Ijttp fjusbanirrg. 
n. S. RANDALL, LL. D., EDITOR, 
Of COBTT.AND .VlLLAGC, CoRTI.AND COLSTY, N*W YoBK. 
COMBING WOOLS. 
The New York Economist reviewing the 
wool market, March 25th, says: 
“ Combiner wools are scarce, but domestic liaa 
been affected by gold. as also Canada. English 
combing enn now be put upon this market at 
comparatively low figures, notwithstanding the 
high duties. Only to thinlc al what a high i>rice 
these woo la aro sold In England, Une., to 35c. 
These prices would ruin our fanners. English 
farmers pay high re mis, heavy taxes, and make 
money. We can export, every other kind of 
agricultural product to that country, and hy so 
doing, make money; but were our farmers not. 
protected by u very high tariff, wo should not. 
have such a thing as a long weeded aheep. Eng¬ 
land would supply our manufacturers with all 
the wool they wanted wore there a largcrarnount 
of machinery running tlian at present. The fact 
is, English fanners produce that which their 
lands are adapted for, and what they aro not 
fitted for they do not attempt." 
The above contains rather inadvertent 
admissions, for a journal which has labored 
so assiduously to siiow that the present low 
prices of wool are due to the wool tariff 1 
Farmers mark and remember these confes¬ 
sions of ono of the most pronounced ad¬ 
vocates of free trade, and of the organ of the 
wool dealers. Combing wools lie says, “ are 
sold in England, twenty-live writs to thirty- 
five cents (not pence:) these prices would 
ruin our farmers; England would supply 
our manufacturers with all the wool they 
wanted were there a larger amount of ma¬ 
chinery running than at present.” 
Here we have the naked truth, spoken in 
earnest by a witness off his guard; and he 
can hereafter neither withdraw nor explain 
away his own explicit testimony. 
Mark, too, the explanation given by the 
Economist of the above facts; — ‘•English 
farmers produce that which their lands are 
adapted for, and what they are not fitted for 
they do not, atlejupt.” When the Economist, 
some months ago, not only published with 
high encomiums in its columns, but repub¬ 
lished in pamphlet form, a letter of Mr. 
Joseph Walworth urging the growing of 
combing and coarse delaine wools in the 
United States, we do not. remember that it 
either directly or by implication mentioned 
that our “ lunds” were “ not fitted” for their 
production. Wc should say, though we 
remember no particular article on the sub¬ 
ject, that the Economist had repeatedly 
exhibited the good sense of encouraging an 
increased production of our combing wool. 
When did it make the discovery that our 
country— i. e. vast regions of it—are “ not 
fitted” for that purpose? What facts or 
proofs can it adduce iu favor of this hy¬ 
pothesis ? 
To speak candidly, we consider the climate 
of England better fitted than ours for a 
rapid and economical development of mut¬ 
ton sheep. There they can have green feed 
(grass or turnips) off the ground most of the 
year—not scorched by our long dry sum¬ 
mers—not locked up and rendered inaccessi¬ 
ble by the frosts and snows of the severe 
winters of our Northern States. The arti¬ 
ficial advantages are also even more In their 
favor in England. The high price of mut¬ 
ton, the inexhaustible demand for it, the 
accessibility to markets, the necessity of 
obtaining manure for grain crops, &c., &o., 
probably render sheep about or nearly as 
profitable as cattle, without taking the wool 
of the former into account. The wool is 
merely an incident in sheep husbandry ; not 
its primary, or perhaps we may say even 
its secondary, object. Wherein and why 
the objects, circumstances and results of 
that husbandry differ so materially from the 
preceding, in the United States, it is not 
necessary here to Btate. Every tolerably 
well read sheep farmer understands those 
facts. 
But nothing here stated in the least justi¬ 
fies the implied assertion of the Economist, 
that our “lands”—even allowing that word 
to cover all the other conditions—are “ not 
fitted” for the production of combing wool, 
1. We are yet to learn that long-wool 
sheep (Cotswolds, Leicester, Lincolns, &c.,) 
are not, under the same treatment, or we 
should rather say under correspondingly 
good treatment, as healthy here us in Eng¬ 
land. They will not bear herding together 
in large numbers, or severe climatic ex¬ 
posures, or neglects of any kind here, nor 
will they in England. 
