THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 30. 
216 
pass along and clear the land for carting. Unless the 
crop is very heavy, the hay will now ho ready for 
carting to the stack, and should be cast up into large 
rows a short time before it is taken up, in order that it 
may be put into stack in a perfectly dry state. 
Where the crop is very heavy, and the meadows lie 
low, and moist, the hay may require an extra day before 
carting, in which case, throw the hay into pook for the 
night, and afterwards treat it as named above for the 
third day. When the crop is light, and the weather 
very dry, the tedding may be dispensed with; much 
expense will he saved, and very useful hay may be made 
upon upland meadows, by merely turning the swarths 
until it is fit to cart, but this plan cannot be recom¬ 
mended when hay is intended for sale, as is often the 
case in the neighbourhood of large towns, it being well 
known to buyers of hay that quality and colour go 
together. 
In the management of the after-math, or second crop, 
the same rules may be observed; but it being not 
generally an article got up for sale, some of the ex¬ 
penses of making may bo oftentimes saved when the 
hay is intended for inferior purposes. 
I do not, however, approve (except in the case of 
water meadows) of cutting the second crop for hay, be- 1 
lieving it to be far more beneficial and profitable to 
occupiers in general to feed the grass produce during 
the autumn. 
I would here observe, that in a changeable climate, 
like that of the British Isles, we should be always, if 
possible, prepared for rain; and although certain rules 
for making hay have been laid down, yet the great art 
consists in an unremitting attention to the process, by 
allowing a liberal number of hands in the field, and 
keeping up a continual observation of the weather. 
In the preparation of grass land for the crop of hay, 
it is, I fear, too much the rule, where farms contain a 
large portion of arable land, to apply the greater part 
of the manure to the latter, and to allow the former to 
fall into a neglected and poor state; and I must here 
state, that unless parties are prepared to manure the 
pasture and meadow land liberally, the best plan that 
can be adopted is to feed and cut the grass for hay 
each alternate year. 
This change I consider as necessary for the benefit 
of meadows, as the change of green crops and fallows 
are for the advantage of arable land under tillage for 
corn crops. 
The improvement which water-meadows receive from 
irrigation in general, where the water is good for the 
j purpose, renders the application of manure almost 
| superfluous; yet it must be admitted, that when fed by 
sheep, they derive benefit by it if the water be not laid 
on too hastily immediately after. 
In the stacking of meadow hay, particularly when 
intended for sale, stacks of a good size, say from twenty 
to thirty tons each, arc desirable, as the hay comes out 
more compact, and is more profitable, without waste. 
Some growers prefer heating in the stack to a consider¬ 
able extent for this purpose; but it must not be carried 
too far, .otherwise it will deteriorate the nutritive value 
of the hay. Joseph Blundell. 
POULTRY DISEASES—GAPES. 
In reference to this disease, I have received several letters 
detailing different modes of treatment, more or less success¬ 
ful. Before making any extracts from them, I may mention 
a few circumstances connected with the disease. Gapes is 
occasioned by the presence of a number of small worms in 
the windpipe; these adhere by a sort of sucker, and their 
presence causes a partial obstruction of the passage, and 
excites a degree of inflammation which often proves fatal. 
No remedy seems effectual unless it can be applied directly 
to the interior of the windpipe. The old plan was to nearly 
suffocate the chickens with tobacco-smoke, but this was only 
partially successful. A correspondent, relating his ex¬ 
perience, says:— 
“ As the season advanced, a large portion of the chickens 
died about six weeks old. I observed they drooped their 
wings, and gaped, and panted, and became almost skeletons; 
at length I opened the trachea of one of them, and found in 
it a coil of red worms, they seemed to me exactly to resemble 
those transparent and lively gentry to be met with in stag¬ 
nant water, i.c. in rain-water butts. Upon inquiry, I found 
the disease attacked the young pheasants in the adjoining 
preserves, and that the keepers thought there was no cure 
for the disease. I set to work to see what I could do. I 
made an instrument of very line wire, like a corkscrew; with 
this I endeavoured to extract the worms, and partially suc¬ 
ceeded, but found that it was prone to lacerate the windpipe. 
I improved upon it by taking the flight-feather of a pigeon, 
and stripping off the feathery part, so as to form a brush ; 
this also succeeded in part, but it was too flexible to detach 
the worms, which, like leeches, are fastened by a sucker to 
the windpipe, so, having heard that spirit of turpentine was 
destructive to all such gentry, I dipped the feather-brush 
into spirit of turpentine. An assistant held the patient, 
and, watching the opening of the valve leading into the 
windpipe, I thrust down the feather, gave it a twist or two 
round, and set the chicken on the ground; the poor little 
animal coughed exceedingly, and the worms were thrown up 
to some distance, and the cure completed. After a few 
hours the wings were folded up, and evident manifestations 
afforded that all was well. A turkey hen had a brood of 
twenty-three common fowls, young; all were diseased; two 
were suffocated in the operation, the other twenty-one were 
restored to health. Of course the operation would fail if 
the instrument is thrust down the throat instead of into the 
windpipe.—Y.” 
In commenting on this communication I would state 
merely, that there is some difficulty, except the operator is 
expert, in passing any substance into the windpipe without 
injuring this very delicate organ ; carefully performed, there 
is no doubt but that the operation is efficacious. 
Another correspondent, who suggests a different remedy, 
states— 
“ I have been very successful in the treatment of my 
chickens, and out of thirty attacked with this disorder, 
during the present month, 1 have lost but one. I dare say 
the remedy is known to you, if not, pray make it public :— 
‘ When the chickens first make that peculiar sneezing noise 
(before they stretch out the necks and gape), dust the coop . 
every night with powdered lime (about a handful)? throwing 
the lime to the upper part of the coop, in order that it may 
fall down upon the chickens; then immediately shut them 
up. Do this for two or three nights successively; give, at 
the same time, three times a-day, in boiled rice or grits, a 
wine glassful of Agrimony lea to about twelve chickens. This 
tea is made by steeping the common field-weed, ‘ Agri- 
monia,’ in boiling water for a couple of days or so, until 
the water becomes of the colour of light Sherry wine. 
The Agrimony should be collected in the autumn and dried, 
to be ready for use in the spring for the early broods; it is, 
however, easily to be obtained at this season of the year. 
I have found this a never-failing remedy; and as my broods 
are usually attacked with this disease, I use it with great 
