Lewis Wright

“ The mere rent of an acre is not much for 100 fowls, but the real difficulty was and is that a fowl is such a small unit, entailing constant liability to small losses and wastes, and necessity for labour and oversight out of proportion. Hence at a time when 100 eggs per annum was thought a fair return for each bird, and there was but a poor and uncertain market for them, this difficulty was insuperable. ”

“ In the case of a glow-lamp, the entire resistance is provided by the filament of the lamp itself, and that is why an ordinary metal or carbon filament lamp, for say 200 volts, has to be manufactured with an extremely long and slender, and therefore fragile, filament, while with an ordinary pocket-torch, which is usually supplied with current from a dry battery of some 3 or 4 volts only, the filament can be short and thick.
Speaking generally, glow-lamps on a low voltage current can be made more efficient than on a high one, and are also longer lived for very obvious reasons ”

“ Feeding and Egg-production.—These aspects of poultry culture are closely connected, and in both such advances have been made as almost amount to a revolution. The breeders of the United States have led the way, and, though it had first been taught in England, were the first to practise generally the systematic breeding, year after year, from the best layers only. It had always been known that some hens would lay from 150 to 200 eggs in a year whilst many did not exceed 100, and some laid much less. ”

“ By spherical aberration we mean that the light falling upon the centre of a lens is not brought to a focus at exactly the same spot as the marginal rays, and a general want of definition is the result, usually accompanied also by a want of 'flatness' in the image, that is to say the edges of the picture do not focus at the same time as the centre. ”

“ Breeds.—The number of poultry exhibitions has nowadays multiplied to such an extent that as many as twenty shows have been criticized in print in one week in Great Britain. Competition has increased the money value of prize fowls and created a large class+almost a profession-who have considerable pecuniary interests embarked in breeding and exhibiting such birds. This professionalism, and the interests at stake, have in turn naturally given rise to many proceedings of doubtful character, which it has been found needful to keep in check by an organization known as the Poultry Club. ”

“ Accidents.—These will occur sometimes, even in the best managed exhibition; the rubber tubing feeding a limelight jet gets kinked or trodden on, or a fuse melts if electric light is being used, &c., and out goes the light. In such cases a loud request such as, 'Would you mind turning up the light for a minute, please,' accompanied by a good-humoured laugh, usually allays the fears of 'nervy' people. An operator must never get 'nervy' himself. ”

“ The Chinese, if well fed, lay at a much earlier date than the common species, and, if their eggs are hatched under large Cochin hens, giving three or four to each bird, the young are ready for the table at a very early period. The nest, as in ail cases of ground-nesting birds, should be made on the earth and not in boxes, which become too dry and over-heated. In breeding for the market or for the sake of profit, the very large exhibition birds should be avoided, as many are barren from over-fatness, and none are so prolific as birds of fair average size. ”

“ The Objective is really the most vital part of a lantern, as the definition of the picture almost entirely depends upon the excellence or otherwise of this lens. This will be obvious at once when it is realised that the objective has to project on to the distant screen a greatly magnified image of the comparatively small lantern slide, and the intending purchaser is strongly advised to economise almost anywhere rather than on this item. ”

“ It has now been taught all over the country, by lecturers under the county council technical instruction committees, that poultry pay best of any branch upon a farm. It has become generally known that, provided they can be run over the farm by using detached houses, and not huddled together, a dozen hens per acre can be kept upon a holding without interfering with any other stock; indeed, the curious fact is observed that horses and cattle prefer to graze over grass that might be thought soiled by the fowls. ”

“ There is no accepted rule for colouring jet-taps in accordance with the cylinders, and although jets are sometimes met with painted in this way, i.e. red for coal gas and black for oxygen, it is more usual to find coal gas taps black and oxygen bright, or sometimes both black or both bright. Care must therefore be taken that the right cylinder is connected to the right tap on the jet, but there should be no difficulty in telling which is which, and fortunately any mistake, even if it be made, is quite harmless. ”

“ Geese in England are declining in relative popularity. In German they are consumed to an enormous extent, and the British consul-general at Berlin reports that even the large domestic supplies have to be supplemented by considerable imports from Russia, a special “goose-train” of fifteen to forty cars arriving daily from the Russian frontier at that city. In America there has been increased interest in goose-breeding, and in the Chinese goose especially, which has been largely bred (with some trifling peculiarities) under the name of the African goose, and crossed with the Embden and Toulouse. ”

