(Ll)C |Jo»ltn)-|l;irLi. 
GAPES IN CHICKENS. 
So much lias been said about this much- 
fearccl scourge of the poultry-yard that it 
seems almost unnecessary to again bring it 
before our readers. But while nearly all 
agree as to what the disease is — v iz., worms 
in the windpipe of the chick, we And hardly 
any two persons who can agree as to the 
cause, — how they came t here. 
Mr. S. M. Saunobus, in his “ Essay on Dis¬ 
eases of Poultry," as also in his book, takes 
the ground that It Is caused by drinking 
rain or impure water, and that a small lump 
of camphor kept constantly in the vessel 
from which they drink is a certain preventive. 
He adds: — “Rain water will, after having 
stood some time, he found, by examination 
under a microscope, to contain worms ident¬ 
ical with those taken from the tlu'oat of a 
chicken suffering from the gapes.” 
If this were so, how does he account for 
the fact, that the worms rarely, if ever, 
seen more than an eighth of an inch long in 
rain water, grow to an inch long in the 
windpipe of a chicken ? The worm or am- 
malcuk found hi stagnant water can live but 
a short time when exposed to the air. But, 
according to Mr. Saunders’ theory, (which 
is identical with that of an old English 
pamphlet now out of print.,) the change from 
water to the jury position of a chicken’s 
windpipe, instead of kitting, only promotes 
the growth of the worm. Again: if impure 
water is the cause of the gapes, how is it. that 
brood after brood are swept away with this 
disease in yards watered by streams from 
living springs? The theory is untenable. 
A Dr. Thompson, in replying to Mr. S., in 
the Country Gentleman, takes the ground 
that the gapes are the result of the sting- of 
an insect. lie says: 
“In the side bone of the chicken,under the 
wins', isn foramen or hole, which In covered wilh 
the skin only, and henonth it is the lima. Cjiss 
a needle through the skin eovi i ln< f i Ids foramen 
mid you wound tho Junk of the chick. Now 
therein un Insect, the iiiime of which i do not 
know, that stln«:> the chick at this point and de¬ 
posit- its eyvs ill In the Iuhr. The < w i hatched 
bv the wurinih ot the living lung- tissue et the 
chick soon become Mu* larvte, which, atruujrlinfr 
to llml their way to the light and air, iret into Ihe 
bronchial tubes, and llnally are seen in the 
trachea ot the chick,and I mm which tin y are 
ejected, Sometimes their great number pro¬ 
duces death from suffocation, and sometimes the 
chicken, belli jf relieved, recovers. The onlv cure 
I know of is to relieve the chickens of the 
worms by mechanical means, such ms usually 
resorted to. 
“ By rubbing the young chicks under the 
wiii^s wit.i coal oil or lard, you can prevent 
the deposit of the vuits. I usually save my 
chickens from the Rapes by raising t hem in oouits 
on the llip-sh-lioor of the bum, thereby keeping 
them from the attack of this insect- which is in 
open air nhout the buildings. Those who follow 
this plan will be successful in the prevention of 
the gape s, and tills is Worth more than tie-cure. 
When you rcllect fora moment that every ani¬ 
mal has in parasites, and how the OggSGf i fusee Is 
are deposited in ihe skin of almost overv ani¬ 
mal, you will see the manner in wliioti the 
ItirviP uf an insect might produce the effect 1 
liave described in the lungs of nchicken. In my 
perusal ol agricultural papers 1 liave soon many 
theories upon ttiis siiljjcel, but I have never aeon 
one t hat convinced me that the worm was an nt- 
iawed into the trachea or windpipe or the 
chicken; nor could it. hy.such prutiosa gut into 
the lungs and not Into the stomach.” 
For the sake of argument, we will grant 
that this theory is plausible. Then, what is 
this insect V A fly ? or a wingless foe V Has 
it been seen ? or has the mark of its sting 
been found V If the lung is stung, how is it 
that in a chicken deceased with gapes we 
find uo worms except, in the trachea t Wo 
have examined, hut could never find any,or 
any sign of the lining being diseased. Death 
is certainly caused by suffocation, as Dr. 