2. We have not a particle of doubt that 
their mutton, when properly fattened, is as 
good hero as in England. 
3. We believe that under good manage¬ 
ment their wool is as heavy to the fleece and 
of as good quality here, in every respect, as 
» in England; and it now, by the Econo- 
[ mist’s own showing, bears a greatly better 
•A home price, pound for pound. 
4. It is probably true that the demand for 
mutton, and the all-important consideration 
ra of manure in England, renders them more 
|rA. indispensable there; but they now yield a 
jr handsome profit here on mutton and wool, 
Ok. to say nothing of the extra one of raising 
them to sell for breeding purposes. Tlielat- 
■■ 
jS3* y 
ter advantage will, of course, diminish as 
the country fills up with them; but with a 
supply properly graduated to the demand, 
they will always remain profitable while the 
present wool tariff stands. This would seem 
to be absolutely inevitable. The relative 
consumpt ion of mutton is constantly increas¬ 
ing. Our systems of husbandry are steadily 
improving, and both the necessity and ad¬ 
vantage of utilizing manures are being better 
understood and acted on. Combing wool 
manufactures are rapidly increasing among 
us. We believe that the time will come 
when long-wool sheep will be regarded, 
throughout extensive regions of the United 
States, as essential an element to the success 
of mixed and convertible husbandry as they 
are in England. They are as essential on 
tile rich producing grain farms, as tin; Merino 
is on the grazing farms to he found in every 
State, and on the broad natural pasturages 
of the South aud West. 
Suppose that, owing to natural or arti¬ 
ficial circumstances, or to both combined, 
England can now raise tong-wool cheaper 
than the United States, does that prove that 
the United States are “not fitted” to its 
production, or that it is the part of a sound 
and patriotic journalist to discourage its 
production ? So England raises more wheat 
to the acre than we do. Shall we not, 
therefore, raise wheat. Many countries have, 
uaturally or artificially, an adaptation to 
some special object of culture superior to 
that possessed by nearly all other countries. 
Would it, therefore, be the part of common 
prudence or common sense for the latter to 
surrender up the cultivation of that product 
—especially if it was :m important neces¬ 
sary of life—and depend exclusively on a 
foreign nation for it? And of all other na¬ 
tions, who would like to be dependent upon 
England for such a necessary ? 
The Merino wool interest is now depressed, 
and the long-wool interest, is flourishing. To 
the invincible determination of Merino (/row¬ 
ers that all our domestic wool interests 
should tie protected alike or all perish to¬ 
gether, the growers of English sheep in a 
great measure owe their present prosperity. 
The struggle was neither a short nor a safe 
one. It long threatened to wreck all at¬ 
tempts at agreement on a complete tariff 
bill. The Merino growers persevered, and 
they triumphed. In the same spirit they 
now rejoice in the success of the gl owers of 
English sheep. Let the great wants of the 
American people la; met, whoever succeeds 
or whoever suffers. None will suffer loug, 
if the laws are faithfully administered. 
- 4 » » 
HOW SHALL WE DISPOSE OF OUR 
WOOL? 
Tms question is answered by a lady cor¬ 
respondent in the Western Rural, in a way 
so sensible and practical that we transfer her 
communication entire into our columns, and 
we bespeak attention to It from our readers. 
Large clips could not well be disposed of in 
the same way, but what, we ask, is to binder 
thousands of holders of small fine flocks from 
following this excellent example, and ex¬ 
tending it to the manufacture of more diver¬ 
sified products? All praise to the Minnesota 
lady, whose pen is as pointed as her fingers 
are diligent. 8be reminds us of a picture 
which will be found drawn at full length in 
Chap, xx xi, of Proverbs, Here is her article; 
"Tin- first qaesrfon In farm management, 
which was forced upon urn Inal, spring, was, what 
aluill I do with my wool dip? 
“ t went to the di'ulora. They would pay me 
for I he clip provided it was well washed, nicely 
put up, the bucks' lienees deducted, twenty- 
eight. in thirty cents, Bui there was nn infinite 
number of provisos, which I could noi licsme 
of tnoeilmr. On the whole, I concluded f misfit 
about as well have left the wool where li grew. 
