874 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



the freedom of their aetion, and producing pain 

 and lameness — a lameness that, in a plurality of 

 cases, no skill, no treatment, no operation can 

 beneficially ellcet." 



PROFIT AND EXPENSE OF POCLTRY. 



1 have noticed a numlier of reports of late on the 

 large profits of fowls. I think they do not charge 

 all the expenses, or the breed of fowls must be 

 very small feeders. I now send you my account 

 for 1866 :— 



Stock and Value, January 1, 1866. 

 2V fowls at 'ibc, $20.23; 8 late chicks, 



$3 20 $23 45 



13 ducks at 75c 9 '5 



$33 20 



64 bush. F. feed, 25.10; 20 bush, oatmeal, 17.85, 42 95 

 24 do. corn, 26.90; 18 do. cracked corn, 18.40, 45 30 

 18 do. oaiB. 14.15; 6>i do. meal, 6.60. ... 20 65 

 5 do. potatoes, 3.00 ; 100 tt>8. wheat, 2.45 . . 5 45 

 321 lbs. scraps, 6.42; 12 doz. eggs to set. 6.23 . . 11 65 

 24 doz. eggs set, at 38c, 9.12; 11 doz. duck's 



eggs, 4.47 13 59 



2 ducks, 4.00 ; 4 roosters, 5.80, bought, .... 9 80 

 1 bbl. lime, 1.76 ; whitewash brush, 50c ; salt, 15 2 40 



3 boxes, shipping fowls, 75c; dressing poul- 



try, 1.50 2 25 



Laths and nails 7 08 



Lathing, plastering and white-washing coop, 12 00 



$206 32 

 ProQt 104 64 



$310 96 

 Stock and Value, January 1, 1867. 

 40 fowls, 75c, $30; 16 ducks, 75c, $12, . . $12 00 



3 turkeys 3 00 



$45 00 



Sold 107 hens and chickens 102 39 



" 47 duflis, 45.89; ^7;'4 bbls. manure, 



2;.25 73 14 



«' 130 doz. 9 hens' eggs, 37c 48 38 



" 15 " 1 ducks' eggs, 40c 6 03 



274 94 



Stock and eggs tised in the house : 



7 hens, 70c, 4.90; 5 ducks, 1.25,6.25 11 15 



24 doz. 10 hen's eggs, 37c 9 18 



39 doz. 3 duck's eggs, 40c 15 69 



$310 96 



Whole No. hen's eggs laid 179 doz. 7 



" " duck's " " 65 " 4 



244 doz. 11 



I always get roosters from other stock, to breed 

 from, otherwise they will soon run out. 



Salem, Mass., 1867. James Buffington. 



A NEW THEORY IN RESPECT TO BOTS. 



From long and close obser\'ation, I am satisfied 

 it is much easier to prevent horses from having 

 bots than to cure them, even if chloroform, ns re- 

 commended in a late Farmer, is a certain remedy. 

 It is the generally received oi)inioii, that after the 

 fly has de|)0sited its egg on the hair of the horse, 

 the subsequent existence of the hot depends on the 

 egg accidentally falling into the horses' food, or 

 being nibbled off by him and swallowed, and thus 

 reaching the animal's maw, where it matures, is 

 subsequently discharged with the excrement, be- 

 comes a perfect fly, which again dciiosits its egg 

 as before. This theory leaves the propagation of 

 its species to the merest accident; a thing which 

 has no analogy in nature, as tlic great Creator has 

 nowhere else "left the continuation of any species 

 he has created to mere chance. But I am fully 

 satisfied that this theory is incorrect, and tliitt the 

 reproduciion of this insect is no more left to 

 chance tlian is that of any other. My theory is, 

 that the fly instinctively deposits its eggs at well 

 selected points, near the vital parts, or near some 



large arteries and veins leading to tliose parts, 

 where in a few days the animal warmth completes 

 the incubation, and the larva with unerring in- 

 stinct easily makes its way through the animal's 

 porous skin, and fleshj if need be, to his natural 

 home in the maw. Let any one wishing to satisfy 

 himself of this, examine the eggs after they have 

 been on the hair of the horse a few days, with a 

 microscope, or without, if their eyes are good, and 

 he will find it only a shell, with a hole in the 

 lower end, where the larva has evidently made his 

 exit. 



As a remedy or preventive, it is only necessary 

 to scrape off with a sharp knife the eggs every two 

 or three days, or as often as any are laid, without 

 any fear that they will fall into the horses food or 

 be licked up by him. I have practiced it for many 

 years, and my horses have had no trouble with 

 bots. Thomas Ellis. 



Rochester, Mass., Feb. 25, 1867. 



Remarks.— For once, the generally received 

 opinion agrees with the books. In Tenny's Nat- 

 ural History, recently published, it is said that 

 there are in this country more than twenty species 

 of the JEstrida, or Bot-Fly family. 



"The genus Gasterophilus comprises three species 

 wliich infest the horse. 'Ihel.irge Bot-Hy, G.equi, 

 Linn., lays her eggs upon the fore legs of ihehori-e; 

 the red-iuiled Boi-Fly, G hcEmorrhoidulis, Linn., lays 

 her eggs upon the lips ; and the brown Karrier Bot-Fly, 

 G. veterinus, green under the throat. By biting the 

 parts where the eggs are laid, the hori?e gels the larvae 

 into his mouth, swallows them, and, oliiigingto the walls 

 of the stomach, they remain there till fully grown." 



This theory is adopted by Mr. Youatt, in his 

 work on the horse, and by the American Cyclope- 

 dia, article Bots. But the books also assert that 

 "bots cannot be injurious to the horse, for he en- 

 joys the most perfect health while the cuticular 

 part of his stomach is filled with them." This 

 dictum of the veterinary schools of Europe, Dr. 

 Dadd says, is contradicted by the stubborn facts 

 of his practice as a veterinary surgeon. "On the 

 strength of past experience," says he, "together 

 with what Prof. Gamgee has written on the sub- 

 ject, I do believe that bots are often injurious to 

 horses." 



If science is thus at fault in its theory of the 

 effect of this parasite, possibly it may be mistaken 

 as to the means by which the bot reaches the 

 stomach of the horse, and that our correspondent 

 has made an important discovery in Natural His- 

 tory. We must confess that his reasoning is not 

 entirely satisfactory to our own mind. His objec- 

 tion that the old theory leaves the perpetuation of 

 the species to mere chance, is no more forcible than 

 it would be in respect to other well-known provi- 

 sions for the propagation of many inferior animals 

 and plants. The hole in the egg, also, is as well 

 accounted for on the old theory as his own, so far 

 as we can see. Still we thank him for his thought- 

 ful communication. 



AN infallible REMEDY FOR LICE ON COLTS. 



Take equal parts of ground, pure, black pepper, 

 powdered sulphur, and yellow snutf; it takes one- 

 half pound of each for a yearling. Get a square 

 tin di^li, and mix the part.s together, and apply it 

 dry. Do this by holding the tin up against the 

 colt and carefully and faithfully working the pow- 



