164 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
never detected the insect, j and twisted it round 
as 1 pulled it out, which would generally bring 
up or loosen all the worms, so that the chicken 
T^'ould cough them out, if not, I would repeat 
the operation til' all were ejecteJ, amounting 
general’y to a dozen ; then release the chicken, 
and in the course of ten minutes it would eat 
heartily, although previous to the operation it 
was unable to swallow, and its crop would be 
empty unless filled with some indigestible food. 
In this manner 1 lost but two out ol lorty chick- 
ens operated on; one by its coughing up a 
bunch of the worms which stuck in the orifice 
of the windpipe and strangled it — the other ap- 
parently recovered, but died several days alter 
in the morning; in the afternoon upon exam- 
ining its windpipe, 1 found a female worm in it 
differing from the others by branching off at the 
tail in a number of roots or branches between 
each of which were tubes filled with hundreds 
of esgs like the spawn of a fish ; and although 
the chicken died in the morning, the worm was 
perfectly alive in the afternoon, and continued 
so for half an hour in warm water. While 1 
was examining it in a concave glass under a 
microscope, it ejected one of its eggs, in the cen- 
tre ol which was an insect in embryo. 
From this tact, I have come to the conclu- 
sion that when the female worm breeds in the 
chicken and kills it, these hundreds of eggs 
hatch out in its putrid body in some very mi 
nute worm which probably after remaining in 
that state during the winter, changes in the 
spring to a fly which deposits its eggs on the 
nostril ol the chicken from whence they are in- 
haled and hatched out in the windpipe and be- 
come the worms I have described. 
There is one fact connected with this disease 
— that it is only old hen-roo.5ts that are subject 
to it; and lam of opinion that where it pre- 
vails, if the chicken houses and coops were 
kept clean and frequently whitewashed with 
thin whitewash, with plenty of salt or brine 
mixed with it, and those chickens that take the 
disease, operated on and cured, or if they should 
die, have them burned up or so destroyed that 
the eggs of the worms would not hatch out, that 
the di-ease would be eradicated. 
I am also satisfied that the chicken has not 
the disease when first hatched ; several broods 
that I carried and kept at a distance from the 
chicken-house where the disease prevailed, 
were entirely exempt. And chickens hatched 
from my eggs where they had never been troub- 
led with this disease, were perfectly free from 
it; and a neighbor of mine who built in the 
woods ha'f a mile from any dwelling, and has 
raised fowls for .six or seven years past, and has 
frequently set my eggs, has never had gapes 
among his chickens. 
VVitii my first broods of chickens, there was 
not one escaped the gapes. But all that have 
been hatched since I had the chicken-house and 
coops well whitewashed inside and out, with 
thin whitewash, with plenty of brine in it, and 
kept clean, have been exempt from the disease, 
w'ith occasionally an exception of one or two 
chickens out of a brood. 
In operating on the chickens, although one 
person can effect, it is much easier done to 
have one to hold the tongue of the chicken 
while the other passes the feather down its 
windpipe, and by having a small piece of mus- 
lin between the fingers, it will prevent the 
tongue from slipping, which it is apt to do upon 
repeating the operation. 
Yours, &c. C. F. Morton. 
N. Y., Aug., 1844. 
From the Albany Cultivator. 
PLOUGHING ORCHARDS. 
If well done, and the trees not run over nor 
lacerated, is found to be a difficult work. To 
make it easy, get a short one-horse whipple-tree 
about fifteen inches long, and attach one of the 
horses by long traces to the plough'; fasten the 
other horse before it, and let them go tandem . — 
A careful boy or man rides the forward horse, 
and another holds the plough. Afier the inter- 
mediate space between the rows has been 
ploughed in the usual manner by horses abreast, 
as near to the trees as convenience and care 
will admit, finish the rest with the tandem team, 
rigged as just stated. The long traces will al- 
low the plough to run as near the fees as is 
needed, and the short v. hippie-tree can scarcely 
be made to touch a tree. Well tested by expe 
rience. j. j. t. 
WHEAT. 
We select the following paragraph, says the 
Southern Planter, from a long and interesting 
report upon the wheat crop, as particularly wor- 
thy ol attention : 
“A new variety of wheat, which has been 
very highly lecommended, is the improved flint. 
