232 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



and neglect at times in wet seasons, if the gentleman has kept 

 turkeys, or if his neighbors have kept them, and they have 

 had the blackhead he will have noticed that about the time 

 they are ready for market they begin to drop ofT. This black- 

 head is only a symptom of the disease. If the blood runs 

 slow, the arterial blood, and it shows up blue in the circula- 

 tion, there is a clogging in the circulation, and the animal 

 becomes diseased. The head will get darker in color, and 

 the animal will droop like any other sick animal. I may say, 

 however, that nearly every symptom we may give may come 

 from some other disease which causes a low condition, but 

 if you examine the liver upon opening the bird you will find 

 in the blackhead animals a condition which you cannot fail 

 to notice. Upon opening a part of the intestme called the 

 secum large yellowish spots will be seen, varying in size 

 from the size of a pinhead up to that of a five or ten cent 

 piece. These seca are two little blind tubes attached to the 

 lower end of the intestines, and the ends hang over the same 

 as the vermiform appendix in man. I make that minute ex- 

 planation so that some of you, when you look again, will 

 notice them. About these spots it will have a whitish ap- 

 pearance. This condition of the liver is characteristic of the 

 blackhead disease, and we believe whoever has it has one of 

 the great causes of loss in young turkeys. 



Now, if there be other diseases of a communicable char- 

 acter in turkeys, I believe that the same treatment will keep 

 it ofif, because the external parasites of turkeys are not usually 

 found on hens, excepting by chance, and the internal para- 

 sites are not parasites of the turkey. 



Question. When a turkey has this disease which has 

 just been described, can it be determined by the character of 

 their droppings, or by the color, or in any such way as that? 



Dr. Curtice. I want to broaden that question a little. 

 Judgment of disease in chickens and fowls generally upon 

 the character and color of the droppings can be made. If 