“ Why not work it up? said I to myself. That 
was tho way my moilier did. The wool wiis of 
the finest quality, and would make delectable 
blankets, nod all manner of flannels, nicer mid 
more durable than could he bought. But then 
the difficulties seemed insurmountable. After 
much looking about, [concluded Una the manu¬ 
facture of stockingswould he the easiest and 
most profitable way lor disposing of the trouble¬ 
some. prodiiets. 
" The wool was sent unwashed to the woolen 
mills; $550 pounds producing HO pounds of yarn, 
and some dozen pounds of woolen butts. The 
bans were outdo from the short and dead wool 
assorted from the lot. 
"1 sen! for a Icnntlng machine, and taught 
myself to use It. With Jr, knitting' is a recrea¬ 
tion. When the hard work is done in-doors and 
out, It is a rest to sit down to my “ rattle trap," 
as Ohahiji; terms if, mid run off my fifteen hun¬ 
dred stitches in a minute. I never found work 
I liked so well. But, best of all. It pays. I have 
tnurle two dollars a day on It. The socks, stock¬ 
ings and mittens I turnoff at the odd minutes, 
meet our current family expenses. Our wheat 
was threshed too Lute to lie thrown upon the 
market when prices ruled high. Wc do not need 
to sell now,for qur knitter supports us. The 
tremendous decline in the great staple may 
teach us a II the importance of mixed husbandry, 
and a mtxcd Industry as woll. Crowding the 
work of the year Into three months, and idling 
the remaining nine, wus never wise. This year 
it hits been disastrous in the extreme.—M rs. E. 
B., Minneliflni, Minn.” 
- 
THE RUTLAND HERALD ON THE 
WOOL TARIFF. 
The Daily Rutland (Vt.) Herald, edited 
by Henry Clark, Esq., in an able article 
headed “ Commissioner Wells and the 
Wool Tariff,” shows up the disingenuousness 
of that official’s attacks on the law and on 
the framers of it, in a most forcible manner, 
Mr. Clark’s evidence on the latter subject 
is the more valuable, because he was present 
as an agent of the wool growers of Vermont 
at the sessions of the joint Tariff Committee, 
and at tho separate meeting of the growers’ 
Committee. His present views of tho wool 
tariff are expressed as follows: 
“Wo have full confidence in the wool and 
woolen tariff us the lu st legislation that, can now 
bo devised to benefit equally the ultimate and 
permanent interests ot the wool grower and 
manufacturer and the consumer. Wc tiro op¬ 
posed to any amendments of the present tariff, 
excepting those which are necessary for the bet¬ 
tor carrying out of Its Original intent, and ob¬ 
jects. Circumstances which could not bo fore¬ 
seen uor anticipated, have opened an oppor¬ 
tunity to evade tho objects of the law by Im¬ 
porting competing wools on t he skin al a greatly 
lower rate of duty, which is entirely nun-pro¬ 
tective to the United States growers, and wo 
most cordially approve of the amendment of the 
act introduced into tho House of Representa¬ 
tives by tho Committee of Ways nod moans, 
providing that wools imported on the skin shall 
pay the. sat no rate of duty aa other wools. w« 
hope our Vermont representatives will, id jus¬ 
tice to their constituents, vote for it, 
"There is another amendment that should be 
added to the bill, declaratory of the original and 
evident intent of the tariff actor 18H7, ihat.no 
clothing or combing wools shall, by any theory 
of official instruction be classed in class three, 
or cupel wools, from whatever country im¬ 
ported.” 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Booth'll Tobacco Sheep Wash. 
S. CocnuANE, Brownsville, Nebraska, 
writes us that he has thoroughly tested the 
merits of the above preparation, for scab, 
and finds it a certain and cheap cure. 
To DistiiiKtiisli I.tilccHler* from Cotswolds. 
Samuel Rixey, Culpepper C. II. , Va., 
asks how is this to he done. We know no 
other mode for those unfamiliar with these 
varieties of sheep, and who have no oppor¬ 
tunity to examine specimens, but to resort 
to the descriptions contained in books and 
agricultural periodicals. If Mr. R. describes 
his sheep accurately, we have no doubt, they 
are Leicester, but whether full blood or not 
we have no means of determining. lie cer¬ 
tainly docs not, in our opinion, describe very 
good sheep of that variety. 
