318 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Septembek, 
KATUKAL SIZE. 
rig- 1 
classes of settlers is, that the New Eugland 
emigrant leaves a competency, home, laud and 
all, and moves to do better, while the European 
immigrant comes to this country to Tiutke his 
home, and a home for his children after him. 
Chicken Medicine. 
We continue our discussions of the sub- 
ject of chicken ailments, because we hope to 
give our readers in- 
formation by which 
tbey may profit, and 
to receive hints from 
them, and so, by and 
by, get facts enough 
to enable breeders to 
successfully study 
and treat the dis- 
eases of poultry. 
Parasites. — Liee, 
are- among the most 
annoying of the 
troubles which the 
poultry raiser meets 
with, and remedies 
quite successful in 
one yard fail alto- 
gether in another. 
The reason dotibt- 
less is because tliere 
are several l-dnds of 
lice which occur in 
our poultry yards, and the remedy entirely 
efficacious for one may not affect the others. 
Vfe published some time ago the statement 
of a correspondent who drove the lice out of 
his nest boxes by using the leaves of the but- 
ton-ball tree raked up in the fall. The foUow- 
uig from G. T. H., of Beverly, Mass., gives 
another similar remedy, and one which may be 
employed at any season of the year. 
"For a number of years past I have kept 
from 30 to 00 hens, and they used to be much 
troubled with hen lice ; aud though I kept my 
hen house (as I thought) pretty well whitewash- 
ed, at times it was overrun. I was told if I made 
roosts of the Sassafras wood, it would surely 
drive the lice off. Not being able to get that 
kind of wood for roosts, I set about devising a 
substitute. One day I came across a large bed 
of common tansy. I gathered a good quantity, 
took it to my ben house, aud made several nice 
nests. This was done in the summer of 1864 
Last season I renewed tlie tansy. When the 
lice left I know not, but tliis I do know, I have 
not seen a louse, or the sign of a hen louse, about 
the premises for more than a year, and I have 
exammed the hens pretty often and thoroughly." 
In order that our readers who are interested 
in this subject may investigate the parasites 
more understandiugly, and specify the kind of 
louse which certain remedies drive away or de- 
stroy, we give pictures of four kinds which are 
the only ones figured, as found upon the domes- 
tic fowl, by Mr. Henry Denny, in his work on 
the lice of Great Britain, called Monorjraphia 
Anoplurorum Britania. We know of no Eng- 
lish names, and for convenience coin some. 
The Big-bellied Hen-louse (Goniocotes Tiolo- 
gaster\ fig. 1, is an eighth of an inch long; its 
head, thorax and legs, are of a pale yellow col- 
or, with pitchy black marginal bands, and its 
very large abdomen is girt With pale ash-colored 
bands {fascw), bordered with black. 
The Big-headed Hen-louse (Qoniodes dissimi- 
Us), fig. 3, has a length of a little over one line 
('|i2 of an inch.) It is tawny, smooth, shining, 
somewhat downy or hairy; head large, with 
promment temporal angles, abdomen large. 
The Long-bodied Hen-louse (Lipeurus varia- 
bUis), fig. 3, is ^|, of a line long, of a dirty white 
color, margined with black. The head is dome- 
shaped, pale yellow, with a black spot on each 
side behind tlie eyes. The abdomen has an in- 
terrupted (broad aud narrow), dusky band run- 
ning lengthwise down the centre. 
The Pale Wandermg Hen-louse {Mbnopon 
Vis. a. 
EEN LICE. 
Fig. 3. 
paXlidum), fig. 4, has an elongated body of a 
pale straw color, shining and smooth. The head 
is slightly hollowing on each side, with pitchy 
black spots. It is from 'U to '1. of a line long, 
and is found in great abundance in neglected 
henneries upon the roosts, etc., and usually first 
noticed by its running over the hands, from 
which it is difficult to brush off on account of 
the smoothness of its body, aud the tenacity 
with which it clings with its sharp claws. 
