The Lancaster Farmer. 



Dr. S. S. EATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., JULY, 1882. 



Vol. XIV. No. 7. 



Editorial. 



EGG CULTURE IN FRANCE. 



Many small farmers in France pay their 

 rents from their poultry yards. The fowls in 

 Normandy, France, are almost exclusively of 

 the Creve C(eur breed in its dillercnt varie- 

 ties; and the number of jioulti-y in Normandy 

 is estimated at three million live hundred 

 thousand, valued at -f:2,4iiO,UUO, and the an- 

 nual value of fowls' ei^gs alone, is ,i;ii.)0,UOU to 

 tlie farmers; the average annual produce per 

 hen is about one hundred eggs, and a hen will 

 contiiuie to lay for five years. 



In 1875 England imported eight hundred 

 million eggs, valued at .•fl 2, .5(10,000, including 

 charges, of which France furnished live- 

 sixths; that is to .say, more than two millions 

 per day during the yeai\ In France, liardly a 

 meal is eaten at any taljle without eggs or 

 poultry forming a part of it. Normandy fur- 

 nishes nearly two million head of poultry of 

 various kinds to the Paris markets annually, 

 yet falls behind the supply from other provin- 

 ces. Six millions of e^gs are sold weekly in the 

 Paris markets. Many are used in glazing 

 ornamental cakes aud sweetmeats. One pastry 

 cook alone buys two millions of eggs a year 

 for these purposes. Another large dealer uses 

 Ave hundred thousand, of which he separates 

 the whites from the yolks — the whites being 

 sent to the manufacturing districts in the 

 north, and the yolks being eraploj'ed in dress- 

 ing skins for gloves. Agricultural writers in 

 France are continually urging that more at- 

 tention should be paid to poultry raising by 

 farmers, and they declare the production 

 might be easily doubled. — English Dairyruan. 



Our puuniug remarks on eggs in the May 

 number of the Fakmek, were regarded by 

 some readers as a sheer «/(/s-aggeration, but the 

 above, from unquestionable authority, will 

 illustrate that the real amount of the French 

 egg-trallic is far in advance of estimates made 

 in said remarks. The above relates to the 

 traflic some years ago; hence, at the present 

 date, it may he prnr/resiiively larger; for in 

 matters of domestic production France is not 

 retrogressive, especially if it pays. The egg- 

 statistics in our own country do not appear 

 to have elicited sutticiently that detailed atten- 

 tion, through which alone the amount and 

 value of the product could be accurately stat- 

 ed. The impulse given to Galliniculture of 

 late years will, however, ultimately manifest 

 this, for "Hen-Fruit" cannot be ignored 

 any more than can tlie hen. 



GAPES IN CHICKENS. 



A correspondent of the I ondon Ayricid- 

 tiiral Gazette says : 



"I have frequently lost large numbers of 

 chickens from gapes, and have never until 

 this spring been successful in curing them. 

 About six or seven weeks ago the old com- 

 plaint made its appearance iu about thirty 

 chickens, some the size of jiigcons and others 

 less. As an experiment Itricd sulpliur, com- 

 monly called Hour of brimstone, and salt, 

 namely, two parts suli)hur and one part .salt 

 mixed with water to the consistency of thick 

 cream (it is best to use the linger in mixing, 

 as sulphur will not readily mix with water.) 

 I then applied it with a feather from a fowl's 

 wing, dipping it in the mixture, and putting 

 it down in the chicken's throat about three 

 inches, worked the feather up and down a few 



times, and then applied .some more in the 

 same way again. 



" I soon found tliey were improving very 

 rajiidly and so repeated the operation three 

 or four times, two or three days between each 

 application. They are now all cured and 

 doing well. I have not lost one, although 

 some of them were very bad indeed wlien the 

 remedy was lirst applied. I may add that the 

 feather requires to have about half the broad 

 side clipiied oil', or it would be too large for 

 the purpose required." 



It is fully half a hundred years or more 

 .since we lirst knew of the "gapes in chickens, " 

 and it is questionable whether the average 

 poultry breeders know anything more about 

 it now than they did then. We think it was 

 then called " pips," but it was all the same — 

 little red worms in the windpipe— and the 

 chickens would yajx and pip and die, almost 

 without remedy. Mechanical means were 

 already employed fifty years ago for their re- 

 moval, although perhaps not so skillfully as it 

 can be done now. "We think a thin wire was 

 used, but about nine out of every ten died, if 

 not under the operation, a short time after it. 

