50 THE POULTRY DOCTOR. 



complete. Keep the fowl, or fowls, caged during the 



treatment. 



Kriebel. 



We have given this malady the German name for 

 want of an English one. It is, we believe, unknown to 

 American poultry raisers, though, probably, their fowls 

 have suffered from it and they did not know its cause 

 or confounded it with some other ailment. The cause 

 of it is smut and ergot, a peculiar excrescence found 

 growing on grain. That found on ears of corn is called 

 smut, and on rye and wheat is called ergot, in some sea- 

 sons when the weather has been hot and moist, though it 

 is found to a certain extent in all seasons on the corn. 

 Chickens fed on corn containing much smut develop 

 the following symptoms : Dizziness, staggering gait, 

 lack-lustre feathers, leanness, lay few eggs and refuse to 

 hatch ; sometimes they fall on their sides and draw their 

 claws convulsively together when they attempt to arise ; 

 the final symptom is a decay of the comb and feet, and 

 then death follows. It will be seen from this that no 

 matter how carefully fowls are attended they cannot 

 escape "kriebei'Mf fed on corn or grain containing 

 much smut or ergot ; many a well-kept hennery may 

 have been decimated from this cause, much to the 

 puzzlement of its proprietor. The cure, of course, is 