Articles to Aiatvcr. 
We have received several published arti¬ 
cles iu regard to the wool tariff which we 
are requested to answer. We thank our 
correspondents for thus keeping us “ posted 
up,”—but, usually we prefer to take up the 
topics thus discussed on their general merits, 
and in what wo consider the order of their 
Importance, without limiting ourselves to the 
issues selected by an opponent, or allow¬ 
ing him to prescribe our time for discussing 
them. 
$ht 
ON GAPES IN FOWLS. 
I beg leave to make a few remarks on an 
excellent article on “ Gapes in Fowls”—page 
149 to 150, No. 5, for March, 1870, Ameri¬ 
can Entomologist—aware that but few 
farmers get the work from which I quote, 
to whom the information is most important, 
and I prefer your columns for that reason ; 
and my friend, the editor, C. V. Riley, will 
pardon me, I doubt not, for so doing. 
If you have the Horticulturist aud Jour¬ 
nal of Rural Arts and Rural Taste, &c., 
conducted by J. Jay Smith, 1857, new se¬ 
ries, Vol. VII., on page 128, you will find 
an article by myself on the subject, with il¬ 
lustrations. The illustration given by Pro¬ 
fessor Joseph Leu>Y of Philadelphia, copied 
after Siebold, from Archiv. f. Aaturges- 
chirhte, 1836, plate III., a magnified figure 
of the worm in the trachea of poultry, 
which arc tho cause of the “ Gapes." I will 
reproduce both illustrations, that they may 
he contrasted. Whether distinct, species or 
not, I will submit to Professor Leidy, him- 
self. One thing I can vouch for, with abun¬ 
dant testimony, that my drawing is a faith¬ 
ful microscopic representation of the worm 
found in the trachea of a young chicken 
FIGURE 1. 
and taken out by myself. I give a far 
simpler and more reliable mode for remov¬ 
ing the worm than any of those mentioned 
in the Entomologist. I never knew, before 
reading the article referred to, that Dr. Wie- 
senthal, Professor of Anatomy at Balti¬ 
more, had so fully described the worm and 
the disease so early as 1797. Thus it is, t 
much valuable information becomes locked I 
up in rare and expensive works, which never e 
reach the masses, who read the newspapers \ 
more generally. I 
Figure 1, copy from The American Ento- I 
mologist, for March, page 149, named Me- e 
rostrum (Strongylus) syngamus. i 
Figure 2, copy from the Horticulturist for i 
1857, page 128, of which 1 have; the original t 
colored drawings in my collection. < 
Professor S. 8. Haldiman informed mo i 
that I). J. Brown described the worm and < 
gave various remedies in his American Pool / 
try Yard, (page 261.) adding that my method < 
of relieving chickens—which 1 will now < 
state as then published and Illustrated in i 
my article—was now to him, I 
Take a hair from a home’s tail; double It : 
once or twice, if need be, i 
to stiffen it; twist the 
JR doubled hair between your 
ij thumb and finger, so as to ; 
M ^ leave hut a small loop at, 
Hi the other end; now seize 
net! [s the tip of the tongue of the 
rJ0i til afflicted fowl, and extend 
VRi Jtj it out and downwards, 
which will enable you to 
ymjW introduce the twisted 
VI 1 1 horse hair as far down the 
[Mil windpipe as necessary; let 
l the hair untwist, or assist, 
j to give it a rotary motion 
Igv with your thumb and ?in- 
mA ger, which will entangle 
the slimy worm, and one, 
pf j] aud often mure will he 
Pfyi found adhering to the hair 
on withdrawing it, aud 
thereby, as a general rule, 
relieve the young chicken 
\jj»k by a single operation, and 
perform a cure, as I can 
'K’\ testily from personal ex- 
perienoe. .1 then describe 
** lC worra > ' ,s cup-shaped 
head, and red and white 
figure 2. watered color with the at¬ 
tache,d mals, soldered on centrally, one end 
slightly cup-shaped, the other cud forked, as 
shown. 
