POULTRY. 



fil his duties without inlprfcrence or 

 niolfstatiou. This sceins incredible, 

 as a bold and liau>^lity spirit under 

 such circumstances is unnatural in 

 the extreme. The pallidness of his 

 head and the diuiinutiveness of his 

 comb and gills indicate the contrary 

 disposition, and he is so despised by 

 the otiicr fowls that they will hardly 

 condescend to roost with him. 



" Mr. Young, in his ' Report of the 

 County of Sussex,' says that much 

 art and attention arc requisite to 

 make capons, and that the Sussex 

 breed are too long in the body for 

 success in the i)peration, by which 

 many are lost. A perfectly fat capon 

 will weigh from seven to ten pounds. 



" As soon as fowls are rendered 

 sufficiently fat, they should be killed, 

 or they will loose flesh and become 

 unhealthy. The most humane and 

 expeditious mode of putting them to 

 death is by a smart blow with a blunt- 

 edged stick, such as a child's bat, at 

 the back of the neck. Higglers break 

 the vertebrae of the neck by a sudden 

 twist, and never bleed fowls, as this 

 mode of despatching them dries up 

 the juices of the flesh. They bleed 

 turkeys and geese, however, after a 

 stunning blow on the neck, not by 

 cutting the tiiroat, but by an incision 

 in the upper part of the mouth. 



" Store fowls will feed well upon 

 the tailings of corn, potatoes, and in- 

 sects, and require little attention ex- 

 cept when laying, during which time 

 the food for the hens should be abun- 

 dant, and their roosting places dry 

 and warm. 



" The diseases of all poultry prin- 

 cipally arise from cold and moisture. 

 Rheumatism decidedly arises from 

 this cause. During or after moult- 

 ing in a wet season, fowls frequently 

 become diseased, as is evident from 

 their drooping appearance, swelled 

 and watery eyes, and the dropsical 

 affections of the legs. Severe laying 

 also sometimes causes emaciation 

 and illness, which give way to a more 

 healthy condition after the moulting 

 season, if they have good food and 

 dry weather. 



' Chickens are very subject, in wet 

 G a Q 'i 



or variable weather, to a disease call- 

 ed the chip, which appears in about 

 a fortnight after their birth, when 

 they are changing their leathers. 

 Warmth and sunshine are the only 

 restoratives within our knowledge. 



" The roup is properly a gathering 

 upon the rump, which is cured or re- 

 lieved by opening, squeezing, and 

 bathing with warm water. Mr. Mow- 

 bray, however, who is a good practi- 

 cal authority, states that tiie roup is a 

 general term for all diseases, though 

 it is chiefly applied to catarrh, which 

 is indicated by watery eyes and run- 

 ning at the nostrils. This last disease 

 resembles glanders in horses, and 

 is infectious, and generally fatal. As 

 all these diseases originate in moist- 

 ure, dryness and warmth are the 

 best counteracting influences. The 

 nostrils should be washed with soap 

 and water, and the eyes with milk 

 and water. Mr. Mowbray recom- 

 mends a pepper-corn in dough at first, 

 to impart warmth, and afterward 

 calomel three times a week, as a fin- 

 ish to the cure. 



" We have had the trachea of a 

 chicken dying of the gapcx (which is 

 the incipient stage of roup) cut and 

 opened, and have taken out narrow 

 worms, about half an inch in length, 

 which lay imbedded in a serous fluid. 

 A medical friend has frequently cured 

 fowls of the same disease by putting 

 the upper part of a feather, stripped 

 for the purpose, down the trachea, 

 turning it round, and thus bringing 

 up the worm, which he thinks is the 

 sole cause of the disease. It may, 

 however, be the effect of the malady, 

 as is the opinion of many. 



" The pjp, which the same individ- 

 ual considers analogous to the thrush 

 in the human kind, he cures, not by 

 scraping roughly, but by an applica- 

 tion of powdered borax dissolved in 

 tincture of myrrh and water, and 

 rubbed on the tongue with a camel's- 

 hair brush two or three times a day. 

 This, at the same time, assists the 

 bowels. The /Z»x is not uncommon. 

 Solid corn is the most certain reme- 

 dy for this disease. Taken at the 

 commencement, it is rarely serious, 



629 



