108 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[Julj, 



West Penn Square, Philadelphia, Chairman ; S. W. 

 Noble, JenkintowD, Montgomery county; H. A. 

 Longsdorf, Mechanisburg, Cumberland county ; J. 

 Hibberd Bartram, Milllown, Chester county ; J. T. 

 Smith, M'Allisterville, Juniata county. 



CoMMiTTE ON Entomology. — S. S. Pvathvon, 

 Lancaster, Lancaster county. Chairman ; Ezra High, 

 Reading, Berks county ; Herman Strecker, Heading, 

 Berks county. 



Committee on Orchardino. — Thos. M. Harvey, 

 West Grove, Chester county. Chairman; John G. 

 Engle, Marietta, Lancaster county ; Jacob Heyser, 

 Chambersburg, Franklin county ; J. L. Sherfy, Get 

 tysburg, Adams county ; Col. G. F. M'Farland, 

 M'Allisterville, Juniata county. 



Committee on Floric0ltube and ARBORicnL- 

 TURE. — Charles H. Miller, 5774 Germantown Ave., 

 Philadelphia, Chairman ; P. C. Hiller, Conestoga, 

 Lancaster county ; John C. Hepler, Reading, Berks 

 county; George Achelis, West Chester, Chester 

 county ; George Balderston, Colora, Cecil co., Md. 



Committee on Arrangement and Recep- 

 tion. — T. A. Woods, Harrisburg, Dauphin county. 

 Chairman ; H. S. Rupp, Shiremaustown, Cumber- 

 land county ; E. B. Engle, Chambersburg, Frank- 

 lin county. 



Special Committees. 



Co.mmittee on Rules. — E. P. Swift, Mt. Oliver, 

 Allegheny county. Chairman ; Bassler Boyer, Leba- 

 non, Lebanon county; W. M. Pannebaker, Lewis- 

 town, Mifflin county. 



COM-MITTEE TO ARRANGE FOR AN EXHIBITION 



OF Fruits, &c.,m connection with the Annual Fair 

 of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society. — Geo. 

 D. Stitzel, Geo. B. Thomas, E. B. Engle, Executive 

 Committee. In addition to all the members of the 

 General Fruit Committee, as named above. 



Representatives to American Pomological 

 Society. — Biennial meeting at Uortiodturnl Hall, 

 Philadelphia, September llHi to XUh, 1883.— George 

 O. Stitzel, Reading, Chairman ; H. A. Longsdorf, 

 Mechanicsburg ; E. P. Swift, Mt. Oliver; B. L. 

 Ryder, Chambersburg ; F. F. Merceron, Catawissa. 



Committee on Insectiverous Birds. — John 

 Rutter, West Chester, Chairman ; Geo. D. Stitzel, 

 Heading; H. M. Engle, Marietta. 



Due notice will be given to all members in case it 

 is decided to make an exhibit of Fruits at the State 

 Fair to be held by the Pennsylvania Agricultural So- 

 ciety. By united effort on the part of members of 

 this Association, a very creditable display can be 

 made. We are also invited to exhibit at the Annual 

 Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, 

 which will be held in Horticultural Hall, Philadel- 

 phia, September 11th— 14th, 1883, in connection 

 with the Biennial session of the American Pomo- 

 logical Society. Liberal premiums are offered, as 

 will be seen by the programmes and premium list 

 for 1883. 



GEO. D. STITZEL, Pres't, Reading, Pa. 



E. B. Engle, Sec'y, Chambersburg, Pa. 



OUR LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



THE POULTRY ASSOCIATION. 



The regular meeting of the Lancaster Poultry and 

 Live Stock Association was held on Monday morn- 

 ing, July 2. 



In the absence of the President Mr. Sebum was 

 called to the chair. 



The minutes of the previous meeting were read 

 and approved. 



Mr. Lichty reported that sixty three shares of stock 

 had been paid for, amounting to §31.5, which sum 

 had been expended in the payment of bills. Five 

 shares of stock bad been subscribed for but not paid, 

 and the association still owes $19 for premiums. 



Mr. Lichty also reported that the charter had 

 been granted by the Court and was now being re- 

 corded. 



Martin Rudy was elected a member of the as- 

 sociation. 



Gapes in Chickens. 