Thompson says, and suffocation docs not 
impair the health of the lung; hut if the 
above theory is correct, the lung cannot fail 
to be unhealthy. Can it he possible for a lot 
of worms to bore through the lungs of any 
living animal and leave no trace behind ? 
Another writer says:—“ Chickens raised at 
old settled places are very liable to gapes, are 
sure to have it if chickens have been bred 
there a number of years. 1 havcliad chick¬ 
ens have it badly in my yard, and put a 
brood out in the woods where noue have 
been, and not one will have it, and yc-t they 
were by the same cock and by Ihe same 
liens. ’ 1 le further states that the ground be¬ 
comes tainted in old yards; lint does not say 
why that should cause gapes. 
Still another says“ You will find chicks 
that roost on damp floors are subject to the 
gapes. Gapes are nothing but a bad cold 
settled on the lungs of the chick; take a 
young chick when it first gets the gapes anti 
place it in a warm room, or under the stove, 
and it will get well in a lew days. Some 
persons think there arc worms in the throat 
of the chick; they run a feather down the 
windpipe to draw the worm out. It is not 
worms; it is nothing but phlegm that collects 
in the windpipe.” 
In answer to these, we have raised chick¬ 
ens for the last eighteen years, and for thir¬ 
teen years of that time on the same spot of 
ground, and since learning how to prevent 
the gapes we do not lose a single chicken by 
that disease. We have seen cases of gapes 
on new ground, hut they arc not very fre¬ 
quent. That there is something prejudicial 
to gapes in new localities none will deny; 
but how or why has not yet been explained. 
The last quoted theory is transparently in¬ 
correct. To say the least, he must have an 
exceedingly bad eyesight, when looking at 
worms, or else he lias never seen a ease of 
gapes, but has confounded it with some other 
disease. The most trivial observer can see 
that anything that wriggles is not phlegm. 
He bail probably mistaken infin erica for the 
gapes. 
Another says:—“I ascribe the gapes to feed¬ 
ing wet corn meal, generally sour before 
it is fed. My theory of gapes is, that it pro¬ 
ceeds from fermentation in the crop. Hence, 
I object to fine meal, and especially wet 
meal, which will ferment much sooner, and 
being wet, chickens will cat too much of it. 
The food fermenting generates worms which 
strangle the chicken. Cold and wet weather 
in which chickens become chilled, will hasten 
fermentation and aggravate, but is not tho 
cause of gapes in chickens.” 
Who ever heard of food remaining long 
enough in a chicken’s crop to breed worms ? 
The chick may become “ crop-bound but 
after suffering from this three or four days, 
the meal has been taken out in a caked, par 
tially dry or baked condition — but not a 
sign of a worm or anj'thing pertaining 
thereto. Generally the food lays in the crop 
but a few hours, and then is discharged into 
the stomach; and the gastric juices of that 
organ are certain death to everything of the 
worm kind proceeding from outside causes. 
If this writer had ever seen the worms indig¬ 
enous to corn meal and compared them to 
ihe tracheal worm,he would have discarded 
this theory at once. 
Upon what Joch he found his assumption 
that cold wet weather hastens fermentation? 
We have always supposed that it was 
warmth, that was essential. 
Another has discovered that “Ihe only 
remedy for gapes is to keep them from the 
chip-yard. It is a worm that gets into their 
windpipe from the chip-pile.” Another in¬ 
sists that it is hereditary and when once it 
makes its appearance on a yard cannot he 
got rid of until all the old stock is c leared off. 
And so on through a dozen more theories. 
As to remedies, we have tobacco mixed in 
the food, offered by one; red or black pepper 
by another; pepper corns by another; sul¬ 
phur by a fourth; turpentine by a fifth; a 
feather thrust Into the windpipe; a horse¬ 
hair twisted; or a broom splint, nicked with 
a knife, for the same purpose, by as many 
more. But our experience lias been that 
where one is cured or saved by any of the 
above prescriptions, from two to ton are lost. 