The following is considered the most 
simple method by Dr. Wiesentual, who 
has taken these worms out of the trachea of 
fowls and other domesticated birds, by 
means of a feather stripped from the, tube 
to near the narrow end of the shaft, leaving 
only a few uninjured webs at the lip. The 
bird being secured, the web extremity of the 
feather is introduced into the windpipe. It 
is then twisted round a few times and with¬ 
drawn, when it, will usually happen that 
several of the worms arc found attached. 
In some instances this plan entirely suc¬ 
ceeds. But it is not altogether satisfactory, 
as it occasionally fails to dislodge all the oc¬ 
cupants. Various other remedies and modes 
are then given. 
Mr. Bartlett, Superintendent of the 
Zoological Society’s Gardens’ dipped the 
feather in salt or a weak infusion of tobacco; 
and says that the simple application of tur¬ 
pentine to Lhe throat externally, is sufficient 
to kill the worms. To this plan, it i-i admit¬ 
ted, that objections exist—that the bird may 
be injuriously affected by the drugs employ¬ 
ed. i can soy from experience, that turpen¬ 
tine irritates the skin and produces swelling 
ami inflammation;—and it is doubtful ii' it 
will kill the worm, unless the fowl dies first. 
Then 51 r, Montagu’s treatment is given— 
changing the food, change of place, together 
with the infusion of rue and garlic instead 
of plain water to drink. Then the writer of 
the article, N. II. Paaren, V. 8., says of the 
plan I have here adopted, by way of experi¬ 
ment, of opening the trachea and removing 
the worms al, once: “ This requires a skillful 
surgeon to do, and is not likely to he tried 
by a novice :—rather heroic for mu to recom¬ 
mend unless severed across by an axe, aud 
prepared for tho table. Then to lessen the 
disease is recommended, the total destruction 
of the, parasites after their removal. “ If the 
worm he merely killed and thrown away, 
(say upon the ground,) it is scarcely likely 
that the mature egg will have sustained any 
injury. Decomposition having set in, the 
young embryos will, sooner or later, escape 
from their shells, migrate in the soil or else¬ 
where, and ultimately, find their way into 
the air-passages of certain birds in the same 
manner as their parents did before them.” 
I am hardly prepared to endorse the latter 
portion of the writer’s remarks. The stran¬ 
gy l us, a genus of intestinal worms in Rudol- 
piiis’ classification, characterized by having 
a cylindrical body, the anal extremity of 
which, in the male, is surrounded by a kind 
of pouch of a varied shape, from which is 
protruded a small filament or spiculum, 
probably subservient to generation. The 
mouth is obicular, sometimes armed with 
spines, as in the strongylus annatus, which 
infests the mesenteric arteries of the horse 
and ass, producing aneurisms ; sometimes the 
mouth is surrounded by tubercles or papillae, 
as in the strongylus giyas, which is sometimes 
found in the kidney of the human subject.— 
These seem to breed within those parts as do 
those in the trachea of chickens, even when 
hut three weeks old, I have seen them afflict¬ 
ed with the gapes, while the rest of the poultry 
were not so affected, and subject to pick the 
farm from the ground as well as the young 
brood only afflicted. IIow about the Tri¬ 
china spiralis, which resides in the voluntary 
muscle? engendered from eating pork. We 
must look for the worm in tlm food, rather 
than in the soil, I think, provided it does not 
originate in the animal economy which 1 am 
not prepared to insist upon, We are inform¬ 
ed that the Trie/uiia spiralis is a larval Ncma- 
toid, which acquires fully developed sexual 
organs when received into the intestinal 
canal, whence, the progeny migrates to the 
muscular tissue. In that case the danger is 
greater than is generally supposed ; the mere 
abstinence from pork would not secure us 
from tho Nmatoid within the intestinal canal. 
In 1787-8 only eleven species of true Entozoa 
are enumerated, Rudolphi enumerated in 
a work. Synopsis Entozoorum, 1819, upwards 
of 1,100 species. 