Some ol this has been obtained Irom the propri- 
etor, General Harmon of Wheatland, New 
York, and distributed to the members of the na- 
tional legislature and various distinguished ag- 
riculturists, by which means it will undoubtedly 
be tried veiy extensively hereafter throughoui 
the whole couniry. Gen. Harmon’s account of 
it is as follows : “ The improved flint wheat has 
been impraved from the old flint, by seheting 
the purest samples, and sowing them on sandv 
and gravelly limestone land, .so that the berry is 
now larger and whiter, and the bran or hull ve- 
ry thin; the heads are longer; and the straw 
too is stiffer, and not as subject to lodge as for- 
merly. This is the most valuable variety 
grown in this section of country. It bears a 
good yield, producing a beautiful berry, weigh- 
ing 64 lbs. to the bushel, and producing more 
superfine flour to the bushel than any other va 
riety 1 am acquainted with. It is not affected 
by the Hessian fly as much as many other vari- 
eties. The same gentleman has paid very con- 
siderable attention to the culture of different va- 
rieties, and makes a remaik which deserves 
consideration. ‘The greatest objection to new 
varieties from warmer latitudes, is, that they 
are not hung to stanu our winter. I have sown 
the white May Virginia lor five years ; the first 
two years 1 was pleased with it; since then, it 
has oeen failing; it has not withstood the win- 
ters well, and the heads are growing shorter, 
and the berry more red.’ He also thus speaks 
ol his mode of culture: ‘ Thirty years ago we 
were in the habit of ploughing in the most of 
cur wheat on smooth land; we used the com- 
montwo-horse plough : but we became satisfied 
that some of the seed was covered too deep; the 
plough was given up, and the harrow has been 
used since. A few years since, 1 built me a 
three-cornered harrow, and, instead of teeth, 
I put in the common cultivator teeth, which 1 
have used on my summer fallows, and for cov- 
ering my wheat; the last time in going over it, 
I go north and south. This leaves the land a 
little ridgy and protected from the cold north- 
west winds, which are severe here in the month 
of March after the snow is off; when the roller 
is used after the harrow, it has been more killed 
out; and when the soil is made very fine, it is 
more liable to be winter killed. The common 
horse ploughs bury the seed too deep; the late- 
ly constructed quadruple plough answers very 
well.’ ” 
Proper depth of Seed,— “As the result of some 
experiments respecting grain of different kinds 
— wheat, rye, barley and oats — in Germany, it 
is said that ‘from two-thirds to three-fourths of 
the grain plants had their root stalk only one 
inch underground, and exactly these produced 
the most stalks; one-fourth of them had their 
roots only IJ inch deep, and had onlv half as 
many stalks as the first; at 2 inches deep, there 
were only 4 in 100; and 2i inches deep only 9 
in 1,000;’ but only one of them produced stalks, 
while in the first rye and wheat showed only 
23-5 to 41-5 stalks. Winter wheat at 1 inch 
gave 765 root-stalks out of 1,000 as remaining 
in the earth, of which 34-7 produced stalks; at 
1 to IJ inch, of 1,000, gave 215 root-stalks, of 
which 2^ produced stalks; at 2 inches, only 17 
root-stalks of 1,000, of which only 1 produced 
stalks. From this, it is clear that shallow sow- 
ing, if the seed is only so far covered as to sprout, 
and the germ is protected from immediate con- 
tact with the air, is preferable to laying the seed 
deep, because it springs up quicker, and ac- 
quires a stonger growth, and has hardier plants.’ 
‘The climate and period of sowing, as well as 
the weather, will ol course be considered in de- 
termining the depth. The warmer, dryer, and 
especially the more windy the climate, the deep- 
er (other things being equal) the seed must be 
laid. Wet and cold weather requires a shallow 
sowing; a dry and hot season a deeper burying 
of the seed.’ ‘A sowing is one which 
covers up the seed only half an inch thick; a 
moderately deep sowing, IJ inch thick; and if 
from 14 inch to 3 inches in depth, it is called 
deep sowing. The choice ol seed is very impor- 
tant; and the remark may be repeated here, 
made in the last report, that the grain which is 
most S' itable for nutritious bread, on account 
of containing the largest portion of gluten, is 
not the best for the seed. The neglect to ob- 
serve this may have sometimes ctntribuied to 
influence the crop. It is also well ascertained 
that grain threshed by the threshing machine 
yields seed far le.ss suitable, on account of its 
being broken, than that threshed by the hand- 
flail. The amount thus obtained too from the 
sheaf is supposed to be one third less.” 
Rust . — “ The question as to the best methods 
of preventing the diseases and attacks to which 
the wheat crop is exposed, is one of deep inte- 
rest to the agricultural community; and some 
suggeMions on this subject may not be inappro- 
priately subjoined to the account of this crop. — 
The time when ihe field is struck with rust, 
seems to be ju t at the time^of ripening. A re- 
markable fact on this subject is stated in a re- 
port to the New Jersey Agricultural Society. — 
An extraordinary field of wheat, supposed to be 
out of danger, on a hot day became drenched by 
a sudden shower, which came on between one 
and three o’clock, P. M. All was still; and on 
the passing away of the shower, the sun came 
out intensely hot. The owner went into his 
field to examine his wheat, which he found 
much pressed down by the shower: he immedi- 
ately perceived a continued licking, or snapping 
noise, in every direction. The straw was fine 
and bright; but, on examining it, he found it 
bursting in short slits one-quarter of an inch 
long, and the sap exuding from it. A day or 
two alter, the whole field was darkened with 
rust, and the wheat nearly ruined. . Another in- 
stance of the same kind is also related. The 
conclusion stated is, that the loss of the sap, 
running out and becoming dried on the straw, 
occasioned the rust. 
“ Mildew and rust are said to be more com- 
mon now than before the Hessian fly made its 
appearance. Previous to that time the wheat 
was sown the last of August and the first of 
September, tillered largely, obtained great 
strength of roots, and was but little injured by 
winter frosts; the effect of which was to pro- 
duce strong bright straw, with but few leaves; 
the consequence of which is but little mildew 
and rust. 
“To avoid the fly, manuring high at seed 
time and sowing late was resorted to. This 
was attended by mildew and rust. Being sown 
late the plants had no time to tiller, or multiply 
and strengthen their roots and stalks; of course, 
the winter weakened and thinned the plants, 
which made the wheat still later in the season ; 
and, when highly manured, the straw was full 
of leaves, very succulent, usually mildewed, 
and almost rusted. ‘The means of prevention 
are — first, a good, dry, loamy soil, well prepared 
by cultivation, and not too recently manured, 
that by cultivation there may be a good assimi- 
lation of manure to the soil ; the more complete 
the better. Cover the seed about two inches 
deep, either with drill plough, that it may 
have good hold of the soil, and not be thrown 
out by winter frosts.’ It is also said the French 
chemists, having witnessed tbe blighting of hu- 
man food, have suggested the use of charcoal, 
to absorb the excess of the ammoniacal and oth- 
er salts, which, taken with the plant in excess, 
during the warm showers, when the berry is 