Tho only sure hope lor gapes is in preven¬ 
tion. And now us to the cause; for we too 
have a theory; hut first wo will explain how 
we came by the theory. A number of years 
ago in examining some young chicks just 
taken from the nest, we noticed on the heads 
some insects. They were not lice; and after 
examining them closely we concluded they 
belonged to the “tic k" family. We found the 
head of the iuseet was imbedded in the skin 
of the chick’s bead; and so deeply that when 
we pulled them off the chick would cry out 
in pain. Wc have found from two to a dozen 
on a single chicken. We took the pains to 
pick all these insects off the heads of that 
brood; and examined them every few days 
until six weeks or more old; removing what 
few ticks made their appearance after the 
first operation. We did not follow it up in 
other broods, removing these more as an ex¬ 
periment to see what would follow. As the 
season advanced our chickens commenced to 
die off with the gapes. Some entire broods 
died ; others in part; hut of this one brood 
we did not lose a chick. The next season 
we resolved to try it on a larger scale, but 
found this picking off insects a tedious oper¬ 
ation. We tried application of cold grease 
to the bead, but it would not answer. Then 
we tried “ Mercurial Ointment,” and killed 
a good many of the little chicks ; then ker¬ 
osene oil with a like result; next melted 
lard, and were partially successful with that; 
still we had a few eases among those an 
nointed. Finally, we compounded an oint¬ 
ment. to he applied in a melted state, and now 
tor four years have not lost a chicken w here 
the ointment has been applied at the time 
of taking the chickens from the nest. 
To test the matter even more thoroughly,we 
had a brood of chicks come off, five of which 
were Brahmas, and seven common barn-yard 
chicks. Tin: five Brahmas and one of the 
common chickens were greased; the others 
not. Every one of those not annointed hud 
the gapes, and five of them died, and not 
another chicken on the yard had it. We 
have had friends try the same experiment on 
yards where they were troubled with the 
gapes, and in every case with nearly the same 
result. 
Tt is well known that on all animals that 
do not perspire, the parasites that infest the 
body make their way to the nostrils to drink. 
And in some cases (sheep for one, it is stated,) 
the parasite either penetrates the nost ril and 
there deposits its egg or deposits it. at the 
opening of the nostril and it is conveyed 
back by natural causes. This egg in time 
becomes a larva or worm and causes disease. 
In the chicken the worm follows the nostril 
back until it reaches the opening of the 
trachea and then makes a lodgment. As 
they grow they gradually (ill the opening and 
thus produce the gasping for breath conse¬ 
quent upon partial suffocation, which is 
called the “ gapes.” 
As to the Source of these “ ticks ” wc are 
still in the dark. We have failed to discover 
them on the hens although finding them on 
the chicks. They cannot, be hatched with 
the chick, for in our experiments in hatching 
chickens artificially (by an Incubator) not 
one thus hatched had any'sign of the insects 
on them. As these chicks were raised artifi¬ 
cially also, they were perfectly free from 
vermin of all kinds. Another season we shall 
experiment still further, by taking some of the 
chicks from the incubator as soon as hatched 
and putting them under a hen, and see if the 
vermin are then produced. 
There are doubtless causes, certain condi¬ 
tions of the air and earth, more favorable to 
the development of the gapes, and this may 
account for the disease being more prevalent 
some seasons than others; more severe in 
certain localities, and almost unknown in 
others; but as yet, no light lias been thrown 
on this view of the question ; and until there 
is we are as much in the dark as ever.—n. 
- +++ - 
Tjie Cook County (Ill.,) Poultry Associa¬ 
tion has decided to bold a second exhibition 
of poultry in Chicago, February 16,17, and 
18; and the proposal is under consideration 
to change the name of the organization to 
Northwestern Poultry Association. 
arm vrronomn. 
WOOD RACKS. 