Mr. F. R. Diffenderffer had prepared and asked 

 the secretary to read the following interesting article 

 on the above subject : 



About a year ago I gave this society my experience 

 in dealing with gapes in chickens. That communi- 

 cation called out a letter from a gentleman residing 

 in the country, whose poultry yard had, like my 

 own, for years been infected with these pests. He 

 gave in detail a plan he pursued in the spring of 

 1882 to avoid this trouble, and which was attended 

 with complete success. It was to keep the chicks 

 from the ground until they were two months old. 

 He made a pen in his yard with a board floor, and 

 here he kept them for eight weeks, when he turned 

 them out, not one having been affected with gapes. 



I had a brood of five chicks hatched out on the 7th 

 of last March. These I put on the second floor of my 

 stable, which is about twenty feet square. After 

 keeping . them there for about two weeks I was 

 tempted to give them the benefit of a sunshiny day 

 and brought them down into the yard. Here I left 

 them for several days, when one promptly took the 

 gapes. I returned them to the stable again, where 

 they remained about four weeks longer, when I gave 

 them the liberty of the yard. The other four of the 

 brood all escaped the gapes. 



On the 7lh of March two clutches were hatched. 

 They were at once put on the upper floor of the 

 stable, where I gave them the utmost care. Their 

 quarters were kept clean, they had a dust bath, 

 their drinking water was changed several times a 

 day, and green food was given them at least once in 

 every twenty-four hours. The room was light, but 

 the window was on the north side, so there was no 

 sunlight. Several other broods were added to these 

 from time to time. The mothers were confined in 

 coops, but the young ones had the run of the room. 

 For a time they seemed to thrive well. But about 

 the fifth week I noticed they began growing weak in 

 their legs ; they were unsteady in their gait, especi- 

 ally when they ran or tried to jump. This evil grew 

 worse from day to day. They took their food as 

 heartily as ever, but they grew very slowly and be- 

 came more and more tottering. I persevered until 

 the first broods were seven weeks old and the second 

 lot six weeks and four days. Then, seeing that they 

 were smaller than they should have been, were 

 growing very little and were so enfeebled that a 

 longer continuance of the experiment would either 

 kill or permanently injure them all, I brought them 

 down and put them into a grass-covered yard about 

 twanty by forty feet in size. 



I never saw a worse lot of chickens in my life. 

 There were twenty-one of the oldest lot and six of 

 the younger ones. Not one was firm on its legs. The 

 tottering gait was noticeable in every one. With 

 plenty of sunshine, exercise, green food and caref.,1 

 attention I hojjed to get them through all right. But 

 I was mistaken. Just twelve days after they were 

 brought down and when they were two days less 

 than nine weeks old, two of them developed gapes ; 

 on the following day four more got them, and from 

 that day until the present time they have been hav- 

 ing these worms. Never before had I such a bad lot 

 to deal with. Not only was it necessary to remove 

 the parasites once but twice, and in several instances 

 three times from the same chick. Not one bird es- 

 caped. Some were so large that they did not show 

 the most violent symptoms, but merely coughed and 

 sneezed and snorted. I experimented on some of 

 these and removed parasites even though they did 

 not gape. In fact, my jioultry yard resembled a 

 nursery in which a few dozen babes had the whoop- 

 ping cough. 



Although two weeks have elapsed since they were 

 infected, all have not yet recovered. They are nearly 

 all over the gaping period of the disease, but most of 

 them still cough. As they are now nearly three 

 months old, the worms are unable to choke or kill 

 them, and I regard them as out of danger from this 

 cause. I^operated on one of the largest recently that 

 gaped and coughed most, but could find no worms 

 with a probe five inches long. Evidently the para- 

 sites are down the windpipe a greater distance than 

 that. One of the chicks died of disease, but none 

 from gapes. It is only a few weeks since, I might 

 say, that these chicks have really got over their 

 feelilensss and become strong. They gave almost 

 undiminished evidence of their weakness for three 

 weeks after they were taken out doors. Several 

 are not yet over it. Since the experiment I have been 

 taking the young chicks out of doors at once, and of 

 course they have all been getting the gapes. Only 

 one chick died for me from this disease, and the fault 

 was mj' own, a want of caution in operating on it. 



Fi'om the foregoing it will be seen my expeiiments 

 were a complete failure. It is true, the gapes kept 

 away so long as the chicks remained on the board 

 floor of the stable, but all took them afterwards. 

