108 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[July 



Charles Lippold, Ja'-obB. Lichty, F.R. Diffenderf- 

 fer, C. A. Gael, John E. SchumjCha-leB E. Long:, J. 

 M. Johnston. 



Frank K. DiflFenderffer read the following essay on 

 Gapes in Chicks. 



"I may as well say at the beeinning of these re" 

 marks that I am not posted in the literature of gapes' 

 I do not know what laas been written on the subject. 

 I am only aware that they have been on my own 

 place during the past four years, and what I shall say 

 is confined entirely to my own experience with them. 

 Most persons whe raise poultry know what the 

 gapes are, and are acquainted with the cause. A 

 thread like worm, of a bright red color, and fully an 

 inch long when full grown, is the cause of all the 

 mischief. It is a member of the Entozoa family, a 

 name given to parasites that live within other living 

 bodies. There are many kinds of these, but the pecu- 

 liar one under consideration is called by naturalists 

 Syngainus tracheolix. Its a pretty bad name to begin 

 with and the doings of the little worm are still worse. 



This parasite has its its home in the windpipe of 

 young chicks and turkeys. Even when quite small, 

 while still only a quarter of an inch long, it begins 

 to inconve'nience the young peeps, and as they in- 

 crease in size, which they do very rapidly, they 

 gradually close the windpipe, making respiration, 

 difficult, and unless removed in most cases bring 

 about the death of the young chick. The earliest 

 symptom of their presence is a frequent opening of 

 the mouth, a gaping for air as it were, and the 

 gravity of the case grows rapidly until it terminates 

 in death. 



How does this parasite find its way into the chick's 

 windpipe ? A good many theoi'ies have been ad- 

 vanced from time to time, but nobody knows The 

 general opinion is that tliey are taken up from the 

 ground with the food, while in an undeveloped state, 

 and finally find full development in their natural 

 home. It may be so, but as somewhat similar para 

 sites are found in the brains of certain birds, and in 

 the eyes of horses, that theory, reasoning from ana- 

 logy, falls to the ground. A current belief with 

 which even our worthy secretary seems tainted, is 

 that they are developed from that other troublesome 

 parasite, the louse or its eggs. Now, the louse be- 

 longs to a family as widely separated from the gape 

 worm as a monkey is from a whale, and the Dar 

 winian theory, when stretched to its utmost, fails to 

 bring them together. The nit of a louse will produce 

 a louse, and it won't produce any thing else. Be- 

 sides, the gape worm is amply provided with means 

 of perpetuating its species. It is, like many other 

 members of the genus Inmbricitx or worms, sexually 

 perfect in itself. It is in fact a forked or double crea- 

 ture, the one part being the female and the other 

 the male. The body is lengthened beyond the point 

 of attachment, and the prolonged portion, we are in 

 formed by mieroscopists, contains numerous ova or 

 eggs, each of which is a microscopic gape worm. 

 This fact seems fatal to all these theories, and is in 

 fact decisive as to the origin. But how these em- 

 bryo ovules reach their development, and where, is a 

 mystery no one has yet been able to fathom, and 

 there we will leave them. 



How Do They Get There ? 



How the gapes first get to a place I do not know. 

 Where mine came from four years ago I can't 

 imagine. None of my neighbors had them to my 

 knowledge, and none have them now : but I think I 

 can confidently say I have not raised a chilken in all 

 that time that was not attacked by gapes. I have 

 tried every plan to keep them away that I have ever 

 seen suggested and all were equally worthless. Be- 

 tween the ages of two and six weeks the gape worm 

 is invariably developed. I never tried the camphor 

 cure until this spring. I had a promising brood of 

 young turkeys and I put them in a patch of lawn 

 about 40 feel wide and' 100 feet long. Twice a day 

 I put camphor in their drinking water and other- 

 wise took extra care of them. On the day they were 

 two weeks old one developed gape symptoms, and I 

 promptly removed nine worms from its windpipe — 

 the largest number I ever took from one bird. The 

 rest got them, and I have relegated the camphor 

 preventative to other innumerable " humbugs." The 

 latest remedy comes from a Chester county farmer 

 who feeds whole corn to his chicks when the gapes 

 come on. If this was a remedy it-would aet by com-, 

 pression, thus killing the worm. But who ever had 

 turkeys or chicks two weeks old capable of swallow- 

 ing whole corn? Mine never could, and t believe you 

 will agree with me when I say that they would not 

 at that age even if they could. 