 Mr. D., in his essay before the Lancaster 

 Poultry Society, does not advance the subject 

 one peg beyond where it was before, nor did 

 he pretend to do so. We think, however, he 

 is iu error when he states that the subject is 

 one that belongs to the domain of the scientist 

 alone. We believe, the man who habitually 

 contemplates the chicken in the egg, who 

 rears it from its pristine condition to its full 

 development, who has a natural and a pecu- 

 niary interest in its physical existence, who 

 !5"es it every day and provides its food and 

 shelter, is the very man who is in a situation 

 to get at the origin and cure of the disease. 

 Even if he never should be able to discover 

 its origin, if he discovers a certain and safe 

 cure, he will be a benefactor. 



Ercolani has found gapes living thirty 

 days after they had been expelled from a fowl 

 and exposed to the weather. From their pe- 

 culiar organization they must necessarily be 

 very local ; hence, they may exist iu one en- 

 closure and not in another, although there 

 may be only a fence between them, provided 

 the chickens have been kept separate. They 

 appear to be something like the California 

 resurrection plant, becoming vitalized as soon 

 as moisture is given them, although they may 

 have remained dry for years. AVe think not 

 sutVicient importance may have been attached 

 to the total annihilation of the gapes, after 

 they have been expelled from the fowl. We 

 must not, however, be too sanguine iu any 

 direction, with all the light we have on the 

 subject, at the present time (of their origin). 

 In the meantime, expertness in the mechani- 

 cal removal of them should be carefully culti- 

 vated. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES. 



Prof. Rath von— Dior Sir: I send you a 

 worm by mail, and enclose a stamp— and wish 

 you would write me and give the name of the 

 worm, &c. We noticed them last year for the 

 first time. Then, there were but few — now. 



they are mucl> more plentiful. Tliey destroy 

 the tomato plants, night and day. 

 Very respectfully, 



AV. II. II. W. 

 Darlington, Md., June 20, 1882. 



Being in the midst of a multitude of secular 

 engagements, we sent the box and worm to 

 Prof. Uilcy, Entomologist of the Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, 1). (J. Not, 

 however, because it was entirely new to us, 

 but because we had never noticed it on the 

 tomato plants, nor had heard any complaints 

 about it here: and, we supposed it niiijlu be 

 something new. Prof. 11. writes as follows : 



X>ear Sir: I have your note of the .30th 

 ult., with accompanying box. The larva de- 

 structive to the tomato plants is that of 

 Prvdenin lineatcHn, which is known to feed 

 upon a great variety of plants. The unusually 

 moist weather we had this spring, greatly 

 favored the development of this and other 

 cut-worms, and complaints at their destruc- 

 tion have reached me from almost every 

 State east of the Kocky Mountains. 

 Vours truly, 



C. V. R. 



Washington, D. C, July 0, 1882. 



Since the rapidly increased cultivation of 

 tobacco in Lancaster county, the tomato 

 plant as well as its fruit, is tolerably free 

 from insect infestation — only here aud there 

 and now and then — a Sphinx, a Boll-worm, a 

 Potato-beetle, or a Cut-worm, are to be found 

 feeding upon them. It will be observed that 

 the " worm " under discussion belongs to the 

 great family of " Cut-w^orms " (Noctuad.e), 

 many of which are destructive to vegetation, 

 "day and night,'" and we may infer that any 

 remedy that would kill the one, would kill 

 the other. 



Id couclusion, we commend the efficnent 

 manner in which this larva, in a living state, 

 was sent to us through the U. S. mail: and 

 also append the directions of the Department 

 of Agriculture, for sending insects to it by 

 mail, for the benefit of those who may be 

 concerned: 



Directions for Sending Insects. 



All inquiries about insects, injurious or 

 otherwise, .should be accompanied by speci- 

 mens, the more the better. Such specimens, 

 if dead should be packed in some soft mater- 

 ial, as cotton or wool, and inclosed in some 

 stout tin or wooden box. They will come by 

 mail for one cent per ounce. Inserts sliould 

 never he inclosetl loose in the letter. Whenever 

 possible, larvaj (i. e. grubs, caterpillars, mag- 

 gots, etc.), should be packed alive iu some 

 tight tin box — the tighter the better, as air- 

 holes are not needed — along with a supply of 

 their appropriate food sufficient to last them 

 on their journey; otherwise they generally die 

 on the road and shrivel up. Send as full an 

 account as possible of the habits of the in.sect 

 respecting which you desire information; for 

 example, what plant or plants it infests; 

 whether it destroys the leaves, the buds, the 

 twigs, or the stem; how long it has been 

 known to you; what amount of damage it has 

 done, etc. Such iiarticulars are often not 

 only of high scientific interest, but of great 

 practical importance. In sending soft insects 

 or larvae that have been killed in alcohol, they 

 should be packed in cotton saturated with al- 

 cohol, fn sending pinned or mounted insects, 

 always pin them secure.ly in a box to be in- 

 closed in a larger box, the space between the 