Many persons are kept employed the 
entire year in hauling cord-wood, railroad 
ties, etc. One necessary requisition is a 
good substantial wood rack, one that is con¬ 
venient to load and unload from, one 
in which the stakes can be easily removed 
as necessity requires; also one in which a 
large, strong stake may he used without 
injury to the frame, by having a large bole 
for the reception of the same. The wood¬ 
man will, 1 am confident, find the rack 
shown herewith to be constructed in such a 
manner as not to be open to the foregoing 
objections. 
Figure 1. 
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the 
frame, with one stake in its correct position; 
the bed pieces, P P, are 5x5 inches, and 9 
feet long; cross-ties, B B, 6x2 inches, and 
of a length corresponding to the width of 
the vehicle on which they are to be used; 
mortise and pin them to the bed pieces, as 
shown in the cross-lies; within three-fourths 
of an inch of the pieces P P, are mortised 
holes, tw r o inches square, for the stakes 
A A. 
Figure 2. 
In figure 2 is shown a section of the rack, 
clearly exhibiting the position of the stakes. 
Wood placed upon this rack is prevented 
from sliding to and fro when drawn oyer an 
undulating surface, by the peculiar position 
of the stakes. Farmers will find this not 
only valuable in drawing wood, but In haul¬ 
ing manure, rails, boards, stone, Ac., &c. 
Make the stakes from well-seasoned hickory 
or iron-wood. Pine answers well for bed 
pieces, being light and sufficiently strong; 
cross-ties should he of hard wood. — s. 
-- 
CARE OF CARRIAGES. 
A s tho season has arrived when carriages 
will belittle used in the Northern States, care 
should be taken, when storing them away, to 
have them thoroughly cleaned from mud. 
If allowed to remain on until Spring, the 
parts on which.it may be left will, when re¬ 
moved, exhibit a spotted appearance, necessi¬ 
tating (as it often does) tho re-painting, or 
varnishing of the entire vehicle; while a few 
moment’s work at the right time would have 
saved this extra expense. 
The wheels should also be removed, and 
tho axle and hub thoroughly cleaned from 
all grease or tar that may have accumulated 
on any portion; if allowed to remain until 
the vehicle is again needed it will have be¬ 
come so thoroughly dried that its removal is 
attended with difficulty, and during the pro¬ 
cess the beauty of some portion is marred, 
and the durability much impaired. 
h'ntomelegiral. 
THE PERIODICAL CICADA. 
The American Entomologist, of St. Louis, 
for December has a most valuable and inter¬ 
esting paper upon this insect pest—popu¬ 
larly, hut, wrongly, styled the seventeen or 
thirteen-year locust —in which is given 
much important information not found in 
the books which have treated of the cicndw 
family. After describing the forms, charac¬ 
ter, habits, etc., of the insect, and giving a 
chronological history of the sixteen “broods” 
which are known to exist In this country, 
predictions are given of their probable return 
during the next seventeen years. This we 
give in full, for the licnefit of our readers : 
“There will, during the next seventeen 
years, bo broods of the Periodical Cicada 
somewhere in the United States in A. D. ’69, 
’70, *71, ’72, ’74, ’77, ’78, ’79. ’80, ’81, ’83, ’84, 
and ’85, but none, so far as we arc at present 
advised, in A. D. ’73, ’75, ’76, or ’82. It 
further appears that the number of distinct 
broods appearing in distinct years within 
the following geographical districts are as 
follows;—In Southern New England 4 
broods, years ’69, ’72, ’77 and ’85; in Now 
York 4 broods, years 72, ’77, ’83 and ’85 ; in 
New.Jersey 2 broods, years’72 and’77; in 
Pennsylvania 7 broods, years ’70, ’71, 72, 
77, ’80, ’83, and ’85; in Ohio 7 broods, years 
72, 78, 79, ’80, ’81, ’83 and ’85 ; in Indiana 2 
broods,years 71 and ’85 ; in Illinois 4 broods, 
years 71, ’72*. 78 and ’81*; in Wisconsin 2 
broods, years 71 and ’82; in Michigan 2 
broods, years 71 and ’85; in Iowa 2 broods, 
years 71 and 78; in Nebraska 1 brood, 
year 74; in Kansas 1 brood, year 79, in 
Missouri 4 broods, years 72* and 78, 79 
and ’81*; in Louisiana and Mississippi 2 
broods, years 71* and ’81*; in Arkansas, 
Indian Territory, Alabama, Tennessee and 
Kentucky 1 brood, year ’81 *; in Georgia 
2 broods, years 81* and ’85; in South 
Carolina 1 brood, year ’85, in North Car¬ 
olina 3 broods, years’81, (?)’84 and’85 ; in 
East and West Virginia 3 broods, years 72, 
’«u and ’84; in Maryland 2 broods, years 72 
and ’85 ; and in Delaware 1 brood, year 72. 