“ So great is the advantage of the electric arc that attempts have been made to use it from accumulators in places where a current supply is not available, but this cannot be seriously recommended, except in special cases. Where an electric supply is, however, available there can be no real choice, whether the lantern is required for use in a large hall or a small class-room. The advantages of using the arc are so great that no other method need be seriously considered. ”

“ Though a practical man already, he had begun in a small way with one incubator and training one man; gradually extending, building up his own market, organizing his own selling agency, and building a mill to grind his own grain. Only such gradual extension by practical men can ever lead to success.
Besides the breeding of prize poultry, the changes mentioned in the early portion of this article have led to another class of breeding directed to the supply of pure races from good stock, but bred mainly for purposes of utility. ”

“ With an 'Injector' jet there is no need for the acetylene gas to be under pressure at all, and a simple generator such as described on page 12 will answer perfectly, though in practice very seldom used. With such a generator the pressure is so low that in many cases the jet will not even burn until some oxygen is turned on; but this introduces no real difficulty, as with a good 'Injector' a snap is practically impossible, provided the generator is large enough to evolve sufficient acetylene. It is far better in every way, however, to use the acetylene from a cylinder, just as with coal gas. ”

“ The origin of the domesticated breeds is ascribed by Darwin, Blyth and other naturalists to the Bankiva fowl, much stress being laid on the comparative want of fertility in the hybrids produced between this species or the domesticated breeds and the other three forms of wild Galli, but it is probable that this want of fertility was due in great part to the unnatural conditions under which the parent and offspring were placed, as, if bred under more natural conditions, there is no difficulty in rearing these hybrids or in breeding from them with the domesticated varieties. ”

“ The power of this jet is indeed almost unlimited, and those made with large bores, such for example as used for cinematograph work, provide a light amounting often to some two or three thousand candles, and consume an enormous amount of gas; but the ordinary pattern, with a nipple of one-twentieth to one-sixteenth of an inch bore, and using some 5 feet of each gas per hour, or perhaps slightly more for the coal gas, will suffice for all ordinary work. ”

“ The establishments which supply it furnish eggs for hatching, or stock birds, or newly hatched chickens, which are now hatched in incubators and sold by thousands when only one day old, at which age they travel without needing food. Some of such establishments are quite large. One in Yorkshire occupies 43 acres solely devoted to this business.
Poultry-farming has reached its fullest development in the United States, owing no doubt to the apparently inexhaustible market; butcher’s meat being far less eaten than in England, and poultry and eggs to a large extent replacing it as national food. ”

“ Arc Lamps on Alternating Currents.—The alternating current is not so good as the continuous for lantern work with arc lamps: the light per ampère is not so great, the light has an irritating habit of travelling round the carbons and there is always a slight 'hum.'
The sum total of these drawbacks is nothing very serious, provided that proper arrangements are adopted, and I have frequently manipulated arc lamps on alternating circuits with such good results that professional lecturers have at first refused to believe that the circuit really was alternating. ”

“ Every hover, with its inmates, can be reached from the corridor at the back of all. In many cases the chickens are confined in these small pens until large enough, the floors being littered and regularly cleaned; but some raisers have also small outside yards which they use in fine weather. The mortality in nearly all plants is great, as might be supposed. There are said to be some at Hammonton which only market 30% of the eggs incubated, yet pay a modest profit at that, which is allowed for. On the one hand, a broiler realizes about four times the cost of its own hatching and food ”

“ In deciding upon the type of body to be purchased the main considerations to be borne in mind are: (1) The type or types of illuminant to be used, a powerful arc lamp for example requiring a larger body than is necessary for a weaker radiant; (2) the size and position of the lens to be carried, a Petzval objective of say 3 inches diameter which has to be supported at the end of a long brass mount for long-range work obviously demanding a body of greater strength and rigidity than is required with a 6-inch focus lens of 2 inches diameter ”

“ Some eggs are imported from Italy, and much of the home production is from imported Italian hens, kept laying for a year and then killed: eggs are exported chiefly to France, Great Britain and Germany. There is a fattening industry somewhat similar to that in Sussex, lean chickens being bought for fattening in certain markets. The chief export of these is to Germany, but there is some to the London market, especially in December.
In the Netherlands the number of poultry increased considerably during the last decade of the 19th century, excepting turkeys, which' diminished. ”

