90 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. iv. 



' Between the sickle and the scythe, 

 What you rear will seldom thrive." 



He then adds, " We had noticed that chick- 

 ens which were hatched in the month of July 

 were almost all attacked, about the time of 

 their first moulting, with a fatal disorder, the 

 symptoms of which were unvarying. They 

 appeared to collapse, and moved about with 

 difficulty, as if their joints were stiffened, or 

 rather as if the skin had become tight and 

 tender ; their feathers became rough, and 

 stood out ; their wings drooped and dragged 

 on the ground ; they refused sustenance ; 

 and becoming more and more weak and 

 torpid, they, in a day or two, died off in great 

 numbers. Every rational means was re- 

 sorted to in order to arrest, or even account 

 for the disorder ; until it was at length dis- 

 covered that they were in a state of high 

 fever, and that the extreme redness of the 

 skin was caused by the irritation of that mi- 

 nute pest the 'harvest-bug.' Some, very 

 few, were recovered by anointing them all 

 over with oil and vinegar" (which, it should 

 be known, is the best remedy for the annoy- 

 ance which country people so frequently ex- 



