Poultry Problems and Profits. 



437 



fresh air, exercise and sunshine than without proper food and 

 water. The hen, to keep healthy, must also have her bath — a dust 

 bath. "A dust bath is as essential to a hen's health and happi- 

 ness as a water bath is to the health of a human being." 



Do not allow droppings and filth to accumulate, nor let drink- 

 ing vessels become coated with slime. Unless great care is exer- 

 cised there is danger in having the poultry plant located in the same 

 place year after year, for to do so is to increase danger from dis- 

 ease. If the yard cannot be changed it might be plowed up and 

 sown to small grain. If plowing is not possible sprinkle air-slack- 

 ed limie over the ground, in the early spring, then, after a few days, 

 remove it with half an mch of the top soil. Another plan is to 

 cover the soil with water into which has been mixed some sulphuric 

 acid or other disinfectant. 



POULTRY HOUSE RECOMMENDED BY D. J. BLISS. 

 (See page 420) 



A frequent cause of the spread of disease is the practice of 

 throwing dead fowls along the roadside. Such a practice cannot 

 be too strongly condemned, and should be prohibited by law. It 

 often happens that disease breaks out and the fowls are sold. Those 

 that die on the trip to town are thrown out, where the carcasses 

 may be eaten and infection result. Almost every one who has 

 traveled over the public highways in Missouri has at times noticed 

 dead birds along the roadside, where they have been thrown by 

 drivers of poultry wagons or by thoughtless farmers. Another 

 source of infection is running streams. Such birds as die of dis- 

 ease should never be thrown where the disease may be spread to 

 another flock to which a running stream may carry germs. Burn 

 all birds that die, or bury them good and deep, and do so without 

 delay. 



Do everything possible to prevent the outbreak of disease, but 

 if it does come, isolate the affected fowls if you would escape the 

 depletion of the flock. 



While it is too often true that the hatchet and the chopping 

 block are the only cure, there are certain remedies which are gen- 