“ So-called 'soft' limes used to be recommended for 'blow-through' jets as giving a better light than 'hard' limes, but the advantage, if any, is very little, and these limes are now very seldom heard of, possibly because 'blow-through' jets themselves are becoming less and less used, and 'soft' limes will not stand the heat of a mixed or 'Injector' jet for long.
'Hard' limes are turned out of the hardest stone lime, and must be kept in sealed tins until used, as they rapidly disintegrate when exposed to the air. ”

“ Most of the modern changes in breeds, broadly speaking, have been in the direction of replacing poultry with chiefly fancy points by really useful fowls, yet it is noteworthy that they have been carried out by fanciers, or breeders for exhibition, proving that there has not been that practical antagonism between the aims of these breeders and the production of food which some have alleged. ”

“ Coal gas or hydrogen is very seldom home generated; a gas-bag can, if necessary, be filled a few miles away and brought full to the place of exhibition, or filled on the spot if gas is laid on; or, failing this, acetylene or ether, or even methylated spirit may be utilised instead.
The bags in use are placed between double pressure boards (if both gases are required under pressure) and weights sufficiently heavy placed on the top (Fig. 14) , or with a 'blow-through' jet only the oxygen need be stored in a bag and the coal gas used from the supply main. ”

“ These birds being unfastened, and ready at ten or twelve weeks, give a quick turnover with less expense and risk than older fatted birds; and this peculiar demand has largely dominated American poultry-farming, a great deal of which runs in the direction of great “broiler-plants” solely devoted to the hatching and rearing of these broilers, while large “brooder-houses,” similar to those used in that business, are prevalent on more miscellaneous farms. ”

“ The Fallot Acetylene Light.—This light consists of a jet of acetylene under pressure, without oxygen, but producing its own air blast from the atmosphere by suction, much as the 'Injector' jet does, but the reverse way round.
The light is better than with an ordinary acetylene jet, though not quite so good as with a 'blow-through' jet; but as it only requires a cylinder of dissolved acetylene, or even a 'Pressure' generator, it is fast coming into favour. ”

“ Game Fowls.—Game fowls differ less from the wild Bankiva than any other variety; they are, however, considerably larger, and carry the tail more erect than the wild birds, Game fowls in England were long cultivated not only as useful poultry, but on account of their combative tendencies for the cock-pit. The comb in the game is single, the beak massive, the spurs strong and very sharp. There is a tendency towards the assumption of the female plumage by the males, and distinct breeds of “henny” game are known. ”

“ A bi-unial lantern consists essentially of two different instruments, each complete with its limelight jet or other illuminant—front, condensers, objective, &c., usually mounted on one body—and with some arrangement for 'dissolving' or turning the light in each lantern gradually on and off. ”

“ As a rule, American poultry-farmers employ long ranges of buildings divided into pens or houses, with enclosed yards in front; and the most remarkable fact is that interest can be paid upon the capital sunk in such buildings. The explanation in some cases is that much is put up by personal labour, while the cheapness of land and feed are also favourable. ”

“ The magnifying power of a lens depends upon its 'focus' multiplied by its distance from the screen, and the focus in the case of a simple lens is easily determined by the familiar 'burning-glass' experiment, that is by focussing an image of the sun upon a piece of paper and measuring accurately {67}the distance the lens must be away to produce the most concentrated spot. ”

“ Game are highly esteemed for the table on account of their plumpness, the amount of the breast-meat, owing to the size of the pectoral muscles, being very great, from which cause, combined with their hardihood, they are most valuable for crossing with other breeds, as the Dorking. English-bred game have been reared of many varieties of colour, retaining in all cases their distinctive peculiarities of form. Game fowls have been reduced in size b selective breeding, and exceedingly minute game bantams have been produced with the distinguishing characters of the larger breed. ”

“ The best plan of all, however, is to use an automatic regulator, which not only reduces the pressure so as to permit of the required adjustments being made at the jet-taps, but also maintains a practically steady supply as the cylinder empties, thereby obviating continual readjustments. Regulators are now so inexpensive that they have come into almost universal use, and are generally reckoned an indispensable part of a limelight lantern equipment. The form of regulator in most common use is that usually known as 'Beard's,' having been originally designed and patented by Messrs. ”

“ An acetylene flame is very smoky, and care must be taken that the burners are not turned too high. A nipple cleaner, consisting of a fine wire in a short handle, can usually be obtained from any dealer, and is very handy.
Acetylene gas can also be used for lantern illumination in quite another way, viz. by a blast from a blowpipe, in combination with either air or oxygen, on to a special 'Pastille' provided for the purpose, or an ordinary limelight jet can be used. ”

