204 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
which are so valuable and so apt to run to waste. 
Here will be brought large stores of muck, sods, 
dry pond mud, saw-dust, leaves, weeds, corn¬ 
stalks, straw, tan-bark—indeed any thing which 
is dry enough to absorb liquids and gases, and 
which will before long decompose. All these 
common sources of fertility have been tried and 
found sufficient by the most successful farmers. 
Gapes in Chickens. 
Several items have appeared in “Our Basket” 
wdthin a few months past with reference to what 
is called “Gapes.” The diseases of poultry arc 
so imperfectly understood that we have no doubt 
the writers of the items referred to have in mind 
two or perhaps three distinct diseases which are 
accompanied by gaping. Certain forms of 
catarrh, pips, etc., which make tickling in the 
windpipe, cause chickens to gape, and some of 
the remedies and preventives we have published 
refer to these diseases. The gapes 
proper are caused by small para¬ 
sitic worms in the bronchus or 
windpipe. The following commu¬ 
nication from Chas. F. Morton, of 
Orange Co., N. Y., to the American 
Agriculturist is valuable as the re¬ 
sult of 20 years experience, and the 
views of an intelligent observer: 
“This disease is somewhat similar 
to the botts in horses. The bott fly 
deposits its eggs on the hairs of the 
horse’s sides and legs; they hatch; 
the worms are licked off and swal¬ 
lowed, and attach themselves to 
the mucous membrane of the stom¬ 
ach, where they get their growth, 
and are finally voided in the spring. 
The grub goes into the ground, un¬ 
dergoes its changes, and comes out 
a perfect fly, to pair, and in the 
same way, to perpetuate its species. 
The Gape fly deposits its eggs in the 
nostrils of the chicks; here they 
hatch and the worms work their 
way to the windpipe, where they 
often exist in large numbers It 
is obvious that no preparation of 
the food will prevent this. I know of no bet¬ 
ter preventive than keeping the coops, chick¬ 
en house and places where the fowls roost, well 
cleaned and whitewashed, salt or brine being 
mixed with the lime, for old, dirty fowl houses 
and coops are particularly liable to perpetuate 
the disease. When goslings, turkies, pea-fowl or 
chickens have the gapes, catch them, roll them 
up one at a time in a cloth with their heads out. 
Hold one between the knees ; with the thumb 
and fore-finger of the left hand open the mouth; 
ge't an assistant to take hold of the tongue and 
hold it fast; then gently push down the throat 
a feather tip, trimmed in this shape (see fig. 1.), 
and larger or smallci according to the size of 
the chicken. The feather is gently pushed down 
until it stops, where the branches of the bron- 
;hus go off to each lobe of the lungs. Then it 
<s turned round as it is pulled out. The worms 
will either be brought out or so loosened that 
they may be coughed out. If not all expelled, 
repeat the operation. Sometimes I have oper¬ 
ated several days after, and found a worm or 
two in the bronchus. Last summer I operated 
on upwards of a hundred fowls, and did not lose 
one. In some cases I took as many as 30 worms 
out of one chicken not over a week old, and 
some of the worms were not over an eighth of 
Fig. 1. 
an inch long. I have never known young ducks 
A to have the gapes.”--Mr. Morton 
/ prefers the feather to the snell-gut 
loop attached to a thin piece of 
whalebone as recommended by Mr. 
Sharpless, May Ho., page 135.—A 
correspondent “X,” of Baltimore 
Co., Md., describes the gape worm as 
: from half an inch to an inch long, 
reddish, and attached by a hook or 
“ prong ” to the membrane of the 
windpipe. In this, it is like the bott 
or grub of the gadfly, above noticed. 
A young lady whose love for her 
pets' overcomes the feeling of 
squeamishness which afflicts many 
of her sex, extracts these worms 
by means of a feather tip like fig. 2. 
The plume is trimmed off to near 
the tip, and then, being wet, the re¬ 
maining part is laid back as in the 
engraving. This is easily done by 
drawing the nail down over it. One 
operation, which ought not to be 
accompanied by more than two or 
three insertions of the feather, is 
usually a cure. X adds, the chicks 
should not run in wet grass, but be 
Fig. 3. kept on bare or plowed ground. 
