RLMLDILS FOR WORMS. 113 



of sulphuric ada. The acid is cheap, hut requires that threat care l>e used In diluting it, owing- 

 to danger of it splashing upon the clothing and fle.>h, and causing severe burns. It should, 

 always be poured slowly into the water for dilution, but on no account should water be 

 poured into the acid, as it will cause explosions and splashing. When treating diseased birds 

 these should always be isolated and confined, and their droppings should either be burned 

 or treated with lime or sulphuric acid as just recommended. Without these hygienic 

 measures, medical treatment can only be partially successful." 



For medical treatment the same authority says : " One of the best methods of treating tape 

 worms in fowls is to mix in the feed a teaspoonful of powdered pomegranate root bark for 

 every fifty head of birds. In treating a few birds at a time it is well to follow this medicine 

 with a purgative dose of castor oil (two to three teaspoonfuls)." * * * 



" For the treatment of the heterakis (round worm) Meguin recommends mixing santonine 

 with the food given to the fowls. The powdered santonine may be incorporated in a cake, the 

 dose being 7 or 8 grains for each bird. An efficient remedy is made by boiling an ounce each, 

 of male fern, tansy, and savory m a pint of water. The resulting liquid is mixed with flour,, 

 which is then made into pills and H<lmini.>tered to the affected birds. * * * Oil of turpen- 

 tine is an excellent remedy for all worms which inhabit the digestive canal. It may be given, 

 In the dose of one to three teaspoonfuls, and is best administered by forcing it through a small,, 

 flexible catheter that has been oiled and passed through the mouth and aesophagus to the crop 

 The medicine is less severe in its effects if diluted with an equal bulk of olive oil, butlf it fails. 

 to destroy the parasites when so diluted it may be given pure." 



The remedies given by Sanborn :c "Farm-Poultry Doctor," are slightly difierent. He advises 

 for round worm a two grain pill of santonine followed by a half-teaspoonfulof castor oil. This- 

 to be given about an hour before feeding every other morning for a week. For tape worm he 

 prescribes five dropsof oil of male fern in one teaspoonful of sweet oil. This to be given before 

 feeding in the morning, and the morning feed given about two hours after to be a warm mash 

 of bran and milk containing for each bird one teaspoonful of castor oil. 



The Last Resort. 



When worms of any kind become so troublesome as to cause heavy losses It Is probably the 

 best policy to discontinue keeping poultry on the premis-es for a time proportionate lo the 

 violence of the epidemic and the general condition of the buildings and soil. On an old plant 

 it might be advisable to keep no poultry for two or three years. On a new plant a thorough 

 cleaning up and disinfecting preliminary to the introduction of new stock presumed to be free 

 from the trouble should be sufficient. 



To what extent losses of poultry are due to worms, it is not possible to say. Doubtless many- 

 epidemics Qf so-called cholera and dysentery are caused by worms, and the unfortunate poultry 

 keeper never suspects the real cause of the trouble. It is for this reason that anyone engaged 

 in poultry keeping who has heavy losses he cannot account for ought to try to have an expert 

 examination of diseased fowls made. This will in most cases show where the trouble lies. 



