194 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



crowding, and it is found, in fact, that when fowls are kept 

 apart they are much less prolific." 



We have no doubt that some will give instances of hens 

 suffering, as they suppose, by too much crowding. But on 

 examining the facts closely, and remembering that each fowl on 

 the average requires one gill of grain a day, it will be found 

 that light feeding has had more to do with their suffering than 

 overcrowding. But whatever be the cause of disease, there 

 seems to be but little general knowledge as to its cure. Every- 

 body's flock will occasionally have sick hens, and every neigh- 

 bor will have something to suggest to cure them. When 

 disease seizes an individual, Bosworth says, it should be removed 

 from the others as soon as discovered, and put by itself, or it 

 may spread over the whole flock. Under proper management, 

 nature is a prudent guardian to fowls in health, a kind nurse to 

 them in weakness, and the most skilful physician in disease. 

 The most common disease is the gapes or pip. The best 

 chicken-doctors say this is produced by a small red worm in the 

 windpipe. For this, one excellent authority says, " Tear off the 

 scale on the tongue with your thumb and finger, and then push 

 down the throat a lump of fresh butter that has been well filled 

 with Scotch snuff." Another says : " These worms may be 

 dislodged and the disease cured, by the introduction of tobacco 

 smoke into the mouth until the chicken becomes insensible. 

 The operation may be repeated without danger, and the second 

 application is always sufficient to produce the death of the 

 worm." Mr. Eli Westfall, of Rhinebeck, gives the following 

 remedy, in substance, in the " Cultivator " : " Take a hen's 

 feather and strip it, except about an inch at the end. Strip 

 back the end after wetting. When the chicken breathes, the 

 windpipe will be open. Enter the point and push it well down, 

 with the neck in a straight line. Turn the feather as you draw 

 it out, which will loosen the worms, and the chicken will sneeze 

 them up." Major Chandler, in the " Tennessee Agriculturist," 

 says : " Keep iron standing in vinegar, and put a little of the 

 liquid in the food every few days." 



For the snuffles, in addition to the remedy for the pip, melt a 

 little assafoetida in fresh butter, and rub the chicken about the 

 nostrils after cleaning them out. 



