The Battle of the Incubator

These sunny days, the chickens are cracking their shells and stepping out into the world, but they are brought to this state of animation by different means from those resorted to in the good old times by the traditional sitting hen. The contrast between the old and new styles is forcibly shown by the exhibition at the store of Hyams, Pauson & Co., at the corner of Front and Columbia streets. In one of the big show windows, there was placed three weeks ago one of those pesky, new-fangled inventions called incubators, and in it were stowed 100 eggs. Beside it was placed an old barrel with a hole cut in the side, in which on a bed of hay sat and still sits a hen on just as many eggs as she can cover with her warm feathers. The hen will grow thin and cramped, while the incubator is saving several hens the trouble and doing their work while they are running around having a good time. The heat is supplied by an oil lamp instead of a hen's feathers. As the chicks crack their shells, they are transferred to a patent brooder. The question agitating the public mind now is how many chicks will come out alive from those 100 eggs in the incubator, for the firm has offered prizes to those guessing nearest to the number.