♦The bl-oods marked (*i belong to the 13-year 
or tredeciin race of the Periodical Cicada. 
THE HELLGRAMITEj FLY. 
Titr gigantic larva of Ibis gigantic fly, 
spends the earlier periods of its existence in 
large, rapidly flowing rivers, and generally 
such as have a more or less rocky bottom. 
Here it crawls and swims about upon the 
bottom, preying upon the various aquatic 
larva; found in great numbers in such situa¬ 
tions, such as May Hies ( Ephemera family.) 
Shad flies (Perbt family,) and the singular 
Caddis worms (Phryganca family.) These 
last, inhabit moveable cases, constructed, 
according to the particular species, either of 
little hits of sticks and straw, of grains of 
Band, or in some instances of living water- 
snails, which, along with other materials, 
they weave, by means of the silk which they 
spin from their tails, into a comfortable ten¬ 
ement, to the great, discomfort, as we may 
readily imagine, of the poor water-snails. 
Most aquatic larva- spend the pupal period 
in the water, and only emerge therefrom 
when they are ready to pass into the perfect 
or winged slate. But the group to which 
our larva belongs forms an exception to the 
general rule; they leave the water when 
they are still in the larva state, and do not 
usually become pupae for several days, or 
even weeks thereafter. Nature, there lore, 
to meet the necessities of their varied hab¬ 
itats, has given them a double system of 
respiration—a set of gills to breathe with in 
the water, and a set of breathing boles, or 
spiracles, to breathe with upon land. In 
our larva the spiracles are placed in the 
usual manner along the sides of the body; 
and the gills, which assume; the form of a 
pair of paddle-like appendages, are placed 
one pair upon each of the seven ft-ont joints 
of the belly. After it first leaves the water 
the larva crawls about in the night time to 
find a suitable place for its pupal transfor¬ 
mation, usually selecting for t b is purpose 
the under surface of a flat board or log, or 
burrowing under some large stone. In pur¬ 
suit of this object they sometimes wander 
almost a hundred feet, from the water’s edge; 
and we have known them to crawl up the 
walls, and on to the roof of a low one-story 
frame building, and then tumble accidentally 
down the chimney, to the great dismay of 
the good woman of the house. At this 
period of their existence they are much 
sought after as fish bait , having a very tough 
integument, so that one larva suffices to 
catch several fish; and they arc called by 
fishermen sometimes “ crawlers,” and some¬ 
times “ hcllgramites.” They can pinch 
pretty sharply with their strong jaws, 
though not sufficiently hard to draw blood: 
and tln-y also use the processes at their tail 
as prehensile organs to aid them in climbing. 
After it has selected a suitable hiding 
place, the larva forms a rude cell in the 
earth, within which it. transforms into an 
inactive pupa, with no mouth to receive 
food, and no arnus to discharge faeces. It 
usually leaves the water about Ihe beginning 
of June, and by the end of that month, or 
the fore part of July, the winged fly bursts 
’from the shell of the pupa. 
