giving them of ordinary salt from a half to a 
teaspoon ful each. As the article is sure 
death to poultry under ordinary circumstan¬ 
ces. it may be administered with full assur¬ 
ance that if it does not cure it will kill,—n. 
.An Ostrich Hatching Incubator at the 
Cape of flood Hope seems to be a success ; 
for it is announced that at one estabLishmeij^ 
75 ostrich chickens have been hatched the 
present season ; and since it was put in ope¬ 
ration, 155. Of 45 eggs placed in it at one 
time, 42 will produce healthy chickens. We 
are not informed who the inventor, nor what 
the name of the apparatus is. 
Foii'l* for Egg* or Mcat.—W. E. N., Iron- 
ton, O., (page 360,) asks for breeders’ ideas 
on fowls for eggs arid meat. I think it would 
pay him to keep the choicest of Gray Dork¬ 
ings, without a cross. I think they have 
more meat than other fowls, especially on 
the breast, and are very good layers and 
mothers.—n. r. b. 
destroyed by picking off. An ointment com¬ 
posed of one ounce of mercurial ointment, 
one ounce of pure lard, one-half ounce flour 
of sulphur and one-half ounce of crude 
petroleum applied to the heads of the chick¬ 
ens, is said to destroy these parasites, and 
where they are destroyed either by such ap¬ 
plication or by picking them off, Dio gapes 
do not occur. 
A certain cure for gapes is the vapor from 
carbolic acid. Place a little of the crystal- 
propet supply of wardrobes, closets and pan- 
tries. The kitchen should be in the rear part, 
of the house, often in the rear basement, so 
as to prevent the smell of cooking, washing 
<fec., from reaching the other parts of the 
dwelling. 
No bedroom should open into the kitchen, 
as the beds should be made and the air thor¬ 
oughly changed, at least once a day, the foul 
air and dust might come in contact with the 
food. The odor which arises from cooking 
HINTS IN BUILDING A DWELLING 
As there is just now considerable inquiry 
about the style and manner of building hous¬ 
es, so as to have them comfortable, conveni¬ 
ent, and yet not too costly, and as I have had 
some experience in the matter, allow me to 
make a few suggestions to those who contem¬ 
plate building. A circular wall of any given 
length, will inclose more superficial area 
than an octagon or hexagon of the same 
length ; an octagon or hexagon more than a 
four-square of equal length ; and a four¬ 
square more than an oblong-square of the 
same length. But whatever is saved in the 
outside walls of a dwelling, by building it 
round, eight-square, or six-square, is general¬ 
ly lost in the inside walls. Besides, the floor¬ 
ing and carpeting will cut to better advan¬ 
tage, and the furniture be more neatly ar¬ 
ranged, in a square house, thau in one which 
is out of square. 
As a dwelling is generally built with a view 
to economy, comfort and convenience, I 
would advise a four-square, or au oblong- 
square, as nearly four-square as the interior 
arrangements will admit of. If a single house 
is desired, and the lot or grounds will admit 
of it, make the hall nine feet wide in the 
clear, and the suit of rcoms on the side I S 
feet wide, with depth according to wants. 
So that. 6 breadths of ingrain or 8 of Brussels 
carpeting, will cover the room floors, and ?> 
of one and 1 of the other the hall floors. At. 
all events, the size of the rooms should be 
made, not only with reference to comfort 
and convenience, but, so that the furniture 
can be nicely placed between the openings, 
out of the way of doors and windows. 
Sliding doors (if not too costly) are more 
out. of the way, and appear neater than fold¬ 
ing or swinging doors. But whatever kinds 
are used, the foundations must be substan¬ 
tial, so they will slide true and swing easy. 
The windows and openings should be per¬ 
pendicularly over each other, so as to leave 
the solid or dead-work in substantial perpen¬ 
dicular columns, the better to strengt hen and 
support the building, and prevent the walls 
from cracking. If a cornice is desired at the 
top of the outside walls, with brackets for 
support, then fasten the brackets under the 
cornice and against the dead-work, to denote 
strength. For a bracket over a window or 
opening would seem to be rather weak, 
should tin- cornice bo light, and only dentals 
or 3mall fancy work Vie needed for its sup¬ 
port ; then let such work mu the whole 
length without regard to openings. 