Another thing I confess myself unable to under- 

 stand. Why ar6 chickens and turkeys afflicted with 

 this parasite and not ducks ? I believe there is no 

 case on record of this kind. I have now running to 

 gether 14 young ducks and 17 peeps nearly of the 

 same age — three weeks; most of the chicks have had 

 the gapes and the rest will have them, while the 

 ducks running and feeding with them escape the dis- 

 ease altogether. If the origin of the disease lay in 

 filth, or was taken up from the ground with thefood, 

 why would not ducks also be subject to it ? Ducks 



also get lousy, I believe, so that is another heavy 

 blow at the louse theory, which, however, was not 

 necessary to kill it. 



M-ost poultry raisers have their remedy for extri- 

 pating the gape worm. Most of these are mechani- 

 cal, and, of course, effective. There is one which is 

 often recommended, but I have never known of a 

 solitary cure effected by it. I allude to shutting the 

 bird in a closed box and subjecting it to the fumes of 

 powdered lime. This, it is alleged, will set the chick 

 to sneezing or coughing, if I may so call it, and in 

 this way the worms are dislodged. I have no faith 

 whatever in any remedy extept a removal by actual 

 force through mechanical means. Cat-gut, twisted 

 wire and feathers — all have their advocates. The 

 latter, I believe, does as much harm as good. The 

 flufly part is cut down on both sides nearly to the 

 quill. This leaves a rough edge, which irritates and 

 injures the delicate coating of the windf ipe. I have 

 tried most of these, but have given them all up. I 

 now use several stands of horse hair doubled, sam- 

 ples .of which 1 have present. This is smooth, 

 flexible and d es not readily suffocate the chicks. My 

 method of operating is this: An assistant holds the 

 chick in its natural sitting position; with my left 

 hand I open the bill and seize the tongue, which is 

 gently drawn forward; this brings the oriface of the 

 windpipe well forward, and into this the horse hairs 

 are then thrust. I have several sizes to suit chicks 

 of various ages; the hairs are pushed down until the 

 end of the wind pipe is reached, when the end in the 

 hand is rapidly twirled around in both directions; ih 

 this way the eqtire inner surface of the windpipe is 

 brought into contact with the horse hair; the worms 

 are dislodged from their place of attachment, become 

 entangled among the hair, and are then slowly 

 wi hdrawn. Generally all are not brought out at 

 the first attempt; I make two and even three when 1 

 think it necessary It is of the utmost importance 

 that this operation should he performed at the first 

 symptoms of the disease. If let run on the chick soon 

 ceases to eat, becomes enfeebled and may die during 

 the operation, as many did for me before I caught 

 the trick of operating early. It is a most severe 

 remedy and the strongest chick feels it severely, but 

 if done in the early stages it recovers rapidly, will 

 begin to eat in a few hours and never show any bad 

 result. If performed in time, a chick ought rarely 

 to be lost by gapes. It takes time and is a little 

 troublesome, but not more so than the nurseries, 

 raised platforms and other devices recommended to 

 ward off' the disease, and what is still belter is effec- 

 tual. 



But it is not a remedy we need so much as a pre- 

 ventative. It is a little to the credit of the thou- 

 sands of poultry fanciers that they have not been 

 able to discover means to prevent or eradicate this 

 fatal disease. Perhaps this can only be done when 

 all the various metamorphoses of the gape worm ova 

 are known. Strictly speaking this is the work of the 

 scientists, and poultry raisers are seldom such. Once 

 every stage of progression in the existence of these 

 parasites is known, we shall have no difficulty in 

 keeping them from our poultry yards." 



The thanks of the society were tendered to Mr. 

 Diffenderffer for the essay. 



Mr. Chas. E. Long suggested that before the 

 horse hair is inserted into the wind pipe of the chick 

 the hair be immersed in a weak solution of carbolic 

 acid. The worms not drawn out would by this 

 means probably be killed. 



The secretary reported that the executive commit- 

 tee were at work on the catalogue for the next an- 

 nual exhibition and would have it ready for distri- 

 bution by November. 



LINEAN SOCIETY. 



The society met on Thursday evening, June 29, in 

 the office of Dr. H. D. Knight, Prof. Stahr in the 

 chair. The meeting was "sparsly" attended, the 

 weather exceedingly warm and nothing of special 

 interest was brought before it. 