The perfect flics hide themselves in ob¬ 
scure holes and corners during ihe day, and 
fly only by night, which is the reason that, 
though by no means uncommon, they are so 
seldom noticed. The eggs are oval, about 
the size of a radish seed, and of a pale color, 
with some dark markings. They are usually 
deposited in a squarish patch upon reeds or 
other aquatic plants overhanging the water, 
whence, having hatched out, the young 
larva finds a ready passage into the element 
which it is destined to inhabit until the end 
of the following Spring. YVe have known 
patches of eggs to be deposited upon the 
windows of a floating daguerreotype gallery 
on the Mississippi river .—December American 
Entomologist, • 
WINTERING BEES. 
A Kentucky correspondent of the Bee 
Journal does not put his bees in his cellar, 
nor does he bury nor house them. He tells 
how lie protected his bees the past two win¬ 
ters, as follows: 
Tn the fell of 1866 I made nine stands, 
four in frame hives and four in common box 
hives. The four frame stands, in two of 
which Italian queens had been recently in- 
treduced, with one of the box hives, were 
too weak in stores for winter. These I fed 
with brown sugar sirup, knowing no better 
then ; and to make sure of the two Italians, 
T mixed half honey with their sirup. 
1 took off the honey board and spread a 
piece of warm carpet over the tops of the 
frames, then stuffed the caps with dr}' straw 
or shavingfl, and put. them on. I merely 
opened the holes of the box hives and put on 
wire doth, then put the caps on stuffed as 
above. One of the Italians being weaker 
than the other, and being unwilling to lose 
It, 1 took a bundle of rye straw, flattened it 
to four inches thiek, and a little wider than 
the tops of the hives, thus making a flat mat, 
and sowed a piece of tow linen around it. I 
laid this immediately on the frames and 
spread a piece of oilcloth over to keep off 
the ruin, placed a board on top, weighted 
with a stone to keep the w ind from blowing 
all off, the caps being also left off. This 
stand wintered so w T cll that I wintered it 
again with the same mat last, winter, and 
also three others prepared in the same 
manner. 
In January I examined the five weak 
stands, to see if all was right. Found the 
two Italians in good condition, dry and 
warm; but the Other three were dying of 
dysentery. Two of these had about five 
pounds of honey remaining, but could not 
get ocacBS to it. 1 carried them into a warm 
room and tried to save them by uniting the 
three together and feeding them; but this 
being in a cold spell of weather they all died' 
in a few 7 days. I rather attributed this to the 
brown sugar I had fed them on exclusively, 
as each liive still had sealed honey, though 
they were only half filled with comb. 
On the 1st, of February I examined the 
tw 7 o hives of Italians, and found them all 
right, dry and warm, with plenty of honey. 
On the 15th 1 examined them again, with 
the same result. 1 re-examined them on the 
8th of March, and they still had plenty of 
honey, with some brood. 
The six stands wintered well, and from 
them 1 increased tny stock to eighteen 
stands the next season, all of which I win¬ 
tered successfully in the same manner, only 
setting the weak ones in large boxes, and 
filling the space between w r ith shavings,saw¬ 
dust, straw, etc., and covering the tops w T ell 
to keep out dampness. 1 also drove down 
stakes and fastened boards around all sides, 
except the front, and stuffed the space be¬ 
tween with straw. 
All my hives face the southeast, and the 
entrances are left open all winter, only being 
contracted to half an inch in cold spells. I 
am confident that some of my weak stands 
did not have over ten pounds of honey last 
fall, and I had no idea of wintering them, 
but concluded to try as an experiment, and 
the result was a complete success, for I only 
had to feed the two weakest in April, when 
the supply was exhausted by the brood. I 
think tlds mode as good ns, and much less 
troublesome and expensive than Mr. Langs- 
sroth’s. The mats can be made by any per¬ 
son in a few 7 hours, and will last for years if 
kept in a dry place in summer. I will here 
say that my apiary is so situated as to break 
the force of the wind, and receive the 
warmth of the sun most of the day. 
- - ■ - - 
A Convention of the Ohio Bee-Keepers 
is called -at the City Hotel, Cleveland, O., 
January 20, 1809, at 10 o’clock, A. M. 
