that in this country some have found the use of an ointment, first suggested by Mr. Lewis Wright, I believe, most valuable.  This is made of mercurial ointment, two parts; pure lard, two parts; flour of sulphur, one part; crude petroleum, one part—­and when mixed together is applied to the heads of the chicks as soon as they are dry after hatching.  Many have testified that they have never found this to fail as a preventive, and if the success is to be attributed to the ointment, it would seem as if the insects are driven off by its presence, for the application to the heads merely would not kill the eggs.

Some time ago Lord Walsingham offered, through the Entomological Society of London, a prize for the best life history of the gapes disease, and this has been won by the eminent French scientist M. Pierre Megnin, whose essay has been published by the noble donor.  His offer was in the interest of pheasant breeders, but the benefit is not confined to that variety of game alone, for it is equally applicable to all gallinaceous birds troubled with this disease.  The pamphlet in question is a very valuable work, and gives very clearly the methods by which the parasite develops.  But for our purpose it will be sufficient to narrate what M. Megnin recommends for the cure of it.  These are various, as will be seen, and comprise the experience of other inquirers as well as himself.

He states that Montague obtained great success by a combination of the following methods:  Removal from infested runs; a thorough change of food, hemp seed and green vegetables figuring largely in the diet; and for drinking, instead of plain water, an infusion of rue and garlic.  And Megnin himself mentions an instance of the value of garlic.  In the years 1877 and 1878, the pheasant preserves of Fontainebleau were ravaged by gapes.  The disease was there arrested and totally cured, when a mixture, consisting of yolks of eggs, boiled bullock’s heart, stale bread crumbs, and leaves of nettle, well mixed and pounded together with garlic, was given, in the proportion of one clove to ten young pheasants.  The birds were found to be very fond of this mixture, but great care was taken to see that the drinking vessels were properly cleaned out and refilled with clean, pure water twice a day.  This treatment has met with the same success in other places, and if any of your readers are troubled with gapes and will try it, I shall be pleased to see the results narrated in the columns of the Country Gentleman.  Garlic in this case is undoubtedly the active ingredient, and as it is volatile, when taken into the stomach the breath is charged with it, and in this way (for garlic is a powerful vermifuge) the worms are destroyed.