W. R. Monroe, of Bay Co., Mich., says, a 
small piece of asafeetida, as big as a pea, will 
cure the chick, and a little constantly in the 
water, will be a sure preventive.—John M. 
Becker, Stephenson Co., Ill., traces the disease 
to the fact, that year after year fowls are bred 
upon the same ground. lie secures freedom 
from it by putting his coops of young birds 
every year in a new place, thus avoiding the 
filth and parasites and seeds of disease, which 
may have been cast off the year before. 
Hints About Dwelling Houses. 
F. A. Goodwin, Mt. Salubria, Ind., communi¬ 
cates to the Agriculturist some hints and criticisms 
_ _ about cheap 
Fig. 1. GHOUND ULAN 22x33 (L 9x9.) not illustrate it 
References.—A, Parlor. 15x15; <7, by an engrav- 
Family room, 12x15; B, Dining room 
or bedroom, 9x15; D, Kitchen, 9x9, m g,UUt engrave 
wilh sink and cupboard, c ; E, Front bis Second plan 
entry; c, c, c, Closets, 2 feet deep. (Figg . 1? and 2 .) 
Mr. G. writes: “ The attention of the agricultu¬ 
rist is directed to nothing more important than 
the building of cheap and comfortable houses. 
Wealthy men, living in cities, can find profes¬ 
sional architects to make designs which are gen¬ 
erally elaborate and expensive, but few house¬ 
builders devote their time to planning cheap 
houses for the rural districts; hence a man who 
has not experience, is left to blunder along with 
the aid of an uninformed carpenter, and make a 
blundering house; perhaps altering his plans 
half a dozen times as he proceeds. “Jack 
Plane,” will allow me to say that there are se¬ 
rious objections always to a story-and-a-lialf 
house. Mr. Woodville’s plans (page 105 April 
No.) have one notable defect which it is strange, 
house-builders so often make. Almost' every 
body in this country who is able to build a 
house, expects 
to put carpet 
on the floor, 
and carpets are 
made a yard 
wide, and nine- 
tenths of the 
patterns are 
figured so as to 
require cutting 
bj r the yard to 
make them 
match, hence 
there is more or 
less waste in 
carpeting every 
room or hall 
which is not 
the exact mul¬ 
tiple of a yard. 
If house-build¬ 
ers would only 
bear this in 
mind it would Fi S- 2 - rLAN or chamber floor. 
save the house- References.—F, Rest-Landing over 
. . front door, 6x5 ; G, Upper “ Hall 
Wives a great H, Bedroom, 15x15; /, Bedroom, 9x 
deal of trouble 12 ;K < Bedroom, 12x15 ;c,c,c, Closets, 
and husbands a great deal of expense, yet 
not one room or hall in either of those plans 
can be carpeted without a provoking loss in cut¬ 
ting carpets. If a room must go beyond 12 or 
15 or 18 feet,, and can not reach the next multiple 
above it, make it half a yard. A great variety 
of carpets can be cut by the half yard, but none 
can be cut 14 or 16 feet without loss. 
I send you two plans. They each recognize 
the fact stated by Mr. Woodville, that two-sto¬ 
ry houses, and square houses arc cheapest. The 
first is a modification of his No. 1, requiring the 
same external appearance. It differs in adapt¬ 
ing rooms and halls to the carpet question. 22J- 
inches is the right size for flues (2 bricks and a 
half.) This plan, with closets two feet deep, al¬ 
lows room to plaster over the flues, without 
plastering upon them; and the connection from 
the stove to the flue can be made much more 
secure from fire, by having but an inch or two of 
space to the flue, than on the plan he proposes, 
of two feet useless space. Closets two feet deep 
will do better than six feet, where there are 
so many as his plan or mine proposes. 
In each plan here presented I start the stairs 
about three feet from the back hall door. This 
is not usual, and many will say, “How will it 
look.” I answer, these plans are for utility and 
cheapness, not for looks chiefly. A family wants 
to go from the dining room and family room up 
stairs ten, probably twenty times, to once from 
the front door—; hence it is more convenient, 
and will save hundreds of steps to the w r omen, 
for which they will thank you. Besides this, a 
ball only 15 ft. deep is too short to allow stairs 
to rise ten feet, without being either too steep os 
without a rest and turn. To start from 111# 