If a basement is desired with doors and 
windows, plan them directly under those in 
the stories above. The basement should lie 
alAut half above ground more or less, ac¬ 
cording to the make of the ground and other 
circumstances, 
THUMPS IN SWINE 
Your correspondent, F. D. C., after refer¬ 
ring to a communication in the Rural New- 
YoiUCER relative to thumps in pigs, and giv¬ 
ing Ilia experience in relation to that disease, 
asks :—“ Is not the cause (of thumps) asthma 
or some bronchial affection ? It may be 
dropsy. Does anybody know, and is there a 
remedy 4” 
F. D. C. asks the very question that I would 
like to see answered by some one who knows 
what the correct answers should be. For my 
part, I don’t think dropsy or asthma is the 
cause of thumps in all cases, though a pig 
utILicted with either might more easily take 
the thumps from an injmy x-eceived than a 
well pig. The thumps in pigs operate some¬ 
thing like the hiccough in human beings. 
They follow just after the breath is drawn 
in, the same as hiccough ; but what causes 
them in all cases I cannot say, but will give 
the circumstances of a case for illustration of 
the cause of tinuups, 
l had a beautiful Chester White pig that I 
prized highly. One day I took a large ear of 
corn, and aimed to throw it before him from 
the. second story of my bam, the pig being 
about forty feet from me. Just as the corn 
left tuy hand, the pig moved forward and 
the ear of corn struck him butt foremost just 
behind the shoulder, and about two inches 
below the backbone. The pig squealed, ran 
off and laid down, in a few minutes he wai 
taken with the thumps. I put him in a dry. 
warm place, bathed his side with spirits of 
turpentine, fed him from day to day sweet 
milk and mush, and in about six weeks he 
became apparently well, and began to grow. 
But his illness had put him back so much that 
I concluded, on the tenth week after the hit¬ 
ting with the corn, to castrate him. This I 
did carefully. Immediately after letting 
him up he took the thumps again, and died 
in about three hours. I cut him open and 
examined him carefully, but discovered no¬ 
thing wrong, and am still in the dark. I 
kuew the pig did not have the thumps before 
being struck with the corn. I know he had 
them immediately afterwards. I know he 
had not had the thumps for five or six weeks 
before collating him, and I know he had 
them immediately afterwards. 
From tli is state of facts, I conclude the 
blow from tho com caused the thumps—that 
by careful treatment he recovered from them 
—that the struggle, while being castrated, 
brought on a relapse of the thumos from 
whicn he died. Now for theory, The blow 
from tho corn caused a strain, or rupture of 
some of the air tubes in, or leading Into the 
lungs j that as the thump always follows iusfc 
after inhaling the breath, the ruptured or 
strained tube closed or collapsed, while the 
lung was tilled, requiring au extra effort to 
eject the gas not consumed in the lungs. 
This extra effort resulted in a jerk, or thump, 
the same a* when a human being ejects the 
I air from his lungs suddenly and by an unu¬ 
sual effort, Try it, and see if your side don’t 
POULTRY NOTES, 
Eggs Hatching Badly .—Eggs In England 
have hatched badly this spring. An English 
Poultry Journal says :—“ From all quarters 
people write to ask why their eggs hatch So 
badly. We attribute much of it to the bitter 
east wind. We do not know what the “ win¬ 
ter wind” was in Shakespeare’* time, but 
man’s ingratitude must be very grout indeed 
if it be worse, than tho wind wo have had for 
some months. It makes the hen* sit hollow ; 
if they are in contact with it, it. makes them 
fidgety ; if the eggs are loft a little longer 
than usual while the hen Is off, il dries and 
chills them. Wo believe much disappoint¬ 
ment will be prevented if the hens are always 
confined when they are sitting. Wo do not 
mean to be shut in an outhouse with a locked 
door, but at liberty to leave the uests if they 
choose ; but to be shut in a small basket. 
We have made capital nests with butter fir¬ 
kins, sometimes knocking out the top, some¬ 
times the top and bottom. In these cases we 
have a Lid to cover the top.” 
Bronchitis in Fowls .—A poulterer asserts 
that “ bronchitis is an inflammation of the 
air-tubes in the chest, and is accompanied by 
a cough. Probably it will appear but rarely, 
except as an accompaniment of “catarrh,” 
of which it is asimple extension. Sometimes, 
SQUASH SEEDS AND FOWLS 
in the crop—a watery fluid that can And no 
outlet. In cases where fowls are so affected, 
the following remedy is recommended :—The 
fact that a fowl is suffering from this disor¬ 
der may, he says, be ascertained by observ¬ 
ing the crop puffed out, and swollen, and 
filled with fluid and quite soft when handled. 
