1869. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
133 
probably long enough for all practical purposes. 
Its inferiority to a tile drain lies chiefly in the 
fact that its floor is not protected against the 
action of the water flowing within it. There 
is always danger that the earth will be washed 
away in some places, and deposited in others, 
and so obstruct the drain, which is not possible 
when pipe tiles are used. Furthermore, the 
excavation required for these longer and larger 
troughs must be considerably more than is 
needed for tiles. The stones on top of the 
trough are of no sort of use, while, by forming 
courses for water outside of it, they add to the 
danger that loose earth may obstruct the drain. 
-» . -- 
Destroying Animal Parasites. 
Lice, ticks, the scab insect, and other ani¬ 
mal parasites, become peculiarly annoying to¬ 
ward spring and when the weather begins to 
be decidedly warm. Then their powers are 
more active, and they multiply with astonishing 
rapidity. Tiiese creatures are oviparous. Eggs 
are laid in suitable places, and in due time 
hatched. In general, the mature and the grow¬ 
ing insects are killed without great difficulty. 
Soft or oily grease, certain metallic or vegetable 
poisons, alum water, arsenic in solution, or a de¬ 
coction of tobacco, are all fatal if well applied. 
Mercurial ointment (“unguentum”) has great ef¬ 
ficacy, but is more liable to be fatal also to the 
animals themselves. Flowers of sulphur is pe¬ 
culiarly disagreeable to almost all parasitic life, 
and is especially effective in driving off or de¬ 
stroying hen lice. It should always be at hand, 
and liberally sprinkled in the nests of sitting 
hens. We are, however, happily relieved from 
the necessity and danger of using the powerful 
poisons above named, by the comparatively re¬ 
cent application of carbolic acid, in the form of 
soaps, to the destruction of parasites. This sub¬ 
Fig. 1.— APPARATUS POR INSECT WASHES. 
stance is powerful even in the form of a dilute 
vapor, and causes discomfort and partial pa¬ 
ralysis. The soap is constantly giving off this 
vapor, as we observe by the strong odor like creo¬ 
sote and tar. The actual contact with the soap 
or a solution of it is usually soon fatal. The 
assured fact that the eggs are not effected may 
account entirely for the difficulty sometimes en¬ 
countered in making thorough work of some 
kinds of parasites. (Lice upon dogs have given 
us most trouble.) Two or three applications at 
intervals of a week are usually sufficient to re¬ 
lieve the animals. In the summer, sheep and 
lambs are dipped, and being laid upon a draining 
board, the liquid is well rubbed into the skin at 
every part of the body. This can not be done in 
cool weather. The simplest 
convenient apparatus for 
applying small quantities of 
any such fluid to the skin 
of any animal is, probably, 
an oiling flask, a lamp filler, 
or a common bottle, with a 
perforated cork, in which 
is a quill, or a small glass 
or tin tube, but little longer 
than the cork. From this 
the fluid may be squirted by a slight jerk, 
and directed to the exact spot where it is 
wanted. A good deal more of a flow is secured 
by cutting a notch in the cork, but it is much 
better to make two holes through the cork, and 
to place in one a short tube, as before, and in 
the other a long one, 
to admit air, reaching 
nearly to the bottom 
of the bottle, and hav¬ 
ing the outer end bent, 
as shown at a, fig. 1, 
which represents a 
glass tube, or at l>, 
which represents a 
tin one. Glass tubes 
as large as a pipe- 
stem, and having pret¬ 
ty thick walls, are 
easily bent if heated 
over the chimney of 
a common kerosene 
lamp. Holes in corks 
are made with rat-tail 
flies, and if the tubes 
do not fit air-tight, a 
little beeswax melted over the top of the cork 
will make them. From a bottle thus arranged, 
the fluid will run in a steady stream, as strong¬ 
ly or gently as the operator chooses, according 
as the bottle is more or less inclined. A still 
more handy apparatus is also shown in figure 
1. A pail containing the liquid is suspended 
at any convenient hight; from it hangs a rub¬ 
ber tube of sufficient length to conduct the 
liquid to every part of the animal, which is 
placed upon a table, or made to stand beneath. 
The tube reaches from the bottom of the pail, 
passes over the side, where it is tied to prevent 
its slipping out, and perhaps favored by being 
laid upon a little saddle of tin or leather, so 
that the sharp bend shall not close it. Thus a 
siphon is formed, which will discharge a con¬ 
stant stream of the fluid, unless stopped. A 
little faucet may be placed in the discharging 
end, or the tube may be simply closed by the 
pressure of the thumb and finger, and this end 
hung by a string or wire upon the edge of the 
pail when not in use. The best plan, however, 
is to insert a bit of glass or tin tube in the end, 
and just back of it to place a “ pinch faucet,” if 
we may so call the little contrivance called 
quetch-hahn by the Germans. This is shown in 
fig. 2, and is a piece of brass wire, bent, and 
hammered flat, which makes it a stiff spring. 
This faucet is opened by pressing with the fin¬ 
gers on the coiled ends, and may be held open 
by slipping it over the end of the nozzle. 
If the solution of Carbolic Soap is used, it 
may be made quite strong, following the direc¬ 
tions given upon the packages, as usually sold. 
The wool or hair should be parted, and the 
soap water made to touch the skin at every 
point. It is best to take both time and pains to 
rub it thoroughly in. It is not necessary or 
best to wash it out, but it should remain, in 
order to produce its full effects. 
Corn-Cribs and Granaries. 
We are glad to get a really new idea on tho 
subject of corn-cribs. The way of bracing a 
twenty-four-foot corn-crib so that it shall be in 
no danger of blowing over in a gale, by a wing 
at right angles to it, and attached to the centre 
of one side, is to us quite new. It is communi¬ 
cated to the Agriculturist by Mr. P. Davis, of 
Newport News, Va., who describes his corn- 
house as consisting of four rooms, each eight 
feet square, the middle or front one having a 
closely-boarded front and floor, the others hav¬ 
ing both front and sides of open-work. Mr. 
Davis says, “No one but myself believed that it 
would save the corn,because there was so much 
of it bulked together.” The result, however, 
has proved eminently satisfactory. He adds, in 
regard to the details, “I make the floor of nar¬ 
row boards, placed three-quarters of an inch 
apart, and the sides of narrow strips, half an 
inch apart, thus giving plenty of ventilation. 
Corn may be husked as soon as it is safe to pull 
it from the stalk, and stored in such a crib in 
as large a bulk as one has room for, and it will 
not injure in the least. The open floor is what 
keeps it from heating. There is no need of 
making a corn-crib narrow at the bottom, for 
rain will not beat in on a perpendicular side, to 
do any harm, if the floor is an open one. The 
middle or front room should have a tight floor 
and front, as this is the place to shell the corn, 
keep seeds, etc. The sills should be three and 
a half feet from the ground, laid upon solid 
posts, set.at least three feet in the ground. 
Sheets of tin nailed around the posts at the 
upper end are better than inverted pans or flat 
stones, as such things upon tbe top of the posts 
are liable to be injured, are not easily repaired, 
and are in the way. The tin should reach all 
round the post, and extend down ten inches 
from the top. Tenons in the tops of the posts 
should be made to enter mortises in the sills. 
There are two especial benefits in a crib such 
as I describe : First, the building has a broad 
foundation, without being a very large one, and 
is not liable to be turned over by the wind, as 
is often the case with the long, narrow (and 
narrower bottomed) ones we often see. Second, 
the door is in the middle, making it convenient 
to fill all the three store-rooms without either 
P. DAVIS’S CORN-CRIB. 
