584 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



eating. Collapse of Muscles, Debility, Breaking down in the Limbs, Egg-sac Rupture, Dysen 

 tery, Fevers, Moulting, Cholera, and other afflictions unknown. 



Here are some forty, only. Now of this extraordinary list of so-called &quot; diseases &quot; among 

 poultry, there are but about half a dozen actual ails which domesticated fowls are generally 

 subject to, that go to make up this elongated, horrifying list. And these, as a rule (not of 

 course invariable, because there are exceptions to all rules), are in the main manageable, pre 

 ventable, or curable through the exercise of a goodly share of common sense, a little 

 ordinary intelligence, some practice, and a kindly disposition towards the sufferers. 



Roup, for instance, in its various phases, is simply catarrh, diphtheria, hoarseness, snuffles, 

 inflammation in the throat and nostrils, a cold, sore head, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, lethargy, 

 drooping, cramp, asthma, dizziness, general debility, fever and death. This is SOUP 

 pluribus in unum many in one. 



&quot;We propose, therefore, to consider the Diseases of Poultry under five or six general 

 heads, only; inasmuch as, if we take cognizance of ROUP, INDIGESTION, external and internal 

 INFLAMMATIONS, LICE, cHOLERATic attacks, and accidental affections, we may account for the 

 causes and effects of all the ills otherwise named by astute poultry writers of former or more 

 recent times. 



In all cases it is necessary that the fowl-doctor shall know what the trouble actually is, 

 when he is about to attempt to administer relief to ailing birds. &quot;With this foreknowledge a 

 great deal of unnecessary fowl-murder may be avoided. 



Chicken Cholera So called, is a new disease in this country, about which but little is 

 known in New England, and which has been treated with but indifferent success at the West 

 and South, where it is stated to have largely prevailed in the past ten years. From all we 

 have seen and what we have read on the subject, however, we have formed an opinion upon 

 this ailment; and we will briefly state our views about what is denominated &quot; chicken cholera.&quot; 

 It is a curious complaint, which we in the North have had little experience with, except 

 in its mildest and manageable form. The symptoms are those analogous to a sudden attack 

 of violent diarrhoea; preceded by lassitude, sluggish movements, early prostration, and a 

 general inertness in the victim assailed. 



After death, which ensues in a brief space of time succeeding the attack and rapid sink 

 ing of the fowl into semi-unconsciousness, the liver is found to be swollen and flabby, the 

 crop distended, the stomach foul, the gizzard filled with dried food, and the entrails inflamed. 

 There is, previous to death, a sharp diarrhoea, wasting the life out of the bird, which 

 ordinary treatment does not appear to affect or check at all. And from these indications and 

 symptoms (which are not unlike some of those attending the Asiatic scourge in man) this 

 disease has been denominated cholera. 



Mr. W. H. Todd, a noted &quot;Western breeder, has had some experience with this fowl 

 trouble, and he states that much of what is termed cholera is something else. He has once 

 or twice fancied that his flocks had a touch of a disease akin to the reputed &quot; fowl cholera.&quot; 

 But he checked this (whatever it was) by the free use of carbolic acid disinfectants, and 

 subsequently by thoroughly purifying his hen houses by fumigation. 



&quot;We read that desperate diseases demand the application of desperate remedies, and in 

 several instances where the premonitory symptoms have thus shown themselves, the alarmed 

 owners of the menaced fowls have administered calomel and blue mass in two-grain doses, 

 or four grains of blue mass mixed with two grains each of gum camphor and Cayenne pep 

 per gay twice a day. This we should say would either kill or cure, certainly! In the cases 

 referred to, the experiment proved fortunately successful; albeit the owners acknowledge 

 that they were not positive that the threatened disease &quot; was really cholera or something 

 similar.&quot; 



It has proved quite contagious, nevertheless, in certain districts. And yet it is clearly 



