1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
GAPEWORMS IN WINDPIPE. 
Fig. 128. 
G, a pair of Gapeworms, the smaller, 
the male, permanently attached 
to the female. 
lungs, and thus causes 
the well-known gasp¬ 
ing (or gaping) for 
breath, so familiar to 
many chicken rais¬ 
ers,and so well shown 
at Fig. 12 9. The 
chicken is really suf¬ 
focating for lack of 
air. A section of a 
chicken's windpipe 
infested with these 
worms is shown at 
Fig. 128. 
In regard to reme¬ 
dies, this bulletin 
rightly disparages 
the sometimes recom¬ 
mended practice of 
dislodging the worms 
by the introduction 
into the windpipe of 
a partly stripped 
feather, grass head, 
or some similar in¬ 
strument of torture. It is nearly impracticable with 
very young chicks on account of the smallness of 
the windpipe, and as many are liable to be injured in 
the treatment as are relieved. Half grown chicks are 
not likely to be injured seriously by the worms, and 
are likely to recover without treatment. The bulletin 
recommends rubbing the necks of chickens, before the 
disease makes its appearance, with a mixture of three 
parts lard or vaseline to one part turpentine. Pure 
turpentine would be likely to cause death. The one 
experiment recorded proceeded on the sup¬ 
position current among naturalists that the 
disease is contracted from earthworms in the 
soil, also that in an affected brood, the trou¬ 
ble is communicated from one to the other 
by means of the drinking water, hence dis¬ 
solving copperas in the drinking water is 
recommended. 
In an experiment with two lots of chicks 
hatched by hens, one lot was put in one 
compartment of a coop, with a ground floor ; 
the other lot had its compartment floored so 
that the chicks were kept from the ground. 
The feed was the same for the two lots, ex¬ 
cept that the chicks in the former were fed 
a ration of earthworms daily, and every one 
of them w r as dead within two weeks; the 
windpipes were found to be badly affected 
with Gapeworms. None of the other was at 
all affected. The conclusion is that keeping 
chicks on a board floor and so that they can¬ 
not reach the ground or have access to earth¬ 
worms, until they have attained considerable 
size, will be effectual in obviating the trouble. 
The bulletin refers to the statement by a 
French naturalist that the use of pounded garlic with 
the usual food had been made completely to eradicate 
the disease among pheasants in Europe. Our own ex¬ 
perience has been that the daily, liberal useof chopped 
onions in the soft feed will prevent any trouble from 
these worms. Some feed asafetida in the soft feed. 
We have also found that, by confining chicks to small 
runs which have been thoroughly disinfected by the 
use of carbolic acid or lime, the trouble was avoided, 
even on land where there had been great loss from the 
worms. Wet weather seems to favor the development 
of the disease. Wet, sloppy feed is, also, conducive to 
this and other troubles of chickens. 
f 
CAN WE USE TOO MUCH NITROGEN 
PROVIDED POTASH AND PHOSPHORIC ACID ARE PRESENT? 
One of the commonest questions asked this year by farmers 
who are trying to investigate the fertilizing question, is whether 
it is possible to apply too much nitrogen in case there is sufficient 
potash and phosphoric acid in the soil. Many of them seem to 
have an idea that, so long as potash and phosphoric acid are 
present in quantities, the plant will not be likely to make too.muoh 
growth, provided a large amount of nitrogen is added. For ex¬ 
ample, in some parts of Delaware, after a continued use of Crim¬ 
son clover for a number of years, farmers often think that too 
much wood growth is made in their peaches and other fruits. 
They want to know whether, by supplying extra quantities of 
potash and dissolved rock, they can probably stop this excessive 
growth and obtain more satisfactory results. Have you found 
that a balanced fertilizer, so-called, is likely to produce excessive 
growth of wood or vine ? By making an application of nitrate of 
soda to soil that we. believe to be reasonably rich in other minerals, 
may we expect to exhaust it, or get the benefit of its fertility in 
a single season ? Renters oftentimes, duringthelastyearsof their 
lease, want to know what they can do to get the most of their 
last crop. Do you consider it safe to recommend nitrate of soda 
in a case of this kind ? 