The following donations and additions were made 

 to Lthe library: Parts 23, 24 and 2.5, Vol. XXI, Of- 

 ficial Gazette of the United States Patent Office. 

 Proceedings of the Wyoming Historical and Ge- 

 olgical Society to February, 1882. Proceedings of 

 the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Science. The 

 Lancaster Farmer for June, 1883. Sundry cata- 

 logues, circulars and book notices. 



After a brief session under Science Gossip the so 

 ciety adjourned to meet in the anteroom of the mu- 

 seum on the last Saturday afternoon of July, 1882 

 (29th). 



Agriculture. 



Green Crops. 



Green crops for manuring should not be plowed! 

 deeper than four inches; if they are turned under] 

 more than this they will not receive enough of solarj 

 heat and atmospheric air to insure rapid decay, and! 

 when covered too deep their beneficial effect cannot 1 

 be realized till the next plowing, when they are] 

 brought nearer the surface. 



Loading Hay. 

 To properly dispose of the hay as it is pitched I 

 upon the wagon requires considerable skill. Long, 

 wide and low loads are much better than the oppo- 

 site, for both the pitcher and the loader; besides, 

 there is much less danger of the load slipping eff, or 

 the wagon being upset by an unequality in the sur- 

 face of the fieln. If a horse-fork is used for un- 

 loading the person who manages the loading should 

 bear this in mind, and so place the hay as it is 

 pitched to him that the fork will work to the best ad- 

 vantage. 



Manure Under Cover. 



Of course all the advantange of making manure 

 in covered yards may be secured by box feeding, with 

 less outlay for roofing, since more space must be al 

 lowed for a given number of animals turned loose 

 together than when confined in stalls. It is the pro- 

 tection from rain and sun, the abundant use of litter 

 and its thorough incorporation with the excrements, 

 and the exclusion of air by compact treading, which 

 go to make the superior manure. All these features 

 of the method work against the loss of valuable 

 plant food. Nor does box feeding and constant ac- 

 cumulation of manure under the feet of the animals 

 necessarily imply offensive stalls. 



One method or the other, box-feeding or covered 

 yards, should be adopted by every farmer who lives 

 where manure is worth saving, and who finds him- 

 self compelled to supplement his stable manure wi h 

 commercial fertilizers. Stable manure must not be 

 lost sight of, in this increasing interest in these con 

 centrated fertilizers, for we cannot produce our crops 

 and have enough for ourselves and others, without 

 its aid ; and there is nothing in all the list of com- 

 mercial mixture, which gives so good an average re- 

 turn for the money invested in it, as well-made stable 

 manure. 



A Merino ram crossed on a flock of common 

 sheep, will double the yield of wool through the first 

 cross alone, thus paying for the ram the first season. 



Plaster. 

 Land plaster, or gypsum, is sulphate of lime. One 

 hundred pounds of common sypsum consist of forty- 

 six pounds of sulphuric acid, thirty-three pounds of 

 lime and twenty-one pounds of water. It is ground 

 flne and thus applied to land or crops. When it is 

 heated to redness the water is driven off and the res- 

 idue is easily reduced to a very flne powder, and is 

 known as the plaster of Paris used by masons. The 

 theory of the beneficial action of land plaster upon 

 crops has long been, and still is, a subject of dispute. 

 That it supplies lime and sulphuric acid to plants to 

 some extent is probably true, but it is now generally 

 admitted, we believe, that gypsum is chiefly useful by 

 its powder of solidifying and retaining the ammonia- 

 cal gases of the earth and air. For wheat and corn 

 it has not proved satisfactory, but on clover, sanfoin 

 and lugumiuous plants generally its useful effects are 

 not questioned. — Prairie Farmer, 



The Largest Land Owner on the Continent. 

 Col. Dan Murphy, of Halleok's Station, Elko 

 county, came to California in 1844, and may be said 

 to have made the country pay him well for his time. 

 He is now probably the largest private land owner 

 on this continent. He has 4,000,000,000 acres of 

 land in one body in Mexico, 60,000 in Navada, and 

 23,000 in California. His Mexican grant he bought 

 four years ago for §200,000 or five cents an acre. It 

 is sixty miles long and covers a beautiful country of 

 hill and valley, pine timber and meadow land. It 

 comes within twenty miles of the city of Durango, 



