14 FARMERS” BULLETIN 683. 
As a preliminary step it is well to see that the poultry are kept 
away from other animals as far as possible. Especial care should be 
exercised to keep dogs and cats from lying about the chicken yards 
or places frequented by the poultry. All animals, and the poultry 
as well, should be excluded from beneath houses and barns, as such 
places are favorable for flea development and difficult to treat if 
they become infested. These precautions should be followed by a 
thorough cleaning out of the chicken house and outbuildings fre- 
quented by the poultry. All of the material should be hauled to a 
-good distance from the buildings and scattered out. The places | 
where the fleas are thought to be breeding should then be sprinkled 
with crude oil. One of the most satisfactory methods of preventing 
breeding is to scatter salt freely about the chicken house and then 
wet the soil down thoroughly. This species can not thrive in damp 
places, and if the sprinkling is done two or three times a week no 
further breeding is possible. If salt is used, due care should be taken 
to prevent the fowls from devouring it on account of its poisonous 
qualities. 
Tt is rather difficult to destroy the sticktights on the poultry with- 
out injuring the host. It is desirable, however, in the case of heavy 
infestations to destroy as many of the fleas as possible. This may 
be accomplished by carefully applying carbolated vaseline to the 
clusters of fleas on the fowls or greasing them with kerosene and 
lard—one part kerosene to two parts lard. In all cases care should be 
taken when applications are made not to get the material on the poul- 
try except on the seat of infestation. It is important that dogs and 
cats be freed from sticktight fleas. This may be accomplished by 
washing them in a saponified coal-tar creosote preparation, as has 
been described, or many of the insects may be killed by greasing the 
most heavily infested parts with kerosene and lard. Rats sometimes 
harbor these fleas in considerable numbers, therefore their destruc- 
tion will aid in the control work as well as do away with another 
troublesome chicken pest. 
The thorough cleansing of poultry houses and runs and the appli- 
cation of crude petroleum will be found to aid in the control of other 
important enemies of fowls, such as mites and chicken ticks or “ blue 
bugs.” 
TREATMENT OF FLEABITES. 
In regions in the United States where the plague is not known to 
occur no special concern need be felt regarding fleabites. When feed- 
ing, the fleas inject a salivary secretion which tends to produce in- 
flammation at the site of the puncture. Usually the bites result in 
small inflamed spots, but occasionally, where the pests are very 
numerous and in cases where individuals are susceptible to the effect 