Nitrogen Does Not Exhaust Land. 
I consider it a mistake to supply an excess of nitro¬ 
gen, even though potash and phosphoric acid are pres¬ 
ent. I think the proportion of one part of nitrogen 
to one of phosphoric acid and three of potash to be 
about correct. I am convinced that, if more nitrogen is 
supplied than the crop actually heeds, even though 
sufficient phosphoric acid and potash are present, the 
tendency will be to produce wood or foliage, and not 
fruit or seed. Again, nitrogen is the most costly 
element, and the most liable to loss, therefore it should 
be measured out to the plant, as it were, and not 
applied in excess. This loss applies more particularly 
to quickly-available nitrogi n as found in nitrate of 
soda, etc. Peach orchards would, undoubtedly, be much 
benefited, by applying phosphoric acid and potash 
when excess of nitrogen had been used, unless con¬ 
siderable had been applied before sowing the clover. 
Peach orchards ought to receive abundance of phos¬ 
phoric acid and potash, but small quantities of nitro¬ 
gen only. 
A soil that is rich in mineral ingredients will cer¬ 
tainly be aided in its ability to produce good crops, 
by an application of nitrogen in the form of nitrate 
of soda. Nitrate of soda does not exharst the land, 
but when phosphoric acid, potash, etc., are present, 
it enables one to get a good crop, because the crop 
finds plenty of all the elements of fertility it requires. 
If the supply of mineral ingredients is limited, a con¬ 
tinuous application of nitrate of soda, or any other 
form of nitrogen, will, in time, use up the minerals, 
and, of course, exhaustion follows ; but one would not 
for a moment say that this exhaustion was caused by 
the nitrate of soda, but from the fact that the crop 
had used up all of the available fertility. I think 
nitrate of soda an excellent fertilizer to recommend 
for renters, as the crop will take all of it the first sea¬ 
son, and if any available phosphoric acid and potash 
are present, they will, also, be used. From this last 
statement, one might, therefore, assume that nitrate 
exhausted the soil, but I would say that it simply went 
-«— 
A BABY CHICKEN WITH TIIE GAPES. Fig. 129. 
directly into the crop itself,and thus enabled the crop to 
make useof the phosphoric acid and potash. Nitrate of 
soda, as you are, doubtless, aware, is at present the 
cheapest form of nitrogen. j. b. lindsey. 
Massachusetts Ag’ricultural College. 
It Depends on the Kind of Nitrogen. 
The observations on the part of Delaware farmers 
concerning the rapid wood growth of their peach and 
other fruit trees, after the continued use of Crimson 
clover, coincide with observations made elsewhere. 
While I believe that, if an abundance of potash and 
phosphoric acid were provided, it would result in an 
improvement, I do not believe that it is possible, by 
this means, altogether to counteract the present tend¬ 
ency to excessive wood growth, which may not be 
due, perhaps, to the presence of too much nitrogen 
throughout the season, but because of too much at the 
wrong time in the season. I believe that, if the trees 
could obtain, early in the season, the same amount of 
nitrogen from nitrate of soda that is now obtained 
from the organic matter, and in both cases, there 
were in the soil an abundance of phosphoric acid and 
potash, the result would not show proportionately too 
much wood growth, because in the latter case, the 
nitrogen is in an immediately available form, which 
enables the plant to take it up in a short time, leaving 
the remainder of the season for the elaboration of the 
food acquired. It is not taken up in small quantities 
throughout the later growing season, which would be 
the case if the nitrogen were derived entirely from 
vegetable matter, which provides nitrogenous food 
only as it decays. We have found this to be the case 
in our tomato experiments ; that is, where nitrate of 
soda was used in excessive quantities alone, or where 
nitrogen was used in forms that decayed slowly, and 
thus fed the plant for too long a time, the result was 
one-sided growth, or proportionately too much leaf 
and stem. The same results were observed in our ex¬ 
periments with peach trees. Where large quantities 
of yard manure were used, the trees made a much 
* 279 
greater wood and leaf growth, and did not produce as 
good fruit as the trees upon which nitrate of soda was 
used in what would be regarded as sufficient quanti¬ 
ties, in connection with liberal applications of the other 
minerals. I believe, therefore, that, while an exces¬ 
sive growth of leafy and woody portions of plants is 
due to nitrogen in many instances, it is not due so 
much to an excess of nitrogen above the amount that 
can be used, as to the kind or form of nitrogen, and 
the time that it is acquired, though an excess even at 
the right time would be likely to have something of the 
same effect. 