 Besides, the young birds were enfeebled very serious- 

 ly by the method employed. I am sure they would 

 to-day be one-third larger than they are had I never 

 pursued the plan I did. I am pnrsuaded therefore, 

 that to make the plan persued successful, the ex- 

 periment must be carried on out of doors. If there 

 is a board floor, with plenty of sunshine and out-of- 



door air, the young birds may escape the gapes, even 

 on tainted premises, as in the case of any corres- 

 pondent, but when carried on the upper floor of a 

 stable, without sunshine and pure air, not only will 

 the stamini of the chicks be impaired, tjut they will 

 get the gapes after their removal out of doors. 



On motion a resolution of thanks was extended to 

 Mr. Diffenderffer for his able essay. 



On motion it was resolved to hold the next show 

 of the society from the 17th to the "3d of January 

 next. 



Adjourned. 



^ 



LINN.ffi;AN SOCIETY. 



The Linnasan Society met on Saturday afternoon, 

 Juue 30, at 3J^ p. m., in their museum, Y. M. C. A. 

 Building. The president, J. P. Wickersham, in the 

 chair and seven members in attendance. Dues col- 

 lected and minutes of previous meeting read and ap 

 proved. The donations to the museum were then ex- 

 amined and found to be as follows: 



A magnificent specimen of Phrynosoma cornuta, 

 commonly called the "Horned Toad," or "Horned 

 Frog." This fine specimen was sent from Arizona 

 by Mr. Colin Cameron to Mr. J. R. Windolph of the 

 Elizabeth Farms, and by him donated to the Linnpean 

 Society. This animal is becoming somewhat familiar 

 to the people of Lancaster city and county, as at least 

 a dozen specimens have been sent or brought here 

 during the last five years. Familiar as it has become 

 it seems, people cannot help calling it a load or frog , 

 when, in fact, it is no nearer to any of these 

 reptiles than it is to a rattlesnake — not as near. In 

 the first place it is a Saurian — scaly reptile, whilst 

 toads and frogs are Batrachians which are destitute 

 of scales. Repulsive as these animals may appear 

 to some people, yet, so far as my experience goes, 

 they are entirely harmless. It is difficult, if not im- 

 possible, to domesticate them. I have had half a doz- 

 en living specimens in my possession at different times 

 yet, I never succeeded iu getting them to eat any 

 kind of food. On one occasion I examined the fceccs 

 of a recent specimen from Texas, and found it con- 

 tained undigested fragments of "grasshoppers," but 

 it never would appropriate those insects either dead 

 or alive, whilst I had them in confinement. They 

 are sleepy and sluggish while confined, but it is said, 

 that in their native locality they move rapidly on the 

 ground, but never climb. 



The Saurians are divided into the following fam- 

 ilies, namely: Crocodilidte, Lacertid<e,or "Lizards," 

 I(juimidce—io which our subject belongs — Oreckotidoi, 

 ChameleonidtB, Scincoidee and Chaliedo; or "glass 

 snakes." 



The largest and most perfect specimen of Oordius 

 or "hair worm" I have ever seen, it being eight and 

 a half inches long, and was taken as it was making 

 its escape from the body of a Sti'reorarius beetle. 

 I regret that I am unable to give the name of the 

 gentleman who gave me this animal, that he might 

 personally receive the thanks of the society, because 

 his observation is a corroboration of the history of 

 its development. I do not know the species of the 

 beetle, but Ijudged from his description and his ob- 

 servation of its habits, that it was Copris Carolina — 

 our common "Dor-Beetle." There are yet people in 

 the community who believe these attenuated animals 

 were once horsehairs, and that by long submergence 

 in water, they finally changed into living "hair 

 worms," or "hair snakes." The study of these ani- 

 mals is surrounded with difliculties, but this much 

 we know that they pass a certain period of their devel- 

 opment within the body of some other animal. On 

 one occasion I obtained three specimens (each about 

 five inches in length), from the bodies of as many 

 grasshoppers (caloptinns ferncrrubriim') . The "Hop' 

 pers" were nearly dead and the Gordians were pro- 

 truding about half their length. How do they get 

 into the bodies of animals? The theory is that 

 the females deposit their, eggs in the water or in 

 moist places in tlie soil, and being very minute, some 

 of them find their way into the stomachs of animals, 

 arc there partially or wholly developed, and escape 

 therefrom, to complete the circle of development. 

 On one occasion I also drew a hairworm, four inches 

 long, out of the body of a specimen of black "ground 



