DISEASES OF FOWLS. 231 



barley and wheat, with an occasional soft feed, in which a little 

 flour 'of sulphur may be mixed, also a little finely pulverized 

 charcoal. Give plenty of gravel, pure water, and fresh air, 

 and in nine cases in ten you will effect a cure, if you adminis- 

 ter the remedy in season, but after a certain stage of the 

 disease, nothing can effect a cure. 



If all the ingredients of the above remedy cannot be 

 obtained immediately, the vinegar and spirits alone will be of 

 great service, and if neither cider-brandy nor whisky can be 

 obtained, get any kind of spirituous liquor for a temporary use. 

 A correspondent of Dr. Bennett, who has used assafoatida and 

 vinegar with success, writes me under date of October, 1.852, as 

 follows : 



I would suggest to you, that the only remedy I ever found for what 

 is termed roup, in poultry, when a foetid discharge at the nostrils 

 takes place, is to squeeze each nostril out by pressure with the thumb, 

 commencing under the eyes, and carrying the thumb down toward 

 the beak, which will remove all the discharge, then sponge the head 

 with assafostida dissolved in vinegar, and squeeze a drop or two in 

 each nostril, and finish by tarring their heads from above the nostrils 

 back to the top of the head, and keep them tarred until relieved. 

 One or two applications will generally suffice. 



Mr. Giles, of Providence, who has had forty years experi- 

 ence as an extensive breeder, uses the following remedy. He 



My method with the roup, or swelled head, which, by the way, is 

 caused by a cold, is as follows: As soon as discovered, if in warm 

 weather, remove the infected ones to some well ventilated apartment 

 or yard ; if in winter, to some warm place ; then give a dessert 

 spoonful of castor oil ; wash their heads with warm castile soap-suds, 

 and let them remain until next morning, fasting. Scald for them Indian 

 meal, adding two and a half ounces of Epsom salts for ten hens, or in 

 proportion for a lesser or larger number ; give it warm, and repeat 

 the dose in a day or two, if they do not recover. 



Mr. Melendy, of Mount Healthy, Ohio, writes me on this 

 subject : 



Of all the diseases that I have had to contend with, I think the 

 roup is the worst. It is contagious. Of this I am perfectly satisfied, 

 that if a fowl in a flock has it, that all will take it, unless the diseased 

 one be removed. Roup is somewhat like the distemper among dogs. 

 My fowls are affected thus : very difficult in breathing, gaping, rattling 

 i-n the throat, swelling of the head, feverish, eyes swollen, with a thin, 

 slimy matter, oozing from them, and it sometimes closes them up, aud 

 blindness is the result There is a discharge from the nose of a thick, 

 foetid matter, that is offensive to the smell. The fowl is dull and 

 mopy, and suffers much. If taken in time, it can be cured, but if 