To come hack to the main question. The 
editor, I presume, adds“ The only remedy 
with which I have had success is the car¬ 
bolic acid, which I have found very service¬ 
able, both as u preventive and as a pretty 
sure remedy even in far gone cases.” r flie 
following is Ids mode, of treatment:—“ Dis¬ 
solve one grain of pure erystaline carbolic 
acid in ten drops of alcohol, and add half a 
drachm of vinegar. Strip a small quill 
feather till within half an inch of lhe narrow 
end of the shaft. Secure the feathered pa¬ 
tient, moisten the feather in the solution, 
and introduce it into the wind pipe, turning 
it round once or twice, and then remove it. 
It will dislodge the worms and bring hack 
many of them adhering with slime onto it.” 
1 re then adds :—“ Great dexterity is required 
and some little knowledge of the anatomy of 
the parts; a slow, unskillful operator may 
kill the already half-suffocated bird, instead 
of curing it. Next, 1 put, the bird in a coop, 
with some shavings dipped in a solution of 
the carbolic acid, (half an ounce of the crys¬ 
tal ine acid, well mixed with one quart of 
water.) Food and water are given in small 
tin boxes placed convenient to the birds. 
Administer flour of sulphur, with a lillle 
ginger, in poifilaceous food, composed of 
barley meal and course corn meal,”—recom¬ 
mending washing tho mouth and beak 
morning and evening with some of the solu¬ 
tion and a few drops mixed with the drink¬ 
ing water, 
As a preventive, l feed young chicks twice 
a week with wheat steeped in a solution of 
carbolic acid — a teaspoonful of tho above 
mentioned solution to one pint of water.” 
Hi concludes with this, “ P. S. —As the car¬ 
bolic acid is sparingly soluble in water, the 
solution recommended should always be 
shaken before used.” 
There, I have given you a lengthy extract; 
if there is anything good in it, you who raise 
poultry ought to know it. If some of you 
know all that aucl more, give us your ex¬ 
perience, “ pro homo publico .” I said littlo 
for myself, and only desired to call attention 
to the diversity of the figures of the two 
worms, and wish to know whether there are 
two distinct kinds or whether a portion was 
lost in the one case. If friend Riley notices 
any error in my communication, I hope lie 
may freely correct it. by a note in the next 
number of tho American Entomologist, 
which, by the by, every one engaged in the 
pursuit, tiiat requires a knowledge of the in¬ 
sect world, ought to subscribe lor, as the 
most useful investment they can mukc, to¬ 
gether with the Rural of course. 
Lancaster, l*n. J. Stauffer. 
IS. B. — 1 have serious doubts as to tho 
• worm being a strongylus. It may belong to 
the genus sc/erostoma, given as synonimous, 
however, which they are not. 
POULTRY NOTES. 
lien Lice. 
Having tried many remedies for the de¬ 
struction of vermin upon fowls, I have found 
nothing so effective us a small piece of lard 
rubbed on tin; back aud under each wing. 
1 have cured liens iu one day that were un¬ 
able to stand upon account, of the ravages 
office.— f. w. B. 
Cm** of Leghorn nu<l Brahma. 
A CORRESPONDENT writes the Rural that 
lie has tried a cross Of Leghorn male on a 
Bralnna hen, and finds the chickens more 
hardy than tho Brahma; that they mature 
early, flesh exceedingly fine, are good layers, 
docile, and, generally, a clean white. 
Seale Lett. 
I noticed an inquiry in the Rural of 
April 3d, in which a lady at Traverse, Mich., 
wished to know tlm cause of fowls having 
scurvy legs. I would inform all persons hav¬ 
ing fowls in such condition, that the disease 
is known among poultry raisers as “scale 
leg." H tms been ascertained by microscopic 
observation to he a very minute insect, which 
works on the legs, and is caused, in many 
Cases, by too close confinement during win¬ 
ter, over feeding, and not sufficient meat and 
green food. One of the best remedies is to 
dissolve a little carbonate of soda (sal soda) 
in water and rub tlm legs everyday with the 
mixture until the scurf is removed. Strong 
soap suds would answer the same purpose. 
After this is done, and the feet ami legs be¬ 
come dry, anoint them with lard and sprinkle 
on some, sulphur or red precipitate, or they 
maybe made inlo nn ointment before they 
arc applied.—It. H. 8., Rockford > 111 
