71 



birds when they are left untreated and kept on scant food. The 

 scabs should not be picked until they come off easily and with 

 little or no bleeding, and should then be exposed to direct sun- 

 light until they are absolutely dry. When placed in a well- 

 corked bottle (wide-mouthed) they may be kept for years, but 

 if bottled before they are dry they will mold and decompose. 

 As only the scabs from the skin, comb and wattles should be 

 used for vaccine the usual treatment should be applied to any 

 lesions which may appear in either the e3^es, nostrils, mouth or 

 throat, even in case of the culls which are otherwise left un- 

 treated. When the scabs are forwarded to this office for the 

 preparation of vaccine they will be carefully weighed upon re- 

 ceipt and the exact amount of vaccine prepared from them will 

 be returned to the sender by earliest mail possible. The vaccine 

 is now preserved by the addition of one-half per cent of carbolic 

 acid for which reason it dees not decompose as readily as hitherto, 

 but the bottle should nevertheless be kept in a cool dark place 

 until the treatment is finished. 



Chicken cholera. An outbreak of this highly fatal disease oc- 

 curred in a flock of more than fifty grown chickens all of which 

 with perhaps one or two exceptions died in the course of a few 

 days. Chicken cholera is one of the pasteurella group of dis- 

 eases like swine plague and hemorrhagic septicemia, and the 

 outbreak in question forms an excellent illustration of the theory 

 that exposure and lessening of vitality are the principal causes 

 of its appearance. All of the chickens in question roosted in the 

 trees, and when, during one of the first nights in February, a 

 cold rain storm occurred, lasting almost from midnight to day- 

 break, the birds all became thoroughly chilled and began dying 

 the following day. A post mortem examination proved the 

 disease to be typical chicken cholera, which diagnosis was fur- 

 ther borne out by microscopic demonstration of the polar staining 

 hemorrhagic septicemia bacterium. Though this disease is sup- 

 posed to be highly contagious none of the neighboring flocks, all 

 of which were well housed, became infected. The two or three 

 survivors undoubtedly must have been better sheltered than the 

 rest of them, and while this is the first outbreak of this disease 

 which has come to notice here for several years it should, never- 

 theless, serve as a warning against leaving poultry unsheltered 

 during the rainy season. 



Dog distemper was again brought to the quarantine station 

 with two pups from the mainland which developed the disease 

 a few days after arrival and before the preventive vaccination 

 administered to them could take effect. One of them died, but 

 as all the other young dogs in the station had been vaccinated 

 no other cases occurred. 



As every kennel at the station has been full during the entire 

 month it is hoped that the weather soon will moderate sufficiently 



