometer was used and great care taken to secure good results. This incubator was run for nearly three months and the result was one miserable little chick. Ne:t ducks egga were employed, but the machine yielded only a harvest of rotten eggs, snowing that the germs within them, had started with life, but had eithev received too much or too little heat soon- after starting. start-ing. Such results do not atall indicate that the machine was at fault;, it might simply show that it was tot properly operated. So the operator purchased a self regulating machine which persons-in persons-in whose judgment he had confidence assured him would do gooi work. At the first trial and at a season when tho germs of the eggs are less strong than in the spring and summer he hatched 113 j healthy chicks from 13G fertile eggs. The conclusions arrived aj, in his own words, are as follows: "Subsequent hatches confirmed me in j the belief that unless one is willing to put in a large share of his time watch- i ing his homemade incubator, and of actual work in caring for it drawing off the water, heating water to take its l place, and in filling up the. tank, and in ; the various other onerous duties that i j proper appliances in a factory built ma-i ma-i chine make simple tmd -?asy he wpnld better invest a little morei at the start I and get something n.ijere, if (jpc-v ated with ordinary-T3teii-iuceT to give j satisfactory results. " The loss in time, i eggs, patience and in the value of the poultry that would be hatched under i belief conditions, but which will fail to ' be hatched again aud agaiu in a home-, home-, made machine, even when run bj an expert, ex-pert, makes it decidedly unprofitable to ' bother with the homemade article, es- pecially when the best can be bought at , t low a price. " |