60 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



on the surface. I have fed about fifty through March on deacon calves, or 

 what you call Bobs, and they have been busy since snow went off picking 

 worms out of my meadow. I suppose you are aware that the gray worm 

 lays in the roots of the grass at the surface, in the spring, when the snow 

 goes off. 



" Another subject I will mention is gapes in chickens. We have lost 

 most of our early chickens with gapes, and I have opened a good many 

 after tliey died, and took out the worms, and I think I recognized at once 

 the angle worm, such as I had seen by thousands in moist weather in May 

 and June in the dirt about my buildings, from the size of a hair to the size 

 of a pin, white, and from three-quarters to one and a half inches long. I 

 took out nine from one that lived three weeks after taken, last season, that 

 were two and a half inches long, and showed plainly what they were. 

 They had filled the pipe completely full, all lying straight^ side by side. 

 Those having an interest in the subject will examine further and apply the 

 remedy, which is to put the chickens on a floor strewed with sand and 

 lime, or ashes. 



" Early chickens won't pay here if not troubled with gapes, as chickens 

 coming out in July will grow in half the time, and are not troubled with 

 worms, as it is then dry and the worms have left the surface for moisture 

 below. Perhaps you will get my ideas, and it may set one a thinking, and 

 you might ask of any one if they ever knew a crow to give their reasons for 

 doing it." 



The Chairman. — There is another benefit of crows to farmers; they drive 

 the small birds from the forest to seek shelter near our dwellings. 



Mr. Carpenter. — I prevent crows from pulling up my corn by stringing 

 white twine across the fields, but it must be put up before the crows get 

 in the way of coming into the field. 



Mr. John G. Bergen. — I have found all sorts of scarecrows ineffectual, 

 but tarring corn would prevent crows from pulling it. It is easily done 

 by dissolving a pint of tar in warm water enough to cover a bushel of seed 

 corn, stir it until every grain is covered, then add ashes until the corn is 

 separated. I have never been troubled when I use tar. 



Prof. Nash. — If the crows won't eat the dry corn sown for them on the 

 surface, as some farmers allege, I would recommend planting a row very 

 shallow between the permanent rows, so that it would vegetate and be 

 eaten by the birds, so that they would not touch the other. 



Edwin Goodell, Birmingham, Michigan, writes to one of the members 

 asking information: 



" I am always much, interested in the discussions of the American Insti- 

 tute Farmers' Club, but there are many topics you do not, as I observe, 

 touch upon. 



" I am ignorant as to the culture of many garden vegetables. For 

 instance, I have just received celery seed from the Patent Office; also 

 asparagus and salsify, but do not know how to treat them. 



" I wish your time would allow you to write a work on the kitchen 

 garden, in the luminous style of ' Strawberry Culture.' 



" What is the best work on grape culture? I have several varieties from 

 the Patent Office, viz., Isabella, Catawba, Rebecca and Diana. 