“ Whatever method of lighting we use therefore, enough resistance must always be kept in the circuit to ensure {41}that no more current can pass than has been provided for, and in the case of an arc lamp this usually means a resistance or rheostat being retained in the circuit in addition to the arc itself, through which the current is passed and absolutely wasted, though fortunately the waste in money is negligible, and for reasons to be discussed later such a resistance is necessary with an optical lantern arc lamp in any case. ”

“ Having now discussed all the essential parts of a lantern, the next points to be considered are those of lantern boxes and stands. It is best to take these together, as more often than not a lantern is arranged to stand upon its box during use, and the plan is both convenient and simple. The whole question is one to be settled upon its own merits in each individual case. Sometimes neither box nor stand is wanted at all. ”

“ A good hard stone lime must be used—'soft' limes are useless for this jet—and the coal gas flame should be lit first, and the lime thoroughly heated with this before the oxygen is slowly turned on. As the oxygen increases the flame will gradually disappear and the light increase, until it is at a maximum for that particular amount of coal gas. This latter can then be turned on a little more, and more oxygen passed to balance it until the jet begins to 'roar,' when we are getting the maximum light for that particular sized nipple. ”

“ Incandescent-gas is often employed for small class-rooms and is fairly effective for a picture not exceeding 9 or 10 feet in diameter, and the same can be said of the same type of burner heated by methylated spirit.
Paraffin-oil is the poorest of all present-day forms of lantern illuminants. The flame is large, impairing the definition, yellow in colour, uneven in illumination, liable to smoke and smell, and barely equal to incandescent gas in illuminating power. ”

“ In this lamp centring movements are usually dispensed with, the arc being clamped on to a tray pin as in the case of a limelight jet. This is not, of course, so convenient, and a further disadvantage of this pattern arc lamp is that the feeding process gradually alters the position and angle of the carbons. In fact, the one great merit of the lamp is cheapness, and where expense is an object, it should certainly be considered. ”

“ Gas-Bags and Generators.—It has already been remarked that there are two alternative methods of obtaining gas under pressure for limelight purposes, viz. gas-bags and generators (the latter for oxygen alone: there is no good hydrogen generator that I know of) . In both these cases the oxygen is generated by heating a mixture of chlorate of potash and manganese black oxide. In the case of gas-bags the gas is prepared beforehand and passed through suitable purifiers into a rubber gas-bag. With a generator the oxygen is evolved during the exhibition itself ”

“ There is no doubt that at present acetylene holds second place to electric light in popularity for optical lantern work. The light is good; not, it is true, so good as limelight or the electric arc, but still sufficient for a picture up to 12 feet in diameter at a working distance from the screen of not more than 30 feet, and this suffices for the large majority of halls. ”

“ Also the space between the components should be well ventilated, in order to provide for the escape of moisture which usually at the start of a lantern exhibition is deposited upon the glass, and should be got rid of before the actual lecture commences.
Even with all care, the back component of a condenser will sometimes crack, though such an accident should be a rare occurrence; and hence a professional operator will usually provide himself with a spare lens, and the condenser should be so constructed that it can readily be changed, and with as little delay as possible. ”

“ Special lamp scissors are sold by all makers with a large flat on one side to catch the portions cut off.
These lamps should be well rubbed over the last thing before use, as paraffin-oil is apt to 'creep,' and the operator does not want to be told that his apparatus is suggestive of a fried fish shop. In working with these lamps it is difficult to avoid a dark streak down the centre of the sheet, representing the space between the two centre wicks; to a certain extent this can be obviated by adjusting the reflector, and in any case is not very obvious when the slide is in place. ”

“ On arriving at the hall, the first thing to be done as a rule is to get up the sheet, after which the professional operator generally begins to feel happy again.
The next thing, if it has not been done first, is to determine the position of the lantern, and this, as has been explained in Chapter VII, is a matter of the size of picture to be shown and the focus of the objective.
It is a mistake to show too large a picture; a little 'white' round the edges is a good thing, and it is better to have a small disc well illuminated than a large one less bright. ”

“ The front tap controls the supply of saturated ether to the mixing chamber, and whereas at first a good stream of oxygen is needed to pick up enough ether, by degrees as the instrument warms in the lantern, the oxygen passing through the saturator can be cut off entirely, and even then the front tap must be gradually closed down to prevent the hot ether coming off too fast. ”