When tins happens pills of soap rubbed with 
powdered rhubarb should be administered, 
three as large as peas, at a rlose ; if this does 
not bring relief half a teaspoonful of castor 
oil may be given, either of these medicines to 
be followed with six pills of breadcrumbs, 
with ginger or red pepper, which should be 
fed daily for several days. The food should 
be scalded meal, fed slightly warm and mod¬ 
erate iu quantity. 
If neither of these remedies are. successful, 
the crop may be punctured witli perfect 
safety, and the fowl will mend at once. The 
skin should be carefully slit up with a pair 
of sharp scissors, for an inch and the crop 
laid bare. A small opening is then to be 
made in the crop and the liquid allowed to 
escape. The wound iu the crop is then drawn 
together by means of a stitch passed through 
the lips with a common needle and thread, 
the. ends of the thread tied and cut off. The 
wound in the skin is then treated in the same 
manner, but it is better to put two stitches 
here; each -titch should tie separate—not 
made as in sewing cloth, but the thread 
passed through both lips of the wound, and 
the ends tied and cut off. This is a surgical 
stitch. When fowls are crop-bound or gorged 
with food and go around gaping aud stretch¬ 
ing their necks as though they were choking, 
they should be taken instantly and relieved 
in this manner. Food of a soft character, as 
soaked bread, or boiled mush, should be fed 
moderately for a few days, and no harm will 
accrue. 
The steps to front stoop 
should have wide treads and gentle risers. 
A wide outside front door in one or two 
leaves, according to taste, and back of this an 
inside front door with large glass intliesame, 
so as to form a vestibule or lobby ; and be¬ 
tween the vestibule and foot of principal 
story stairs, leave room for a table or hall- 
rack. Thi3 arrangement will carry the foot 
of stairs far enough back, so that a person 
may pass up or down, without being observed 
by visitors or callers in the parlor, should the 
door be opgn. 
If a house of this kind should be for sale, 
the purchaser, seeing the building on a good 
site, with good surroundings, a neat and well 
arranged front, with large, nice front stoop, 
having broad treads and gentle risers, with 
neat and convenient front doors, the stairs 
leading to second story easy of ascent, and 
properly built, it would lie half sold, ere the 
purchaser entered any of the rooms or other 
apartments. 
All the rooms should be entered from the 
halls if possible, so that the occupant of any 
one room may step into the hall, and pass 
into the bath room or water closet, without 
being observed by the occupants of other 
rooms. 
The principal story hall should run full 
length of the house from lront to rear doors. 
The upper story halls to extend so as to enter 
any one room, without disturbing the occu¬ 
pants of other rooms. 
If a large dwelling is needed, build a double 
house, with suits of rooms of equal width on 
each side of the main hall, or a house and 
a half (sometimes, called a three-quarter 
house,) with rooms half as wide on one side 
us on the other, then the front elevation 
will appear more uniform. But let the size 
of the rooms be made with a view to conven¬ 
ience and economy in furnishing, having a 
GAPES IN CHICKENS 
VENETIAN t,MbBOLDERY FOR SLUMBER ROLL. 
when there is a wheezing and rattling, tho 
disease is hastily declared to be roup, whereas 
the peculiar discharge at the beak marks the 
latter disease. Roup may or may not be 
accompanied by a rattling, but bronchitis is 
never attended by the roupy discharge.” 
Remedy for Chicken Cholera. -’An ac¬ 
quaintance of mine, who resides in the South, 
tells me that he has cured his fowls from 
what appears to be the same disease described 
by your South Carolina correspondents, by 
We have several inquiries concerning gapes 
in chickens. It ia now, we believe, generally 
accepted that the disease ia caused by a 
worm, the progenitor of which is a louse 
found on the heads of chickens soon after 
hatching. This “louse ” deposits its egg in 
the nostril of the chicken, where it hatches, 
and the resulting larva; or worms arc worked 
back, or work their way back into the 
trachea of the bird, causing the gapes, and 
finally suffocation unless removed. To pre¬ 
vent the gapes, therefore, these lies should be 