In reference to the question, as to whether an ap¬ 
plication of nitrate of soda to a soil reasonably rich 
in minerals would result in exhausting its mineral 
elements, I have to say that the exhaustion of these 
would be likely to be little, if any, greater than if the 
increased yield due to the application of nitrate were 
obtained by any other means. So far as the renter is 
concerned, it will be a practice that would, probably, 
give the largest yield for the least ouilay. though it is 
to be recommended only when the interests of the 
owner are properly guarded e. b. voorheeh. 
New Jersey Experiment Station. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
Crawling Canker Worms. —If G. O. T., page 240, 
will cut sheep pelts, raw or uutanned, into strips 
about one-half inch wide, and with six-ounce tacks 
fasten them around his trees, wool side out, after 
taking off the rough bark, he will find that he has a 
perfect protection from all creeping or crawling in¬ 
sects, and one that will not injure his trees in the 
least. The wool should be from one-half inch to an 
inch in length, and so fastened that no insect can get 
between it and the bark. Put on the wool 
and jar the trees so that the worms will drop 
to the ground, and they may be destroyed 
by crushing on the body of the trees below 
the wool. s. p. g. 
Pearl, Vermont. 
Chestnut Grafting Experience. —In the 
Spring of 189(5, I bought wood of Paragon, 
Bidgely, Numbo, Japan Giant and Japan 
Mammoth chestnuts. The latter part of April 
and first of May, I grafted six acres of sprouts, 
and two large trees. Fig. 130 shows how one 
of the trees and one of the sprouts look after 
two years of growth. The large tree has 
everything but the grafted growth removed. 
The Spring of 18915, fully 90 or 95 per cent of 
the grafts grew ; those that did not blow out 
by high winds made a growth of two to four 
feet, with quite bushy tops. The Spring of 
1897, I put in another piece of sprouts, and 
went over the first piece again, but for some 
reason, not over 10 per cent of the grafts 
grew; most of them started, but soon died. 
Those that lived made as good growth as in 
189(5. From what I have seen, I would prefer 
sprouts or seedlings from one-half to 1>£ inch diameter. 
None of them bore any burrs the past season, although 
there were some blossoms. Many of the grafts are 
now two to 2)4 inches in diameter just above the union. 
A few are almost entirely healed over, but most of 
them show some bare spots. The union seems to be 
about as good in one kind as another. a. i. l. 
North East, Pa. 
Stopping Canker Worms. —I notice in The R. N.-Y. 
for April 2, a request from G. O. T. concerning Canker 
worms. I have experimented eight years, and tried 
almost everything ; the best preventive I have found 
Is as follows : One gallon of Bright’s varnish, one 
quart of lard oil, one gill of sulphuric acid ; mix and 
apply on the bark with a paint brush. It is sticky 
enough to stop a cat, and won't harden in three 
months. A lit*le lard oil brushed over it once in a 
while will keep it soft all Summer. I have tried it 
on apple, crab apple, cherry, quince, and peach trees, 
for four years, and haven’t seen the slightest injury yet. 
Stratford, Conn. f. l. 
A Sprout. A Large Tree. 
GRAFTED CHESTNUT TREES. Fig. 130, 
