MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 15 



the poultryman, the correct solution of which may in many 

 cases become a very important matter. This is especially true 

 in the case of death from contagious diseases, which include 

 a considerable proportion of the deaths of poultry generally. 

 The method usually practiced by the farmer and poultryman 

 for the disposition of dead carcasses is unsanitary in the ex- 

 treme. To throw the dead bodies on the manure pile is to invite 

 the spread of disease on the plant. Burying is far from being 

 a satisfactory way of dealing with the matter for two reasons. 

 Unless the grave is dug deep, which costs a good deal of time 

 and labor, there is considerable likelihood that dogs or other 

 marauding animals will dig out the carcasses, and, after feeding 

 on them, scatter the remains around on the top of the ground. 

 Furthermore, burying cannot be resorted to at all during the 

 winter months when the ground is frozen. 



The only really sanitary method of dealing with dead bodies 

 is to incinerate them. The difficulty of following this plan in 

 practice is that the farmer or poultryman usually does not have 

 any suitable source of heat ready at hand at all times. To be 

 sure, during certain seasons of the year, those poultrymen who 

 employ large brooder houses with a hot water heating system 

 have a furnace in operation, and the dead chicks can be burned 

 up in the furance. This, however, covers only a part of the 

 year. At other times resort must be had to burying or some 

 other means of disposal, as the poultryman is not likely to fire 

 up a large furnace for the sake of burning a few dead birds. 



At the Station plant it was felt to be desirable to have a small 

 crematory conveniently located, and so easy and economical of 

 operation that dead birds could be disposed of immeditely, with 

 a minimum amount of trouble and labor. To meet this require- 

 ment there was devised the small crematory here described. 

 The construction was carried out with the idea of keeping the 

 first cost as low as possible, in order that there should be nothing 

 about it which any poultryman or farmer could not easily afford 

 to duplicate. As a matter of fact, the cost of materials for the 

 crematory here described was less than ten dollars. The labor 

 was done by the poultryman and his assistant at odd times, 

 when an hour or two could be spared for this work. The result 

 is therefore, not beyond the reach of any poultryman or farmer. 

 At the same time the crematory is so satisfactory in operation 