The use of mercurial preparations is always 
dangerous, unless conducted with extreme care. 
Thele are always fatal to lice of all sorts, but 
can only be used upon the polls and necks of 
adult fowls (where they can not reach with their 
beak), for, in drawing the feathers through their 
bills in pluming themselves, they would be 
surely poisoned. Dixon recommends the use of 
white precipitate dusted upon the heads of 
young chickens, three or four days old. Greas- 
ing fowls is a temporary relief, but it does not 
clear the lice out of the nests or from the roosts, 
and unless the application be followed up, there 
is no security. The grease is applied any where ; 
but under the wings and upon the poll and 
breast is best, for here the lice are usually found. 
All other varieties of poultry, aud wild birds 
besides, have each their distinct kinds of lice. 
Stone Fences. 
Tlie statement made in regard to Hon. John 
McLean's stone walls on page 130 (April), has 
elicited several 
letters of dissent 
fiom farmers who 
also rejoice in 
having their stone 
walls stand well. 
I It will be remem- 
bered that Jlr. 
JIcLean's walls 
are built on ridges 
of earlh thrown 
inches high, the ground used 
Fit 
to 18 
1. 
up 13 _ . _ 
for the ridge being taken from each side, and 
so, virtually, making the fence by so much the 
higher. This plan, on soil upon which it will 
stand, has several merits, which we think are 
worthy the consideration of even those farmers 
who are so well pleased with their own plans. 
We have not yet heard particulars from Mr. 
McLean, but taking the simple statement above, 
it is evident that the walls stand. The reason 
is, that no water canstand near the wall, and so 
the heaving of the earth by the frost affects 
earth, foundation 
and wall, all alike. 
"R S.," of Nor- 
folk, Conn., writes, 
quoting the state- 
ment referred to : 
" If you would see 
the best stone fences 
you can build per- 
fectly prostrated in 
8 or 10 years, build 
them upon a ridge 
thrown up 18 inches 
high, and my word 
for it you will not 
be disappointed. If, 
on the other hand 
you desire good and 
permanent fences, 
" take six inches 
from the surface and 
plant good substan- 
tial stones m at the 
bottom; (see fig. 1,) then build the remaining 
part well, and you have a fence that will be 
with you aud in good shape most likely during 
your sojourn here. Thirty-five years' experience 
in wall-laying confirms me in this belief." 
" A Subscriber," of Tingsboro', Mass., details 
his o^Ti experience as follows : 
" I dig a ditch (see fig. 3,) or trench, where I 
wish the wall to stand, as wide as the founda- 
tion of my wall, and as deep as the soil is suita- 
ble for making manure, (I .think the soil thus 
obtained pays for the labor of throwing out) ; 
then I pick up 
and cart to the 
line of the wall 
all stone large 
enough to be in 
the way of the 
scythes or the 
mowing ma- 
chines; thus clear- ' 
ing my mowing 
land, and furnishing a material for a founda- 
tion on which a wall, no matter how heavj', will 
stand for years. My father has walls upon his 
flxrm built twenty years ago, upon the same 
plan, from which not a stone has been thrown 
by the action of the frost. The plan is adopted 
by many farmers in this vicinity, and well liked." 
These plans will both answer well upon cer- 
tain soils aud situations, but not upon all. R. 
S's plan, for instance, does not secure a dry 
foundation in clayey ground, and we know 
many a piece of land on which such walla 
would surely fail. Nevertheless, they are eco- 
nomical, lasting on soil^ where water will not 
stand. The second plan is better, for the small 
stone foundation affords drainage, which would 
leave the wall diy if there were only a slight 
inclination of the ground. There should ha 
provision for taking off the water from the low- 
parts on the line of the wall. 
The plan of building a wall over a good stone 
drain is approached in this case, and where the 
soil is not fidl of water, the shallow dramage 
thus provided for would answer a good purpose 
Fig. a. 
